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Acta oecologica
Gauthier-Villars
Acta oecologica

Gauthier-Villars

1146-609X

Acta oecologica/Journal Acta oecologica
正式出版
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    Chronic, low-level nitrogen deposition enhances abundances of ant-protected herbivores inhabiting an imperiled foundation species

    Grinath, Joshua B.
    5页
    查看更多>>摘要：Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is driving changes in plant assemblages worldwide, but animal responses are not well understood, especially in relation to current widespread rates of low-level N deposition. Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is a foundation species in steppe ecosystems of western North America, where elevated, but low-level N deposition is prevalent. Sagebrush hosts numerous herbivorous and predatory arthropods, some of which form mutualistic (i.e. mutually beneficial) herbivore-predator associations that may be harmful for sagebrush. Here, I evaluated the response of a sagebrush arthropod assemblage to four and nine years of low-level N enrichment in Colorado, USA. Though sagebrush cover and arthropod abundances were not different in the fourth year, by the ninth year, N additions increased arthropod abundances due to greater numbers of sap-feeding insects that are mutualist partners of predaceous ants. Ant and non-mutualist herbivore abundances did not significantly respond to N treatments in the ninth year, but non-mutualist predators were only found in ambient N plots, suggesting ants provided greater anti-predator protection for mutualist herbivores under N enrichment. These responses occurred during drought conditions, which may have increased sagebrush nutritional quality for sap-feeding insects. Sagebrush is experiencing multiple stressors that are transforming steppe ecosystems; these results suggest chronic exposure to common rates of low-level N deposition may create further stress as herbivorous insects proliferate. Additional work is needed to understand and manage the repercussions of N deposition for plant-animal assemblages, particularly in contexts including species of conservation concern and both mutualistic and antagonistic species interactions.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Alien pests and their influence on native biota in leaf litter of non-native trees

    Horak, JakubRada, PatrikBoza, PetrRohacova, Magdalena...
    8页
    查看更多>>摘要：Non-native trees have been introduced into Europe for hundreds of years. Some have become an important part of the human diet, and many have aesthetic value. Nevertheless, some of them became aliens and host other alien species that might have undesirable effects on native organisms. We studied the possible effects of an alien-alien relationship (formed by the Horse-chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, and the Horse-chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella) on litter-dwelling invertebrates in the Czech Republic.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Parapatric pied and red-handed tamarin responses to congeneric and conspecific calls

    Sobroza, Tainara, VGordo, MarceloBarnett, Adrian P. A.Boubli, Jean P....
    9页
    查看更多>>摘要：Aggressive behaviors are widespread among territorial species and asymmetrical aggressiveness may imply differential access to resources. At a larger scale, such asymmetry may also drive shifts in geographic distributions. The pied tamarin (Saguinus bicolor) is an endangered Amazonian primate species with a small natural range. In recent decades further reduction of its range has been observed coincident with the expansion of the range of the red-handed tamarin's (Saguinus midas), which appears to be encroaching into the area otherwise occupied by the pied tamarin. Here we test if, at range boundaries, red-handed tamarin produces more aggressive vocalizations than the pied tamarin. We performed a series of 96 playback trials presenting both congeneric and conspecific long calls to sixteen groups of red-handed tamarins and fourteen of pied tamarins. We recorded their territorial, agonistic, alarm vocalizations, and the duration of their calling displays after broadcasts. In doing so, we assessed whether agonistic displays were more likely to occur in response to congeneric than conspecific calls in areas of sympatry. We found that the red-handed tamarin was more likely to emit more territorial calls when listening to pied tamarins than to its own species in sympatric areas, but found no differences in vocal responses from either species in relation to agonistic calls or duration of display in sympatric and allopatric areas. Furthermore, the red-handed tamarin emitted more alarm calls when listening to pied tamarin, independently of the geographic circumstances. Overall, we found that acoustic displays may be mediating species interaction in areas of sympatry. Together, these observations are suggestive of behavioral interference, including the competitive displacement of pied tamarin by red-handed tamarins.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Urban areas are favouring the spread of an alien mud-dauber wasp into climatically non-optimal latitudes

