scholarly journals Successional Categorization of European Hemi-boreal Forest Tree Species

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1381
Author(s):  
Raimundas Petrokas ◽  
Virgilijus Baliuckas ◽  
Michael Manton
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Forest Succession ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Core Component ◽  
Successional Development

Developing forest harvesting regimes that mimic natural forest dynamics requires knowledge on typical species behaviors and how they respond to environmental conditions. Species regeneration and survival after disturbance depends on a species’ life history traits. Therefore, forest succession determines the extent to which forest communities are able to cope with environmental change. The aim of this review was to (i) review the life history dynamics of hemi-boreal tree species in the context of ecological succession, and (ii) categorize each of these tree species into one of four successional development groups (gap colonizers, gap competitors, forest colonizers, or forest competitors). To do this we embraced the super-organism approach to plant communities using their life history dynamics and traits. Our review touches on the importance and vulnerability of these four types of successional groups, their absence and presence in the community, and how they can be used as a core component to evaluate if the development of the community is progressing towards the restoration of the climatic climax. Applying a theoretical framework to generate ideas, we suggest that forests should be managed to maintain environmental conditions that support the natural variety and sequence of tree species’ life histories by promoting genetic invariance and to help secure ecosystem resilience for the future. This could be achieved by employing harvesting methods that emulate natural disturbances and regeneration programs that contribute to maintenance of the four successional groups.

Large-scale variation in life history traits of the widespread diadromous fish, Galaxias maculatus, reflects geographic differences in local environmental conditions

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole C. Barbee ◽  
Robin Hale ◽  
John Morrongiello ◽  
Andy Hicks ◽  
David Semmens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
South America ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Galaxias Maculatus

Applying uniform population models and management strategies to widespread species can be ineffective if populations exhibit variable life histories in response to local conditions. Galaxias maculatus, one of the world’s most widely distributed fish species, occurs in a broad range of habitats and is highly adaptable, making it an ideal species for examining variation in life history traits across large geographic scales. Here, we examine the spawning biology and early life history of diadromous G. maculatus in coastal rivers in Victoria, Australia, and compare them to other populations throughout its range. We predicted that traits associated with these critical life stages, especially those that respond to environmental conditions that vary geographically, such as seasonal cues and temperature, are likely to vary across large spatial scales. We found that spawning occurs later in Victoria than in New Zealand (NZ) and South America, but migration back to rivers occurs at the same time in Victoria and NZ, but not South America. G. maculatus returning to rivers are also smaller and younger in Victoria than those in NZ. Other traits, like some attributes of spawning schools and spawning habitats, did not vary across large scales. Researchers and managers should be cautious when making broad assumptions about the biology of widely distributed species.

scholarly journals Unusually Paced Life History Strategies of Marine Megafauna Drive Atypical Sensitivities to Environmental Variability

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel M. Smallegange ◽  
Marta Flotats Avilés ◽  
Kim Eustache
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Juvenile Mortality ◽  
Population Responses ◽  
Marine Megafauna

Understanding why different life history strategies respond differently to changes in environmental variability is necessary to be able to predict eco-evolutionary population responses to change. Marine megafauna display unusual combinations of life history traits. For example, rays, sharks and turtles are all long-lived, characteristic of slow life histories. However, turtles also have very high reproduction rates and juvenile mortality, characteristic of fast life histories. Sharks and rays, in contrast, produce a few live-born young, which have low mortality rates, characteristic of slow life histories. This raises the question if marine megafaunal responses to environmental variability follow conventional life history patterns, including the pattern that fast life histories are more sensitive to environmental autocorrelation than slow life histories. To answer this question, we used a functional trait approach to quantify for different species of mobulid rays, cheloniid sea turtles and carcharhinid sharks – all inhabitants or visitors of (human-dominated) coastalscapes – how their life history, average size and log stochastic population growth rate, log(λs), respond to changes in environmental autocorrelation and in the frequency of favorable environmental conditions. The faster life histories were more sensitive to temporal frequency of favourable environmental conditions, but both faster and slower life histories were equally sensitive, although of opposite sign, to environmental autocorrelation. These patterns are atypical, likely following from the unusual life history traits that the megafauna display, as responses were linked to variation in mortality, growth and reproduction rates. Our findings signify the importance of understanding how life history traits and population responses to environmental change are linked. Such understanding is a basis for accurate predictions of marine megafauna population responses to environmental perturbations like (over)fishing, and to shifts in the autocorrelation of environmental variables, ultimately contributing toward bending the curve on marine biodiversity loss.

