Search results for "CAP"

Population Persistence and Offspring Fitness in the Rare Bellflower Campanula Cervicaria in Relation to Population Size and Habitat Quality

2000

Data from several animal species and a few plant species indicate that small populations face an elevated risk of extinction. Plants are still underrepresented in these studies concerning the relation between population size and persistence. We studied the effect of population size on persistence among natural popu- lations of the rare bellflower Campanula cervicaria in Finland. We monitored 52 bellflower populations for 8 years and found that the mean population size decreased from 24 to 14 during this period. Small popula- tions with # 5 individuals were more prone to losing all fertile plants than were larger ones. Reduction in population size was nevertheless unrelated to the degree of …

50,000 years of ice and seals: Impacts of the Last Glacial Maximum on Antarctic fur seals

2021

Abstract Ice is one of the most important drivers of population dynamics in polar organisms, influencing the locations, sizes, and connectivity of populations. Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazella, are particularly interesting in this regard, as they are concomitantly reliant on both ice‐associated prey and ice‐free coastal breeding areas. We reconstructed the history of this species through the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) using genomic sequence data from seals across their range. Population size trends and divergence events were investigated using continuous‐time size estimation analysis and divergence time estimation models. The combined results indicated that a panmictic population …

Diversity and endemism of woody plant species in the Equatorial Pacific seasonally dry forests

2009

The biodiversity hotspot of the Equatorial Pacific region in western Ecuador and northwestern Peru comprises the most extensive seasonally dry forest formations west of the Andes. Based on a recently assembled checklist of the woody plants occurring in this region, we analysed their geographical and altitudinal distribution patterns. The montane seasonally dry forest region (at an altitude between 1,000 and 1,100 m, and the smallest in terms of area) was outstanding in terms of total species richness and number of endemics. The extensive seasonally dry forest formations in the Ecuadorean and Peruvian lowlands and hills (i.e., forests below 500 m altitude) were comparatively much more specie…

Long-term changes in autumn migration dates at the Strait of Gibraltar reflect population trends of soaring birds

2016

A growing body of work shows that climate change is the cause of a number of directional shifts in the spring phenology of migratory birds. However, changes in autumn phenology are well studied and their consistency across species, as well as their link with population trends, remains uncertain. We investigate changes in the autumn migration dates of 11 species of soaring birds over the Strait of Gibraltar over a 16-year period. Using models corrected for phylogeny, we assessed whether ecological and morphological characteristics, as well as population trends, account for interspecific shifts in migration times. We recorded different phenological changes in different periods of the migratio…

Control of Erigeron bonariensis with Thymbra capitata, Mentha piperita, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and Santolina chamaecyparissus Essential Oils

2020

In the search of sustainable and environmentally friendly methods for weed control, there is increasing interest in essential oils (EOs) as an approach to reduce synthetic herbicide use. The phytotoxicity of Thymbra capitata, Mentha piperita, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and Santolina chamaecyparissus EOs against the noxious weed Erigeron bonariensis were evaluated in pre- and post-emergence assays in greenhouse conditions. The EOs were applied at 2, 4, and 8 &micro

The interplay of landscape composition and configuration: new pathways to manage functional biodiversity and agroecosystem services across Europe

2019

Managing agricultural landscapes to support biodiversity and ecosystem services is a key aim of a sustainable agriculture. However, how the spatial arrangement of crop fields and other habitats in landscapes impacts arthropods and their functions is poorly known. Synthesising data from 49 studies (1515 landscapes) across Europe, we examined effects of landscape composition (% habitats) and configuration (edge density) on arthropods in fields and their margins, pest control, pollination and yields. Configuration effects interacted with the proportions of crop and non-crop habitats, and species’ dietary, dispersal and overwintering traits led to contrasting responses to landscape variables. O…

Landscape structure influences browsing on a keystone tree species in conservation areas

2020

Aspen is a keystone species in boreal forests. The future of aspen in many conservation areas is threatened by ungulate browsing. Our aim was to study the effect of browsing on aspen regeneration and population structure in conservation areas in Central Finland, and the effect of surrounding landscape structure on browsing. Aspen density varied greatly among and within conservation areas. In about half of the conservation areas, middle-sized aspens were scarce or missing, which indicates heavy browsing in the recent past. In addition, the number of dead, large aspens in advanced decay stages were rare. Browsing pressure varied greatly among the areas, but on average, a bit more than half of…

2020

While many morphological, physiological, and ecological characteristics of organisms scale with body size, some do not change under size transformation. They are called invariant. A recent study recommended five criteria for identifying invariant traits. These are based on that a trait exhibits a unimodal central tendency and varies over a limited range with body mass (type I), or that it does not vary systematically with body mass (type II). We methodologically improved these criteria and then applied them to life history traits of amphibians, Anura, Caudata (eleven traits), and reptiles (eight traits). The numbers of invariant traits identified by criteria differed across amphibian orders…

2019

Aim Using the extremophile genus Anabasis, which includes c. 28 succulent, xerophytic C4 species, and is widely distributed in arid regions of Northern Africa, Arabia, and Asia, we investigate biogeographical relationships between the Irano-Turanian floristic region (ITfr) and its neighboring regions. We test whether the spread of arid and semi-arid biomes in Eurasia coincides with the biogeography of this drought-adapted genus, and whether the ITfr acted as source area of floristic elements for adjacent regions. Location Deserts and semi-deserts of Northern Africa, Mediterranean, Arabia, West and Central Asia. Methods Four cpDNA markers (rpL16 intron, atpB-rbcL, trnQ-rps16, and ndhF-rpL32 …

Responses of a native plant species from invaded and uninvaded areas to allelopathic effects of an invader

2019

Invaders exert new selection pressures on the resident species, for example, through competition for resources or by using novel weapons. It has been shown that novel weapons aid invasion but it is unclear whether native species co‐occurring with in‐ vaders have adapted to tolerate these novel weapons. Those resident species which are able to adapt to new selective agents can co‐occur with an invader while others face a risk of local extinction. We ran a factorial common garden experiment to study whether a native plant species, Anthriscus sylvestris, has been able to evolve a greater tolerance to the allelochemicals exerted by the invader, Lupinus polyphyllus. Lupinus polyphyllus produces …