Life Sciences Commons^™

Complex Dynamics Of Coral Gene Expression Responses To Low Ph Across Species, Veronica Z. Radice, Ana Martinez, Adina Paytan, Donald C. Potts, Daniel J. Barshis

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Coral capacity to tolerate low pH affects coral community composition and, ultimately, reef ecosystem function. Low pH submarine discharges (‘Ojo’; Yucatán, México) represent a natural laboratory to study plasticity and acclimatization to low pH in relation to ocean acidification. A previous >2‐year coral transplant experiment to ambient and low pH common garden sites revealed differential survivorship across species and sites, providing a framework to compare mechanistic responses to differential pH exposures. Here, we examined gene expression responses of transplants of three species of reef‐building corals (Porites astreoides, Porites porites and Siderastrea siderea) and their algal endosymbiont communities …

Season Influences Interspecific Responses Of Canopy-Forming Kelps To Future Warming And Acidification At High Latitude, Lauren E. Bell, Lily Westphal, Evan O' Brien, Jason A. Toy, Haleigh Damron, Kristy J. Kroeker

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Variability in primary producers' responses to environmental change may buffer higher trophic levels against shifts in basal resource composition. Then again, in instances where there is a lack of functional redundancy because consumers rely on a few species to meet their energetic requirements at specific times of the year, altered community production dynamics may significantly impact food web resilience. In high-latitude kelp forests, a complementary annual phenology of seaweed production supports coastal marine consumers' metabolic needs across large seasonal variations in their environment. Yet, marine consumers in these systems may face significant metabolic stress under the pronounced low pH conditions …

Targeting Ocean Conservation Outcomes Through Threat Reduction, Joseph A. Turner, Malcolm Starkey, Nicholas K. Dulvy, Frank Hawkins, Louise Mair, Adeline Serckx, Thomas Brooks, Beth Polidoro, Stuart H. M. Butchart, Kent Carpenter, Minna Epps, Rima W. Jabado, Nicholas B. W. Macfarlane, Leon Bennun

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Nations have committed to reductions in the global rate of species extinctions through the Sustainable Development Goals 14 and 15, for ocean and terrestrial species, respectively. Biodiversity loss is worsening despite rapid growth in the number and extent of protected areas, both at sea and on land. Resolving this requires targeting the locations and actions that will deliver positive conservation outcomes for biodiversity. The Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) metric, developed by a consortium of experts, quantifies the contributions that abating threats and restoring habitats in specific places offer towards reducing extinction risk based on the IUCN Red List …

Listeria Adhesion Protein Orchestrates Caveolae-Mediated Apical Junctional Remodeling Of Epithelial Barrier For Listeria Monocytogenes Translocation, Rishi Drolia, Donald B. Bryant, Shivendra Tenguria, Zuri A. Jules-Culver, Jessie Thind, Breanna Amelunke, Donqi Liu, Nicholas L. F. Gallina, Krishna K. Mishra, Manalee Samaddar, Manoj R. Sawale, Dharmendra K. Mishra, Abigail D. Cox, Arun K. Bhunia

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The cellular junctional architecture remodeling by Listeria adhesion protein-heat shock protein 60 (LAP-Hsp60) interaction for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) passage through the epithelial barrier is incompletely understood. Here, using the gerbil model, permissive to internalin (Inl) A/B-mediated pathways like in humans, we demonstrate that Lm crosses the intestinal villi at 48 h post-infection. In contrast, the single isogenic (lap− or ΔinlA) or double (lap−ΔinlA) mutant strains show significant defects. LAP promotes Lm translocation via endocytosis of cell-cell junctional complex in enterocytes that do not display luminal E-cadherin. In comparison, InlA facilitates …

Newer Surveillance Data Extends Our Understanding Of The Niche Of Rickettsia Montanensis (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) Infection Of The American Dog Tick (Acari: Ixodidae) In The United States, Catherine A. Lippi, Holly D. Gaff, Robyn M. Nadolny, Sadie J. Ryan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Understanding the geographic distribution of Rickettsia montanensis infections in Dermacentor variabilis is important for tick-borne disease management in the United States, as both a tick-borne agent of interest and a potential confounder in surveillance of other rickettsial diseases. Two previous studies modeled niche suitability for D. variabilis with and without R. montanensis, from 2002-2012, indicating that the D. variabilis niche overestimates the infected niche. This study updates these, adding data since 2012.

