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Root foraging may allow hyperaccumulator plants to enhance element accumulation. This study compared root proliferation of two annual serpentine endemics: Streptanthus polygaloides (Ni hyperaccumulator) and Streptanthus insignis (nonhyperaccumulator). In a greenhouse experiment, pots were divided by a sealed partition, Ni‐amended soil (800 mg kg −1) in one half, unamended soil in the other. Seeds were germinated over the partition, allowing roots to explore both soils. After 5 months, roots from each side of each pot were harvested, washed, dried, and weighed. Streptanthus polygaloides root biomass was significantly (twofold) greater in Ni‐amended soil whereas S. insignis root biomass was similar in the two soils. In a lab experiment, seedlings were grown in vertical agar‐filled petri dishes to determine if Ni affected seedling root growth. Seedlings were placed on either side of a central filter paper strip soaked in either NiCl2 solution or deionized water. Growth direction of the primary root (toward, away, neutral) and lateral root numbers and lengths were recorded. For seedlings, primary root direction and lateral root numbers/lengths were significantly increased toward Ni‐soaked filter paper only for S. polygaloides. We conclude that S. polygaloides exhibited positive root foraging responses. These may enhance Ni uptake and we suggest the term "nickelophilic root foraging" be applied to this behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parasites are ubiquitous and constitute a substantial amount of natural biomass. Host species differ greatly in how many parasite species they harbor. In this idea paper, we ask what may cause the distribution of parasite diversity in an ecosystem. Since host species interact trophically in a food web and parasites are often transmitted along trophic links, we argue that trophic transmission can be a potential mechanism for explaining parasite diversity distribution. We propose a modeling framework for investigating this issue. The feasibility of our idea is demonstrated by fitting a simulation model to data derived from the Carpinteria ecosystem. Our preliminary analysis suggests that a model with trophic transmission is able to produce parasite diversity distribution similar to the empirical data better than a model without trophic transmission can. We also discuss possible extensions of our preliminary work for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and up‐to‐date biodiversity forecasts enable robust planning for environmental management and conservation of landscapes under a wide range of uses. Future predictions of the species composition of ecological communities complement more frequently reported species richness estimates to better characterize the different dimensions of biodiversity. The models that make community composition forecasts are calibrated with data on species' geographic patterns for the present, which may not be good proxies for future patterns. The future establishment of novel communities represents data on species interactions unaccounted for by these models. However, detecting them in a systematic way presents challenges due to the lack of monitoring data for landscapes with high environmental turnover, where such communities are likely to establish. Here, we propose lightweight monitoring over both ecological and anthropogenic disturbance gradients using passive sensors (i.e., those that operate continuously without much human input) to detect novel communities with the aim of updating models that make community composition forecasts. Monitoring over these two gradients should maximize detection of novel communities and improve understanding of relationships between community composition and environmental change. Further, barriers regarding cost and effort are reduced by using relatively few sensors requiring minimal upkeep. Ongoing updates to community composition forecasts based on novel community data and better understanding of the associated uncertainty should improve future decision‐making for both resource management and conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.12165 The authors conducted outdoor mesocosm experiments (Figure 1a) and revealed that plant-soil feedback effects experienced by the parent plant changed seed quality and initial performance of a common grassland forb. Their results illustrated that plant-soil feedback effects changed seed quality and initial performance in a common grassland forb. I Ecological Research i , 36(1):32-44 b Title: How plant-soil feedbacks influence the next generation of plants. [Extracted from the article]

In the era of globalization, biological invasions are one of the most serious social issues. Thus, managing its impact is an urgent task. It is essential to control nonnative species before they become established. However, it is insufficient to address establishment debt, which occurs when a nonnative species has been introduced into an area but has not yet been established in the wild. In particular, unintentionally introduced or contaminated organisms of the aquatic ornamental pet trade are referred to as "hitchhikers" and have not received much attention in the context of establishment debt. To understand the nature of establishment debt, including that of aquatic hitchhikers, I propose the monitoring of nonnative species inhabiting artificial isolated waters, such as indoor aquariums, and the construction of a database using environmental DNA metabarcoding. This idea would be an effective nonregulatory management approach when implemented broadly, at the country level. Furthermore, implementation of this strategy in combination with border biosecurity and field monitoring may promote accurate prioritization, rapid species identification, and effective invasion pathway assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the production of large and conspicuous flowers can be costly, self‐pollinated or asexually reproducing plants are expected to lose characters for pollinator attraction. However, some plants still produce conspicuous flowers despite not relying on pollinators for fertilization, suggesting overlooked benefits of receiving flower visitors. Here, we present visitor‐mediated microbial dispersal as a potential benefit of receiving flower visitors. Recent studies revealed that diverse microbes inhabit plant surfaces or plant tissues and that these microbes substantially benefit host plants. Animal flower visitors disperse these microbes. Since some microbes can migrate to seeds, the enhanced dispersal via visitors can modulate microbial communities of the next generations. Microbial dispersal via flower visitors may improve plant fitness via increased opportunities to receive microbes mutualistic for seeds and higher variances in seed microbial communities that function as "bet‐hedging." We can test this hypothesis by comparing microbial communities and the performance of seeds from experimentally visitor‐excluded flowers and naturally animal‐visited control flowers. Further experiments with sterilization or microbe inoculation may confirm the contribution of specific taxa or microbial community structures to the observed effects on seed performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional nature