Ecological Applications[JOURNAL]
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200 papers
The national Fire and Fire Surrogates study at twenty years.
Skinner CN, Stephens SL
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41277266 · Publisher ↗
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Floodplain inundation and lateral connectivity promote productivity in a managed river ecosystem.
Khanna S, Pien C, Goertler P … +6 more , Yamane L, Stumpner E, Gaeta JW, Chapple D, Berglund M, Peek R
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41277054 · Full text
River-floodplain ecosystems near urban centers are heavily engineered for flood protection and water delivery, which has led to a loss of lateral hydrologic connectivity between rivers and their floodplains. This study h...
River-floodplain ecosystems near urban centers are heavily engineered for flood protection and water delivery, which has led to a loss of lateral hydrologic connectivity between rivers and their floodplains. This study has two objectives: (1) Does increased lateral connectivity resulting from floodplain inundation increase chlorophyll a biomass? (2) Does that bump in chlorophyll a get transported downstream? The San Francisco Estuary in California, USA, has a robust and long-term monitoring network for water quality. We integrated water temperature, chlorophyll a, flow, and floodplain inundation data from multiple sources creating a continuous dataset with fine temporal resolution spanning two decades. We used a consistent generalized additive mixed model structure across three regions: the floodplain, the mainstem of the river adjacent to the floodplain, and the section of the river downstream from both the floodplain and mainstem. We found that when the floodplain is not inundated, chlorophyll a biomass is mainly influenced by water temperature. However, when the floodplain is laterally connected during periods of inundation, water spreads over a larger surface area in the floodplain, flows decrease and water temperatures increase creating favorable conditions for chlorophyll a production. High flows during the flood pulse quickly transport chlorophyll a downstream, flushing the estuary with food. Under optimal conditions, tidal mixing in the downstream portion of the estuary can continue to boost chlorophyll a biomass in the system even after the flood waters have retreated. This study can guide the design, enhancement, and management of water conveyance structures to meet environmental flow regulations and to benefit the estuarine food web.
Seamount larval dispersal networks: A potential strategy for conserving ecological connectivity from deep-sea mining.
Saito N, Kise H, Washburn TW … +4 more , Ikeuchi E, Iguchi A, Kamoshida H, Suzuki A
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41276903 · Full text
Seamounts are unique habitats in the deep sea facing anthropogenic stressors, including future deep-sea mining. To conserve patchy marine habitats such as seamounts, it is critical to design conservation area networks th...
Seamounts are unique habitats in the deep sea facing anthropogenic stressors, including future deep-sea mining. To conserve patchy marine habitats such as seamounts, it is critical to design conservation area networks that maintain connectivity by larval dispersal. This study conducted biophysical modeling to quantify larval dispersal among 18 seamounts in the Northwest Pacific, within the scope of a regional environmental management plan for mining under development by the International Seabed Authority. Seamounts formed a single dispersal network, but excluding seamounts with mining potential showed the network could become fragmented. Two seamounts whose mining potential was relinquished in 2024 were identified as key stepping stones, suggesting that environmental conservation at these two seamounts can contribute to maintaining a single dispersal network. Predominant eastward or westward currents, likely related to the North Equatorial Intermediate Current, made the upstream, distant seamounts vital larval sources. Trajectories of Argo floats and gene flows of amphipods provided physical and biological support for the modeled dispersal. This study highlights the potential for effective conservation area placement based on a seamount network connected by upstream-based larval dispersal.
Weak effects of local prey density and spatial overlap on predation intensity in a temperate marine ecosystem.
Lindmark M, Griffiths CA, Bartolino V … +14 more , Thunell V, Maioli F, Anderson SC, Belgrano A, Casini M, Nadolna-Ałtyn K, Pawlak J, Pachur M, Rakowski M, Wikström K, Thompson MSA, Gogina M, Ustups D, Jacobsen NS
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41272402 · Full text
Quantifying the impact of lower trophic level species abundance on higher trophic level predators (and vice versa) is critical for understanding marine ecosystem dynamics and for implementing ecosystem-based management....
