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Everything ecology and evolutionary biology
Marc Cadotte
40 posts
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- February 3, 2009
- 06:43 PM
- 1,752 views
Local extinctions reveal metacommunity dynamics.
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Metacommunity dynamics (i.e., that dispersal limitation among locales creates spatially-contingent community processes) have been in vogue over the past half-decade. Many of the advances in this field have come from theoretical models, computer simulations, artificial laboratory assemblages of micro-organisms (with yours truly being a major offender) and field experiments using small-bodied, short-lived organisms. An oft-repeated criticism has been that the necessary conditions for metacommunity........ Read more »
Kevin C. Burns, & Christopher J. Neufeld. (2009) Plant extinction dynamics in an insular metacommunity. Oikos, 118(2), 191-198. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2008.16816.x
- February 10, 2009
- 01:23 AM
- 1,688 views
Stability begets diversity
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
A classic hypothesis to explain the high diversity found in tropical rain forests, is that areas within the tropics served as a climatic refuges during Pleistocene global climate fluctuations (e.g., ice ages). These refuges beget diversity because they face much lower extinction rates then non-refuges and they are older, allowing speciation events to accrue. This hypothesis has proven controversial as evidence has been circumstantial and circular (i.e., high diversity areas are taken as evidence........ Read more »
A. C. Carnaval, M. J. Hickerson, C. F. B. Haddad, M. T. Rodrigues, & C. Moritz. (2009) Stability Predicts Genetic Diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Hotspot. Science, 323(5915), 785-789. DOI: 10.1126/science.1166955
- January 14, 2009
- 07:15 PM
- 1,656 views
However you skin them, cats have important ecosystem consequences
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
For disclosure’s sake, I was the editor who handled this paper, and much of this post comes from an editorial I wrote for this paper.Islands experience the greatest impacts from the invasion of non-indigenous species and are also at the forefront of efforts to eradicate problematic species and mitigate negative impacts. Bergstrom et al. elegantly studied the habitat and ecosystem consequences from the eradication of feral cats from Macquarie Island, a subantarctic island and a world heritage s........ Read more »
Dana M. Bergstrom, Arko Lucieer, Kate Kiefer, Jane Wasley, Lee Belbin, Tore K. Pedersen, & Steven L. Chown. (2009) Indirect effects of invasive species removal devastate World Heritage Island. Journal of Applied Ecology, 46(1), 73-81. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2008.01601.x
- May 28, 2009
- 06:27 PM
- 1,635 views
How long does it take for an ecosystem to recover?
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Numerous human activities, such as logging, fishing, pollution and the introduction of exotic species negatively impact ecosystems around the world. These negative impacts mean ecosystems lose species diversity, biomass production, carbon storage, and nutrient uptake. An important question is, how long does it take for ecosystems to recover from perturbations. The answer to this question can inform conservation policy and strategies and could help focus management resources.In a recent PLoS ONE ........ Read more »
Jones, H., & Schmitz, O. (2009) Rapid Recovery of Damaged Ecosystems. PLoS ONE, 4(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005653
- March 27, 2009
- 01:47 PM
- 1,436 views
The evolutionary meaning of autumn colors
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
As a kid growing up in Ontario, Canada, I have vivid memories of vast expanses of forests set ablaze by their autumn colors. Whole landscapes look like the canvas of a painter whose love of red, orange, gold and yellow are readily apparent. But, like most biologists, I had been taught that these colors are simply the by-product of leaf senescence, nothing more than a biochemical accident. I was amazed to read Marco Archetti's recent work showing that there may actually be adaptive benefits to ch........ Read more »
Archetti, M. (2009) Classification of hypotheses on the evolution of autumn colours. Oikos, 118(3), 328-333. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2008.17164.x
Archetti, M. (2008) Phylogenetic analysis reveals a scattered distribution of autumn colours. Annals of Botany, 103(5), 703-713. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcn259