conservation has attempted to protect biodiversity, ecological integrity (i.e., composition and biomass/abundance of native species), and ecosystem services in parallel, assuming generally positive relationships among them. However, many native species are potentially weakened by and maladapted to a new, warmer climate. Such native species may not be able to offer ecosystem services at previous levels. If the relationship between ecosystem services and native species is no longer positive due to climate change, pursuing ecological integrity could be ineffective for maximizing ecosystem services. Hence, there is room to investigate future relationships among biodiversity, ecological integrity, and ecosystem services. This investigation can be done by describing the changes in ecosystem services as a function of biodiversity and ecological integrity. Herein, biodiversity and ecological integrity can be expressed by phylogenetic diversity and species intactness indices based on abundance, respectively. According to my hypothetical figure, the metrics of biodiversity and ecological integrity are potentially not positively but rather negatively related to ecosystem services. The hypothetical figure can be examined and improved using three different approaches: computer simulations (e.g., the LANDIS‐II forest simulation model), collection of actual data (e.g., measuring ecosystem services of some sites with psychrophilic and thermophilic species), and questionnaire surveys about cultural services (e.g., using digitally manipulated photographs and generative adversarial networks). Thus, we can successfully enable practitioners to understand new relationships, which will be relevant to ecosystem management under changing climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecologists and evolutionary biologists have revealed that adaptive microevolution (i.e., allele frequency changes through time) and behavioral changes occur rapidly enough to affect contemporary ecological dynamics, and we can consider rapid adaptation for better conservation and management of wild populations. However, previous studies tended to focus on adaptation that increases population densities (e.g., evolutionary rescue), and did not pay attention to adaptation that decreases population densities (e.g., evolutionary suicide). Here, we demonstrate that controlling trait adaptation may be potentially important for decreasing population densities. One possibility is introducing "selfish" genotypes to populations. If the genotypes increase their reproductive success at the expense of population growth (e.g., cheaters in subsocial ants or coercive males in damselflies), we can decrease population densities (intraspecific adaptation load). The other possible option is diverting trait values of animals from the value that maximizes population growth (ecological trap). For example, we may be able to change behavior of a deer population by hunting so that they will not approach the best habitat with ample resources (landscape of fear). Then, we can consider the optimal allocation of our effort to directly decrease their population densities and control their trait values. However, we should carefully conduct controlling trait adaptation because it may result in unintended outcomes through modified genetic compositions and behaviors, such as increasing genetic variation of the focal population that enhances adaptation to changing environments by introducing selfish genotypes or a transient increase of population densities by modified behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex change is a well‐known phenomenon in teleost fishes, and it takes several days to a few months depending on the species and direction of sex change. However, the underlying factors influencing the time required for sex change (TS) remain unclear. Given that the time for producing a new gonad largely determines TS, the gonad type (i.e., whether fish retain the gonad of opposite sex or not [delimited or non‐delimited]) and metabolic rate may affect TS. This study sought to test two hypotheses: (1) the delimited gonad shortens TS and (2) TS scales with mass0.1−0.2, because the metabolic scaling exponent (β) in fishes is 0.8–0.9 and biological times scale with mass1−β in general. We compiled data on TS for 12 female‐to‐male and 14 male‐to‐female sex‐changing species from the literature. Results of individual examinations of the effects of gonad type and mass were consistent with our hypotheses. However, upon simultaneous examination of the effects of gonad type and mass, these effects became unclear because of their strong multicollinearity. The compiled data for delimited and non‐delimited gonads were biased toward the smaller and larger species, respectively, precluding us from being able to statistically distinguish between these effects. Small species with non‐delimited gonads and large species with delimited gonads exist; however, their TS has not been measured with high temporal resolution thus far. Therefore, additional experiments on these species are required to statistically distinguish between, as well as to better understand, the effects of gonad type and mass on TS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disturbance is common in natural ecosystems, but increasingly defines them. While there are many descriptions for the dynamics of an ecosystem's response to disturbance, there are few descriptions for the dynamics of the disturbance itself. I describe a novel application of a model based on the production of amplitude envelopes in acoustics and electronic music synthesis, with varying parameters Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release (ADSR). I show that varying the parameters of the ADSR model is sufficient to produce and vary the qualitative disturbance regimes described by previous authors, and is capable of producing dynamics not previously considered. I tested the utility of the ADSR model by applying it to a logistic growth model. I found that manipulating the attack and release parameters of the ADSR model changes the population dynamics estimated by these models. This implies that responses to disturbance are determined not only by the resilience and resistance of the ecological system, but also the dynamics of the disturbance itself. My hope is that the ADSR model will prove useful to researchers in either describing disturbances in long‐term ecological data, or in producing disturbances for simulations or experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ecological Research team has announced the winners of the 2023 Ecological Research Paper Award. The winning papers cover a range of topics, including the genetic structures of sika deer and Japanese land leeches, the phytogeography and history of Japanese beech forests, the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on group densities of Thomas' langurs in a tropical forest, the combined effects of artificial light at night and anthropogenic noise on ground crickets, and the effects of grazing on marsh plants by wintering Middendorf's bean goose. These papers were recognized at the award ceremony during the 71st Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan. [Extracted from the article]