Quantifying the impact of lower trophic level species abundance on higher trophic level predators (and vice versa) is critical for understanding marine ecosystem dynamics and for implementing ecosystem-based management. Trophic ecosystem models generally predict a tight coupling between prey and fish predators, such that higher abundance of lower trophic species increases the abundance of higher trophic level predators. This assumes that predator feeding rates are limited by prey availability to some degree. Despite being a key component of predator-prey interactions and multispecies fisheries management, relatively few studies have assessed the impacts of prey availability on predation patterns of mobile, generalist fish predators using spatiotemporal models and local-scale stomach content, predator, and prey data. In this study, we explore the association between local density of key prey and predator stomach contents, and predator-prey spatiotemporal overlap and predation indices, using the Baltic Sea as a case study. We use three decades of spatially resolved biomass and stomach content data on Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), and biomass data on three of its key prey: herring (Clupea harengus), the isopod Saduria entomon, and sprat (Sprattus sprattus). Using geostatistical generalized linear mixed-effects models fitted to relative biomass density and prey-mass-per-predator-mass, we estimate spatiotemporal trends and annual indices of biomass- weighted and area-expanded per-capita and population-level predation, predator-prey overlap, and the correlation between these indices. Range shifts have resulted in reduced predator-prey overlap over time, which is now the lowest in three decades. For Saduria, we find an association between prey availability and stomach contents, but not for herring or sprat. Similarly, only in Saduria do we find a positive correlation between population-level predation indices and the spatiotemporal overlap. Although behavioral interactions with pelagic prey are challenging to infer from stomach content and acoustic data due to high mobility leading to fine-scale spatiotemporal mismatch, the weak connection with local-scale availability, and low correlation between population-level predation and spatial overlap, could imply weaker coupling between pelagic prey and cod than previously thought. These findings provide key information on the strength of species interactions, which is crucial for the continued development of multispecies models and ecosystem-based fisheries management.
Canopy seed survival through extreme fire in non-serotinous conifers: An unexpected source of forest resilience.
Young DJN, Venuti NE, Greene DF … +1 more , Latimer AM
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41248673 · Full text
Across much of the semiarid conifer forests of western North America ("dry conifer forests"), the dominant tree species are non-serotinous, lack soil seedbanks, and rarely disperse seeds much farther than 100 m, so tree...
Across much of the semiarid conifer forests of western North America ("dry conifer forests"), the dominant tree species are non-serotinous, lack soil seedbanks, and rarely disperse seeds much farther than 100 m, so tree regeneration in large, high-severity burned patches is expected to be highly seed-limited. Conifer seedlings do, however, sometimes establish at high densities deep within high-severity patches in these forests, implying that seeds can sometimes survive intense wildfire even when all overstory trees die. Does seed survival in the canopies of non-serotinous trees provide an unexpected source of forest resilience? To answer this question, we surveyed tree survival, fire severity, and seedling abundance across two very large wildfires in the first year after fire. Several of the study species had a good seed cone production year at the time of the fires. We stratified many of our plots deep within high-severity patches far from surviving trees, where existing models predict regeneration failure due to lack of viable seeds. Contrary to such expectations, we found that conifer seedling densities in these areas were generally far greater than needed to replace the fire-killed stand and sometimes approached seedling densities observed near surviving trees. Seedling densities in high-severity areas far from surviving trees correlated negatively with local burn intensity (canopy foliage consumption), supporting the idea that the seeds originated locally and highlighting a critical driver of post-fire recovery that is easily missed by traditional surveys conducted >2 years following fire. Seedling density was also strongly associated with burn date, suggesting that persistence of viable canopy seeds depends on synchrony between wildfire and cone ripening dates. Together, our results demonstrate that under the right conditions, canopy seed survival can lead to dense seedling establishment across large severely burned areas and may substantially support the resilience of dry conifer forests to the uncharacteristically severe fires that are becoming increasingly prevalent in this system.
Advanced leaf emergence partially mitigated the negative effect of plant size on biomass under warming.
Chen Y, Yang X, Zhang T … +3 more , Zhao Y, Sun Y, Ma M
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41243405 · Publisher ↗
Understanding the mechanisms that maintain the productivity of grassland communities is crucial for ecosystems to provide functions and services under climate change and for developing grassland management and restoratio...
Understanding the mechanisms that maintain the productivity of grassland communities is crucial for ecosystems to provide functions and services under climate change and for developing grassland management and restoration strategies. Plant traits, such as phenological (timing) and morphological (size) traits, are essential for predicting ecosystem function under climate change. However, how plant traits respond to warming and precipitation change and their combined consequences on ecosystem function (e.g., biomass) remain poorly understood. Here, we conducted a 5-year field warming and precipitation change experiment in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau, and measured six plant phenological and morphological traits of 10 common species to research how functional traits regulate plant biomass under warming and precipitation change. Warming rather than precipitation advanced plant leaf emergence and lengthened the growing season and reduced mean plant height for sedges and forbs, while it reduced leaf area of sedges and grasses. Moreover, the negative effects of warming-induced reductions in plant height and leaf area on sedge biomass were offset by the positive effects of advanced leaf emergence, which did not completely mitigate the negative effects of low plant height on forb biomass production. Our results suggest that the negative effect of warming on the biomass of sedges and forbs through reduced plant size will be partially mitigated by the compensatory effect of advanced leaf emergence. This finding further emphasizes that the crucial and opposing roles of phenological and morphological traits should be considered when assessing biomass production and sustainable services in alpine grasslands under climate change.
The impact of mining on animal movement and landscape connectivity revealed through simulations and scenarios.