Hormones and Behavior

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-26
Author(s):  
Maren N. Vitousek ◽  
Laura A. Schoenle
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Endocrine System ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
And Behavior

Hormones mediate the expression of life history traits—phenotypic traits that contribute to lifetime fitness (i.e., reproductive timing, growth rate, number and size of offspring). The endocrine system shapes phenotype by organizing tissues during developmental periods and by activating changes in behavior, physiology, and morphology in response to varying physical and social environments. Because hormones can simultaneously regulate many traits (hormonal pleiotropy), they are important mediators of life history trade-offs among growth, reproduction, and survival. This chapter reviews the role of hormones in shaping life histories with an emphasis on developmental plasticity and reversible flexibility in endocrine and life history traits. It also discusses the advantages of studying hormone–behavior interactions from an evolutionary perspective. Recent research in evolutionary endocrinology has provided insight into the heritability of endocrine traits, how selection on hormone systems may influence the evolution of life histories, and the role of hormonal pleiotropy in driving or constraining evolution.

scholarly journals Theoretical Overview of Successional Considerations in Vegetation Management

1990 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. T. Oswald
Keyword(s):  
Forest Succession ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Vegetation Management ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Burning Time ◽  
Forest Species ◽  
Forest Sites ◽  
Site Characteristics ◽  
Chemical Techniques ◽  
Theoretical Overview

Forest succession most relevant to forestry originates following forest harvesting or wildfire. That following harvesting is most often also influenced by site preparation procedures for reforestation. The resultant vegetation succession is dependent on the type, degree, and timing of the disturbance, the site characteristics and conditions, and the microclimate. Subsurface organs, including roots, rhizomes, and stumps, allow most species of shrubs occurring on moist and wet forest sites to survive burning and crushing. Establishment and survival of some forbs, such as fireweed and bracken fern, are greatly facilitated by burning. Effective non-chemical techniques for providing desirable forest tree species a successional advantage over competing forest species are discussed. These involve different silvicultural systems, time of logging, type of scarification, time and degree of burning, time of planting, size of seedlings, and other reforestation considerations.

A Primer of Life Histories

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Academic Experience ◽  
Sustainable Exploitation ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Opportune Time

Life histories describe how genotypes schedule their reproductive effort throughout life in response to factors that affect their survival and fecundity. Life histories are solutions that selection has produced to solve the problem of how to persist in a given environment. These solutions differ tremendously within and among species. Some organisms mature within months of attaining life, others within decades; some produce few, large offspring as opposed to numerous, small offspring; some reproduce many times throughout their lives while others die after reproducing just once. The exponential pace of life-history research provides an opportune time to engage and re-engage new generations of students and researchers on the fundamentals and applications of life-history theory. Chapters 1 through 4 describe the fundamentals of life-history theory. Chapters 5 through 8 focus on the evolution of life-history traits. Chapters 9 and 10 summarize how life-history theory and prediction has been applied within the contexts of conservation and sustainable exploitation. This primer offers an effective means of rendering the topic accessible to readers from a broad range of academic experience and research expertise.

Genetic Variability in Two Tree Species, Acer platanoides L. and Betula pendula Roth, With Contrasting Life-history Traits

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 320-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gösta Eriksson ◽  
Sanna Black-samuelsson ◽  
Martin Jensen ◽  
Tor Myking ◽  
Mari Rusanen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Genetic Variability ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Betula Pendula ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Acer Platanoides ◽  
Betula Pendula Roth

Life history and environmental influences on population dynamics in sockeye salmon

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (8) ◽  
pp. 1198-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas C. Braun ◽  
John D. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Life History ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Population Growth Rates ◽  
Habitat Variables