Methods: Newer surveillance and testing data were used to update Species Distribution Models (SDMs) of D. variabilis, and R. montanensis infected D. variabilis, in …

A Multi-Isotope Approach Reveals Seasonal Variation In The Reliance On Marine Resources, Production Of Metabolic Water, And Ingestion Of Seawater By Two Species Of Coastal Passerine To Maintain Water Balance, Lucas Navarrete, Nico Lübcker, Felipe Alvarez, Roberto Nespolo, Juan Carlos Sanchez-Hernandez, Karin Maldonado, Zachary D. Sharp, John P. Whiteman, Seth D. Newsome, Pablo Sabat

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Tracing how free-ranging organisms interact with their environment to maintain water balance is a difficult topic to study for logistical and methodological reasons. We use a novel combination of triple-oxygen stable isotope analyses of water extracted from plasma (δ¹⁶O, δ¹⁷O, δ¹⁸O) and bulk tissue carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopes of feathers and blood to estimate the proportional contribution of marine resources, seawater, and metabolic water used by two species of unique songbirds (genus Cinclodes) to maintain their water balance in a seasonal coastal environment. We …

Strong, Recent Selective Sweeps Reshape Genetic Diversity In Freshwater Bivalve Megalonaias Nervosa, Rebekah L. Rogers, Stephanie L. Grizzard, Jeffrey T. Garner

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Freshwater Unionid bivalves have recently faced ecological upheaval through pollution, barriers to dispersal, harvesting, and changes in fish–host prevalence. Currently, over 70% of species in North America are threatened, endangered or extinct. To characterize the genetic response to recent selective pressures, we collected population genetic data for one successful bivalve species, Megalonaias nervosa. We identify megabase-sized regions that are nearly monomorphic across the population, signals of strong, recent selection reshaping diversity across 73 Mb total. These signatures of selection are greater than is commonly seen in population genetic models. We observe 102 duplicate genes with high dN/d …

Floral And Genetic Divergence Across Environmental Gradients Is Moderated By Inter-Population Gene Flow In Platanthera Dilatata (Orchidaceae), Lisa E. Wallace, Marlin L. Bowles

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding how natural selection acts on intraspecific variation to bring about phenotypic divergence is critical to understanding processes of evolutionary diversification. The orchid family is well known for pollinator-mediated selection of floral phenotypes operating among species and along environmental or geographic gradients. Its effectiveness at small spatial scales is less understood, making the geographic scale at which intraspecific floral variation is examined important to evaluating causes of phenotypic divergence. In this study, we quantified phenotypic variation in the orchid Platanthera dilatata across 26 populations in coastal Southeast Alaska and compared this to edaphic and genetic variation at microsatellite loci. We …

Multipatch Stochastic Epidemic Model For The Dynamics Of A Tick-Borne Disease, Milliward Maliyoni, Holly D. Gaff, Keshlan S. Govinder, Faraimunashe Chirove

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Spatial heterogeneity and migration of hosts and ticks have an impact on the spread, extinction and persistence of tick-borne diseases. In this paper, we investigate the impact of between-patch migration of white-tailed deer and lone star ticks on the dynamics of a tick-borne disease with regard to disease extinction and persistence using a system of Itô stochastic differential equations model. It is shown that the disease-free equilibrium exists and is unique. The general formula for computing the basic reproduction number for all patches is derived. We show that for patches in isolation, the basic reproduction number is equal to the …

The Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (Cbass): A Low-Cost, Portable System For Standardized Empirical Assessments Of Coral Thermal Limits, Nicholas R. Evensen, Katherine E. Parker, Thomas A. Oliver, Stephen R. Palumbi, Cheryl A. Logan, James S. Ryan, Courtney N. Klepac, Gabriela Perna, Mark E. Warner, Christian R. Voolstra, Daniel J. Barshis

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ocean warming is increasingly affecting marine ecosystems across the globe. Reef-building corals are particularly affected by warming, with mass bleaching events increasing in frequency and leading to widespread coral mortality. Yet, some corals can resist or recover from bleaching better than others. Such variability in thermal resilience could be critical to reef persistence; however, the scientific community lacks standardized diagnostic approaches to rapidly and comparatively assess coral thermal vulnerability prior to bleaching events. We present the Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS) as a low-cost, open-source, field-portable experimental system for rapid empirical assessment of coral thermal thresholds using standardized temperature …

Estimating The Distribution Of Oryzomys Palustris, A Potential Key Host In Expanding Rickettsial Tick-Borne Disease Risk, Catherine A. Lippi, Samuel Canfield, Christina Espada, Holly D. Gaff, Sadie J. Ryan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Increasingly, geographic approaches to assessing the risk of tick-borne diseases are being used to inform public health decision-making and surveillance efforts. The distributions of key tick species of medical importance are often modeled as a function of environmental factors, using niche modeling approaches to capture habitat suitability. However, this is often disconnected from the potential distribution of key host species, which may play an important role in the actual transmission cycle and risk potential in expanding tick-borne disease risk. Using species distribution modeling, we explore the potential geographic range of Oryzomys palustris, the marsh rice rat, which has been …

Use Of Amino Acid Isotope Analysis To Investigate Capital Versus Income Breeding Strategies In Migratory Avian Species, Nico Lübcker, John P. Whiteman, Oliver N. Shipley, Keith A. Hobson, Seth D. Newsome

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Income and capital breeding represent opposing ends of a continuum of reproductive strategies. Quantifying nutrient allocation to reproduction is challenging, but recent advances in compound-specific stable isotope analysis hold promise for tracing the source of individual compounds allocated to reproduction.

2. Here, we describe a novel approach of using measured carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of individual amino acids (AAs) in pectoral muscle of egg-laying females and egg yolk as a useful tool to quantify the reliance on income versus capital breeding in migrating species. We used white-fronted (Anser albifrons frontalis), lesser snow (A. …

Editorial: New Frontiers In The Application Of Stable Isotopes To Ecological And Ecophysiological Research, Keith A. Hobson, John P. Whiteman, Seth D. Newsome

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Territory Inheritance And The Evolution Of Cooperative Breeding In The Acorn Woodpecker, Walter D. Koenig, Joseph Haydock, Hannah L. Dugdale, Eric L. Walters

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

There are two main hypotheses for why offspring in cooperatively breeding taxa delay dispersal and remain on their natal territory rather than disperse. First, ecological constraints may force offspring to remain on their natal territory until a reproductive opportunity presents itself in an otherwise saturated habitat. Alternatively, delaying dispersal and helping kin may increase an offspring's inclusive fitness. One means by which offspring might enhance their direct fitness by delaying dispersal is by inheriting breeding status on their natal territory. Such territory inheritance regularly occurs in acorn woodpeckers, Melanerpes formicivorus, a species whose social groups consist of a cooperatively …

Variation In Establishment Success For American Mistletoe [Phoradendron Leucarpum (Raf.) Reveal & M.C. Johnst. (Viscaceae)] Appears Most Likely To Predict Its Distribution In Virginia And North Carolina, United States, Nicholas P. Flanders, Christopher P. Randle, Eric L. Walters, Lytton J. Musselman

