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Acoustic telemetry is a popular approach used to track many different aquatic animal taxa in marine and freshwater systems. However, information derived from focal studies is typically resource‐ and geography‐limited by the extent and placement of acoustic receivers. Even so, animals tagged and tracked in one region or study may be detected unexpectedly at distant locations by other researchers using compatible equipment, who ideally share that information. Synergies through national and global acoustic tracking networks are facilitating significant discoveries and unexpected observations that yield novel insight into the movement ecology and habitat use of wild animals. Here, we present a selection of case studies that highlight unexpected tracking observations or absence of observations where we expected to find animals in aquatic systems around the globe. These examples span freshwater and marine systems across spatiotemporal scales ranging from adjacent watersheds to distant ocean regions. These unexpected movements showcase the power of collaborative telemetry networks and serendipitous observations. Unique and unexpected observations such as those presented here can capture the imagination of both researchers and members of the public, and improve understanding of movement and connectivity within aquatic ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model systems in biology expand the research capacity of individuals and the community. Closely related to Arabidopsis, the genus Boechera has emerged as an important ecological model owing to the ability to integrate across molecular, functional, and eco‐evolutionary approaches. Boechera species are broadly distributed in relatively undisturbed habitats predominantly in western North America and provide one of the few experimental systems for identification of ecologically important genes through genome‐wide association studies and investigations of selection with plants in their native habitats. The ecologically, evolutionarily, and agriculturally important trait of apomixis (asexual reproduction via seeds) is common in the genus, and field experiments suggest that abiotic and biotic environments shape the evolution of sex. To date, population genetic studies have focused on the widespread species B. stricta, detailing population divergence and demographic history. Molecular and ecological studies show that balancing selection maintains genetic variation in ~10% of the genome, and ecological trade‐offs contribute to complex trait variation for herbivore resistance, flowering phenology, and drought tolerance. Microbiome analyses have shown that host genotypes influence leaf and root microbiome composition, and the soil microbiome influences flowering phenology and natural selection. Furthermore, Boechera offers numerous opportunities for investigating biological responses to global change. In B. stricta, climate change has induced a shift of >2 weeks in the timing of first flowering since the 1970s, altered patterns of natural selection, generated maladaptation in previously locally‐adapted populations, and disrupted life history trade‐offs. Here we review resources and results for this eco‐evolutionary model system and discuss future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beaks are among the few hard parts of coleoid cephalopods and are informative for species identification. Although mandible shape has been shown to be adaptive in many vertebrate taxa, it has been suggested that the shape of coleoid beaks does not bear any ecological signal. Yet, previous studies only explored beak shape in 2D and none have provided an in‐depth investigation of the potential relationship with ecological variables such as habitat use or diet.The goal of the present study was to understand whether variation in cephalopod beak shape reflects ecology and/or is more driven by phylogenetic relatedness as suggested previously.We imaged 101 lower and 108 upper beaks in 3D using underwater photogrammetry and micro‐CT scanning. Our 3D morphometric analysis conducted on 75 species of cephalopod shows that there is a significant but moderate phylogenetic signal. However, comparative phylogenetically informed analyses demonstrate that beak shape is also driven by ecology.We detected significant differences in beak shape between species inhabiting different habitats (pelagic, benthic or demersal) and of different trophic levels. Our results further suggest that beak shape variation can be summarized along a continuum between two main functions: fast closing versus hard biting.These results provide novel insights into the drivers of beak shape diversity in coleoid cephalopods and suggest that beak shape has evolved adaptively in relation to diet and habitat use. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new term, Multiple‐Benefit Conservation, has emerged in the conservation community, but has not been defined. We define Multiple‐Benefit Conservation as conservation efforts designed to simultaneously benefit local communities of people, enhance ecological function, and improve habitat quality for fish and wildlife. Its key features are setting ecological and societal goals at the outset and defining success as achieving these goals simultaneously. This is in contrast to efforts aimed at one goal that may also produce co‐benefits; it is inclusive of ecosystem services but not limited by a focus solely on human benefit. Strengths of this approach include that it is constructive, inclusive of multiple worldviews, easily communicated, solutions‐oriented, and compelling. Multiple‐Benefit Conservation as we define and describe it here appears to provide a pathway useful for designing conservation efforts that are more likely to be inclusive, that will quantify trade‐offs among goals, and can embrace