Cowan MA, Forrest SW, Setterfield SA … +3 more , Dunlop JA, Gibson LA, Nimmo DG
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41225707 · Publisher ↗
Movement is essential for animal life and significantly influences community dynamics. Landscape-scale disturbances, such as mining, alter habitat structure, introducing new stressors that can severely disrupt animal mov...
Movement is essential for animal life and significantly influences community dynamics. Landscape-scale disturbances, such as mining, alter habitat structure, introducing new stressors that can severely disrupt animal movement. Understanding how landscape modification impacts animal movement and landscape connectivity is vital for effective conservation in the Anthropocene. Here, we used movement simulations and landscape scenarios to evaluate how mining influences movement, using an endangered mesopredator as a focal species. We aimed to determine the effects of different configurations of mining on the movement costs, habitat accessibility, and landscape connectivity of this species. We used GPS data collected from a mining landscape in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to assess temporally dynamic habitat selection. This informed movement simulations across four landscape scenarios: current mining, dispersed mining, aggregated mining, and non-mining. We compared animal movements, energetic costs, and landscape connectivity across all landscape scenarios. The presence of mining habitats increased energetic movement costs through unfavorable habitats and led to significant changes in landscape connectivity. For example, simulated movements visited fewer favorable habitat patches in mining landscapes and required more steps between them. Mining configuration affected movement differently, with current mining conditions having the greatest impact on movement, increasing simulated home ranges and funneling movement through unfavorable habitats more than the other landscapes. Our study highlights the influence of disturbance configuration and altered habitat structure on animal movement. It also emphasizes that effective management and development planning must consider impacts on animal movement and landscape connectivity.
One landscape does not fit all: Diverse arthropod responses to land use.
Lippey MK, Rosenheim JA, Paredes D … +5 more , Karp DS, Emery SE, Chaplin-Kramer R, Sharp R, Meineke EK
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41224209 · Full text
Early studies and theory suggested that complex landscapes harboring remnants of natural land should support natural enemy populations and reduce pest buildup in adjacent crops, whereas landscapes interspersed with urban...
Early studies and theory suggested that complex landscapes harboring remnants of natural land should support natural enemy populations and reduce pest buildup in adjacent crops, whereas landscapes interspersed with urban land often provide alternate host plants of crop pests, facilitating pest spillover and amplifying pest pressure. However, recent meta-analyses have demonstrated that both pest and beneficial agricultural arthropods respond inconsistently to surrounding landscapes. These meta-analyses relied on studies of one to two pests per crop across many different crop and landscape contexts, which limits inferences about how growers might design landscapes for effective control of a full suite of pests attacking a given crop. Here, we harnessed an ecoinformatics dataset from California Citrus to examine the effects of surrounding natural and urban land on the densities of a complete suite of seven major pest species (6489 observations) and one beneficial predator (346 observations). We also explored landscape effects on pesticide use and fruit production. Despite restricting this analysis to data collected in the same region and cropping system, we found that arthropods still exhibited mixed responses to surrounding landscapes. Among the eight Citrus-associated arthropods surveyed, greater amounts of nearby natural land resulted in two beneficial outcomes for farmers (lower pest densities or fewer pesticide applications targeting that pest), three adverse outcomes, and three neutral outcomes. Similarly, greater amounts of urban land resulted in two beneficial outcomes, four adverse outcomes, and two neutral outcomes for farmers. Our economic analysis demonstrated that Citrus groves with more nearby natural land resulted in increased total pesticide use and reduced total fruit yield. More urban land resulted in reduced total pesticide use and no effect on total fruit yield. Neither land use type significantly impacted fruit quality. Taken altogether, our results do not demonstrate clear support for the retention of natural habitat or minimization of urban land near cropland solely for the purpose of enhancing conservation biocontrol. Nonetheless, the value of natural land extends far beyond its utility for conservation biocontrol, and agricultural landscapes must still be managed to strike a balance between crop production and the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem function.
Larval seedboxes: A modular and effective tool for scaling coral reef restoration.
Doropoulos C, Roff G, Carlin G … +7 more , Gouezo M, Dela Cruz D, Chai A, Hardiman L, Hasson L, Thomson DP, Harrison PL
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41222315 · Full text
Natural recovery of degraded coral reefs is constrained by low larval recruitment, limiting restoration at ecologically meaningful scales. While propagule-based approaches have proven effective in plant-dominated systems...
