Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Open Access Articles

Coarse Particulate Organic Matter Dynamics In Ephemeral Tributaries Of A Central Appalachian Stream Network, Ken M. Fritz, Gregory J. Pond, Brent R. Johnson, Chris D. Barton

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Headwater ephemeral tributaries are interfaces between uplands and downstream waters. Terrestrial coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) is important in fueling aquatic ecosystems; however, the extent to which ephemeral tributaries are functionally connected to downstream waters through fluvial transport of CPOM has been little studied. Hydrology and deposition of leaf and wood, and surrogate transport (Ginkgo biloba leaves and wood dowels) were measured over month‐long intervals through the winter and spring seasons (6 months) in 10 ephemeral tributaries (1.3–5.4 ha) in eastern Kentucky. Leaf deposition and surrogate transport varied over time, reflecting the seasonality of litterfall and runoff. Leaf deposition …

Go to article

Understory Community Assembly Following Wildfire In Boreal Forests: Shift From Stochasticity To Competitive Exclusion And Environmental Filtering, Bo Liu, Han Y. H. Chen, Jian Yang

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Understory vegetation accounts for the majority of plant species diversity and serves as a driver of overstory succession and nutrient cycling in boreal forest ecosystems. However, investigations of the underlying assembly processes of understory vegetation associated with stand development following a wildfire disturbance are rare, particularly in Eurasian boreal forests. In this study, we measured the phylogenetic and functional diversity and trait dispersions of understory communities and tested how these patterns changed with stand age in the Great Xing'an Mountains of Northeastern China. Contrary to our expectation, we found that understory functional traits were phylogenetically convergent. We found that random …

Go to article

Integrating Multiple Genetic Detection Methods To Estimate Population Density Of Social And Territorial Carnivores, Sean M. Murphy, Ben C. Augustine, Jennifer R. Adams, Lisette P. Waits, John J. Cox

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Spatial capture–recapture models can produce unbiased estimates of population density, but sparse detection data often plague studies of social and territorial carnivores. Integrating multiple types of detection data can improve estimation of the spatial scale parameter (σ), activity center locations, and density. Noninvasive genetic sampling is effective for detecting carnivores, but social structure and territoriality could cause differential detectability among population cohorts for different detection methods. Using three observation models, we evaluated the integration of genetic detection data from noninvasive hair and scat sampling of the social and territorial coyote (Canis latrans). Although precision of estimated density was …

Go to article

Quantifying Climate Sensitivity And Climate-Driven Change In North American Amphibian Communities, David A. W. Miller, Evan H Campbell Grant, Erin Muths, Staci M. Amburgey, Michael J. Adams, Maxwell B. Joseph, J. Hardin Waddle, Pieter T. J. Johnson, Maureen E. Ryan, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Daniel L. Calhoun, Courtney L. Davis, Robert N. Fisher, David M. Green, Blake R. Hossack, Tracy A. G. Rittenhouse, Susan C. Walls, Larissa L. Bailey, Sam S. Cruickshank, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas A. Gorman, Carola A. Haas, Ward Hughson, David S. Pilliod, Steve J. Price, Andrew M. Ray, Walt Sadinski, Daniel Saenz, William J. Barichivich, Adrianne Brand

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Changing climate will impact species’ ranges only when environmental variability directly impacts the demography of local populations. However, measurement of demographic responses to climate change has largely been limited to single species and locations. Here we show that amphibian communities are responsive to climatic variability, using > 500,000 time-series observations for 81 species across 86 North American study areas. The effect of climate on local colonization and persistence probabilities varies among eco-regions and depends on local climate, species life-histories, and taxonomic classification. We found that local species richness is most sensitive to changes in water availability during breeding and changes in …

Go to article

Does Environment Filtering Or Seed Limitation Determine Post-Fire Forest Recovery Patterns In Boreal Larch Forests?, Wen H. Cai, Zhihua Liu, Yuan Z. Yang, Jian Yang

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Wildfire is a primary natural disturbance in boreal forests, and post-fire vegetation recovery rate influences carbon, water, and energy exchange between the land and atmosphere in the region. Seed availability and environmental filtering are two important determinants in regulating post-fire vegetation recovery in boreal forests. Quantifying how these determinants change over time is helpful for understanding post-fire forest successional trajectory. Time series of remote sensing data offer considerable potential in monitoring the trajectory of post-fire vegetation recovery dynamics beyond current field surveys about structural attributes, which generally lack a temporal perspective across large burned areas. We used a time series …

