Search results for "ecological"
showing 10 items of 1263 documents
Phycological Herbaria as a Useful Tool to Monitor Long-Term Changes of Macroalgae Diversity: Some Case Studies from the Mediterranean Sea
2020
The Mediterranean Sea is currently experiencing a decline in the abundance of several key species, as a consequence of anthropogenic pressures (e.g., increase in human population, habitat modification and loss, pollution, coastal urbanization, overexploitation, introduction of non-indigenous species and climate change). Herbaria and natural history collections are certainly fundamental for taxonomic studies, but they are also an invaluable, if currently underestimated, resource for understanding ecological and evolutionary responses of species to environmental changes. Macroalgae herbarium collections, which are really consistent (ranging from 200,000 to approximately 500,000 specimens) in …
Fifteen operationally important decisions in the planning of biodiversity offsets
2018
Many development projects, whether they are about construction of factories, mines, roads, railways, new suburbs, shopping malls, or even individual houses, have negative environmental consequences. Biodiversity offsetting is about compensating that damage, typically via habitat restoration, land management, or by establishment of new protected areas. Offsets are the fourth step of the so-called mitigation hierarchy, in which ecological damage is first avoided, minimized second, and third restored locally. Whatever residual damage remains is then offset. Offsetting has been increasingly adopted all around the world, but simultaneously serious concerns are expressed about the validity of the…
The history and future of fungi as biodiversity surrogates in forests
2017
Biodiversity surrogates are commonly used in conservation biology. Here we review how fungi have been used as such in forest conservation, emphasizing proposed surrogate roles and practical applications. We show that many fungal surrogates have been suggested based on field experience and loose concepts, rather than on rigorously collected scientific data. Yet, they have played an important role, not only in forest conservation, but also in inspiring research in fungal ecology and forest history. We argue that, even in times of ecosystem oriented conservation planning and molecular tools to analyze fungal communities, fruit bodies of macrofungi have potential as convenient conservation shor…
Response and effect traits of arable weeds in agro-ecosystems: a review of current knowledge.
2017
25 pages; International audience; Integrating principles of ecological intensification into weed management strategies requires an understanding of the many relationships among weeds, crops and other organisms of agro-ecosystems in a changing context. Extensively used during the last two decades in weed science, trait-based approaches have provided general insights into weed community response to agricultural practices, and recently to understanding the effect of weeds on agro-ecosystem functioning. In this review, we provide a holistic synthesis of the current knowledge on weed response and effect functional traits. Based on the literature and recent advances in weed science, we review cur…
Forest Fragmentation and Selective Logging Have Inconsistent Effects on Multiple Animal-Mediated Ecosystem Processes in a Tropical Forest
2011
Forest fragmentation and selective logging are two main drivers of global environmental change and modify biodiversity and environmental conditions in many tropical forests. The consequences of these changes for the functioning of tropical forest ecosystems have rarely been explored in a comprehensive approach. In a Kenyan rainforest, we studied six animal-mediated ecosystem processes and recorded species richness and community composition of all animal taxa involved in these processes. We used linear models and a formal meta-analysis to test whether forest fragmentation and selective logging affected ecosystem processes and biodiversity and used structural equation models to disentangle di…
Plankton Tracker: A novel integrated system to investigate the dynamic sinking behavior in phytoplankton
2020
Abstract Phytoplankton sinking is an important property that can determine community composition, affecting nutrient and light absorption in the photic zone, and influencing biogeochemical cycling via material loss to the deep ocean. To date, the difficulty in exploring the sinking processes is partly due to methodological limitations in measuring phytoplankton sinking rate. However, in the last decade, works have illustrated various methods based on some non-invasive and low perturbing approaches (laser scanner, video-microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy). In this study, we review the methods for sinking rate estimation and describe the Plankton Tracker, a novel integrated system to inves…
Revision of the pentacrinid stalked crinoids of the genus Endoxocrinus (Echinodermata, Crinoidea), with a study of environmental control of character…
2006
A revision of the stalked crinoid species attributed to the genus Endoxocrinus A.H. Clark, 1908 (Diplocrininae, Pentacrinitidae, Crinoidea, Echinodermata) is conducted using studies on phenotype variation and its relation with environment. Specimens collected via submersible at five sites in the Bahamas exhibit distinct phenotypes that correlate with different apparent ecological niches and serve as references for interpreting specimens dredged in Atlantic and Pacific Oceans where detailed information on their benthic environment is unknown. Documentation of ecophenotypic convergences or divergences allows us to distinguish between adaptive characters and those revealing genetic affinities,…
Assessing the potential of marine Natura 2000 sites to produce ecosystem‐wide effects in rocky reefs: A case study from Sardinia Island (Italy)
2019
A number of policy measures have been adopted to cope with ongoing ocean degradation. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are among them. MPAs and their coverage have increased worldwide, including in EU waters. Natura 2000 (Nat2000) sites are at the core of the EU biodiversity conservation strategy and have been established to protect habitats and species included in two EU directives. Besides their specific objectives, their potential to contribute to an ecosystem-wide conservation and their complementarity with other national and supranational initiatives (e.g. nationally established MPA networks, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Convention on Biological Diversity Ecosystem-Based A…
A niche perspective on the range expansion of symbionts.
2020
Range expansion results from complex eco-evolutionary processes where range dynamics and niche shifts interact in a novel physical space and/or environment, with scale playing a major role. Obligate symbionts (i.e. organisms permanently living on hosts) differ from free-living organisms in that they depend on strong biotic interactions with their hosts which alter their niche and spatial dynamics. A symbiotic lifestyle modifies organism–environment relationships across levels of organisation, from individuals to geographical ranges. These changes influence how symbionts experience colonisation and, by extension, range expansion. Here, we investigate the potential implications of a symbiotic…
Assessing sampling coverage of species distribution in biodiversity databases
2019
Abstract Aim Biodiversity databases are valuable resources for understanding plant species distributions and dynamics, but they may insufficiently represent the actual geographic distribution and climatic niches of species. Here we propose and test a method to assess sampling coverage of species distribution in biodiversity databases in geographic and climatic space. Location Europe. Methods Using a test selection of 808,794 vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA), we assessed the sampling coverage of 564 European vascular plant species across both their geographic ranges and realized climatic niches. Range maps from the Chorological Database Halle (CDH) were used as bac…