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Dispersal limitation and variation in habitat suitability may determine an association of American mistletoe [Phoradendron leucarpum (Raf.) Reveal & M.C. Johnst. (Viscaceae)] with forested wetlands in Virginia and North Carolina, United States. Here, we first tested the alternative hypothesis that variation in host availability drives this habitat relationship. We used a generalized linear model to show a positive effect of forested wetland habitat on American mistletoe occurrence after accounting for both variation in host availability and differences among regions in host use. We then used seed sowing experiments to quantify how light availability and flood regime determine the viability …

Fine-Scale Genetic Structure In Rhizosphere Microbial Communities Associated With Chamaecrista Fasciculata (Fabaceae), Mahboubeh Hosseinalizadeh Nobarinezhad, Lisa E. Wallace

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Soil microbiota of the rhizosphere are an important extension of the plant phenotype because they impact the health and fitness of host plants. The composition of these communities is expected to differ among host plants due to influence by host genotype. Given that many plant populations exhibit fine-scale genetic structure (SGS), associated microbial communities may also exhibit SGS. In this study, we tested this hypothesis using Chamaecrista fasciculata, a legume species that has previously been determined to have significant SGS. We collected genetic data from prokaryotic and fungal rhizosphere communities in association with 70 plants in an area of …

A Multi-Taxon Analysis Of European Red Lists Reveal Major Threats To Biodiversity, Axel Hochkirch, Melanie Bilz, Catarina C. Ferreira, Anja Danielczak, David Allen, Ana Nieto, Carlo Rondinini, Kate Harding, Craig Hilton-Taylor, Caroline M. Pollock, Mary Seddon, Jean-Christophe Vié, Keith N. A. Alexander, Emily Beech, Manuel Biscoito, Yoan Braud, Ian J. Burfield, Filippo Maria Buzzetti, Marta Cálix, Kent E. Carpenter, Ning Labbish Chao, Dragan Chobanov, Maarten J. M. Christenhusz, Bruce B. Collette, Mia T. Comeros-Raynal, Neil Cox, Matthew Craig, Annabelle Cuttelod, William R. T. Darwall, Benoit Dodelin, Nicholas K. Dulvy, Eve Englefield, Michael F. Fay, Nicholas Fettes, Jörg Freyhof, Silvia García, Mariana García Criado, Michael Harvey, Nick Hodgetts, Christina Ieronymidou, Vincent J. Kalkman, Shelagh P. Kell, James Kemp, Sonia Khela, Richard V. Lansdown, Julia M. Lawson, Danna J. Leaman, Joana Magos Brehm, Nigel Maxted, Rebecca M. Miller, Eike Neubert, Baudewijn Odé, David Pollard, Riley Pollom, Rob Pople, Juan José Presa Asensio, Gina M. Ralph, Hassan Rankou, Malin Rivers, Stuart P. M. Roberts, Barry Russell, Alexander Sennikov, Fabien Soldati, Anna Staneva, Emilie Stump, Andy Symes, Dmitry Telnov, Helen Temple, Andrew Terry, Anastasiya Timoshyna, Chris Van Swaay, Henry Väre, Rachel H. L. Walls, Luc Willemse, Brett Wilson, Jemma Window, Emma G. E. Wright, Thomas Zuna-Kratky

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Biodiversity loss is a major global challenge and minimizing extinction rates is the goal of several multilateral environmental agreements. Policy decisions require comprehensive, spatially explicit information on species’ distributions and threats. We present an analysis of the conservation status of 14,669 European terrestrial, freshwater and marine species (ca. 10% of the continental fauna and flora), including all vertebrates and selected groups of invertebrates and plants. Our results reveal that 19% of European species are threatened with extinction, with higher extinction risks for plants (27%) and invertebrates (24%) compared to vertebrates (18%). These numbers exceed recent IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity …

Marine Heatwaves Modulate The Genotypic And Physiological Responses Of Reef-Building Corals To Subsequent Heat Stress, Kristen T. Brown, Amatzia Genin, Matheus A. Mello-Athayde, Ellie Bergstrom, Adriana Campili, Aaron Chai, Sophie G. Dove, Maureen Ho, Devin Rowell, Eugenia M. Sampayo, Veronica Z. Radice