pluralistic conservation leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Serengeti ecosystem contains one of the most diverse bird assemblages in Africa. We present here a data set consisting of abundances of bird species in different habitats of the Serengeti ecosystem over a 87‐yr time frame. This data set comprises 66,643 georeferenced occurrences for 568 species from 1929 to 2017. Most records contain feeding location, food source, distribution status, and observation locality. The records originate from three different but complementary methodologies: points, sites, and transects. The point method (bird species records 1929–2017) is based on ad hoc observations and includes rare species or those in special habitats. These points came from published records as well from the research program of A. R. E. Sinclair and colleagues. The site method (1966–2017) is based on structured observations at sites selected to represent specific habitats, and replicated within habitats and over time. At each site, birds were recorded by sight and sound over a radius of 50 m for 10 min. The transect method (1997–2011) is based on road transects covering different areas of the ecosystem. Road transects were traversed using a vehicle with observers travelling at 30 km/h. Bird species were those easily seen from a vehicle out to 50 m either side. As most transects were traversed multiple times, this method provides information on temporal change in abundance for a select set of species. No copyright restrictions apply to the use of this data set other than citing this publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Soil water and nutrient availability are key drivers of tree species distribution and forest ecosystem functioning, with strong species differences in water and nutrient use. Despite growing evidence for intraspecific trait differences, it remains unclear under which circumstances the effects of environmental gradients trump those of ontogeny and taxonomy on important functional dimensions related to resource use, particularly in tropical forests.Here, we explore how physiological, chemical, and morphological traits related to resource use vary between life stages in four species within the genus Micropholis that is widespread in lowland Amazonia. Specifically, we evaluate how environment, developmental stage, and taxonomy contribute to single‐trait variation and multidimensional functional strategies.We find that environment, developmental stage, and taxonomy differentially contribute to functional dimensions. Habitats and seasons shape physiological and chemical traits related to water and nutrient use, whereas developmental stage and taxonomic identity impact morphological traits –especially those related to the leaf economics spectrum.Our findings suggest that combining environment, ontogeny, and taxonomy allows for a better understanding of important functional dimensions in tropical trees and highlights the need for integrating tree physiological and chemical traits with classically used morphological traits to improve predictions of tropical forests' responses to environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) populations are widespread across diverse habitats but are declining in Western Europe. Drastic declines have been described in the UK, with the most severe declines occurring in rural areas. Hedgehogs are widely distributed in Denmark, but their status remains unknown.Fieldwork on hedgehogs has tended to focus on rural areas, leaving their ecology in suburban habitats largely unexplored, with clear implications for conservation initiatives. Here, we study the ecology of 35 juvenile hedgehogs using radio tracking during their first year of life in the suburbs of western Copenhagen.We use radio‐tracking data to estimate (a) home range sizes in autumn and spring/summer, (b) survival during their first year of life, (c) the body mass changes before, during, and after hibernation, and (d) the hibernation behavior of the juvenile hedgehogs.We show that males and females have small home ranges compared with previous studies. The 95% MCP home range sizes in autumn were 1.33 ha (95% CI = 0.88–2.00) for males and 1.40 ha (95% CI = 0.84–2.32) for females; for spring/summer they were 6.54 ha (95% CI = 3.76–11.38) for males and 1.51 ha (95% CI = 0.63–3.63) for females. The juvenile survival probabilities during the study period from September 2014 to July 2015 were.56 for females and.79 for males. All healthy individuals gained body mass during the autumn and survived hibernation with little body mass loss thus demonstrating that the juveniles in the study were capable of gaining sufficient weight in the wild to survive their first hibernation.The climate is changing, but there is a lack of knowledge on how this affects mammal ecology. The exceptionally mild autumn of 2014 caused the juvenile hedgehogs to delay hibernation for up to a month compared with previous studies in Denmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migratory animals pose difficult challenges to conservation and management because identifying critical habitats used throughout their lives is rarely possible. Endogenous tracers (e.g. isotope ratios) recorded in sequentially growing biogenic tissues, however, represent a potential source of unique insights at the more elusive temporal and spatial scales central to understanding the ecology of mobile species. To this end, a general probabilistic framework has emerged that quantitatively compares predictive models of isotopic variation across landscapes (called isoscapes) to the isotopic composition recorded in a biological tissue to determine the provenance and movements of animals throughout their lives.Although this spatially continuous approach to isotope‐based geographic assignment is becoming more common across taxa and ecosystems, adopting this