Isolation and cultivation of microbes from environmental samples have been fundamental and important for species identification and investigating functions and ecology of target microbes. Although cultivation and isolation of microbes are not easy, the natural environment can "culture" any endemic microbes, and thus key information for culturing and isolating microbes may be encoded in the natural population dynamics of microbes. In this article, I present the idea that culturability of microbes may be inferred by quantifying the dynamic properties of microbes using nonlinear time series analysis and empirical dynamic modeling (EDM). To briefly demonstrate the idea, I analyzed high‐frequency, quantitative microbial time series obtained for experimental rice plots. I selected bacterial phyla that included sufficient numbers of microbial taxa and analyzed 398 microbial taxa using EDM. The nine phyla analyzed generally followed a similar pattern: many microbial taxa fell into the "Simple" dynamics category, and a small proportion of taxa were categorized in "Simple but nonlinear" or "Nearly random" dynamics categories. The present analysis suggested that many microbes in the study system might be cultivated by modifying a relatively small number of conditions. However, the present idea as well as the result is preliminary, and more precise taxonomic information (i.e., species‐level identification) and a culturability data set will help to validate the idea. If the present idea was found to be valid, a priori evaluation of the culturability of microbes would become possible, which would avoid unnecessary costs (labor, time and money) of attempts to cultivate microbes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisms interact across time and space; collectively, these interactions constitute webs that drive energy and material cycles. Classical ecological studies have tested the hypothesis that complex food webs are less stable in closed systems and have thus focused mainly on internal, local drivers of interspecific interactions in food webs. Recently, theories relating to food webs and ecosystems have been expanded to larger spatial scales through the concept of metacommunities (i.e., metawebs and metaecosystems), whose properties are driven by climatic conditions. However, these concepts have been limited to short‐term phenomena observable on ecological time scales, while long‐term historical processes have rarely been considered. In addition, the components of food webs have not been considered as determinants of food web persistence, even though species' persistence is determined by factors other than interspecific interactions within local food webs. Here, I emphasized the potential utility of intraspecific genetic diversity of hub species as a metric for evaluating the long‐term persistence of local food webs. I also proposed a method for calculating this new metric, expressed as the sum of all metaweb level centrality and intraspecific genetic diversity values for each species. Furthermore, I discussed hypothetical patterns in food web properties as determined from both food web structure and intraspecific genetic structure along geographical and climatic gradients; these patterns have yet to be verified empirically. Finally, I summarized recent developments in molecular methods for collecting genetic data, which may support the empirical study of the concepts presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary changes in organisms are directly observable, and they can occur rapidly in the presence of strong natural selection. Here, we present the "airport ecology" to describe the rapid evolution of animals. The pygmy grasshopper Tetrix japonica exhibits significant variations in pronotum color and markings and is a good model organism for "airport ecology." There are trade‐offs in black‐spot markings in the pygmy grasshoppers; although it helps in camouflaging and reducing predation pressure, it stimulates overheating, resulting in a reduction in mating opportunities and foraging success under high solar irradiance. Therefore, the frequency of black‐spotted morphs is lower at lower latitudes than at higher latitudes along a latitudinal cline. However, in an airport where predation pressure is reduced by the removal of predatory bird populations, we predict that the frequency of black‐spotted morphs of T. japonica will be lower in habitats without predators than in those with predators at the same latitude; this demonstrates the anthropogenic effect on T. japonica polymorphism. As suggested here, predator‐free environments such as airports are valuable for illustrating the effects of anthropogenic activity on animal evolution. These findings can be extended to several other species that are found around airports and are potentially preferred by avian predators in terms of not only rapid evolution of color polymorphism but also evolution of various life‐history traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In line with contemporary changes in oceanic conditions, reef communities could be declining at the equator and expanding polewards, having previously happened in the past. Yet, some tropical organisms are now decimated at their distributional cores and observed beyond their inferred range limits. However, it remains unclear if this is happening at the community scale, especially due to the challenges of collecting quantitative and comparable data across latitudes. Here, we propose that monitoring sentinel plots via photogrammetry could help to assess abiding changes in benthic communities and trajectories of reef‐building populations across the Kuroshio region. We think that as oceans are becoming warmer, accretive reef communities may shift their distribution northwards which may be primarily due to a change in the relative biomass‐abundance of resident taxa. Consistent trends among latitudes will resolve the possibility of contraction or expansion of accretive reef communities, providing further insight into the variety of responses and dynamics observed across latitudes in the context of the Anthropocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dispersal is crucial for both individual fitness and spatiotemporal population dynamics. In sexual organisms, females and males have different reproductive strategies and therefore have different reproductive demands (i.e., reproductive resources and mating partners, respectively), which leads to differences in dispersal decision making between sexes. Although many studies have described sexual differences in dispersal behavior, little is known about the consequences for spatiotemporal population dynamics because metapopulation theory has considered only either nonrandom dispersal in asexual systems or random dispersal in sexual systems. To fill the knowledge gap, we propose a modeling framework that incorporates nonrandom and sex‐specific dispersal into metapopulation theory. It allows us to ask how female‐biased (e.g., in mammals) or male‐biased (e.g., in birds) dispersal can influence persistence of sexual organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy resources can potentially solve global warming issues that arise from the large amounts of CO2 emissions from currently used energy resources. Microbial fuel cells (MFC) can produce electrical energy from the environment, making them attractive for energy harvesting. The