A5037745426- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Plant and animal studies
- Plant Parasitism and Resistance
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Seed Germination and Physiology
- Forest ecology and management
- Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Banana Cultivation and Research
- Cocoa and Sweet Potato Agronomy
- Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Botanical Research and Applications
- Zoonotic diseases and public health
- Insect Pest Control Strategies
- Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems
- Plant pathogens and resistance mechanisms
- Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Ecology and biodiversity studies
- Flowering Plant Growth and Cultivation
- Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
Utah State University
2010-2025
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
2011-2025
John Wiley & Sons (United States)
2020
Ecological Society of America
2020
National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center
2016-2018
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
2012-2014
The Ohio State University
2013-2014
University of Minnesota
2007-2013
Washington and Lee University
2003-2007
Summary The J anzen– C onnell hypothesis proposes that specialist natural enemies, such as herbivores and pathogens, maintain diversity in plant communities by reducing survival rates of conspecific seeds seedlings located close to reproductive adults or areas high density. Variation the strength distance‐ density‐dependent effects is hypothesized explain variation species richness along climatic gradients, with predicted be stronger tropics than temperate zone wetter habitats compared drier...
ABSTRACT We introduce a special section that addresses the bushmeat or wild meat crisis, its direct impact on game species, and indirect plants in tropical forests.
Abstract Seed dispersal is an essential, yet often overlooked process in plant ecology and evolution, affecting adaptation capacity, population persistence invasiveness. A species’ ability to disperse expected covary with other life‐history traits form syndromes. Dispersal might be linked the rate of life history, fecundity or generation time, depending on relative selection pressures bet‐hedging, kin competition maintaining gene flow. However, linkage between strategies remains unknown...
Seed dispersal, or the movement of diaspores away from parent location, is a multiscale, multipartner process that depends on interaction plant life history with vector and environment. dispersal underpins many important ecological evolutionary processes such as gene flow, population dynamics, range expansion, diversity. We review exciting new directions field seed ecology evolution has taken over past 40 years. provide an overview ultimate causes consequences this for community dynamics....
Abstract: Roads can fragment animal populations by disrupting movement among formerly continuous habitats. Although models have demonstrated that disrupted contribute to long‐term extinction, there are few empirical data on the effects of roads movement. We used displacement and homing experiments determine whether forest barriers terrestrial salamanders. displaced 1471 red‐backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) across five compared return rates those equal distances toward interior....
Abstract Seed dispersal sets the stage for suite of biotic and abiotic interactions that determine fate individual seeds. In this review, we first focus on how influences ‘seedscape’, or combination factors affect probability recruitment once a seed has reached its final location. We review recent papers examine effect different vectors (1) quality habitat in which lands; (2) distance seeds are dispersed from parent tree; (3) density composition plants within neighborhood following...
ABSTRACT Many of the mammals undergoing drastic declines in tropical forests worldwide are important seed dispersers and predators, thus changes mammal communities due to hunting will affect plant recruitment. It has been hypothesized that larger‐seeded species suffer greater reductions removal increases predispersal predation than smaller‐seeded species. We compared primary secondary two tree between hunted nonhunted sites Central Panama. Seeds Oenocarpus mapora (Arecaceae) 16‐times size...
Summary 1. Seed dispersal and natural enemies both influence spatial patterns of seedlings, which in turn future abiotic biotic interactions, with consequences for plant populations, distributions diversity. Clumped seed deposition is common, especially vertebrate‐dispersed seeds, has the potential to significantly affect interactions density‐responsive enemies, yet received relatively little attention. 2. We used spatially explicit simulation models examine how different enemy attack...
Seed dispersal is critical to the ecological performance of sexually reproducing plant species and communities that they form. The Mammalian order Carnivora provide valuable effective seed services but tend be overlooked in much literature. Here we review literature on role Carnivorans dispersal, with a search Scopus reference database. Overall, found are prolific dispersers. Carnivorans’ diverse plastic diets allow them consume large volumes over hundred families fruit disperse quantities...
ABSTRACT Many animals contain a species-rich and diverse gut microbiota that likely contributes to several host-supportive services include diet processing nutrient provisioning. Loss of microbiome taxa their associated metabolic functions as result perturbations may in loss microbiome-level reduction capacity. If are shared by multiple (i.e., functional redundancy), including deeply divergent lineages, then the impact taxon/function losses be dampened. We examined what degree alterations...
Abstract Plants produce an astonishingly diverse array of specialized metabolites. A crucial step in understanding the origin such chemodiversity is describing how manifests across spatial and ontogenetic scales relevant to plant–biotic interactions. Focusing on 21 sympatric species Psychotria Palicourea sensu lato (Rubiaceae), we describe patterns metabolite diversity using a combination field collections, untargeted metabolomics, ecoinformatics. We compare α, β, γ metabolites expanding...
One of the major effects deforestation is creation numerous edge zones where remaining forest meets nonforest habitat. At this interface, on habitats can include altered abiotic conditions, changes in rates competition and predation, community structure. While resulting from clear-cuts other open are well-studied, little known about comparative roads. We studied roads abundance, surface activity, body condition red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) slimy (P. glutinosus P. cylindraceus)...
Ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation alter the functional diversity of forests. Generalising magnitude change in fragmented landscapes its drivers is challenging because multiple scales at which landscape takes place. Here we propose a multi-scale approach to determine whether processes local are reducing trees East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. We employ structural equation modelling using five key plant traits (seed length, dispersal mode, shade tolerance, maximum tree height, wood...
Plants produce an enormous diversity of secondary metabolites, but the evolutionary mechanisms that maintain this are still unclear. The interaction hypothesis suggests complex chemical phenotypes maintained because different metabolites benefit plants in pairwise interactions with a other organisms. In synthesis, we extend to consider fruits, as potential hotspots both antagonists and mutualists, likely important incubators phytochemical diversity. We provide case study focused on...
Abstract Patterns of seed dispersal and mortality influence the spatial structure plant communities local coexistence competing species. Most seeds are dispersed in proximity to parent tree, where is also expected be highest, because competition with siblings or attraction natural enemies. Whereas distance‐dependent seed‐to‐seedling transition was often observed tropical forests, few studies have attempted estimate shape survival‐distance curves, which determines whether peak seedling...
Abstract Dispersal and fecundity are two fundamental traits underlying the spread of populations. Using integral difference equation models, we examine how individual variation in these heritability influence rates spatial populations along a one-dimensional transect. mixture analytic numerical methods, show that dispersal increases more heritable this variation, greater increase. In contrast, lifetime only when some is heritable. The highest occur positively co-varies with fecundity. Our...