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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Spatially Biased Dispersal Of Acorns By A Scatter-Hoarding Corvid May Accelerate Passive Restoration Of Oak Habitat On California’S Largest Island, Mario B. Pesendorfer, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison
Spatially Biased Dispersal Of Acorns By A Scatter-Hoarding Corvid May Accelerate Passive Restoration Of Oak Habitat On California’S Largest Island, Mario B. Pesendorfer, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Scatter hoarding by corvids (crows, jays, magpies, and nutcrackers) provides seed dispersal for many large-seeded plants, including oaks and pines. When hoarding seeds, corvids often choose nonrandom locations throughout the landscape, resulting in differential survival of seeds. In the context of habitat restoration, such disproportional storing of seeds in areas suitable for germination and establishment can accelerate expansion and recovery of large-seeded tree populations and their associated ecosystems. Here, we investigate the spatial preferences of island scrub jays Aphelocoma insularis during scatter hoarding of acorns (Quercus spp.) on Santa Cruz Island. We use a large behavioral data set on …
Fire Does Not Alter Vegetation In Infertile Prairie, Johannes M.H. Knops
Fire Does Not Alter Vegetation In Infertile Prairie, Johannes M.H. Knops
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
The paradigm in prairie ecology is that fire is one of the key factors deter-mining vegetation composition. fire can impact grassland ecosystems in various ways, including changing plant species composition and inducing nitro-gen loss. I found that 17 years of different burning frequencies in infertile grassland had only a minor impact on the vegetation composition and diversity. The only major impact from increasing the frequency of fires was a decrease of Poa pratensis abundance. However, other plant species did not r-spond to the change in Poa abundance. This result contrasts with previous studies in savannas and more productive grasslands, where …