structures and mechanisms of MFC have been studied for a few decades, and the performance of MFC has constantly been improved using new materials in the devices or by interacting microbial species on the anode chamber of MFC. However, the ecological phenomena, especially inter‐species interactions, within the microbial community in MFC are still largely unknown. Analysis and control of the microbial community have high potential to improve the MFC performance. In this idea paper, I have provided ways to analyze the species interactions in the microbial communities of MFC: (a) empirical dynamic modeling for detecting species interactions in MFC, and (b) network analysis to explore the core microbe species in the MFC. The interaction analyses of the microbial communities in MFC devices can potentially contribute to improving the performance of MFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data papers, such as those published by Ecological Research, encourage the retrieval and archiving of valuable unpublished, undigitized ecological observational data. However, scientists remain hesitant to submit their data to such forums. In this perspective paper, we describe lessons learned from the Long‐Term Ecological Research, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and marine biological databases and discuss how data sharing and publication are both powerful and important for ecological research. Our aim is to encourage readers to submit their unpublished, undigitized ecological observational data then the data may be archived, published and used by other researchers to advance knowledge in the field of ecology. Coupling data sharing and syntheses with the development of innovative informatics would allow ecology to enter the realm of big science and provide seeds for a new and robust agenda of future ecological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia dominated by Dipterocarpaceae show a unique reproductive event, general flowering. This paper records long‐term seed production of a tropical rainforest in Pasoh Forest Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia. Study site is a lowland dipterocarp forest dominated by Dipterocarpaceae and Fabaceae. Seed and other litter production data are essential for analyzing general flowering and evaluating net primary production (NPP) of rainforest ecosystems under climate change. Unfortunately, there is a lack of long‐term litter production data in Dipterocarp forests. This paper presents such a long‐term litter data from 1992 to 2017. We collected litter samples every month from May 1992 to December 2017 in Pasoh F.R., Peninsular Malaysia (2°59′N, 102°18′E, 120–152 m a.s.l.). Litter was collected using 100 litter traps spaced evenly within a 2‐ha core area of the 6‐ha study plot. Each litter trap was made of 1 mm mesh with a circular area of 0.5 m2 from May 8, 1992 to December 22, 1998. Then litter trap was changed to a square type with 4 mm mesh until now. Litter samples were collected and separated to leaf, flower, seed and others (debris). After sorting litter samples were dried at 85°C for 48 hr and weighed. Seeds and flowers were separated according to tentative morphological types and identified. This data paper contains two data sets. Litter data set contains weight of each litter fractions. Seed data set contains number and weight of morphological seed types and identified scientific name. This data paper presents litter weight and seed production data sets from 1992 to 2017 in a lowland dipterocarp forests in Pasoh Forest Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse experiments have been pivotal to predicting the likely response of tree species to future climate. However, there are some common inadequacies in the inferences derived from many of the studies. Moisture and temperature effects are tightly coupled but in controlled experiments, only a few studies acknowledged the interacting nature of these factors. Furthermore, there is evidence that population-level plasticity is relevant to plant survival in novel environments. We posit that an inference derived from response to a single climatic factor is likely incomplete and hypothesised that adaptive properties inherent in population-level plasticity mediate plant growth in novel environments. We tested this hypothesis using a greenhouse experiment involving four populations of white birch ( Betula papyrifera Marsh) grown under two temperatures and two moisture regimes. We examined variations in their photosynthetic rates ( A), water-use efficiency (WUE), water potential ( ψ) and stomatal conductance ( g). We also investigated variations in their height growths, height relative growth rates ( RGR), and biomass accumulations. Interaction of temperature and moisture was consistently significant for most of the traits. Contrary to expectation, population from cold climate had the highest growth in the high temperature treatments while a coastal population had the highest WUE in low water treatments and also showed greatest decline in growth responses. Some of the results also suggest that there is an overriding effect of phenotypic plasticity over local adaption in white birch. Collectively, the results underscore the growing awareness that populations would likely respond differently in the event of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban greenspace plays an important role in buffering the threat of urbanization to biodiversity. Biodiversity research in urban greenspace is essential for understanding the impacts of human activities on biodiversity and the associated ecosystem functioning and services in urban ecosystems. However, we lack large‐scale biodiversity datasets in urban greenspace for macroecological studies. In this paper, we provided a comprehensive biodiversity dataset of vascular plant and bird species in 286 university campuses and 118 urban parks in 143 cities in China, covering a wide range with different levels of urbanization (20–50°N in latitude and 81–130°E in longitude). Plant species were classified into different growth forms, and bird species were identified as resident or migrant. In total, the dataset contains 46,558 occurrence records for 5,915 plant species (about 18% of all Chinese vascular plant species) and 6,423 records for 546 bird species (around 40% of all recorded bird species in China). This dataset provides an important data source for evaluating the anthropogenic effects of biodiversity changes and advancing urban ecology. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2021-02.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This data paper reports vegetation census data collected in a network of 28 grassland sites in Japan. This is the largest grassland data set freely available in Japan. The network is the project "Grassland Dynamics in Japan" launched by the Ministry of the Agriculture and Forestry and Fisheries, Japan. It consists of semi‐natural and artificial grasslands (pasture and meadow) and covers from Hokkaido to Kyushu area in Japan. Twenty to 12 permanent plots were established in each grassland. Censuses of plant species emerged in 1 m2 quadrat were conducted every year from 1972 to 1982 at longest. The data provide species abundance, plant coverage (%) and length (cm) of 484 quadrats. The censuses adopted common census protocol, which provide good opportunities for meta‐analyses and comparative studies among grasslands. The data have been used for ecological studies as well as for animal production reports published by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization in Japan. The detailed Metadata for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2020-22.