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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Predicting Habitat Choice After Rapid Environmental Change, Philip H. Crowley, Pete C. Trimmer, Orr Spiegel, Sean M. Ehlman, William S. Cuello, Andrew Sih May 2019

Predicting Habitat Choice After Rapid Environmental Change, Philip H. Crowley, Pete C. Trimmer, Orr Spiegel, Sean M. Ehlman, William S. Cuello, Andrew Sih

Biology Faculty Publications

Decisions made while searching for settlement sites (e.g., nesting, oviposition) often have major fitness implications. Despite numerous case studies, we lack theory to explain why some species are thriving while others are making poor habitat choices after environmental change. We develop a model to predict (1) which kinds of environmental change have larger, negative effects on fitness, (2) how evolutionary history affects susceptibility to environmental change, and (3) how much lost fitness can be recovered via readjustment after environmental change. We model the common scenario where animals search an otherwise inhospitable matrix, encountering habitats of varying quality and settling when …


Effects Of Increased Precipitation On The Life History Of Spring- And Autumn-Germinated Plants Of The Cold Desert Annual Erodium Oxyrhynchum (Geraniaceae), Yanfeng Chen, Xiang Shi, Lingwei Zhang, Jerry M. Baskin, Carol C. Baskin, Huiliang Liu, Daoyuan Zhang Apr 2019

Effects Of Increased Precipitation On The Life History Of Spring- And Autumn-Germinated Plants Of The Cold Desert Annual Erodium Oxyrhynchum (Geraniaceae), Yanfeng Chen, Xiang Shi, Lingwei Zhang, Jerry M. Baskin, Carol C. Baskin, Huiliang Liu, Daoyuan Zhang

Biology Faculty Publications

Future increased precipitation in cold desert ecosystems may impact annual/ephemeral plant species that germinate in both spring and autumn. Our primary aim was to compare the life history characteristics of plants from spring-germinating (SG) and autumn-germinating (AG) seeds of Erodium oxyrhynchum. Plants in field plots with simulated increases in precipitation of 0, 30 and 50 % in spring and summer were monitored to determine seedling survival, phenology, plant size, seed production and biomass accumulation and allocation. Germination characteristics were determined in the laboratory for seeds produced by plants in all increased precipitation treatments. Increased precipitation in spring significantly improved survival …


Seed Germination Responses To Seasonal Temperature And Drought Stress Are Species‐Specific But Not Related To Seed Size In A Desert Steppe: Implications For Effect Of Climate Change On Community Structure, Fengyan Yi, Zhaoren Wang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Ruhan Ye, Hailian Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Xuehua Ye, Guofang Liu, Xuejun Yang, Zhenying Huang Feb 2019

Seed Germination Responses To Seasonal Temperature And Drought Stress Are Species‐Specific But Not Related To Seed Size In A Desert Steppe: Implications For Effect Of Climate Change On Community Structure, Fengyan Yi, Zhaoren Wang, Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, Ruhan Ye, Hailian Sun, Yuanyuan Zhang, Xuehua Ye, Guofang Liu, Xuejun Yang, Zhenying Huang

Biology Faculty Publications

Investigating how seed germination of multiple species in an ecosystem responds to environmental conditions is crucial for understanding the mechanisms for community structure and biodiversity maintenance. However, knowledge of seed germination response of species to environmental conditions is still scarce at the community level. We hypothesized that responses of seed germination to environmental conditions differ among species at the community level, and that germination response is not correlated with seed size. To test this hypothesis, we determined the response of seed germination of 20 common species in the Siziwang Desert Steppe, China, to seasonal temperature regimes (representing April, May, June, …