A5002335402- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Plant and animal studies
- Plant Parasitism and Resistance
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
- Avian ecology and behavior
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Insect and Pesticide Research
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Weed Control and Herbicide Applications
- Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies
- Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Biological Control of Invasive Species
- Forest Insect Ecology and Management
- Ecology and biodiversity studies
- Climate change and permafrost
- Leaf Properties and Growth Measurement
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Plant and fungal interactions
San Diego State University
2019-2025
Northern Illinois University
2012-2022
University of Massachusetts Amherst
2010-2013
University of Missouri–St. Louis
2006-2012
Deadwood is a large global carbon store with its size partially determined by biotic decay. Microbial wood decay rates are known to respond changing temperature and precipitation. Termites also important decomposers in the tropics but less well studied. An understanding of their climate sensitivities needed estimate change effects on pools. Using data from 133 sites spanning six continents, we found that termite discovery consumption were highly sensitive (with increasing >6.8 times per 10°C...
AimsThe majority of angiosperms are pollinated by animals, and this interaction is enormous importance in both agricultural natural systems. Pollinator behavior influenced plants' floral traits, these traits may be modified interactions with other community members. In recent years, knowledge ecological linkages between above- belowground organisms has grown tremendously. Soil communities extremely diverse, when their plants influence characteristics, they have the potential to alter...
Herbivores affect plants through direct effects, such as tissue damage, and indirect effects that alter species interactions. Interactions may be positive or negative, so have the potential to enhance lessen net impacts of herbivores. Despite ubiquity these interactions, pathways are considerably less understood than herbivores, multiple rarely studied simultaneously. We placed herbivore in a comprehensive community context by studying how herbivory influences plant interactions with...
Restoration and management of natural ecosystems is a critical strategy in mitigating global biodiversity loss. This exemplified the American Midwest by efforts aimed at reclaiming historical grasslands lost to high-yield agriculture. While restorations traditionally take form plant reintroduction management, advances microbial analyses suggest that soil communities could be indicators restoration success. However, current understanding key taxa functional activities both restored limited....
Significance “If you build it, they will come” is a commonly accepted principle of restoration ecology (the Field Dreams hypothesis). This hypothesis, which frequently guides practice, predicts that restoring plant biodiversity lead to the recovery animal biodiversity. However, this prediction rarely tested because studies measure or biodiversity, but both. Four years and data collected from tallgrass prairies showed had strong effects on vertebrate invertebrate Animal was explained more by...
An important stabilizing mechanism in most diversity–stability models is the insurance hypothesis, which involves correlation/covariance relationships among species. These require that species do not fluctuate synchronously over time: is, correlation between pairs of does equal 1.0. However, strength this increases as correlations decline away from 1.0, especially they become more negative and also summed covariance across all becomes negative. We evaluated importance hypothesis a by...
Ecological communities are structured by both deterministic, niche-based processes and stochastic such as dispersal. A pressing issue in ecology is to determine when for which organisms each of these types important community assembly. The roles deterministic have been studied a variety communities, but very few researchers addressed their contribution insect herbivore structure. Insect niches often described largely shaped the antagonistic pressures predation host plant defenses. However...
Agricultural management has profound effects on soil communities. Activities such as fertilizer inputs can modify the composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities, which form important symbioses with roots most crop plants. Intensive conventional agricultural may select for less mutualistic AMF reduced benefits to host plants compared organic management, but these differences are poorly understood. generally evaluated based their direct growth However, colonization also...
Summary Ecosystem restoration is an important tool for mitigating biodiversity loss and recovering critical ecosystem services to humanity, but rarely takes into account the evolutionary attributes of community being restored. Phylogenetic diversity ( PD ) represents a potentially valuable measure success because it can correlate with functional trait that drives function. However, patterns in restored communities are assessed. We surveyed plant tallgrass prairies 2–19 years old calculated...
Pathogens pose significant threats to pollinator health and food security. Pollinators can transmit diseases during foraging, but the consequences of plant species composition for infection is unknown. In agroecosystems, flowering strips or hedgerows are often used augment habitat. We canola as a focal crop in tents manipulated strip using we had previously shown result higher lower bee short-term trials. also initial colony assess impacts on foraging behavior. Flowering high-infection...
Abstract Knowledge of how habitat restoration shapes soil microbial communities often is limited despite their critical roles in ecosystem function. Soil community diversity and composition change after restoration, but the trajectory these successional changes may be influenced by disturbances imposed for management. We studied bacterial a restored tallgrass prairie chronosequence >6 years to document changed with age, management through fire, grazing reintroduced bison, comparison...
While an extensive literature exists on the negative effects of invasive species, little is known about their facilitative native particularly role invasives as trophic subsidies to predators. The gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) undergoes periodic outbreaks during which it represents a super-abundant food source for predators capable consuming it, cuckoos (Coccyzus erythropthalmus and C. americanus). We examined how affect abundance distribution using North American Breeding Bird Survey 29...
Plants interact with a variety of other community members that have the potential to indirectly influence each through shared host plant. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are generally considered plant mutualists because their positive effects on nutrient status and growth. AMF may also important indirect plants by altering interactions members. By influencing traits, can modify aboveground both mutualists, such as pollinators, antagonists, herbivores. Because herbivory pollination...
Direct and indirect effects can play a key role in invasions, but experiments evaluating both are rare. We examined the roles of direct competition apparent by exotic Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) manipulating (1) L. maackii vegetation, (2) presence fruits, (3) access to plants small mammals deer. with reduced abundance richness native species, consumers significantly species. Although consumption were more pervasive, was also through competition, as small-mammal only when fruits...
• Premise of the study: Floral traits play important roles in pollinator attraction and defense against floral herbivory. However, plants may experience trade‐offs between conspicuousness to pollinators herbivore attraction. Comparative studies provide an excellent framework examine role multiple shaping mutualist antagonist interactions. Methods: To assess whether putative defensive attractive predict species interactions, we grew 20 different Cucurbitaceae varieties field measure...
Summary There is a widespread recognition that above‐ and below‐ground organisms are linked through their interactions with host plants span terrestrial subsystems. In addition to direct effects on plants, soil such as root herbivores can indirectly alter between other community members, potentially important plant growth fitness. We manipulated herbivory by Acalymma vittatum in Cucumis sativus determine indirect arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, leaf herbivory, the pathogen downy mildew...
Restoration outcomes are notoriously difficult to predict and often fall short of restoration goals. Post‐restoration management actions may help overcome barriers successful establishment, such as dispersal limitations competition. Layering these increase the intensity disturbances improve outcomes, but they also can be expensive laborious, depending on or number implemented. We investigated a series disturbance intensities previously restored tallgrass prairies using randomized block...
Background and aims – Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous soil organisms that interact with plant roots exchange nutrients for plant-derived carbohydrates, frequently resulting in growth fitness benefits plants. These may be due partly to AMF effects on plants' resistance insect herbivores, particularly through enhancement of induced defenses. Here we studied the impacts colonization constitutive two species nightshades, Solanum ptycanthum S. dulcamara.Methods We used a...