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Great East Japan Earthquake; the 2011 tsunamis; ecological disturbance; the Fukushima accident EN Great East Japan Earthquake the 2011 tsunamis ecological disturbance the Fukushima accident 932 934 3 11/09/21 20211101 NES 211101 This virtual issue collected and introduced scientific and data papers published in Ecological Research, Population Ecology, and Plant Species Biology on effects of direct and indirect disturbances induced in 2011 by the Great East Japan Earthquake in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In another data paper, Yamakita et al. (2021) listed and archived various ecological traits of the microbenthic animals recorded in the field studies conducted in coastal areas disturbed by the 2011 tsunamis, which should be useful for the study of the functional roles of these animals. Hamaoka et al. (2020) estimated the loss of submerged macrophyte vegetation by comparing aerial and satellite images from before and after the 2011 tsunamis and found that 76% of seagrass beds (Amano-ba in Japanese) and 20% of macroalgal beds (Graamo-ba) disappeared just after the 2011 tsunamis. [Extracted from the article]

Tokyo Bay is a semienclosed coastal system located in the center of Japan. Eutrophication has progressed since 1950, resulting in red tides and blue tides appearing frequently. This Data Paper reports the abundance of phytoplankton species sampled monthly from April 1998 to March 2019 at 17 stations in Tokyo Bay. Monitoring has been carried out by Chiba Prefectural Government. Phytoplankters were enumerated by microscopy as numbers of cells or colonies. The abundance of each species was expressed as cells per milliliter of seawater. The total cell density ranged from 102 to 106 cells·ml−1. The dominant taxa were diatoms, such as Chaetoceros spp., Skeletonema spp., and Thalassiosira spp. in most of the months. The dominant diatom species reached concentrations of 106 cells·ml−1. Microflagellates or Cryptomonadaceae were also abundant, especially in winter, reaching 106 cells·ml−1. These data can be used to appreciate how anthropogenic disturbances such as eutrophication and global warming affect the density and community composition of phytoplankton. The detailed Metadata for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2021-03.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wing morphology plays a pivotal role in avian flight capabilities and ecological adaptations across diverse environments. Consequently, wing measurement data are used frequently in comparative analyses and hypothesis exploration to understand avian evolution. Among the parameters representing wing morphology, wingspan and wing area are relatively challenging to obtain compared to simpler measures such as wing length and hand‐wing index. This study aimed to enhance accessibility to existing wingspan and wing area data by compiling measurements from 25 literature sources, in addition to unpublished data. The dataset covers 856 species across 95 families and 28 orders. Although the inclusion proportion varies widely among orders, ranging from 0% to 100%, this initial dataset forms a foundation for a more comprehensive database on avian wing morphology. The complete dataset for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2024-04.1/jalter-en. The dataset will be updated continuously, with the latest version available on figshare in CSV and Microsoft Excel formats (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.23537892.v2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vascular plants develop diverse root system architectures and exudates to facilitate acquisition of soil nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). Plant species have inherently specific properties of root system architectures and exudates, but some plants exhibit high plasticity to respond to spatiotemporal variations in soil nutrient forms and availability. This paper synthesizes evidence on how plant species diversity and root plasticity contribute to soil nutrient mobilization and uptake in plants from the tropics to the Arctic with varying plant species diversity. The development of finer roots in the surface soil is a well‐known strategy for the acquisition of limited nutrients (especially phosphorus), but the allocation of roots foraging "nutrient hotspots" in deeper soil (podzolic soil or permafrost‐affected soils) is an alternative strategy for coniferous trees tested in the Arctic and boreal forests. This contrasts with findings in tropical forests, where diverse plant species with different capacities of organic acid exudation coexist and species composition shifts in response to phosphorus deficiency. In particular, high malate exudation from roots and rhizosphere microbes stimulates phosphorus solubilization, aluminum detoxification, and lignin degradation in acidic soils. The diversity and plasticity of the root system architecture, root exudation, and the flexibility of nutrient sources mitigate nutrient limitation in soil. Root plasticity facilitating soil nutrient acquisition has a large impact on biogeochemistry and soil formation, such as podzolization, in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land cover classification mapping is the process of assigning labels to different types of land surfaces based on overhead imagery. However, acquiring reference samples through fieldwork for ground truth can be costly and time‐intensive. Additionally, annotating high‐resolution satellite images poses challenges, as certain land cover types are difficult to discern solely from nadir images. To address these challenges, this study examined the feasibility of using street‐level imagery to support the collection of reference samples and identify land cover. We utilized 18,022 images captured in Japan, with 14 different land cover classes. Our approach involved using convolutional neural networks based on Inception‐v4 and DenseNet, as well as Transformer‐based Vision and Swin Transformers, both with and without pre‐trained weights and fine‐tuning techniques. Additionally, we explored explainability through Gradient‐Weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad‐CAM). Our results indicate that using a Vision Transformer was the most effective method, achieving an overall accuracy of 86.12% and allowing for full explainability of land cover targets within an image. This paper proposes a promising solution for land cover classification from street‐level imagery, which can be used for semi‐automatic reference sample collection from geo‐tagged street‐level photos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This data paper introduces a data set of quantitative records, including biomass (wet and dry weight), cover, shoot density and shoot length, of habitat‐forming seaweeds (temperate kelps and fucoids) collected at 400 sites (2,115 sampling points) of a warm‐to‐cold temperate zone of the Japanese coast