Natural recovery of degraded coral reefs is constrained by low larval recruitment, limiting restoration at ecologically meaningful scales. While propagule-based approaches have proven effective in plant-dominated systems, scaling larval restoration for sessile invertebrates like corals remains challenging. Traditional coral larval methods rely on net enclosures, restricting impact to small areas (<75 m). We developed and tested a modular, passive larval delivery system-the larval seedbox-to overcome these spatial constraints. Each unit (600 × 500 × 300 mm; 11 kg) enables delayed release of competent larvae near the benthos, enhancing substrate encounter rates over broader areas. At Lizard Island (Great Barrier Reef), five seedboxes delivered ~14 million larvae across ~2 ha of degraded reef. Larval release coincided with slack currents to facilitate local retention and subsequent dispersal. Settlement was assessed on 234 tiles placed in concentric arrays around each seedbox. After 48 h, 85% of tiles had settlers (up to 1041 per tile), with mean densities 24 times greater than background levels. Enhanced settlement was directly quantified across ~470 m, with spatial modeling estimating >3000 m via tidally driven dispersal. The larval seedbox enables unrestrained, scalable coral larval seeding and represents a practical advance toward broad-scale reef restoration.
Effects of the timing of grazing on insect diversity and insect-plant interactions in mountain grasslands.
Panassiti B, Ewald J, Hofmann M … +12 more , Trivellone V, Styrnik V, Nickel H, Neumayer J, Pospisil K, Klein D, Tobisch C, König S, Richter T, Geres L, Baier R, Seibold S
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41218803 · Full text
Grazing is the common agricultural land-use in mountain regions. It is of high socioeconomic importance but also essential for conservation as extensive mountain pastures are hotspots of biodiversity. Climate change is c...
Grazing is the common agricultural land-use in mountain regions. It is of high socioeconomic importance but also essential for conservation as extensive mountain pastures are hotspots of biodiversity. Climate change is causing earlier growing seasons, prompting earlier livestock turnout. The effects of grazing on biodiversity, however, may differ depending on the time of the year, yet our understanding of these effects is limited. Here, we evaluate how short-term effects of different livestock turnouts affect taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of pollinators (wild bees and butterflies) and phytophagous insects (leafhoppers) as well as plant-insect interactions on eight mountain pastures in the northern Alps, Germany. At each pasture, we established three grazing treatments including an ungrazed control, early and late livestock turnout. We sampled wild bees and butterflies during two and leafhoppers during one growing season twice a year (summer onset and summer peak). To account for effects of grazing through changes in vegetation, we surveyed vegetation characteristics, such as the number of inflorescences and sward height. Early-grazing plots had lower wild bee and leafhopper diversity during summer onset, but this pattern shifted later in the season after grazing had stopped. During summer peak, wild bee diversity was higher at early-grazing plots than at late-grazing plots and structural equation modeling indicated that this could be partly explained by a higher number of inflorescences. Phylogenetic network diversity of wild bee- and leafhopper-plant networks was higher at late than at early-grazing plots. Our study shows that grazing in general, and also the timing of grazing, affects vegetation characteristics, insect diversity, and plant-insect interactions in mountain pastures. Effects of grazing on insect diversity were mostly positive, which supports the notion that extensive grazing is important to maintain insect diversity in mountain pastures below the timberline. Although negative effects of early livestock turnout treatments occurred, they disappeared and even turned positive later in the season. Thus, earlier livestock turnout does not appear to threaten insect diversity in mountain pastures, but further research is needed to understand long-term effects.
Virus distributions in wild bees are associated with floral communities at local to landscape scales.
Kahnonitch I, Daughenbaugh KF, Arkin N … +6 more , Erez T, Dorchin A, Flenniken ML, Chejanovsky N, Sadeh A, Mandelik Y
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41216957 · Full text
Bees are focal pollinators, essential for maintaining biodiversity and crop production. Thus, reports of high annual honey bee colony losses and population declines among many wild bees in different parts of the world ar...
Bees are focal pollinators, essential for maintaining biodiversity and crop production. Thus, reports of high annual honey bee colony losses and population declines among many wild bees in different parts of the world are of major concern. The spread of viruses is highlighted as a potential threat to bee communities. Viruses infect a wide range of bee species and can be transmitted interspecifically through shared floral resources. Therefore, the role of flowers as hubs of bee virus transmission requires a community ecology perspective. Here, we investigate local and landscape-scale characteristics of floral communities potentially associated with the spread of viruses in the solitary Andrena spp. (mining bees). We surveyed 14 sites in a Mediterranean agroecosystem with varying local densities of honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers and diversity of flowering species and assessed the prevalence of four common Hymenoptera-associated viruses (deformed wing virus [DWV], black queen cell virus [BQCV], sacbrood virus [SBV], and Lake Sinai virus-2 [LSV-2]) in co-foraging honey bees and mining bees. We found that the probability of virus presence in mining bees was generally associated with the diversity and composition of the local (site level) floral community, and with floral resource availability at the landscape scale (up to 1000-m range). In addition, SBV and DWV prevalence in mining bees were positively related to the density of SBV-infected, and total honey bee foragers, respectively. These findings demonstrate the focal role that the floral community at multiple spatial scales, and co-foraging pollinator species, may play in virus spread and, potentially, pollinator health.
Noise, light pollution, and human presence predict forest habitat degradation: A key agent in biodiversity decline.
Fröhlich A, Bidziński K, Jankowska-Jarek M … +2 more , Swearer S, Ciach M
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41216668 · Publisher ↗
Expanding urbanization introduces various environmental stressors, such as artificial light at night, anthropogenic noise, and human presence. Although these stressors are commonly blamed for biodiversity decline, urban...
Expanding urbanization introduces various environmental stressors, such as artificial light at night, anthropogenic noise, and human presence. Although these stressors are commonly blamed for biodiversity decline, urban development also coincides with severe habitat transformations, leading to the loss of natural habitats and key ecological features essential for diverse biota. How these environmental changes interact to shape urban biodiversity remains unresolved, posing substantial challenges for conservation policies. Here, we address this issue using multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) across 90 wooded green spaces in Kraków, Poland, focusing on local communities of birds (28 species) and bats (5 genera). We found that environmental stressors are widespread correlates of bird and bat occurrences but also strongly correlate with habitat degradation, reflected in reduced green space size and diminished availability of structural features, such as deadwood, tree cavities, and epiphytes-critical resources for these taxa. In MSEM predictions, environmental stressors primarily affected communities indirectly by driving habitat changes. Secondarily, stressors acted as both direct and indirect predictors for some taxa (combined within a single model), though purely direct effects were rare and often co-occurred with habitat effects. Overall, habitat alterations were more significant drivers of taxon loss than stressors, with green space size, crown or lying deadwood, tree cavities, and epiphytic plants emerging as the most critical features for supporting biodiversity. Habitat degradation was primarily correlated with human presence, less strongly with light, and only weakly with noise levels. However, the direct effects of each were similarly rare and could be either positive or negative. Our findings suggest that the seemingly prominent effects of human-associated stressors on biodiversity may often be artifacts of coinciding habitat degradation, with habitat loss and the removal of nuanced habitat features playing a more direct and critical role. While reducing noise, light, and restricting human activity might be effective conservation strategies for some species, they are insufficient without preserving habitat remnants and fostering structural diversity to resemble that of natural ecosystems. These habitat-centric approaches are keystones that should be prioritized, offering a promising roadmap to reconcile human well-being with biodiversity preservation in future sustainable cities.
Should I stay, or should I go: Anthropogenic noises disrupt early recruitment of subarctic invertebrates.
Byrro Gauthier N, Uboldi T, Olivier F … +8 more , Tremblay R, Chauvaud L, Mathias D, Lazure P, Frémont A, Meziane T, Chauvaud S, Winkler G
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41214849 · Full text
Coastal subarctic systems are inhabited by bivalve and gastropods, which due to their lifecycle and longevity are reliable indicators of ecological alterations in the environment. Recent laboratory studies have shown tha...
Coastal subarctic systems are inhabited by bivalve and gastropods, which due to their lifecycle and longevity are reliable indicators of ecological alterations in the environment. Recent laboratory studies have shown that young life stages of invertebrates perceive natural sounds, and their settlement, behavior, and fitness could be altered by anthropogenic noise. Through a field study conducted on two sites differing by their noise pollution level (pristine [PS] or anthropized [AS]), we tested whether the distances (from 25 to 890 m) of anthropogenic noises might affect the diversity and early recruitment of multiple species in pristine and anthropized sites using artificial collectors moored on transects. Overall, environmental conditions (except sound levels) were homogeneous through the transects. The acoustic scenario differed between the PS (vessel noise, 132-138 dB re 1 μPa s) and AS (mix of pile driving and vessel noise, >140 dB re 1 μPa s) sites, with the AS site experiencing a higher level of sound exposure than the PS site. Species richness fluctuated with distance from the noise, but only in the anthropized site. Regarding species diversity and evenness, they varied with distance and month at both sites, displaying a clear negative effect of anthropogenic noises and shifting species composition. Specific early recruitment responses were observed for each species to anthropogenic noise, but with a different pattern for each site due to variations in sound pressure and exposure levels. The findings of our field study document, for the first time, that controlled anthropogenic noise emission leads to ecological shifts in community structure and population metrics of benthopelagic marine invertebrate species. To avoid disruptions in community structure and recruitment, we recommend that a noise threshold level for invertebrates should be below 140 dB re 1 μPa s.
Divergent responses of native predators to severe wildfire and biological invasion are mediated by life history.
Barry JM, Wood CM, Jones GM … +12 more , McGinn KA, Kelly KG, Kramer HA, Hofstadter DF, Kahl S, Klinck H, Kryshak NF, Dotters BP, Roberts KN, Keane JJ, Ng E, Peery MZ
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41214439 · Full text
The Anthropocene is defined by rapid environmental changes such as biological invasions and shifting disturbance regimes that threaten native species. Understanding the drivers of endangerment for species facing multiple...