Understanding linkages among life history traits, the environment, and population dynamics is a central goal in ecology. We compared 15 populations of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) to test general hypotheses for the relative importance of life history traits and environmental conditions in explaining variation in population dynamics. We used life history traits and habitat variables as covariates in mixed-effect Ricker models to evaluate the support for correlates of maximum population growth rates, density dependence, and variability in dynamics among populations. We found dramatic differences in the dynamics of populations that spawn in a small geographical area. These differences among populations were related to variation in habitats but not life history traits. Populations that spawned in deep water had higher and less variable population growth rates, and populations inhabiting streams with larger gravels experienced stronger negative density dependence. These results demonstrate, in these populations, the relative importance of environmental conditions and life histories in explaining population dynamics, which is rarely possible for multiple populations of the same species. Furthermore, they suggest that local habitat variables are important for the assessment of population status, especially when multiple populations with different dynamics are managed as aggregates.

Springs ecosystems: vulnerable ecological islands where environmental conditions, life history traits, and human disturbance facilitate non-native plant invasions

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 2963-2981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayleigh G. Nielson ◽  
Karen M. Gill ◽  
Abraham E. Springer ◽  
Jeri D. Ledbetter ◽  
Lawrence E. Stevens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Plant Invasions ◽  
Native Plant

scholarly journals Density Dependence, Evolutionary Optimization, and the Diversification of Avian Life Histories

The Condor ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Ricklefs
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Table ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Reproductive Rate ◽  
Empirical Modeling ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Response

Abstract Although we have learned much about avian life histories during the 50 years since the seminal publications of David Lack, Alexander Skutch, and Reginald Moreau, we still do not have adequate explanations for some of the basic patterns of variation in life-history traits among birds. In part, this reflects two consequences of the predominance of evolutionary ecology thinking during the past three decades. First, by blurring the distinction between life-history traits and life-table variables, we have tended to divorce life histories from their environmental context, which forms the link between the life history and the life table. Second, by emphasizing constrained evolutionary responses to selective factors, we have set aside alternative explanations for observed correlations among life-history traits and life-table variables. Density-dependent feedback and independent evolutionary response to correlated aspects of the environment also may link traits through different mechanisms. Additionally, in some cases we have failed to evaluate quantitatively ideas that are compelling qualitatively, ignored or explained away relevant empirical data, and neglected logical implications of certain compelling ideas. Comparative analysis of avian life histories shows that species are distributed along a dominant slow-fast axis. Furthermore, among birds, annual reproductive rate and adult mortality are directly proportional to each other, requiring that pre-reproductive survival is approximately constant. This further implies that age at maturity increases dramatically with increasing adult survival rate. The significance of these correlations is obscure, particularly because survival and reproductive rates at each age include the effects of many life-history traits. For example, reproductive rate is determined by clutch size, nesting success, season length, and nest-cycle length, each of which represents the outcome of many different interactions of an individual's life-history traits with its environment. Resolution of the most basic issues raised by patterns of life histories clearly will require innovative empirical, modeling, and experimental approaches. However, the most fundamental change required at this time is a broadening of the evolutionary ecology paradigm to include a variety of alternative mechanisms for generating patterns of life-history variation.

scholarly journals Age-dependent effects of moderate differences in environmental predictability forecasted by climate change, experimental evidence from a short-lived lizard (Zootoca vivipara)

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Masó ◽  
J. Kaufmann ◽  
H. Clavero ◽  
P. S. Fitze
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life History ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Environmental Predictability ◽  
Common Lizard ◽  
Zootoca Vivipara ◽  
Age Dependent

Abstract Whether and how differences in environmental predictability affect life-history traits is controversial and may depend on mean environmental conditions. Solid evidence for effects of environmental predictability are lacking and thus, the consequences of the currently observed and forecasted climate-change induced reduction of precipitation predictability are largely unknown. Here we experimentally tested whether and how changes in the predictability of precipitation affect growth, reproduction, and survival of common lizard Zootoca vivipara. Precipitation predictability affected all three age classes. While adults were able to compensate the treatment effects, yearlings and juvenile females were not able to compensate negative effects of less predictable precipitation on growth and body condition, respectively. Differences among the age-classes’ response reflect differences (among age-classes) in the sensitivity to environmental predictability. Moreover, effects of environmental predictability depended on mean environmental conditions. This indicates that integrating differences in environmental sensitivity, and changes in averages and the predictability of climatic variables will be key to understand whether species are able to cope with the current climatic change.

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