    Polidori, CarloBlasco-Arostegui, JavierGil-Tapetado, DiegoGarcia-Gila, Jaime...
    11页
    查看更多>>摘要：Insects are highly involved in accidental introductions in non-native areas. Potential distribution modelling is routinely used to predict the dynamics of such range expansions, giving insights on which areas are climatically suitable for establishment. However, even in areas where climatic conditions are unsuitable, colonization may be still possible in sub-areas with particular, human activity-driven microclimates, such as cities. We used as a model species the Asian mud-dauber wasp Sceliphron curvatum (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae), which arrived in Europe 40 years ago, to show that cities may be used by alien species to enlarge their distribution into climatically non-optimal areas. By using an average consensus from six different models, we predicted that, based on climate, S. curvatum would find the highest suitability in most part of Mediterranean basin, which are characterized by high summer temperatures and reduced climatic oscillations. The species is indeed often observed in such areas, but also in Central Europe, where suitability is overall lower. At such latitudes, however, the wasp was more often found in cities (which have the highest suitability) than in peri-urban and rural areas, possibly according to the urban 'heat island' effect. In Southern Europe, where climate is overall more favourable for the species, suitability tended to be more similar in both urban and rural environments, and urban detections were indeed rarer. The inclusion of population density in the model improved the suitability of Northern areas in an expected urbanization-driven jeopardized pattern. Hence, S. curvatum would be able to colonize in the future at least some climatically unsuitable Northern areas, reaching up to 70. latitude, by using cities as the main sites for establishment.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Effect of seed size and fungicide on germination and survival of buried seeds of two grassland species on the Loess Plateau, China

    Hou, JinweiNan, ZhibiaoBaskin, CarolChen, Tao...
    6页
    查看更多>>摘要：Seed size has important fitness consequences that potentially extend throughout the life cycle of plants. However, the effect of variation in seed size on seed survival in the field is poorly understood. We used two grassland species Setaria viridis (physiological dormancy) and Lespedeza davurica (physical dormancy) to test the effect of within species seed size variation on seed germination, viability and susceptibility to pathogen attack in the soil. Seed bags with different sizes of seeds for each species were treated with fungicide or water (control) and buried for 4 months in the field on the Loess Plateau, China. We found that field germination of large seeds was consistently higher than that of small seeds for both species. Small seeds of S. viridis had higher field mortality than large seeds, but the mortality of seeds of L. davurica was not affected by seed size. More small than large seeds of L. davurica remained viable during field burial, but the viability of buried seeds S. viridis did not differ with size. Our study suggests that within species seed size can influence germination, mortality and viability of buried seeds in the soil, but seeds with different kinds of dormancy shows different patterns in the relationship between seed size and seed survival.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier

    Quantifying responses of dung beetle assemblages to cattle grazing removal over a short-term in introduced Brazilian pastures

    Correa, Cesar M. A.Lara, Marco A.Puker, AndersonNoriega, Jorge Ari...
    9页
    查看更多>>摘要：Pasture management techniques may affect the biodiversity of insects beneficial to pastures, such as dung beetles. Cattle grazing removal over a short-term is widely used in introduced Brazilian pastures. However, the impact of this management on dung beetles is still unknown. This study evaluated the taxonomic (species richness, abundance, biomass, species composition, Shannon, and Simpson indexes) and functional (functional richness FRic, functional dispersion FDis, functional evenness FEve, and community-weighted means of trait values CWMs) dung beetle assemblages response to cattle grazing removal over a short-in introduced pastures. We sampled dung beetles, with pitfall traps baited with cattle dung and carrion, simultaneously in pastures with constant cattle grazing (control), and one, three, and five months after cattle grazing removal in Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Taxonomic metrics and FRic, FDis, and FEve did not differ among control and pasture treatments. We found that pastures with one month of cattle removal maintain the same CWM coprophagous diet from the control, and higher CWM biomass in relation to control. Although cattle grazing removal, at least over the short-term, does not cause a negative impact on dung beetle taxonomic metrics and functional diversity indexes, two important traits associated to dung removal are negatively affected after three months of cattle removal. Thus, we suggest that one month of cattle removal to grazing rotational management in introduced Brazilian pastures can be a useful strategy to, besides conserving the grass, also conserving dung beetle diversity, and consequently the ecological functions performed by them.
      原文链接:
    • NSTL
    • Elsevier