The Anthropocene is defined by rapid environmental changes such as biological invasions and shifting disturbance regimes that threaten native species. Understanding the drivers of endangerment for species facing multiple simultaneous threats is challenging without experimental methods. Here, we examined the relative and combined effects of severe wildfires and an early-stage barred owl (Strix varia) invasion on an assemblage of three native forest owl species in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA, leveraging manipulative (lethal barred owl removals) and natural (severe wildfires) experiments and a regional passive acoustic monitoring program from 2018 to 2023. Wildfires reduced flammulated owl (Psiloscops flammeolus) occupancy by 71% in severely burned areas (sites experiencing near-complete high-severity fire) for at least 3 years postfire but did not affect great horned (Bubo virginianus) or northern pygmy owl (Glaucidium californicum) occupancy. Because flammulated owls have small home ranges and an insectivorous diet that depends on nearby mature forest foraging habitat and secondary-cavity nest sites, they showed a strong negative response to extensive high-severity burn areas that eliminate these resources. Flammulated owl occupancy increased approximately twofold from 0.09 (85% CI: 0.03, 0.20) to 0.18 (85% CI: 0.07, 0.36) following lethal barred owl removals (with only 4% posterior distribution overlap), but removals did not affect the other two native species. Despite evidence of habitat segregation between barred owls and the native species, where barred owls typically occupied intermediate-to-late seral forests in flatter, lower elevation areas, this niche partitioning was insufficient to prevent nonconsumptive or predatory effects on flammulated owls. In contrast, the resilience of great horned and pygmy owls may have stemmed from their larger body size and diurnal activity, respectively, suggesting that life history mediates forest owl vulnerability to invasive barred owls. The negative effects of barred owls on flammulated owls, even during the early invasion stage, coupled with well-documented effects on other small, nocturnal forest owl species in regions with high barred owl densities, reinforce the conservation value of proactive invasive species management. Our study demonstrates the power of regional-scale experimentation, facilitated by bioacoustic monitoring, for understanding biological community responses-mediated by species' life history-to rapid environmental changes.
Phenology-informed decline risk of estuarine fishes and their prey suggests potential for future trophic mismatches.
Fournier RJ, Marino TC, Carlson SM … +1 more , Ruhí A
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41213275 · Full text
Conservation scientists have long used population viability analysis (PVA) on species count data to quantify critical decline risk, thereby informing conservation actions. These assessments typically focus on a single sp...
Conservation scientists have long used population viability analysis (PVA) on species count data to quantify critical decline risk, thereby informing conservation actions. These assessments typically focus on a single species rather than assemblages and assume that risk is consistent within a given life stage (e.g., across the different seasons or months of a year). However, assessing risk at overly broad temporal or spatial scales may obscure diverging population declines between predators and prey, potentially disrupting biotic interactions. In this study, we used time-series-based PVA for age-0 forage fishes and their potential zooplankton prey for each month of the year in the San Francisco Estuary, over 1995-2023 (N = 175 time series). The PVA were parameterized using Multivariate Autoregressive (MAR) models that estimate long-term population trends and variability (i.e., process error) for each population. We found widespread negative population trends across fish species (56.8%) and observed that critical decline risk is often higher in months when species peak in abundance compared to "shoulder" months. Although current decline risk is somewhat balanced between predators and their prey (mean 23.7% for fish and 21.1% for zooplankton), our time-series models indicate trophic levels are poised to diverge over the next 10 years, with fish generally accumulating risk faster than their prey. Additionally, zooplankton showed 11.2% higher uncertainty about their near-term critical decline risk relative to fish. These observations suggest strong, previously unreported potential for future trophic mismatches. Our results underscore the need to assess risk over finer temporal scales within and across trophic levels to better understand vulnerability, and thus inform conservation of imperiled species. Our approach is transferable and highlights the benefits of time-series-based PVA to understand risk of food-web collapse in the face of climate-induced phenological shifts.
Bug roads: Modeling the green space connectivity and pollinator habitat in a large city using open GIS data and tools.
Lundquist MJ, Lovejoy PC, Fay BG … +2 more , Hernandez JE, Madrid M
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41183563 · Full text
The conservation of native bees and other pollinators is an important consideration for the future of urban sustainability. Parks, urban gardens, cemeteries, and other green spaces can provide habitat space for both nati...
