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Full-Text Articles in Other Life Sciences

Climate Change, Snow Mold And The Bromus Tectorum Invasion: Mixed Evidence For Release From Cold Weather Pathogens, Danielle M. Smull, Nicole Pendleton, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, Peter B. Adler Jul 2019

Climate Change, Snow Mold And The Bromus Tectorum Invasion: Mixed Evidence For Release From Cold Weather Pathogens, Danielle M. Smull, Nicole Pendleton, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, Peter B. Adler

Ecology Center Publications

Climate change is reducing the depth and duration of winter snowpack, leading to dramatic changes in the soil environment with potentially important ecological consequences. Previous experiments in the Intermountain West of North America indicated that loss of snowpack increases survival and population growth rates of the invasive annual grass Bromus tectorum; however, the underlying mechanism is unknown. We hypothesized that reduced snowpack might promote B. tectorum population growth by decreasing damage from snow molds, a group of subnivean fungal pathogens. To test this hypothesis, we conducted greenhouse and field experiments to investigate the interaction between early snowmelt and either …


Estimability Of Migration Survival Rates From Integrated Breeding And Winter Capture–Recapture Data, Clark S. Rushing Feb 2019

Estimability Of Migration Survival Rates From Integrated Breeding And Winter Capture–Recapture Data, Clark S. Rushing

Ecology Center Publications

Long‐distance migration is a common phenomenon across the animal kingdom but the scale of annual migratory movements has made it difficult for researchers to estimate survival rates during these periods of the annual cycle. Estimating migration survival is particularly challenging for small‐bodied species that cannot carry satellite tags, a group that includes the vast majority of migratory species. When capture–recapture data are available for linked breeding and non‐breeding populations, estimation of overall migration survival is possible but current methods do not allow separate estimation of spring and autumn survival rates. Recent development of a Bayesian integrated survival model has provided …


Geospatial Modeling Of Land Cover Change In The Chocó-Darien Global Ecoregion Of South America; One Of Most Biodiverse And Rainy Areas In The World, José Camilo Fagua, R. Douglas Ramsey Feb 2019

Geospatial Modeling Of Land Cover Change In The Chocó-Darien Global Ecoregion Of South America; One Of Most Biodiverse And Rainy Areas In The World, José Camilo Fagua, R. Douglas Ramsey

Ecology Center Publications

The tropical rain forests of northwest South America fall within the Chocó-Darien Global Ecoregion (CGE). The CGE is one of 25 global biodiversity hotspots prioritized for conservation due to its high biodiversity and endemism as well as threats due to deforestation. The analysis of land-use and land-cover (LULC) change within the CGE using remotely sensed imagery is challenging because this area is considered to be one of the rainiest places on the planet (hence high frequency of cloud cover). Furthermore, the availability of high-resolution remotely sensed data is low for developing countries before 2015. Using the Random Forest ensemble learning …


Back To The Future: Conserving Functional And Phylogenetic Diversity In The Amphibian-Climate Refuges, Ricardo Lourenço-De-Moraes, Felipe S. Campos, Rodrigo B. Ferreira, Mirco Solé, Karen H. Beard, Rogério P. Bastos Jan 2019

Back To The Future: Conserving Functional And Phylogenetic Diversity In The Amphibian-Climate Refuges, Ricardo Lourenço-De-Moraes, Felipe S. Campos, Rodrigo B. Ferreira, Mirco Solé, Karen H. Beard, Rogério P. Bastos

Ecology Center Publications

Climate refuges have been used by several species over historical climate change. Ectothermic species often display good models for climate change studies because they are highly sensitive to temperature. Analysis of species loss with ecosystem and evolutionary values helps to understand environmental processes and climate change consequences. We determined the functional and phylogenetic diversity of amphibians in the Atlantic Forest hotspot, using multiple models representing present and future conditions. Through a novel approach, we predict species’ threat status by 2080, following the IUCN’s criterion B1. Our results estimate a drastic reduction in species richness, ecosystem functioning and evolutionary history at …