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Back-to-back marine heatwaves in 2016 and 2017 resulted in severe coral bleaching and mortality across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Encouragingly, some corals that survived these events exhibit increased bleaching resistance and may represent thermally tolerant populations that can better cope with ocean warming. Using the GBR as a natural laboratory, we investigated whether a history of minimal (Heron Island) or severe (Lizard Island) coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017 equates to stress tolerance in a successive heatwave (2020). We examined the genetic diversity, physiological performance, and trophic plasticity of juvenile (<10 cm) and adult (>25 cm) corals of two common genera ( …

Frankenbacteriosis Targeting Interactions Between Pathogen And Symbiont To Control Infection In The Tick Vector, Lorena Mazuecos, Pilar Alberdi, Angélica Hernández-Jarguín, Marinela Contreras, Margarita Villar, Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz, Ladislav Simo, Almudena González-García, Sandra Díaz-Sánchez, Girish Neelakanta, Sarah I. Bonnet, Erol Fikrig, José De La Fuente

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

(Summary) Tick microbiota can be targeted for the control of tick-borne diseases such as human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) caused by model pathogen, Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Frankenbacteriosis is inspired by Frankenstein and defined here as paratransgenesis of tick symbiotic/commensal bacteria to mimic and compete with tick-borne pathogens. Interactions between A. phagocytophilum and symbiotic Sphingomonas identified by metaproteomics analysis in Ixodes scapularis midgut showed competition between both bacteria. Consequently, Sphingomonas was selected for frankenbacteriosis for the control of A. phagocytophilum infection and transmission. The results showed that Franken Sphingomonas producing A. phagocytophilum major surface protein 4 (MSP4) mimic pathogen and reduce infection …

Promiscuous Feeding Across Multiple Honey Bee Hosts Amplifies The Vectorial Capacity Of Varroa Destructor, Zachary S. Lamas, Serhat Solmaz, Eugene V. Ryabov, Joseph Mowery, Matthew Heermann, Daniel Sonenshine, Jay D. Evans, David J. Hawthorne

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Varroa destructor is a cosmopolitan pest and leading cause of colony loss of the European honey bee. Historically described as a competent vector of honey bee viruses, this arthropod vector is the cause of a global pandemic of Deformed wing virus, now endemic in honeybee populations in all Varroa-infested regions. Our work shows that viral spread is driven by Varroa actively switching from one adult bee to another as they feed. Assays using fluorescent microspheres were used to indicate the movement of fluids in both directions between host and vector when Varroa feed. Therefore, Varroa could be in either …

Lifetime Inclusive Fitness Effects Of Cooperative Polygamy In The Acorn Woodpecker, Walter D. Koenig, Sahas Barve, Joseph Haydock, Eric L. Walters

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Although over 50 y have passed since W. D. Hamilton articulated kin selection and inclusive fitness as evolutionary explanations for altruistic behavior, quantifying inclusive fitness continues to be challenging. Here, using 30 y of data and two alternative methods, we outline an approach to measure lifetime inclusive fitness effects of cooperative polygamy (mate-sharing or cobreeding) in the cooperatively breeding acorn woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus. For both sexes, the number of offspring (observed direct fitness) declined while the number of young parented by related cobreeders (observed indirect fitness effect) increased with cobreeding coalition size. Combining these two factors, the observed inclusive …

Corals At The Edge Of Environmental Limits: A New Conceptual Framework To Re-Define Marginal And Extreme Coral Communities, Verena Schoepf, Justin H. Baumann, Daniel J. Barshis, Nicola K. Browne, Emma F. Camp, Steeve Comeau, Christopher E. Cornwall, Héctor M. Guzmán, Bernhard Riegl, Riccardo Rodolfo-Metalpa, Brigitte Sommer