The conservation of native bees and other pollinators is an important consideration for the future of urban sustainability. Parks, urban gardens, cemeteries, and other green spaces can provide habitat space for both native and non-native pollinators in cities. These publicly managed green spaces are not evenly distributed across otherwise inhospitable urban landscapes. Buildings and other human-made structures could act as barriers to the movement of pollinators, especially in highly built-up cities. Little is known about how bees navigate cities, and finding suitable habitat in urban ecosystems may be particularly difficult for native solitary bees, which have small foraging ranges. In this study, we utilized open GIS data as well as open-source software (Quantum GIS and Python) to model the shortest flight paths between parks and other public green spaces in New York City, New York, USA. We also used open light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to assess plausible pollinator habitat in New York City parks. We found that the majority of straight-line (Euclidean) paths between parks intersected at least one building and that shortest paths around buildings were generally 20% longer than their Euclidean equivalent. We found that most managed properties alone, or within connected clusters, did not have sufficient plausible pollinator habitat to support pollinators with medium foraging distances, which include most solitary native bees. Our findings suggest limited connectivity and potential barriers between managed properties in New York City. Increasing pollinator habitat within smaller managed properties and building green roofs on shorter buildings and establishing stepping stone habitats like tree pits and vacant lots could increase overall green space connectivity. This technique for assessing connectivity between green spaces utilizes open data and tools that can be used by conservationists, planners, and policymakers to explore questions related to supporting pollinators or other species of interest in urban landscapes.
Plant composition dynamics following non-native ungulate removal: Convergence, divergence, and novel ecosystems.
Meeder A, Klinger R, Knapp J … +1 more , Yost J
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41178788 · Publisher ↗
Global changes in disturbance regimes are reshaping ecosystems, driving shifts in species composition, diversity, and community structure. On islands, these effects are often pronounced due to their unique ecological con...
Global changes in disturbance regimes are reshaping ecosystems, driving shifts in species composition, diversity, and community structure. On islands, these effects are often pronounced due to their unique ecological contexts, including high levels of endemism and vulnerability to invasive species. Using three decades of longitudinal data, we examined vegetation dynamics on Santa Cruz Island, California (SCI), following the removal of feral ungulates, focusing on the interplay of convergence, divergence, and hierarchical complexity in community assembly. Specifically, we asked: (1) To what degree has species composition diverged within communities since ungulate removal? (2) Is there evidence of convergence in species composition among vegetation communities? Our analyses revealed patterns of divergence and convergence influenced by historical grazing intensity and local site variability. Divergence was most pronounced in grassland and fennel-dominated communities, where invasive species continued to dominate or alternate trajectories emerged. Conversely, convergence was observed among woody communities (e.g., coastal scrub, chaparral), characterized by increases in native shrub and tree cover. These shifts demonstrate the role of hierarchical complexity in ecological recovery, with local-scale processes such as competition and priority effects interacting with larger scale drivers like climate variability and disturbance legacies. Novel and hybrid ecosystems emerged in many areas, reflecting the interplay between native and invasive species because of a history of extreme disturbance. These findings demonstrate the challenges of managing ecological recovery in systems influenced by multiple perturbations. As global pressures on ecosystems increase, understanding the hierarchical dynamics of convergence and divergence offers critical insights for setting realistic conservation goals and managing biodiversity in recovering landscapes.
Temporal displacement of the mammal community in a protected area due to hunting and recreational activities.
Peters A, Smith AF, Henrich M … +2 more , Dormann CF, Heurich M
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41177940 · Full text
Recreation (i.e., hiking and biking) and hunting can occur simultaneously in time and space, and both sources of disturbance affect wildlife behavior, leading to reactions resembling anti-predator behavior. However, the...
Recreation (i.e., hiking and biking) and hunting can occur simultaneously in time and space, and both sources of disturbance affect wildlife behavior, leading to reactions resembling anti-predator behavior. However, the additive effects of lethal and non-lethal human disturbances on wildlife are only beginning to be understood, and research on the impact of hunting on non-target species is limited. Recreation and hunting commonly co-occur in areas where wildlife is present, and understanding their combined effects on wildlife behavior is crucial for protected area management. Using records from 122 camera traps placed along trails and in surrounding forests, we assessed the effect of varying intensities of hunting and recreation over space and time on the temporal activity of red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany. We documented the relative abundance of these species on trails versus in forests and applied Bayesian models to assess how hunting and recreation influenced wildlife nocturnality. Our results suggest that hunting is a strong driver behind wildlife temporal behavior. Hunting amplified avoidance of non-lethal recreation and potentially impacts species interactions. Red deer exhibited the most pronounced temporal avoidance of both hunting and recreational activity, increasing nocturnality and trail avoidance as these disturbances increased. Red deer were more diurnal in the non-hunting zone and decreased nocturnal activity with increasing distance from the hunting zone. Wild boar and non-hunted species exhibited moderate or negligible responses. However, high hunting effort led to species not targeted by hunting (roe deer and red fox) increasing their temporal avoidance of recreational activities, with wild boar and roe deer avoiding trails more strongly. In the context of protected area management, our results suggest that strictly reducing hunting in space and time while concentrating recreation in certain areas to create disturbance-free habitat year-round has great potential to reduce the temporal avoidance of humans by wildlife, thereby fostering nature conservation goals by protecting natural processes.