framework to take advantage of serial isotope records stored within sequentially growing biogenic tissues (e.g. teeth or otoliths) is less common.Here, we construct a novel space‐time isotope model of provenance (STIMP) that determines the habitat use through time of migratory fish across river basins. To do so, this model integrates: strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) ratios across a riverscape, the serial records of 87Sr/86Sr within otoliths, habitat geomorphology and the directional movement patterns of fish through river networks.To illustrate an application of the model, we applied it to a published dataset from Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) harvested in 2011 during a coastal fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska, U.S.A. Using this model, we show how individuals exploit an array of habitat types to achieve their juvenile growth prior to ocean migration, and that the intensity of habitat use among habitat types across the basin shifts spatially over the course of freshwater residence (e.g. from headwaters to migration corridors). The STIMP presented here integrates diverse information sources to reveal the cryptic juvenile movement patterns of a highly migratory species, providing new insights critical to their conservation. This general framework is applicable to any migratory taxa that use isotopically heterogeneous landscapes during their lives and record such variation in sequentially growing biogenic tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Salinity is widely recognized as a dominant environmental variable in estuarine systems. However, drawing clear causal relationships between salinity and estuarine floral or faunal patterns of abundance, population status, or vigor is often confounded by the great spatial and temporal variation exhibited by salinity. Averages, or other statistics, over monthly, seasonal, or longer periods are often used, but may fail to capture patterns of ecological significance. This study introduces a novel approach to characterize estuarine salinity based on deriving events of specific magnitude and duration from a long‐term record; events that are also amenable to analysis of the frequency that they reoccur. With sufficient point data for salinity over the spatial domain of an estuary, these variables can be mapped and contoured to reveal spatial patterns of potential ecological significance. Model‐predicted salinity for a large estuary system of the Texas coast was used to develop and test these new techniques. While this system has great variation in salinity, both temporally and spatially, we find that this variability can be characterized into well‐defined and reoccurring salinity‐based events. Furthermore, the frequency of reoccurrence of those events over a long‐term record reveals patterns not captured by more common techniques such as averaging over similar time frames. These novel techniques provide an integrated spatial‐temporal approach to salinity pattern portrayal which may be useful for examining short‐term (daily–monthly) estuary processes and longer‐term (yearly–decadal) limits to estuary species distributions and habitat composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. In this study, we introduce metaproperty analysis of terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) data, and demonstrate its application through several ecological classification problems. Metaproperty analysis considers pulse level and spatial metrics derived from the hundreds of thousands to millions of lidar pulses present in a single scan from a typical contemporary instrument. In such large aggregations, properties of the populations of lidar data reflect attributes of the underlying ecological conditions of the ecosystems. 2. In this study, we provide the Metaproperty Classification Model to employ TLS metaproperty analysis for classification problems in ecology. We applied this to a proof-of-concept study, which classified 88 scans from rooms and forests with 100% accuracy, to serve as a template. 3. We then applied the Metaproperty Classification Model in earnest, to separate scans from temperate and tropical forests with 97.09% accuracy (N = 224), and to classify scans from inland and coastal tropical rainforests with 84.07% accuracy (N = 270). 4. The results demonstrate the potential for metaproperty analysis to identify subtle and important ecosystem conditions, including diseases and anthropogenic disturbances. Metaproperty analysis serves as an augmentation to contemporary object reconstruction applications of TLS in ecology, and can characterize regional heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing habitat connectivity is important for mitigating the effects of climate change, landscape fragmentation and habitat loss for biodiversity conservation. However, modelling connectivity at the relevant scales over which these threats occur has been limited by computational requirements., Here, we introduce the open-source software gflow, which massively parallelizes the computation of circuit theory-based connectivity. The software is developed for high-performance computing, but scales to consumer-grade desktop computers running modern Linux or Mac OS X operating systems., We report high computational efficiency representing a 173× speedup over existing software using high-performance computing and a 8·4× speedup using a desktop computer while drastically reducing memory requirements., gflow allows large-extent and high-resolution connectivity problems to be calculated over many iterations and at multiple scales. We envision gflow being immediately useful for large-landscape efforts, including climate-driven animal range shifts, multitaxa connectivity, and for the many developing use-cases of circuit theory-based connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species