Archetti, M., Döring, T., Hagen, S., Hughes, N., Leather, S., Lee, D., Lev-Yadun, S., Manetas, Y., Ougham, H., & Schaberg, P. (2009) Unravelling the evolution of autumn colours: an interdisciplinary approach. Trends in Ecology , 24(3), 166-173. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2008.10.006
- September 25, 2009
- 10:09 PM
- 1,414 views
Global warming and shifts in food web strucutre
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Predicting the effects of global warming on biological systems is of critical importance for informing proactive policy decisions. Most research so far has been on trying to predict shifts in species distributions and changes in interactions within local habitats. But what many of these studies assume is that the basic biological processes and requirements of the individual species will not change -that is their biology is fixed and they simply need to find the place that best suits them. Not so........ Read more »
O'Connor, M., Piehler, M., Leech, D., Anton, A., & Bruno, J. (2009) Warming and Resource Availability Shift Food Web Structure and Metabolism. PLoS Biology, 7(8). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000178
- June 1, 2010
- 10:00 PM
- 1,395 views
Experimental test of Darwin's naturalization hypothesis
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Among the numerous and still informative ecological predictions made by Darwin, one posits that when species are introduced into regions where they were not formerly found, the most successful tend to not have close relatives already occupying the region. This is known as Darwin's Naturalization Hypothesis, and his logic was that among close relatives, where ecological requirements should be most similar, the struggle for existence is most severe. Thus the modern formulation is that invader succ........ Read more »
Jiang, L., Tan, J., & Pu, Z. (2010) An Experimental Test of Darwin’s Naturalization Hypothesis. The American Naturalist, 175(4), 415-423. DOI: 10.1086/650720
- March 22, 2010
- 09:25 PM
- 1,382 views
Predicting endangered carnivores: the role of environment, space and phylogeny
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
For conservation biology, there are several research thrusts that are of critical importance, and one of these is to find predictors of species' extinction risk. Oft-cited is the particular susceptibility of large-bodied organisms, with their large ranges and slow reproductive rates. But there should be other predictors too, especially within larger mammals. In a forthcoming paper in Global Ecology and Biogeography, Safi and Pettorelli use just a few variables to predict extinction risk in carni........ Read more »
Safi, K., & Pettorelli, N. (2010) Phylogenetic, spatial and environmental components of extinction risk in carnivores. Global Ecology and Biogeography. DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00523.x
- November 25, 2009
- 10:13 PM
- 1,362 views
Taking below-ground processes seriously: plant coexistence and soil depth
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Some of the earliest ecologists, like Eugen Warming and Christen Raunkiaer, were enthralled with the minutia of the differences in plant life forms and how these differences determined where plants lived. They realized that differences in plant growth forms corresponded to how different plants made their way in the world. Since this early era, understanding the mechanisms of plant competition is one of the most widely-studied aspects of ecology. This is such an important aspect of ecology becaus........ Read more »
Dornbush, M., & Wilsey, B. (2009) Experimental manipulation of soil depth alters species richness and co-occurrence in restored tallgrass prairie. Journal of Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01605.x
Bartelheimer, M., Gowing, D., & Silvertown, J. (2009) Explaining hydrological niches: the decisive role of below-ground competition in two closely related species . Journal of Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01598.x
Cramer, M., van Cauter, A., & Bond, W. (2009) Growth of N -fixing African savanna species is constrained by below-ground competition with grass . Journal of Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01594.x
Meier, C., Keyserling, K., & Bowman, W. (2009) Fine root inputs to soil reduce growth of a neighbouring plant via distinct mechanisms dependent on root carbon chemistry. Journal of Ecology, 97(5), 941-949. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01537.x
- March 23, 2009
- 02:37 PM
- 1,254 views
Conserve now or wait for the data?