from 1957 to 2013. The data set includes 8,885 occurrence records of 58 species, extracted from 64 literature sources, most of which were written in local language. The data set compiled the quantitative records of seaweeds at each study site, each year and each month; the geographical location; the vertical distribution and the scientific names. Furthermore, one supporting data set was added that included the name of the corresponding literature list. The data set was formatted as Darwin Core and its extension, "Sample‐based Data." Scientific names were updated to ones that are currently accepted based on Algaebase (http://www.algaebase.org). A comprehensive distribution (presence and absence) data set of Japanese habitat‐forming seaweeds has been published (Kumagai et al., 2016, Ecological Research 31:759), which covers geographic distribution and the associated long‐term changes in seaweeds found in Japanese temperate and subtropical zones. Here, this data set focuses more on changes in seaweed quantity according to season and depth. This rich data set can be used to analyze the seasonal, long‐term changes and spatial differences in the biomass and community structure of habitat‐forming seaweeds along the Japanese coast. These datasets are published under a Creative Commons attribution license CC‐BY NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2020-07.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Southeast Asia is a hotspot of global seagrass diversity, offering valuable ecosystem services for human life. However, historically, there have been large gaps in the scientific knowledge of the distribution of seagrass beds in this region. Information on the distribution has not been updated in global databases since the publication of the World Seagrass Atlas in 2003, which was based on data mostly obtained up until the late 1990s. We collected more recent data on seagrass bed distribution from nine ASEAN countries plus southern China and southern Japan, and integrated these data into a geographic information system (GIS)‐database. A total of 1,064 polygon data and 937 points data were uploaded in this paper, which were obtained from 107 scientific articles and reports published after 2000, including those written in local languages. Among them, 7.3% of the data have associated information on seagrass bed size and 35.3% have associated information on seagrass species composition. Data obtained from Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Timore‐Leste and Southern China cover almost all the coastlines of each country, whereas data for the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand still have large gaps in areal coverage. The data set has a few points from Brunei Darussalam, the Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands and Pratas Islands, which are areas that we lacked information on for a long time. The obtained data will be useful to understand the current status of seagrass beds and to help facilitate better conservation and management of coastal areas in this region. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2020-13.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the species occurrence record of zooxanthellate reef‐building corals at 1047 sites on the Japanese coast, recorded from 1929 to 2017. The dataset includes 484 confirmed scientific species names compiled from 152 literature sources, most of which were written in Japanese and published as gray literature in local journals or individual reports. Scientific names were consolidated under currently accepted nomenclature based on the World Register of Marine Species. Further revision of species names was made by referring to monographs on temperate coral species of Japan, along with expert knowledge. The dataset includes the coral species recorded each year at each study site, the geographical location of each site, and the scientific names of the corals. Three supporting datasets were created, containing a list of literature, the names of the sites and synonymization and confirmation of the coral names. This up‐to‐date collection of data is a contribution to the study of coral biogeography and conservation planning, as well as long‐term changes in coral species distributions in response to climate change. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2020-08.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on seed morphology and fruiting phenology related to fitness and reproductive strategy is important for plant ecology and evolution. Although seed morphology is highly variable across years, regions and mother trees even within the same species, seed mass and size are often reported as averages or ranges for each species in existing databases or picture books. Unfortunately, freely available seed trait data for individual seeds are limited. This paper reports data on morphology (seed length, width and height) and dry weight of individual seeds from 129 tree species in Japan. It includes data from 79 genera in 44 families collected from various forests located in cool temperate to subtropical regions in Japan, including species not reported in previous databases. We mainly used seeds from the collections of the Forest Tree Gene Bank Program, but new seeds were also collected. If possible, multiple seeds were collected from multiple mother trees of the same species. This paper also reports data of the sampling month and date, which indicates the fruiting season of trees at the sampling site. By comparing these data to past or future data, we hope that it will aid in understanding the effects of climate change on fruiting phenology. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2020-14.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long‐term climate monitoring by universities provides fundamental data for various disciplines in the natural sciences. Kyoto University once managed 10 university forest stations and is currently managing five. At these stations, climate data have been monitored almost since the establishment of each station until today, with the exception of the stations in foreign countries. We compiled and report the monthly climate data at these forest stations from the start of monitoring until December 2018. These data are important for investigating environmental changes in East Asia, including China (Taiwan), South Korea (Chosen) and Russia (Sakhalin, Karafuto) over the last 100 years. Long‐term monitoring often involves minor and major changes in the monitoring procedures, devices and even monitoring sites due to unavoidable circumstances, such as technological advances, changes in standard methods and climatic and anthropogenic disasters. Therefore, associated metadata on the monitoring methods are also important. We also compiled metadata on changes in monitoring methods. In addition, to examine the effects of changes in the methods on the observed climate data, we compared the values recorded before and after the change for each climate variable at each monitoring site. Methodological changes affected only a few variables, with the exception of humidity. Careful interpretation may be required when a researcher uses humidity data in any analysis. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2020-03.