A5029335495- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Plant and animal studies
- Plant Parasitism and Resistance
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Gut microbiota and health
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Forest Management and Policy
- Forest ecology and management
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
- Lichen and fungal ecology
- Tree-ring climate responses
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Plant and Biological Electrophysiology Studies
- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
Auckland University of Technology
2016-2024
Lincoln University
2011-2022
Education New Zealand
2022
Ecological Society of America
2016-2020
John Wiley & Sons (United States)
2016-2020
IFC Research (United Kingdom)
2018-2019
Washington University in St. Louis
2019
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
2019
Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
2012-2017
Harvard University
2012-2017
ABSTRACT Bacterial communities are important for the health and productivity of soil ecosystems have great potential as novel indicators environmental perturbations. To assess how they affected by anthropogenic activity to determine their ability provide alternative metrics health, we sought define which variables bacteria respond across multiple types land uses. We determined, through 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, composition bacterial in samples from 110 natural or human-impacted...
Abstract Background Soil ecosystems consist of complex interactions between biological communities and physico-chemical variables, all which contribute to the overall quality soils. Despite this, changes in bacterial are ignored by most soil monitoring programs, crucial ensure sustainability land management practices. We applied 16S rRNA gene sequencing determine community composition over 3000 samples from 606 sites New Zealand. Sites were classified as indigenous forests, exotic forest...
Advances in the sequencing of DNA extracted from media such as soil and water offer huge opportunities for biodiversity monitoring assessment, particularly where collection or identification whole organisms is impractical.However, there are myriad methods extraction, storage, amplification environmental samples.To help overcome potential biases that may impede effective comparison data collected by different researchers, we propose a standardised set procedures use on taxa sample media,...
Summary 1. Agricultural land use threatens ecosystem services such as biological control by natural enemies because of simplification habitat structure and intensification disturbance agrochemical inputs. Low parasitism rates agricultural pests have typically been attributed to a lack resources for parasitoids in highly simplified landscapes, but this could be confounded the nearly ubiquitous correlation between landscape complexity cover intensively farmed crops. 2. Here, we disentangle...
Summary The expansion of intensive agricultural practices is a major threat to biodiversity and the delivery ecosystem services on which humans depend. Local‐scale conservation management strategies, such as agri‐environment schemes preserve biodiversity, have been widely adopted reduce negative impacts intensification. However, it likely that effectiveness these local‐scale actions depend structure composition surrounding landscape. We experimentally tested utility floral resource strips...
Using environmental DNA (eDNA) to assess the distribution of micro- and macroorganisms is becoming increasingly popular. However, comparability reliability these studies not well understood as we lack evidence on how different extraction methods affect detection organisms, this varies among sample types. Our aim was quantify biases associated with six identify one which optimal for eDNA research targeting multiple organisms We assessed each methods' ability simultaneously extract bacterial,...
The most widespread response to global warming among alpine treeline ecotones is not an upward shift, but increase in tree density. However, the impact of increasing density on interactions trees at well understood. Here, we test if densification induced by climatic leads intraspecific competition. We mapped and measured size age Smith fir growing two treelines located southeastern Tibetan Plateau. used spatial point-pattern codispersion analyses describe association covariation seedlings,...
Abstract Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called development a “Green List Species” (now IUCN Green Status Species). A draft framework assessing species’ progress toward recovery, published 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks viability, functionality, preimpact distribution) determine current status (herein...
Globally, treeline ecotones vary from abrupt lines to extended zones of increasingly small, stunted and/or dispersed trees. These spatial patterns contain information about the processes that control dynamics. Describing these consistently along ecologically meaningful dimensions is needed for generalizing hypotheses and knowledge controlling expected shifts globally. However, existing categorizations treelines are very loosely defined, leading ambiguities in their use interpretation. To...
Abstract Aim The extent to which bacterial communities exhibit biogeographic patterns in their distribution remains unclear. We examined the relative influence of factors including geographic distance, latitude, elevation and catchment land use on taxon richness stream across N ew Z ealand. Location Bacterial were collected from biofilm growing submerged rocks 244 streams. Sample sites spanned a north–south gradient over 970 km, an elevational c . 750 m variety types Methods used automated...
Abstract Flammability is an important plant trait, relevant to function, wildfire behaviour and evolution. However, systematic comparison of flammability across ecosystems has proved difficult because varying methodologies assessment different fuels comprising parts. We compared the species at leaf‐level (most commonly used in studies) shoot‐level (which retains aspects architecture). Furthermore, we examined relationships between leaf functional traits identify key determining flammability....
Abstract Analysing temporal patterns in plant communities is extremely important to quantify the extent and consequences of ecological changes, especially considering current biodiversity crisis. Long‐term data collected through regular sampling permanent plots represent most accurate resource study succession, analyse stability a community over time understand mechanisms driving vegetation change. We hereby present LOng‐Term Vegetation Sampling (LOTVS) initiative, global collection...
Bacterial communities are critical to ecosystem functioning and sensitive their surrounding physiochemical environment. However, the impact of land use change on microbial remains understudied. We used 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing shotgun metagenomics assess soil communities' taxonomic functional responses change. compared data from long-term grassland, exotic forest horticulture reference sites that transitioned (i) Grassland or (ii) Exotic grassland.Community profiles transitional...
Abstract Latitudinal patterns in species richness have been well documented for guilds and individual trophic groups, but comparable entire, multitrophic communities not described. We studied the entire food web that inhabits water‐filled leaves of pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea across North America at two spatial scales: among sites within sites. Contrary to expectation, total both scales increased with latitude, because increasing lower levels. This latitudinal pattern may be driven by...
Summary 1. The positive interspecific abundance–occupancy relationship (AOR) is a ubiquitous, but highly variable ecological pattern. Understanding this variation key challenge for community ecologists and little progress has been made using trait data to predict in abundance occupancy. 2. We used set from vascular plants New Zealand South Island tussock grasslands measured at landscape scale over 25 years analyse AORs within single habitat type. 3. firstly modelled the between occupancy...
ABSTRACT Aim The network structure of food webs plays an important role in the maintenance diversity and ecosystem functioning ecological communities. Previous research has found that size, resource availability, assembly history biotic interactions can potentially drive web structure. However, relative influence climatic variables broad‐scale biogeographic patterns species richness composition not been explored for In this study, we assess addition to known drivers on replicate observations...
In arable cropping systems, reduced or conservation tillage practices are linked with improved soil quality, C retention and higher microbial biomass, but most long-term studies rarely focus on depths greater than 15 cm nor allow comparison of community responses to agricultural practices. We investigated structure in a field trial (12-years, Lincoln, New Zealand) established silt-loam over four depth ranges down 30 cm. Our objectives were investigate the degree homogenisation biological...