scholarly journals Biological complexity behind plankton system functioning: Synthesis and perspectives from a marine Long Term Ecological Research

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico D'Alelio
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Gulf Of Naples ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
System Functioning ◽  
Species Evolution ◽  
Population And Community Dynamics ◽  
Different Levels

The functioning of natural communities is the cumulative outcome of multifaceted and intersecting ecological and evolutionary processes occurring at species level. Species are not stable entities but evolve in consequence of contingent factors including the relationships they establish with the environment and other co-occurring species. Studying ecosystems with an eco-evo approach, i.e., by explicitly considering species evolution and interactions, is thus an essential step to envisioning their adaptation to environmental changes. Such approach is particularly suitable for studying plankton, a community of both rapidly evolving and strongly interconnected species. In this context, Long Term Ecological Research studies (LTER) represent a promising approach to explore nature at different levels of complexity, from species to ecosystems. Herein, I examine the most recent results coming from the three-decades plankton LTER ‘MareChiara’ (LTER-MC) in the Gulf of Naples (Mediterranean Sea, Italy) and discuss their suitability in deepening knowledge on: i) evolutionary bases to plankton biodiversity (i.e., the founding property of both species and community adaptive potential); ii) ecological and evolutionary determinants of population and community dynamics; and iii) biological mechanisms behind plankton system functioning.

Long-Term Ecological Research and Evolving Frameworks of Disturbance Ecology

BioScience ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn E Gaiser ◽  
David M Bell ◽  
Max C N Castorani ◽  
Daniel L Childers ◽  
Peter M Groffman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Disturbance Ecology ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research

Abstract Detecting and understanding disturbance is a challenge in ecology that has grown more critical with global environmental change and the emergence of research on social–ecological systems. We identify three areas of research need: developing a flexible framework that incorporates feedback loops between social and ecological systems, anticipating whether a disturbance will change vulnerability to other environmental drivers, and incorporating changes in system sensitivity to disturbance in the face of global changes in environmental drivers. In the present article, we review how discoveries from the US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network have influenced theoretical paradigms in disturbance ecology, and we refine a framework for describing social–ecological disturbance that addresses these three challenges. By operationalizing this framework for seven LTER sites spanning distinct biomes, we show how disturbance can maintain or alter ecosystem state, drive spatial patterns at landscape scales, influence social–ecological interactions, and cause divergent outcomes depending on other environmental changes.

scholarly journals Structure and Functionality of the Mesozooplankton Community in a Coastal Marine Environment: Portofino Marine Protected Area (Liguria)

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Paolo Vassallo ◽  
Daniele Bellardini ◽  
Michela Castellano ◽  
Giulia Dapueto ◽  
Paolo Povero
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Mesozooplankton Community ◽  
Coastal Marine ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Ecological Functionality ◽  
System Functioning

This research is part of the LTER (Long-Term Ecological Research) project, a network of terrestrial, freshwater, transitional water and marine sites, on which ecological research is conducted on a multi-decade scale. LTER studies ecosystems, their dynamics and evolution, the relationships between biodiversity and ecological functionality, water quality, productivity, the role of resource availability, the effects of pollution and climate change. The research focuses on the study of the variability of zooplankton groups in the Portofino marine protected area, in Punta Faro. The samplings were carried out in the years 2018–2019, and the results were compared with the values of the years 2003–2005, interesting from a meteorological climatic and biological point of view. The plankton community of the Punta Faro system was analyzed by means of a modeling approach to obtain information on the functionality and health status of the system and to verify whether this has undergone any alterations in the last decade. The analyses carried out show a clear difference between the three-year period 2003–2005 and the two-year period 2018–2019, highlighting how environmental changes, such as the increase in temperature, have led to higher costs of system functioning in the last two years. The mesozooplankton community has changed both in terms of abundance of organisms and in terms of organization and functionality.

scholarly journals Connectivity: insights from the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research Network

Ecosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Iwaniec ◽  
Michael Gooseff ◽  
Katharine N. Suding ◽  
David Samuel Johnson ◽  
Daniel C. Reed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Network ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals Patterns and trends of organic matter processing and transport: Insights from the US Long-Term Ecological Research network

2021 ◽  
pp. 100025
Author(s):  
Tamara K. Harms ◽  
Peter M. Groffman ◽  
Lihini Aluwihare ◽  
Chris Craft ◽  
William R Wieder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
The Us ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Organic Matter Processing

Long-term ecological research in springs of the Italian Alps: six years of standardised sampling

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 907-911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Cantonati ◽  
Ermanno Bertuzzi ◽  
Reinhard Gerecke ◽  
Karin Ortler ◽  
Daniel Spitale
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Research ◽  
Italian Alps ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research

scholarly journals What Happens in an Estuary Doesn't Stay There: Patterns of Biotic Connectivity Resulting from Long Term Ecological Research

Oceanography ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 168-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Mather ◽  
John Finn ◽  
Cristina Kennedy ◽  
Linda Deegan ◽  
Joseph Smith
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Research ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research
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