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Full-Text Articles in Biology
Competition And Herbivory Influence The Survival, Growth, And Physiology Of Native Tree Seedlings In The Kentucky Inner Bluegrass Savanna-Woodland, James D. Shaffer
Competition And Herbivory Influence The Survival, Growth, And Physiology Of Native Tree Seedlings In The Kentucky Inner Bluegrass Savanna-Woodland, James D. Shaffer
Theses and Dissertations--Biology
Terrestrial plant communities are shaped by competition for resources, herbivory, and abiotic processes. Savanna systems represent a dynamic coexistence of contrasting life forms (grasses and trees) shaped by competition and disturbance. The Kentucky Inner Bluegrass Savanna-Woodland (KIBSW) is described as an open woodland of shade intolerant species; however, climatic, and edaphic conditions can support closed-canopy forest. After European pioneer settlement (c1750-1800), over 99% of “savanna-woodlands” have been lost. KIBSW remnants are experiencing a recruitment failure, leading to a dominance shift in tree communities. I researched how tree-grass competition and mammalian herbivory influence KIBSW regeneration and maintenance. The KIBSW does not …
Four Decades Of Andean Timberline Migration And Implications For Biodiversity Loss With Climate Change, David A. Lutz, Rebecca L. Powell, Miles R. Silman
Four Decades Of Andean Timberline Migration And Implications For Biodiversity Loss With Climate Change, David A. Lutz, Rebecca L. Powell, Miles R. Silman
Dartmouth Scholarship
Rapid 21st-century climate change may lead to large population decreases and extinction in tropical montane cloud forest species in the Andes. While prior research has focused on species migrations per se, ecotones may respond to different environmental factors than species. Even if species can migrate in response to climate change, if ecotones do not they can function as hard barriers to species migrations, making ecotone migrations central to understanding species persistence under scenarios of climate change. We examined a 42-year span of aerial photographs and high resolution satellite imagery to calculate migration rates of timberline–the grassland-forest ecotone–inside and outside of …
Effects Of Multiple Ecological Drivers On Recruitment And Succession Of Coral Reef Macroalgal Communities, Alain Duran
Effects Of Multiple Ecological Drivers On Recruitment And Succession Of Coral Reef Macroalgal Communities, Alain Duran
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The study evaluated the effects of herbivory pressure, nutrient availability and potential propagule supply on recruitment and succession of coral reef macroalgal communities. Recruitment and succession tiles were placed in a nutrient-herbivory factorial experiment and macroalgal abundances were evaluated through time. Proportional abundances of macroalgal form-functional groups on recruitment and succession tiles were similar to field established communities within treatments, evidencing possible effects of adult macroalgae as propagule supply. Macroalgal abundance of recruitment tiles increased with nutrient loading and herbivory reduction combined whereas on succession tiles nutrient loading increased abundance of articulated-calcareous only when herbivores were excluded. Macroalgal field established …