scholarly journals Silicon and Plant–Animal Interactions: Towards an Evolutionary Framework

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 430
Author(s):  
Ofir Katz
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Dietary Preferences ◽  
Evolutionary Context ◽  
Herbivore Responses ◽  
Basic Facts ◽  
Plant Animal Interactions ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Functioning ◽  
Plant Herbivore

Herbivory is fundamental in ecology, being a major driver of ecosystem structure and functioning. Plant Si and phytoliths play a significant antiherbivory role, the understanding of which and of its evolutionary context will increase our understanding of this phenomenon, its origins, and its significance for past, extant, and future ecosystems. To achieve this goal, we need a superdisciplinary evolutionary framework connecting the role of Si in plant–herbivore interactions, in global processes, and in plant and herbivore evolution. To do this properly, we should acknowledge and incorporate into our work some basic facts that are too often overlooked. First, there is great taxonomic variance both in plant Si contents, forms, and roles, but also in herbivore responses, dietary preferences, and in fossil evidence. Second, species and their traits, as well as whole ecosystems, should be seen in the context of their entire evolutionary history and may therefore reflect not only adaptations to extant selective factors but also anachronistic traits. Third, evolutionary history and evolutionary transitions are complex, resulting in true and apparent asynchronisms. Fourth, evolution and ecology are multiscalar, in which various phenomena and processes act at various scales. Taking these issues into consideration will improve our ability to develop this needed theoretical framework and will bring us closer to gaining a more complete understanding of one of the most exciting and elusive phenomena in plant biology and ecology.

scholarly journals The MARAS dataset, vegetation and soil characteristics of dryland rangelands across Patagonia

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Oliva ◽  
Eder dos Santos ◽  
Osiris Sofía ◽  
Fernando Umaña ◽  
Virginia Massara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Analysis ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Surface Characteristics ◽  
Spatial Pattern Analysis ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Species List ◽  
Plant Soil ◽  
Rangeland Monitoring ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Functioning ◽  
Line Intercept

Abstract We present the MARAS (Environmental Monitoring of Arid and Semiarid Regions) dataset, which stores vegetation and soil data of 426 rangeland monitoring plots installed throughout Patagonia, a 624.500 km2 area of southern Argentina and Chile. Data for each monitoring plot includes basic climatic and landscape features, photographs, 500 point intercepts for vegetation cover, plant species list and biodiversity indexes, 50-m line-intercept transect for vegetation spatial pattern analysis, land function indexes drawn from 11 measures of soil surface characteristics and laboratory soil analysis (pH, conductivity, organic matter, N and texture). Monitoring plots were installed between 2007 and 2019, and are being reassessed at 5-year intervals (247 have been surveyed twice). The MARAS dataset provides a baseline from which to evaluate the impacts of climate change and changes in land use intensity in Patagonian ecosystems, which collectively constitute one of the world´s largest rangeland areas. This dataset will be of interest to scientists exploring key ecological questions such as biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, plant-soil interactions and climatic controls on ecosystem structure and functioning.

scholarly journals Balanced harvesting is the bioeconomic equilibrium of a size-structured Beverton-Holt model

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Plank
Keyword(s):  
Single Species ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Fishing Mortality ◽  
Biomass Transfer ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Relative Production ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Functioning ◽  
Classical Size ◽  
Spectrum Model

Balanced harvesting (BH) was introduced as an alternative strategy to size-at-entry fishing with the aim of maintaining ecosystem structure and functioning. BH has been criticized on a number of grounds, including that it would require an infeasible level of micromanagement and enforcement. Recent results from a size-spectrum model show that the distribution of fishing mortality across body sizes that emerges from the behaviour of a large number of fishing agents corresponds to BH in a single species. Size-spectrum models differ from classical size-structured models used in fisheries as they are based on a bookkeeping of biomass transfer from prey to predator rather than a von Bertalanffy growth model. Here we investigate a classical Beverton-Holt model coupled with the Gordon-Schaefer harvesting model extended to allow for differential fishing pressure at different body sizes. This models an open-access fishery in which individual fishing agents act to maximize their own economic return. We show that the equilibrium of the harvesting model produces an aggregate fishing mortality that is closely matched to the production at different body sizes, in other words BH of a single species. These results have significant implications because they show that the robustness of BH does not depend on arguments about the relative production levels of small versus large fish.

scholarly journals A feeding guild indicator to assess environmental change impacts on marine ecosystem structure and functioning

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 1769-1781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray S. A. Thompson ◽  
Hugo Pontalier ◽  
Michael A. Spence ◽  
John K. Pinnegar ◽  
Simon P. R. Greenstreet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Feeding Guild ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Functioning

Fire history in China during the Holocene and its response to the changes in environmental and anthropogenic factors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Xu ◽  
Fang Li ◽  
Zhongda Lin ◽  
Xiang Song
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Historical Changes ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Functioning