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
E. O. Wilson, referring to the ethical imperative we should apply to the conservation of life, said “The ethical imperative should be, first of all, prudence. We should judge every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and to come to understand what it means to humanity” (pg. 351, The Diversity of Life). Although, I would argue we should aim to learn biodiversity’s value, both intrinsic and extrinsic, as opposed to what it solely means to humanity, his point is protec........ Read more »
Grantham, H., Wilson, K., Moilanen, A., Rebelo, T., & Possingham, H. (2009) Delaying conservation actions for improved knowledge: how long should we wait?. Ecology Letters, 12(4), 293-301. DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01287.x
- April 8, 2010
- 10:26 PM
- 1,176 views
Plant rarity: environemtal or dispersal limited?
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
In order to promote the persistence and possible spread of extremely rare plant species, ecologists need to know why a species is rare in the first place. In 1986, Deborah Rabinowitz identified seven forms of rarity, where rarity could mean several things depending on range size, habitat specificity and population sizes. When considering rarity, it often feels intuitive to look for environmental causes for these different forms of rarity. Habitat alteration is an obvious environmental change tha........ Read more »
Seifert, B., & Fischer, M. (2010) Experimental establishment of a declining dry-grassland flagship species in relation to seed origin and target environment. Biological Conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.02.028
- April 14, 2010
- 01:28 PM
- 1,155 views
Teaching a quoll that cane toads are bad
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Often, species become endangered because of multiple stressors, with habitat destruction taking the prize as the most egregious. However, often what pushes a species into extinction is not the main driver of endangerment. For example, passenger pigeon numbers were decimated by unabated hunting, but the proximate cause of extinction was likely an inability to thrive in low densities. Yet, seldom is the case where a known single species interaction is the primary cause of engangerment and maybe ex........ Read more »
O’Donnell, S., Webb, J., & Shine, R. (2010) Conditioned taste aversion enhances the survival of an endangered predator imperilled by a toxic invader. Journal of Applied Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01802.x
- December 16, 2009
- 09:51 PM
- 1,104 views
Parastie competition enhances host survival
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Contracting a parasite is bad. But is getting colonized by multiple parasitic species worse? This is an interesting and important question. The host is a resource, which can support a limited number of parasitic individuals, and so how does competition affect parasitic species and host mortality?This was the premise of a recent paper by Oliver Balmer and colleagues, studying trypanosome infection of mice hosts. They engineered two transgeneic strains of the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei........ Read more »
Balmer, O., Stearns, S., Schötzau, A., & Brun, R. (2009) Intraspecific competition between co-infecting parasite strains enhances host survival in African trypanosomes. Ecology, 90(12), 3367-3378. DOI: 10.1890/08-2291.1
- March 9, 2010
- 09:44 AM
- 1,093 views
Ecology and industry: bridging the gap between economics and the environment
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Applied ecology is the science of minimizing human impacts and of supporting ecological systems in an economic landscape. Often though, applied ecologists work in isolation from those economic forces shaping biological landscapes, not really knowing what businesses would like to accomplish for habitat protection or sustainability. At the same businesses are seldom aware of the knowledge, tools and insight provided by ecologists. And perhaps, greater interaction could help turn ecology into a sci........ Read more »
Armsworth, P., Armsworth, A., Compton, N., Cottle, P., Davies, I., Emmett, B., Fandrich, V., Foote, M., Gaston, K., Gardiner, P.... (2010) The ecological research needs of business. Journal of Applied Ecology, 47(2), 235-243. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01792.x
- January 5, 2010
- 12:50 PM
- 1,089 views
Predicting invader success requires integrating ecological and land use patterns.