establishment within a community depends on their interactions with the local environment and resident community. Such environmental and biotic filtering is frequently inferred from functional trait and phylogenetic patterns within communities; these patterns may also predict which additional species can establish. However, differentiating between environmental and biotic filtering can be challenging, which may complicate establishment predictions. Creating a habitat-specific species pool by identifying which absent species within the region can establish in the focal habitat allows us to isolate biotic filtering by modeling dissimilarity between the observed and biotically excluded species able to pass environmental filters. Similarly, modeling the dissimilarity between the habitat-specific species pool and the environmentally excluded species within the region can isolate local environmental filters. Combined, these models identify potentially successful phenotypes and why certain phenotypes were unsuccessful. Here, we present a framework that uses the functional dissimilarity among these groups in logistic models to predict establishment of additional species. This approach can use multivariate trait distances and phylogenetic information, but is most powerful when using individual traits and their interactions. It also requires an appropriate distance-based dissimilarity measure, yet the two most commonly used indices, nearest neighbor (one species) and mean pairwise (all species) distances, may inaccurately predict establishment. By iteratively increasing the number of species used to measure dissimilarity, a functional neighborhood can be chosen that maximizes the detection of underlying trait patterns. We tested this framework using two seed addition experiments in calcareous grasslands. Although the functional neighborhood size that best fits the community's trait structure depended on the type of filtering considered, selecting these functional neighborhood sizes allowed our framework to predict up to 50% of the variation in actual establishment from seed. These results indicate that the proposed framework may be a powerful tool for studying and predicting species establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have documented habitat cascades where two co-occurring habitat-forming species control biodiversity. However, more than two habitat-formers could theoretically co-occur. We here documented a sixth-level habitat cascade from the Avon-Heathcote Estuary, New Zealand, by correlating counts of attached inhabitants to the size and accumulated biomass of their biogenic hosts. These data revealed predictable sequences of habitat-formation (=attachment space). First, the bivalve Austrovenus provided habitat for green seaweeds ( Ulva) that provided habitat for trochid snails in a typical estuarine habitat cascade. However, the trochids also provided habitat for the nonnative bryozoan Conopeum that provided habitat for the red seaweed Gigartina that provided habitat for more trochids, thereby resetting the sequence of the habitat cascade, theoretically in perpetuity. Austrovenus is here the basal habitat-former that controls this 'long' cascade. The strength of facilitation increased with seaweed frond size, accumulated seaweed biomass, accumulated shell biomass but less with shell size. We also found that Ulva attached to all habitat-formers, trochids attached to Ulva and Gigartina, and Conopeum and Gigartina predominately attached to trochids. These 'affinities' for different habitat-forming species probably reflect species-specific traits of juveniles and adults. Finally, manipulative experiments confirmed that the amount of seaweed and trochids was important and consistent regulators of the habitat cascade in different estuarine environments. We also interpreted this cascade as a habitat-formation network that describes the likelihood of an inhabitant being found attached to a specific habitat-former. We conclude that the strength of the cascade increased with the amount of higher-order habitat-formers, with differences in form and function between higher and lower-order habitat-formers, and with the affinity of inhabitants for higher-order habitat-formers. We suggest that long habitat cascades are common where species traits allow for physical attachment to other species, such as in marine benthic systems and old forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The compound eyes of three taxa of Rhenish Lower Devonian eurypterids are examined and compared with those known from other eurypterids and the extant horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus. The lateral eyes of the small species Rhenopterus diensti, a phylogenetically basal representative of the stylonurine clade, are characterized by a comparatively low number of lenses and high interommatidial angle Δφ (2.8°). The comparatively limited visual capacities of R. diensti are more similar to L. polyphemus than to its closer relatives of the eurypterine clade and perhaps this reflects a progression of lateral eye structure in the evolution of eurypterids as a whole. The number of eye facets in Adelophthalmus sievertsi is higher than that in the supposed ambush predator Acutiramus cummingsi, but lower than that in other 'swimming' eurypterids (Eurypterina). Due to poor preservation, no other eye parameters could be analysed in this species, but further morphological attributes and geographical distribution designate the mid-sized A. sievertsi as an able swimmer. A low interommatidial angle Δφ of less than 1° confirms that the visual capacities of Jaekelopterus rhenaniae are in line with an interpretation of this giant species as an active high-level predator. The inferred lifestyles of adult individuals of these three, co-occurring Rhenish eurypterids indicate niche differentiation avoiding