<p>Fire is an intrinsic feature of terrestrial ecosystem, and a key Earth system process that strongly affects ecosystem structure and functioning , carbon and nutrient cycles, climate, air quality and society. Although local and regional paleo-fires in China have been investigated based on one or several fire-proxy records, so far China’s fire history at the country level and its driving forces remain unknown. The present study, for the first time, reconstructs China’s fire history based on charcoal and black carbon records at 107 sites through the Holocene (12 ka BP to the present in this study), and investigates fire historical changes and dominant drivers. Results show that fire activity over China gradually decline from the Early Holocene (12 ka BP) to the Middle Holocene (7.3 ka BP), followed by a sharp rise till the present age. The historical changes are mainly regulated by moisture change through the whole Holocene, and also affected by population growth and agriculture expansion over the past 2 ka.</p>

The influence of mistletoes on nitrogen cycling in a semi-arid savanna, south-west Zimbabwe

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilton G. T. Ndagurwa ◽  
John S. Dube ◽  
Donald Mlambo
Keyword(s):  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Soil N ◽  
Mineral N ◽  
N Transformations ◽  
South West ◽  
Tree Canopies ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Functioning ◽  
Semi Arid

Abstract:This study investigated the effects of mistletoe infection on N cycling in a semi–arid savanna, south-west Zimbabwe. We established five plots (10 × 10 m) which each included three large canopy-dominantAcacia karrootrees infected by one of three mistletoes (Erianthemum ngamicum,Plicosepalus kalachariensisandViscum verrucosum) and non-infectedA. karrootrees. In each plot, we measured litterfall, litter quality (N, phenolics, tannins and lignin), soil nutrient concentrations and N transformations beneath tree canopies. Soil N, P and Ca were greatest beneath trees infected byP.kalachariensisthan beneath non-infected trees. Litterfall and litter N returns were 1.5, 2 and 1.4 times more beneathA. karrootrees infected byE.ngamicum,P.kalachariensisandV. verrucosum, respectively. Mineral N increased with mistletoe infection but did not exceed 20%. Soil N transformations were greater beneath trees infected byE.ngamicum(> 40%), and lower beneath trees infected byP.kalachariensis(<50%) andV.verrucosum(<48%) than beneath non-infectedA. karrootrees. Soil N transformations were negatively correlated with condensed tannins, lignin and lignin : N. We conclude that the improved N concentration can increase resource heterogeneity, which may alter the ecosystem structure and functioning in the semi-arid savanna.

scholarly journals The Aquilegia genome: adaptive radiation and an extraordinarily polymorphic chromosome with a unique history

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danièle Filiault ◽  
Evangeline S. Ballerini ◽  
Terezie Mandáková ◽  
Gökçe Aköz ◽  
Nathan Derieg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Radiation ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Allele Sharing ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
High Coverage ◽  
The World ◽  
Entire Chromosome ◽  
Evolutionary Context ◽  
History Of

AbstractThe columbine genus Aquilegia is a classic example of an adaptive radiation, involving a wide variety of pollinators and habitats. Here we present the genome assembly of A. coerulea ‘Goldsmith’, complemented by high-coverage sequencing data from 10 wild species covering the world-wide distribution. Our analyses reveal extensive allele sharing among species and demonstrate that introgression and selection played a role in the Aquilegia radiation. We also present the remarkable discovery that the evolutionary history of an entire chromosome differs from that of the rest of the genome – a phenomenon which we do not fully understand, but which highlights the need to consider chromosomes in an evolutionary context.

scholarly journals Hydromorphological restoration stimulates river ecosystem metabolism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Kupilas ◽  
Daniel Hering ◽  
Armin W. Lorenz ◽  
Christoph Knuth ◽  
Björn Gücker
Keyword(s):  
Open Channel ◽  
Ecosystem Respiration ◽  
Gross Primary Production ◽  
Ecosystem Metabolism ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Third Order ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Functioning ◽  
The One ◽  
Substantial Effort

Abstract. Both, ecosystem structure and functioning determine ecosystem status and are important for the provision of goods and services to society. However, there is a paucity of research that couples functional measures with assessments of ecosystem structure. In mid-sized and large rivers, effects of restoration on key ecosystem processes, such as ecosystem metabolism, have rarely been addressed and remain poorly understood. We compared three reaches of the third-order, gravel-bed river Ruhr in Germany: two reaches restored with moderate (R1) and substantial effort (R2) and one upstream degraded reach (D). Hydromorphology, habitat composition and hydrodynamics were assessed. We estimated gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) using the one-station open-channel diel dissolved oxygen change method over a 50-day period at the end of each reach. Values for hydromorphological variables increased with restoration intensity (D 

scholarly journals Mechanistic insights into the role of large carnivores for ecosystem structure and functioning

Ecography ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 1752-1763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selwyn Hoeks ◽  
Mark A. J. Huijbregts ◽  
Michela Busana ◽  
Michael B. J. Harfoot ◽  
Jens‐Christian Svenning ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Large Carnivores ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Functioning
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