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The worldwide decline of coral reefs has renewed interest in coral communities at the edge of environmental limits because they have the potential to serve as resilience hotspots and climate change refugia, and can provide insights into how coral reefs might function in future ocean conditions. These coral communities are often referred to as marginal or extreme but few definitions exist and usage of these terms has therefore been inconsistent. This creates significant challenges for categorising these often poorly studied communities and synthesising data across locations. Furthermore, this impedes our understanding of how coral communities can persist at the edge …

Rapidly Changing Range Limits In A Warming World: Critical Data Limitations And Knowledge Gaps For Advancing Understanding Of Mangrove Range Dynamics In The Southeastern Usa, Rémi Bardou, Michael J. Osland, Steven Scyphers, Christine Shepard, Karen E. Aerni, Jahson B. Alemu I, Robert Crimian, Richard H. Day, Nicholas M. Enwright, Laura C. Feher, Sarah L. Gibbs, Kiera O'Donnell, Savannah H. Swinea, Kalaina Thorne, Sarit Truskey, Anna R. Armitage, Ronald Baker, Josh L. Breithaupt, Kyle C. Cavanaugh, Erik S. Yando, A. Randall Hughes, Et Al.

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Climate change is altering species’ range limits and transforming ecosystems. For example, warming temperatures are leading to the range expansion of tropical, cold-sensitive species at the expense of their cold-tolerant counterparts. In some temperate and subtropical coastal wetlands, warming winters are enabling mangrove forest encroachment into salt marsh, which is a major regime shift that has significant ecological and societal ramifications. Here, we synthesized existing data and expert knowledge to assess the distribution of mangroves near rapidly changing range limits in the southeastern USA. We used expert elicitation to identify data limitations and highlight knowledge gaps for advancing understanding of …

Biodiversity Of Philippine Marine Fishes: A Dna Barcode Reference Library Based On Voucher Specimens, Katherine E. Bemis, Matthew G. Girard, Mudjekeewis D. Santos, Kent E. Carpenter, Jonathan R. Deeds, Diane E. Pitassy, Nicko Amor L. Flores, Elizabeth S. Hunter, Amy C. Driskell, Kenneth S. Macdonald Iii, Lee A. Weigt, Jeffrey T. Williams

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Accurate identification of fishes is essential for understanding their biology and to ensure food safety for consumers. DNA barcoding is an important tool because it can verify identifications of both whole and processed fishes that have had key morphological characters removed (e.g., filets, fish meal); however, DNA reference libraries are incomplete, and public repositories for sequence data contain incorrectly identified sequences. During a nine-year sampling program in the Philippines, a global biodiversity hotspot for marine fishes, we developed a verified reference library of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences for 2,525 specimens representing 984 species. Specimens were primarily purchased …

Corrigendum: Characterization Of A Novel Transitional Group Rickettsia Species (Rickettsia Tillamookensis Sp. Nov.) From The Western Black-Legged Tick, Ixodes Pacificus, David T. Gauthier, Sandor E. Karpathy, Stephanie L. Grizzard, Dhwani Batra, Lori A. Rowe, Christopher D. Paddock

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (Cbass): A Low Cost, Portable System For Standardized Empirical Assessments Of Coral Thermal Limits, Nicolas R. Evensen, Katherine E. Parker, Thomas A. Oliver, Stephen R. Palumbi, Cheryl A. Logan, James S. Ryan, Courtney N. Klepac, Gabriela Perna, Mark E. Warner, Christian R. Voolstra, Daniel J. Barshis

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ocean warming is increasingly affecting marine ecosystems across the globe. Reef-building corals are particularly affected by warming, with mass bleaching events increasing in frequency and leading to widespread coral mortality. Yet, some corals can resist or recover from bleaching better than others. Such variability in thermal resilience could be critical to reef persistence; however, the scientific community lacks standardized diagnostic approaches to rapidly and comparatively assess coral thermal vulnerability prior to bleaching events. We present the Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS) as a low-cost, open-source, field-portable experimental system for rapid empirical assessment of coral thermal thresholds using standardized temperature …