to some degree the competition for food in their marginal marine to delta plain transitional habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), an economically important virus, infects small grain cereal crops and over 150 other Poaceae species. BYDV infection plays an important role in competition among grasses in non-managed systems, but many grasses remain unexamined as potential BYDV hosts. This study examined grass species that have not been reported as BYDV hosts but are commonly encountered in non-managed grasslands throughout the United States and Canada. Laboratory inoculations with BYDV -PAV using the aphid vector Rhopalosiphum padi were performed to examine the ability of 13 grass species and barley to be infected with the virus; eight of the grass species were not documented previously as virus hosts. Serological and molecular assays were used to confirm BYDV-PAV infection. Plant height, number of leaves, number of tillers and weight were recorded to evaluate susceptibility or sensitivity to BYDV. Infection with BYDV was experimentally achieved for the first time on Achnatherum lettermanii, Achnatherum occidentale, Achnatherum thurberianum, Danthonia intermedia, Poa fendleriana, Sporobolus airoides and Sporobolus cryptandrus, but not on Alopecurus pratensis and Elymus wawawaiensis. Infection was confirmed in Bromus inermis, Elymus elymoides, Poa bulbosa, Poa secunda and Hordeum vulgare, which served as controls. BYDV infection caused reductions in plant height on P. bulbosa and P. fendleriana. BYDV-infected P. secunda had more leaves per plant compared to healthy plants of the same species. BYDV-infected A. lettermanii exhibited reduced dry weight in both below-ground and above-ground tissue. These findings have implications for the management and conservation of grassland habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common challenge in the conservation of broadly distributed, yet imperiled species is understanding which factors facilitate persistence at distributional edges, locations where populations are often vulnerable to extirpation due to changes in climate, land use, or distributions of other species. For Columbia spotted frogs ( Rana luteiventris) in the Great Basin ( USA), a genetically distinct population segment of conservation concern, we approached this problem by examining (1) landscape-scale habitat availability and distribution, (2) water body-scale habitat associations, and (3) resource management-identified threats to persistence. We found that areas with perennial aquatic habitat and suitable climate are extremely limited in the southern portion of the species' range. Within these suitable areas, native and non-native predators (trout and American bullfrogs [ Lithobates catesbeianus]) are widespread and may further limit habitat availability in upper- and lower-elevation areas, respectively. At the water body scale, spotted frog occupancy was associated with deeper sites containing abundant emergent vegetation and nontrout fish species. Streams with American beaver ( Castor canadensis) frequently had these structural characteristics and were significantly more likely to be occupied than ponds, lakes, streams without beaver, or streams with inactive beaver ponds, highlighting the importance of active manipulation of stream environments by beaver. Native and non-native trout reduced the likelihood of spotted frog occupancy, especially where emergent vegetation cover was sparse. Intensive livestock grazing, low aquatic connectivity, and ephemeral hydroperiods were also negatively associated with spotted frog occupancy. We conclude that persistence of this species at the arid end of its range has been largely facilitated by habitat stability (i.e., permanent hydroperiod), connectivity, predator-free refugia, and a commensalistic interaction with an ecosystem engineer. Beaver-induced changes to habitat quality, stability, and connectivity may increase spotted frog population resistance and resilience to seasonal drought, grazing, non-native predators, and climate change, factors which threaten local or regional persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological traps are habitat sinks that are preferred by dispersing animals but have higher mortality or reduced fecundity compared to source habitats. Theory suggests that if mortality rates are sufficiently high, then ecological traps can result in extinction. An ecological trap may be created when pest animals are controlled in one area, but not in another area of equal habitat quality, and when there is density-dependent immigration from the high-density uncontrolled area to the low-density controlled area. We used a logistic population model to explore how varying the proportion of habitat controlled, control mortality rate, and strength of density-dependent immigration for feral pigs could affect the long-term population abundance and time to extinction. Increasing control mortality, the proportion of habitat controlled and the strength of density-dependent immigration decreased abundance both within and outside the area controlled. At higher levels of these parameters, extinction was achieved for feral pigs. We extended the analysis with a more complex stochastic, interactive model of feral pig dynamics in the Australian rangelands to examine how the same variables as the logistic model affected long-term abundance in the controlled and uncontrolled area and time to extinction. Compared to the logistic model of feral pig dynamics, the stochastic interactive model predicted lower abundances and extinction at lower control mortalities and proportions of habitat controlled. To improve the realism of the stochastic interactive model, we substituted fixed mortality rates with a density-dependent control mortality function, empirically derived from helicopter shooting exercises in Australia. Compared