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ailanthus altissima is one of the major invasive trees at a global scale. Despite numerous reports about its invasiveness in different habitats, so far it was not observed on harsh ultramafic soils and to colonize the vegetation of these outcrops. In this paper we show that the species can also spread in these habitats in the Mediterranean region and is able to cope with the severe anomalies of ultramafic soils. We sampled A. altissima in four ultramafic outcrops of central Italy and in control sites to unravel the behavior of this species toward the typically high soil concentrations of trace metals, such as Ni, Cr and Co, as well the imbalance of the Ca:Mg quotient. A similar sampling was performed for the native Fraxinus ornus that occurs naturally on a broad range of soils, including those from ultramafic rocks. Trace metal concentrations in leaves of both species were below toxicity thresholds, but A. altissima showed lower translocation and bioaccumulation factors (TF and BF, respectively) for Ni. Compared with F. ornus, the invasive species displayed higher leaf concentrations of Mg, thus suggesting a higher tolerance of potentially toxic levels of this element. Moreover, the higher TF and BF values for Ca in both control and serpentine populations suggested that A. altissima was more able to extract and accumulate this macronutrient in leaves in respect to F. ornus. Given the inherent deficiency of this element in ultramafic soils, efficient use of Ca could be a key trait contributing to the invasiveness of A. altissima on these soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the forest dynamics and carbon sequestration abilities of, as well as the influences of sea‐level rise on, Micronesian mangrove forests as revealed from long‐term studies (more than 25 years). Monitoring surveys of the permanent plots in the area's major mangrove communities revealed that the tree density decreased, while aboveground biomass increased. However, in the Rhizophora stylosa community characterized by densely developed stilt roots, the aboveground biomass temporarily decreased due to a decrease in old stilt roots, but it increased again by generating a large amount of new stilt roots. The highest aboveground biomass was estimated to be 895 Mg ha−1, which is the highest value of all the existing ground survey data from the tropics. Mangrove peat was deposited in the entire mangrove area, but its thickness differed according to the forest community, which indicated that the belowground stored carbon also differed depending on the community. In recent years, a rise in sea level exceeding 5 mm year−1 was observed in this region, and surface erosion occurred in the Bruguiera gymnorrhiza and Sonneratia alba communities. On the other hand, in the R. stylosa and Rhizophora apiculata communities, the ground level rose due to the accumulation of mangrove peat. The temporal decrease in old stilt roots and the accelerated increase in new stilt roots observed in the R. stylosa community may also be an effect of sea‐level rise. Long‐term monitoring surveys in mangrove forests are thus effective in quickly catching the effects of sea‐level rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptomeria japonica (sugi) and Chamaecyparis obtusa (hinoki) are major Japanese timber species whose plantation area accounts for 44 and 25%, respectively, of the plantation forests in Japan. Physiology, anatomy and ecology of the species have been intensively studied for this half century, which now forms a huge stock of information. These data, however, were scattered in diverse sources, including papers, bulletins of research institutes, reports of other kinds and books, and were presented in nonstandardized, diverse styles in each source. This paper provides a database (SugiHinoki DB) that compiles 177 plant traits of sugi and hinoki from 364 primary sources published since 1950. The compiled traits include physiological, morphological, anatomical and biochemical features that are recognized as relevant to life history strategies, vegetation modeling and global change responses. Collected data have been obtained under different environmental conditions, for plants with different ages and for organs with a different age or different position, which provide information of within‐species variation for a given trait. Each data entry is accompanied by detailed ancillary information describing the site of measurement, stand of measurement and detailed measurement conditions, which help users account for data variations as a consequence of phenotypic plasticity and genetic variations and to filter data. To provide data in a consistent format, the data and the ancillary information were standardized, and units were converted. After data compilation, outliers were detected by calculating interquartile range for each trait per each species. As of August 2019, SugiHinokiDB contains 24,683 data entries (16,410 for sugi, 8,273 for hinoki). As sugi and hinoki are major plantation species in Japan, the data mostly came from study sites in Japan (from Hokkaido in the north to Yakushima island in Kyushu to the south) but were also obtained from arboretums or plantation forests in Taiwan, Korea and China. Data were largely obtained from plants in plantation forests but also from plants in natural forests and under experimental conditions. The improved availability of trait data offered by SugiHinokiDB provides new research opportunities, such as the intensive parameterization of vegetation models for a more accurate prediction of climate change impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communities are shaped by the activity of ecosystem engineers, which modify their environment to their benefit and that of subordinate species within their functional domain. Communities are defined as embedded assemblages of interactions, from cells to landscapes. They are threatened by present‐day global changes which trigger the invasive nature of ecological engineers, with cascading effects. This perspective paper starts with a definition of ecosystem engineers and functional domains in the frame of developments in community ecology. Then I show that the concepts of ecosystem engineer and functional domain explain (i) most of the observed cases of community boundaries, and (ii) the passage from small‐scale interactions among individuals to community‐wide processes of dynamics and stability. I will further show that ecological engineering exists at various scales, from viruses to landscapes, functional domains being embedded in a flexible manner. At last, I will show that threats posed by global changes to communities are mainly mediated by their negative or positive effects on ecosystem engineers. This paper is focused on the role of ecosystem engineers and their functional domains in the formation of ecological communities, and that at all scales of ecosystems, from microbial loops to landscapes, with perspectives in the frame of present‐day threats to biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beech has long been the subject of ecological research in many fields. Recent studies using new methods are now being conducted. This special feature focuses on local beech forests and offers a collection of articles to readers of Ecological Research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peer‐review