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Disclaimer, this was modified from an editorial I wrote for the Journal of Applied Ecology.In the quest to understand species invasions, we often try to link the abundance and distribution of invaders to underlying ecological processes. For example, oft-studied are the links between exotic diversity and native richness or environmental heterogeneity. Seemingly independently, research into how specific land use or management activities affect invasion dynamics is also fairly common. While both re........ Read more »
Diez, J., Buckley, H., Case, B., Harsch, M., Sciligo, A., Wangen, S., & Duncan, R. (2009) Interacting effects of management and environmental variability at multiple scales on invasive species distributions. Journal of Applied Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01725.x
- September 21, 2009
- 09:06 PM
- 1,069 views
Everything but extinct: invasion impacts on native diversity
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
There has been a persistent debate in the plant invasions literature about whether exotic plant invasions are a major threat to native plant persistence. While there are clear examples of animal invasions resulting in large scale extinction -e.g., the brown tree snake or Nile perch, evidence has been ambiguous for plants. Most ecologists are not so sanguine as to actually conclude that plant invasions are not a threat, and I think most believe that plant invader effects are an issue of temporal ........ Read more »
Jäger, H., Kowarik, I., & Tye, A. (2009) Destruction without extinction: long-term impacts of an invasive tree species on Galápagos highland vegetation. Journal of Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01578.x
- August 25, 2009
- 06:40 AM
- 1,056 views
March of polyploids!
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Speciation by polyploidy (see here for a general description of polyploidy) is one of the mechanisms of speciation and evolutionary diversification. We all learn about it in Bio 101, right after allopatry and sympatry. It is thought to be an especially important driver of speciation in plants, and anecdotal evidence, such as the origination of the invasive polyploid, Spartina anglica in the UK in the 1800's, reinforced that view. But how important has been unanswered until now.In a new publicati........ Read more »
Wood, T., Takebayashi, N., Barker, M., Mayrose, I., Greenspoon, P., & Rieseberg, L. (2009) The frequency of polyploid speciation in vascular plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(33), 13875-13879. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0811575106
- January 19, 2010
- 09:47 PM
- 1,046 views
Timing is everything: global warming and the timing of species interactions
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
While an obvious affect of climate change will be changes in the distributions or range sizes of species, more insidious and likely more consequential will be how species interactions are affected by changes in the timing of growth and reproduction. These changes in an organism's life cycle, or phenology, can create mismatches between an organism's need and resource availability or the readiness of coevolved partners -such as plants and pollinators.In an 'Idea and Perspective' paper in Ecology L........ Read more »
Yang, L., & Rudolf, V. (2010) Phenology, ontogeny and the effects of climate change on the timing of species interactions. Ecology Letters, 13(1), 1-10. DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01402.x
- November 9, 2009
- 10:14 AM
- 1,040 views
Emergent linkages in seemingly unconnected food chains
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
Food webs are notoriously complex, and a difficult aspect of ecology is to offer a priori model-derived predictions of food web processes. There are some ecologists, such Neo Martinez and Jordi Bascompte, who have advanced our understanding of the general mechanisms of food web properties and dynamics through tools such as network theory. Such advanced approaches rely on direct interactions among species, or at least indirect interactions that are mediated through changes in abundance of differe........ Read more »
Prasad, R., & Snyder, W. (2009) A non-trophic interaction chain links predators in different spatial niches. Oecologia. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-009-1486-7
- March 6, 2009
- 03:56 PM
- 1,038 views
Salamaders and climate change -impending extinctions?
by Marc Cadotte in The EEB and flow
By the now the evidence of a global frog decline, perhaps even an extinction crisis, has been well documented. But what about salamanders? They are normally less abundant and less-studied compared to frogs, but is there evidence of the same general pattern of declining population sizes? According to Sean Rovito and colleagues, the answer is unfortunately yes. They repeated a plethodontid (lungless) salamander survey done in the 1970’s in Central America and found that many species have decline........ Read more »
S. M. Rovito, G. Parra-Olea, C. R. Vasquez-Almazan, T. J. Papenfuss, & D. B. Wake. (2009) Dramatic declines in neotropical salamander populations are an important part of the global amphibian crisis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(9), 3231-3236. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0813051106
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