to the stochastic interactive model with fixed mortality rates, the model with the density-dependent control mortality function did not predict as substantial decline in abundance in controlled or uncontrolled areas or extinction for any combination of variables. These models demonstrate that pest eradication is theoretically possible without the pest being controlled throughout its range because of density-dependent immigration into the area controlled. The stronger the density-dependent immigration, the better the overall control in controlled and uncontrolled habitat combined. However, the stronger the density-dependent immigration, the poorer the control in the area controlled. For feral pigs, incorporating environmental stochasticity improves the prospects for eradication, but adding a realistic density-dependent control function eliminates these prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bell miners ( M anorina melanophrys; Meliphagidae) are a highly social and very aggressive honeyeater. They are despotic and cooperate in the defence of their territories against other bird species, leading to the almost complete exclusion of other avifauna from miner-occupied regions. This study aimed to resolve some of the fine-scale effects of bell miner aggression on avian diversity both within and adjacent to colonies to determine the true impact of a colony on local avifaunal abundance. Three areas, distributed throughout the range of the bell miner, were surveyed across both non-breeding and breeding seasons to assess the temporal and spatial impacts of bell miner aggression on other bird species. Bell miner colonies were found to occupy very clearly defined areas and had the expected negative impact on avian diversity within their colony. The effects of bell miner colony presence on abundance and richness of avian species were found to cease at the colony boundary, with both recovering to normal levels immediately outside the bell miner colony. Whether bell miners were breeding or not, and irrespective of the amount of vegetation coverage, bell miner colonies were found to have relatively marginal impacts on avian richness and abundance. No impact of colony presence/absence was found on the richness or abundance of the avian species that dwell in the undergrowth, with some evidence that these species were actually more common at the colony edge. Our results demonstrate that the influence of bell miner colony presence upon avian biodiversity is restricted to the confines of the colony and does not radiate outwards into the surrounding habitat. Colony presence influences, therefore, have implications when considering the impact of bell miner behaviour on the diversity of insectivorous birds and processes, most notably the propagation of Bell Miner Associated Dieback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems are shaped by processes occurring and interacting over multiple temporal and spatial scales. Theory suggests such complexity can be simplified by focusing on processes sharing the same scale as the pattern of interest. This scale-dependent approach to studying communities has been challenged by multiscale meta-ecosystem theory, which recognizes that systems are interconnected by the movement of "ecological subsidies" and suggests that cross-scale feedbacks between local and regional processes can be equally important for understanding community structure. We reconcile these two perspectives by developing and testing a hierarchical meta-ecosystem model. The model predicts local community responses to connectivity over multiple oceanographic spatial scales, defined as macro- (100s of km), meso- (10s of km), and local scale (100s of m). It assumes that local communities occur in distinct regions and that connectivity effects are strongest among local sites. Predictions are that if macroscale processes dominate, then regardless of mesoscale differences, (1) local communities will be similar, and (2) will be even more so with increased connectivity. With dominance of mesoscale (i.e., regional) processes, (3) local structure will be similar within but distinct between regions, and (4) with increased connectivity similar both within and among regions. With dominance of local-scale processes, (5) local communities will differ both within and among regions, and (6) with increased connectivity be similar within but not between regions. We tested the model by evaluating rocky intertidal community structure patterns with variation in ecological subsidies and environmental conditions at 13 sites spanning 725 km of the northern California Current system. External factors operating at meso- and local scales had strong effects, explaining 52% and 27% of the variance, respectively, in community structure. Sessile invertebrate and predator dominance was associated with weaker upwelling, higher phytoplankton abundance, and higher recruitment, and the opposite was true for macrophyte dominance. Overall, our results support the theory that meta-ecosystems are organized hierarchically, with environmental processes dominating at meso- to macroscales and ecological processes playing a more important role at local scales, but with important bidirectional cross-scale interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article offers information on the history of fisheries management, forest management, and range management. It mentions traditional wisdom in Christian Europe stated that species do not become extinct, because that would indicate that God was imperfect in his creations; and also mentions American bison lived in gigantic herds easily observed on American prairies and plains.