An Integrative Salt Marsh Conceptual Framework For Global Comparisons, Erik S. Yando, Scott F. Jones, W. Ryan James, Denise D. Colombano, Diana I. Montemayor, Stefanie Nolte, Jacqueline L. Raw, Shelby L. Ziegler, Luzhen Chen, Daniele Daffonchio, Marco Fusi, Kerrylee Rogers, Liudmila Sergienko

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Salt marshes occur globally across climatic and coastal settings, providing key linkages between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, salt marsh science lacks a unifying conceptual framework; consequently, historically well-studied locations have been used as normative benchmarks. To allow for more effective comparisons across the diversity of salt marshes, we developed an integrative salt marsh conceptual framework. We review ecosystem-relevant drivers from global to local spatial scales, integrate these multi-scale settings into a framework, and provide guidance on applying the framework using specific variables on 11 global examples. Overall, this framework allows for appropriate comparison of study sites by accounting for …

Blue Carbon Science, Management And Policy Across A Tropical Urban Landscape, Daniel A. Friess, Yasmine M. Gatt, Tze Kwan Fung, Jahson B. Alemu I, Natasha Bhatia, Rebecca Case, Siew Chin Chua, Danwei Huang, Valerie Kwan, Kiah Eng Lim, Yudhishthra Nathan, Yan Xiang Ow, Daniel Saavedra-Hortua, Taylor M. Sloey, Erik S. Yando, Hassan Ibrahim, Lian Pin Koh, Jun Yu Puah, Serena Lay-Ming Teo, Karenne Tun, Lynn Wei Wong, Siti Maryam Yaakub

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The ability of vegetated coastal ecosystems to sequester high rates of “blue” carbon over millennial time scales has attracted the interest of national and international policy makers as a tool for climate change mitigation. Whereas focus on blue carbon conservation has been mostly on threatened rural seascapes, there is scope to consider blue carbon dynamics along highly fragmented and developed urban coastlines. The tropical city state of Singapore is used as a case study of urban blue carbon knowledge generation, how blue carbon changes over time with urban development, and how such knowledge can be integrated into urban planning alongside …

The Practice And Promise Of Temporal Genomics For Measuring Evolutionary Responses To Global Change, René D. Clark, Katrina A. Catalano, Kyra S. Fitz, Eric Garcia, Kyle E. Jaynes, Brendan N. Reid, Allyson Sawkins, Anthony A. Snead, John C. Whalen, Malin L. Pinsky

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding the evolutionary consequences of anthropogenic change is imperative for estimating long-term species resilience. While contemporary genomic data can provide us with important insights into recent demographic histories, investigating past change using present genomic data alone has limitations. In comparison, temporal genomics studies, defined herein as those that incorporate time series genomic data, utilize museum collections and repeated field sampling to directly examine evolutionary change. As temporal genomics is applied to more systems, species and questions, best practices can be helpful guides to make the most efficient use of limited resources. Here, we conduct a systematic literature review to synthesize …

Unraveling A Paradox Of Habitat Relationships: Scale-Dependent Drivers Of Temporal Occupancy-Abundance Relationships In A Cooperatively Breeding Bird, Natasha D.G. Hagemeyer, Mario B. Pesendorfer, Walter D. Koenig, Eric L. Walters

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Context Spatial occupancy and local abundance of species often positively covary, but the mechanisms driving this widespread relationship are poorly understood. Resource dynamics and habitat changes have been suggested as potential drivers, but long-term studies relating them to abundance and occupancy are rare. In this 34-year study of acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), a cooperatively breeding species, we observed a paradoxical response to changes in habitat composition: despite a reduction in the availability of high-quality breeding habitat, the population increased considerably.

Objectives We investigated the role of annual variation in food availability and long-term changes in habitat composition as predictors …