Search results for "eko"
showing 10 items of 5765 documents
The effect of fish life-history structures on the topologies of aquatic food webs
2021
Biological organisms can vastly change their ecological functionality due to changes in body size and diet across their life. Consequently, it has been increasingly recognized that to attain sufficient biological realism, food webs may need to include life-history structures. The objective of the work is to study theoretically whether and how the inclusion of life-history structures affects the food web topology. Topological research was done by applying network theory metrics for three different food web types with two different sizes that were generated by using the niche-model. The dynamical modeling was performed by using an allometric trophic network modeling approach. The different ty…
Wood-decaying fungi in old-growth boreal forest fragments: extinctions and colonizations over 20 years
2021
According to ecology theory, isolated habitat fragments cannot maintain populations of specialized species. Yet, empirical evidence based on monitoring of the same fragments over time is still limited. We studied the colonizationâextinction dynamics of eight wood-decaying fungal species in 16 old-growth forest fragments (<14 ha) over a 20-year period (1997â2017). We observed 19 extinctions and 5 colonizations; yet, the distribution of extinctions and colonizations did not differ from the one expected by chance for any of the species. Twenty-six percent of the extinctions took place in two natural fragments amid large forestâpeatland complexes. (Romell) Bourdot and Galzin decreased …
Three ways to deliver a net positive impact with biodiversity offsets
2020
Biodiversity offsetting is the practice of using conservation actions, such as habitat restoration, management, or protection, to compensate for ecological losses caused by development activity, including construction projects. The typical goal of offsetting is no net loss (NNL), which means that all ecological losses are compensated for by commensurate offset gains. We focused on a conceptual and methodological exploration of net positive impact (NPI), an ambitious goal that implies commitment beyond NNL and that has recently received increasing attention from big business and environmental nongovernmental organizations. We identified 3 main ways NPI could be delivered: use of an additiona…
Macrophytes shape trophic niche variation among generalist fishes.
2017
Generalist species commonly have a fundamental role in ecosystems as they can integrate spatially distinct habitats and food-web compartments, as well as control the composition, abundance and behavior of organisms at different trophic levels. Generalist populations typically consist of specialized individuals, but the potential for and hence degree of individual niche variation can be largely determined by habitat complexity. We compared individual niche variation within three generalist fishes between two comparable lakes in the Czech Republic differing in macrophyte cover, i.e. macrophyte-rich Milada and macrophyte-poor Most. We tested the hypothesis that large individual niche variation…
Fishing triggers trophic cascade in terms of variation, not abundance, in an allometric trophic network model
2022
Trophic cascade studies often rely on linear food chains instead of complex food webs and are typically measured as biomass averages, not as biomass variation. We study trophic cascades propagating across a complex food web including a measure of biomass variation in addition to biomass average. We examined whether different fishing strategies induce trophic cascades and whether the cascades differ from each other. We utilized an allometric trophic network (ATN) model to mechanistically study fishing-induced changes in food web dynamics. Different fishing strategies did not trigger traditional, reciprocal trophic cascades, as measured in biomass averages. Instead, fishing triggered a varia…
Environmental Fluctuations Drive Species' Competitive Success in Experimental Invasions
2020
Climate change is presumed to increase both the number and frequency of fluctuations in environmental conditions. Fluctuations can affect the ecological and evolutionary processes that make species more successful competitors. For example, fluctuating conditions can create selection pressures for traits that are profitable in adaptation to fast climate change. On an ecological timescale, environmental fluctuations can facilitate species competitive success by reducing other species’ population sizes. Climate change could then enhance species invasions into new areas if fluctuation-adapted invaders displace their native competitors in chancing environments. We tested experimentally whether f…
Lake restoration influences nutritional quality of algae and consequently Daphnia biomass
2020
AbstractFood quality is one of the key factors influencing zooplankton population dynamics. Eutrophication drives phytoplankton communities toward the dominance of cyanobacteria, which means a decrease in the availability of sterols and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (EPA and DHA). The effects of different restoration measures on the nutritional quality of the phytoplankton community and subsequent impacts on zooplankton biomass have rarely been considered. We analyzed the nutritional quality of phytoplankton in the eutrophic Lake Vesijärvi in southern Finland over a 37-year period, and studied the impacts of two restoration measures, biomanipulation and hypolimnetic aeration, on th…
Lichen communities on Populus tremula are affected by the density of Picea abies
2021
Questions Aspen (Populus tremula) is declining in the old‐growth forests of boreal Fennoscandia. This threatens the numerous taxa that are dependent on old aspens, including many epiphytic lichens. Potential methods to aid epiphytic lichens on aspen are centered around treatments which affect the density of Norway spruce (Picea abies). In this study, we investigated how epiphytic lichen communities on aspen are affected by the variation of spruce density in the immediate vicinity of the focal aspen. Location Southern boreal forests in Finland. Methods We recorded the occurrence of lichens from 120 aspens in 12 semi‐natural forest sites. We used spruce basal area as the measure for spruce de…
Atlantic cod recovery from the Allee effect zone : contrasting ecological and evolutionary rescue
2020
The ability of a population to recover from disturbances is fundamental for its persistence. Impaired population recovery might be associated with a demographic Allee effect. Immigration from adjacent populations could accelerate the recovery not only by promoting population growth beyond the Allee effect threshold but also by bringing in advantageous genotypes. We explore the nature and role of ecological and evolutionary rescue in an Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua Gadidae) population fished below its Allee effect threshold. We utilize an eco-evolutionary model and simulate scenarios, where the target population evolves in response to selective fishing and sample immigrants from (a) a source p…
Parasite transmission in aquatic ecosystems under temperature change: effects of host activity and elimination of parasite larvae by filter‐feeders
2020
A moderate raise in temperature was suggested to enhance the impact of parasites on aquatic ecosystems. Under higher temperatures, poikilothermic animals (e.g. fish) increase their activity, which can result in a more frequent encounter with parasites. However, temperature increase may also trigger processes counteracting an increased risk of parasitic infections. Thus, the removal of free‐living stages of parasites by filter‐feeding organisms can increase with temperature and potentially mitigate disease risk in ecosystems under climate change. We aimed to study whether an increased infection transmission under higher temperatures can be compensated by the increased removal of parasitic la…