Carbon costs of different pathways for reducing fire hazard in the Sierra Nevada.
Zhu Y, Foster DE, Collins BM … +6 more , Stephens SL, York RA, Roughton AT, Moghaddas EEY, Sanders JE, Battles JJ
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41177555 · Full text
Restoring a low-intensity, frequent-fire regime in fire-prone forests offers a promising natural climate solution. Management interventions that include prescribed fire and/or mechanical treatments have effectively reduc...
Restoring a low-intensity, frequent-fire regime in fire-prone forests offers a promising natural climate solution. Management interventions that include prescribed fire and/or mechanical treatments have effectively reduced fire hazards in the Western United States, yet concerns remain regarding their impact on forest carbon storage. This study used results from a long-term, replicated field experiment to assess the impacts of a restored disturbance regime on carbon dynamics in a Sierra Nevada, mixed conifer forest. The carbon consequences of the treatments were compared to a dynamic baseline of untreated controls (Control). After 19 years of wildfire mitigation, all treated stands stored less carbon than Control, but a larger proportion was sequestered in wildfire-resistant pools (i.e., large trees or fire-resistant species). Notably, only the most intensive treatment regime-thinning, mastication, and prescribed fire (Mech+Fire)-became a net carbon source by Year 20 (-60 MgC/ha). Annual average net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in Control and prescribed fire-only (Fire, 5.6-5.8 MgC/ha/year) more than doubled that of the mechanical treatments (2.0-2.1 MgC/ha/year). Moreover, temporal trends diverged. By the 3rd post-fire interval, the live vegetation carbon accumulation stalled in Control (0.9 ± 1.0 MgC/ha/year, mean ± SE) and accelerated in Fire (6.6 ± 1.2 MgC/ha/year). In contrast, surface fuel recovery was initially faster in Fire but slowed significantly by the 3rd interval, suggesting that the increased productivity under a frequent-fire regime does not necessarily lead to rapid surface fuel buildup once the regime is established. A simulated wildfire in Year 20 killed 6×-16× more live tree carbon in Control (46% mortality). Still, Control maintained the highest post-fire carbon storage. Despite the inherent carbon costs of wildfire mitigation, our 20-year study highlights management pathways that minimize the trade-off between wildfire hazard and carbon storage in Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forests.
Inundation and salinity regimes support blue carbon conditions in Australian temperate supratidal forests.
Kelleway JJ, Gorham C, Trevathan-Tackett SM … +16 more , Palacios M, Serrano O, Lavery PS, Nagel-Tynan Z, Conroy BM, Bendall-Pease G, Rigney SD, Deutscher NM, Hughes MG, Carvalho RC, Owers CJ, Jones AR, Russell SK, Planque C, Saintilan N, Rogers K
Ecol Appl · 2025 Oct · PMID 41133450 · Publisher ↗
Supratidal forests are defined by their position relative to the tidal frame where inundation and salinity patterns are potentially influenced by both tidal and nontidal regimes. Despite their recent inclusion in nationa...
Supratidal forests are defined by their position relative to the tidal frame where inundation and salinity patterns are potentially influenced by both tidal and nontidal regimes. Despite their recent inclusion in national blue carbon initiatives, knowledge of the processes that influence their carbon storage in supratidal forests remains limited. In this study, we report on new datasets of vegetation structure, carbon cycling parameters, inundation, and salinity patterns across 18 sites spanning more than 4000 km of Australia's temperate coastlines. We report site-specific ecosystem carbon stocks ranging from 169 to 635 Mg C ha, with mean aboveground biomass (134 ± 63 Mg DM ha) and belowground carbon stocks to 1 m soil depth (193 ± 98 Mg C ha), which are within the range of national estimates for mangrove and saltmarsh ecosystems. While there are variations in vegetation structure between sites dominated by the genera Melaleuca and Casuarina, this does not lead to discernible differences in above- or belowground carbon stocks. Organic matter decomposition trends within supratidal forest substrates were similar to those of adjacent mangrove and saltmarsh, though there were differences among study sites and between labile and recalcitrant tea litters. Soil-atmospheric flux measurements conducted at one site were also within the range of adjacent blue carbon ecosystems. We hypothesize that the high degree of preservation of belowground carbon and low soil-atmosphere flux of greenhouse gases is driven by a combination of infrequent surface inundation, high water tables, and typically saline groundwater in supratidal forests, as measured across multiple settings. Supratidal forests are carbon-rich ecosystems influenced by coastal processes associated with tidal inundation. While further research is required to understand the full distribution, carbon cycling, and abiotic drivers of supratidal forests, our findings strongly support their inclusion in blue carbon and other management initiatives that support the response and recovery of these endangered ecological communities in a time of change.
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