system ensures the reliability of academic publication. However, authors may be unsatisfied with the duration of peer‐review and/or the reviewers' comments, whereas both reviewers and editors have many concerns over peer‐reviewing. To provide information to increase the efficiency of the peer‐review process for authors, reviewers and editors, we analyzed recent trends in publication and peer‐review processes in Ecological Research, and asked Editorial Board members to answer an online questionnaire. The acceptance rate of "Original Articles," which accounted for 89.2% of all submissions, was 20.1%, whereas those of "Special Features," "Data Papers," and "Technical Reports" were 76.3, 73.7 and 38.3%, respectively. The median number of days to final decision was 168 for accepted manuscripts. The stage when handling editors invited reviewers to review was the longest stage during the peer‐review process. This stage was prolonged when potential reviewers declined the invitations to review. The results of the questionnaire revealed that both editors and reviewers felt burdened by the load of peer‐reviewing. Most editors encountered declining of peer‐review invitations. As the period of assigning reviewers is the most important step in determining the number of days to the final decision, the editorial office should support handling editors to locate reviewers. Motivating reviewers to review manuscripts is another way to speed up the process. Since many respondents indicated that improvements in the logical structure and English standard of manuscripts would facilitate review, authors could improve the process by carefully preparing their manuscripts with consideration to readers, including voluntary reviewers and editors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shigeru Nakano was a Japanese ecologist whose work crossed boundaries among subdisciplines in ecology, between aquatic and terrestrial habitats, and between different languages and cultures. He published his first paper in 1985 while still an undergraduate, and is well known for his early research on the individual behavior of stream salmonids in dominance hierarchies. Shortly after completing his Master's degree in 1987 he began collaborating with many graduate students and other scientists, including those from the US, and expanded his research to include factors controlling stream salmonid distribution and abundance across spatial scales ranging from local to landscape levels. In 1995 he moved to a research station in southwestern Hokkaido and began new collaborative research on interactions between forest and stream food webs. Nakano pioneered large-scale field experiments using greenhouses to sever the reciprocal fluxes of invertebrate prey between stream and riparian food webs. The strong direct and indirect effects of isolating these food webs from each other on organisms ranging from stream algae to fish, riparian spiders, and bats have revealed new linkages and explained phenomena that were previously unexplained. When combined with similar results from other investigators, they have created a paradigm shift in ecology. Shigeru Nakano was lost at sea in Baja California on March 27, 2000 at the age of 37, but key papers from his 15-year career set new standards for rigor, detail, and synthesis. They continue to be highly cited and inspire new research, and to foster new collaborations among Japanese and western scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This data paper presents the vascular plant biodiversity sampled from four plots on Amami‐Oshima Island, three plots on Tokunoshima Island, and one plot on Okinawa Island within the natural World Heritage site, and an additional three plots in southern Kyushu using the standardized belt‐transect survey method during July 2012 to October 2020. The dataset includes 99 families, 215 genera, and 381 species of vascular plants, and provides species occurrence among 10 subplots for all vascular plants, girth at breast height (GBH) and height of all trees and climbers with GBH ≥ 3.2 cm or height ≥ 4 m in each 5 × 100 m plot. This dataset serves as baseline data for subsequent plant diversity monitoring of the natural World Heritage site. The Darwin Core Archive is deposited in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) through the Japan Initiative for Biodiversity Information, and are thus accessible through the GBIF portal under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. The detailed Metadata for this abstract published in the Data Article section of the journal is available in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP‐2022‐03.1/jalter‐en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi have unique ecosystem functions, such as organic matter decomposition, parasitism, and symbiosis with other organisms in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Their taxonomic and functional diversities are essential factors for predicting ecosystem functions and their responses to environmental changes. With the widespread use of high‐throughput sequencing (HTS) in recent years, the detection of fungal DNA sequences in various regions and on different environmental substrates has advanced. HTS‐obtained DNA sequences can be compared with those in databases to identify the taxa of organisms from which they are derived. Therefore, a global DNA database containing taxonomic information has been developed. However, functional data on the distribution and function of individual taxa remain scarce. In this study, the ecological information of each fungal family was compiled from review papers and published books. Specifically, the following information was collected: reported distribution (11 categories including information on the presence of fungi in Japan) and function (38 categories related to ecological functional data, such as guilds and habitats) of 553 families included in the literature. These data will provide information on the ecology of specific fungi detected in the field and help estimate the functional group composition and diversity of fungi from their DNA assemblage data. The detailed Metadata for this abstract published in the Data Article section of the journal is available in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2022-02.1/jalter-en. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground beetles of suborder Adephaga are often considered bioindicators of natural environments because their habitats and abundances strongly depend upon environmental factors. Although their importance and usefulness are already known, there are limited data regarding voucher specimens in Japan. Biodiversity data based on voucher specimens are of high quality and reliability. In this data paper, we compile the records of Caraboidea collected mainly by Dr. Kazuo Tanaka. We also detail the time and locality of collection based on the labels of specimens deposited in the Institute for Agro‐Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Japan. This collection facility contains 15,675 records of 673 species collected from 1947 to 1997. All data are deposited in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) through the Japan Node of GBIF and are thus accessible through the GBIF portal under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]