Automated acoustic monitoring of wildlife has been used to characterize populations of sound‐producing species across large spatial scales. However, false negatives and false positives produced by automated detection systems can compromise the utility of these data for researchers and land managers, particularly for research programs endeavoring to describe colonization and extinction dynamics that inform land use decision‐making. To investigate the suitability of automated acoustic monitoring for dynamic occurrence models, we simulated underlying occurrence dynamics, calling patterns, and the automated acoustic detection process for a hypothetical species under a range of scenarios. We investigated an automated species detection aggregation method that considered a suite of options for creating encounter histories. From these encounter histories, we generated parameter estimates and computed bias for occurrence, colonization, and extinction rates using a dynamic occupancy modeling framework that accounts for false positives via small amounts of manual confirmation. We were able to achieve relatively unbiased estimates for all three state parameters under all scenarios, even when the automated detection system was simulated to be poor, given particular encounter history aggregation choices. However, some encounter history aggregation choices resulted in unreliable estimates; we provide caveats for avoiding these scenarios. Given specific choices during the detection aggregation process, automated acoustic monitoring data may provide an effective means for tracking species occurrence, colonization, and extinction patterns through time, with the potential to inform adaptive management at multiple spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental challenge in habitat ecology and management is understanding the mechanisms generating animal distributions. Studies of habitat selection provide a lens into such mechanisms, but are often limited by unrealistic assumptions. For example, most studies assume that habitat selection is constant with respect to the availability of resources, such that habitat use remains proportional to availability. To the contrary, a growing body of work has shown the fallacy of this assumption, indicating that animals modify their behavior depending on the context at broader scales. This has been termed a functional response in habitat selection. Furthermore, a diversity of methods is employed to model functional responses in habitat selection, with little attention to how methodology might affect scientific and conservation conclusions. Here, we first review the conceptual and statistical foundations of methods currently used to model functional responses and clarify the ecological tests evaluated within each approach. We then use a combination of simulated and empirical data sets to evaluate the similarities and differences among approaches. Importantly, we identified multiple statistical issues with the most widely applied approaches to understand functional responses, including: (1) a complex and important role of random‐ or individual‐level intercepts in adjusting individual‐level regression coefficients as resource availability changes and (2) a sensitivity of results to poorly informed individual‐level coefficients estimated for animals with low availability of a given resource. Consequently, we provide guidance on applying approaches that are insensitive to these issues with the goal of advancing our understanding of animal habitat ecology and management. Finally, we characterize the management implications of assuming similarity between the current approaches to model functional responses with two empirical data sets of federally threatened species: Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) in the United States and woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Canada. Collectively, our assessment helps clarify the similarities and differences among current approaches and, therefore, assists the integration of functional responses into the mainstream of habitat ecology and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many science educators believe that student recognition of biodiversity is an important precursor to discovering patterns and understanding processes that define and shape ecological systems. We investigated (1) the total number, taxonomic categories, specificity, and diversity of backyard organisms that middle (MS) and high school (HS) students and teachers named, (2) how the number, specificity, and diversity of organisms that students and teachers named related to their overall performance on an ecology learning progression assessment, and (3) the types of information students used to sort and group organisms. Our sample population included 264 MS students, 374 HS students, and 108 teachers in five U.S. states (California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, and New York). We found that students were more likely to name vertebrates than plants or microorganisms, while teachers were more likely to name vertebrate and plants than microorganisms. Teachers named a higher total number (richness) and diversity of organisms and named more organisms in specific (e.g., bull snake) than general taxonomic categories (e.g., snake) than did students. Individual performance on the ecology learning progression assessment was positively correlated to the total number (richness), diversity, and specificity of organisms that students and teachers could name. The types of information students invoked to group organisms together varied by question context. Most students invoked information related to form/outward traits, habitat, function (e.g., decomposer), and taxa (e.g., fungi, plant, animal). Notably, some students invoked ideas about evolutionary relationships among organisms. This work corroborates previous findings about student familiarity with biodiversity and provides preliminary evidence that familiarity with local biodiversity is linked to reasoning about ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]