Go to article

Shifts In Assemblage Of Foraging Bats At Mammoth Cave National Park Following Arrival Of White-Nose Syndrome, Marissa M. Thalken, Michael J. Lacki, Joseph S. Johnson

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

The arrival of white-nose syndrome (WNS) to North America in 2006, and the subsequent decline in populations of cave-hibernating bats have potential long-term implications for communities of forest-dwelling bats in affected regions. Severe declines in wintering populations of bats should lead to concomitant shifts in the composition and relative abundance of species during the staging, maternity, and swarming seasons in nearby forested habitats. We examined capture rates of bats collected in mist nets from 2009 to 2016 to evaluate summer patterns in abundance of species pre- and post-arrival of WNS to Mammoth Cave National Park, KY. The data demonstrated a …

Go to article

Influence Of Damming On Anuran Species Richness In Riparian Areas: A Test Of The Serial Discontinuity Concept, Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Evan A. Eskew, Brian J. Halstead, Steve J. Price

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Almost all large rivers worldwide are fragmented by dams, and their impacts have been modeled using the serial discontinuity concept (SDC), a series of predictions regarding responses of key biotic and abiotic variables. We evaluated the effects of damming on anuran communities along a 245‐km river corridor by conducting repeated, time‐constrained anuran calling surveys at 42 locations along the Broad and Pacolet Rivers in South Carolina, USA. Using a hierarchical Bayesian analysis, we test the biodiversity prediction of the SDC (modified for floodplain rivers) by evaluating anuran occupancy and species diversity relative to dams and degree of urbanized land use. …

Go to article

Quantitative Evidence For The Effects Of Multiple Drivers On Continental-Scale Amphibian Declines, Evan H. Campbell Grant, David A. W. Miller, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Michael J. Adams, Staci M. Amburgey, Thierry Chambert, Sam S. Cruickshank, Robert N. Fisher, David M. Green, Blake R. Hossack, Pieter T. J. Johnson, Maxwell B. Joseph, Tracy A. G. Rittenhouse, Maureen E. Ryan, J. Hardin Waddle, Susan C. Walls, Larissa L. Bailey, Gary M. Fellers, Thomas A. Gorman, Andrew M. Ray, David S. Pilliod, Steven J. Price, Daniel Saenz, Walt Sadinski, Erin Muths

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Since amphibian declines were first proposed as a global phenomenon over a quarter century ago, the conservation community has made little progress in halting or reversing these trends. The early search for a “smoking gun” was replaced with the expectation that declines are caused by multiple drivers. While field observations and experiments have identified factors leading to increased local extinction risk, evidence for effects of these drivers is lacking at large spatial scales. Here, we use observations of 389 time-series of 83 species and complexes from 61 study areas across North America to test the effects of 4 of the …

Go to article

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Coarse Particulate Organic Matter Dynamics In Ephemeral Tributaries Of A Central Appalachian Stream Network, Ken M. Fritz, Gregory J. Pond, Brent R. Johnson, Chris D. Barton

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Understory Community Assembly Following Wildfire In Boreal Forests: Shift From Stochasticity To Competitive Exclusion And Environmental Filtering, Bo Liu, Han Y. H. Chen, Jian Yang

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Integrating Multiple Genetic Detection Methods To Estimate Population Density Of Social And Territorial Carnivores, Sean M. Murphy, Ben C. Augustine, Jennifer R. Adams, Lisette P. Waits, John J. Cox

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Does Environment Filtering Or Seed Limitation Determine Post-Fire Forest Recovery Patterns In Boreal Larch Forests?, Wen H. Cai, Zhihua Liu, Yuan Z. Yang, Jian Yang

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Shifts In Assemblage Of Foraging Bats At Mammoth Cave National Park Following Arrival Of White-Nose Syndrome, Marissa M. Thalken, Michael J. Lacki, Joseph S. Johnson

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Influence Of Damming On Anuran Species Richness In Riparian Areas: A Test Of The Serial Discontinuity Concept, Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Evan A. Eskew, Brian J. Halstead, Steve J. Price

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications