bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Migration in geographic and ecological space by a large herbivore
Authors: Peters Wibke , Hebblewhite Mark , Mysterud Atle , Spitz Derek , Focardi Stefano , Urbano Ferdinando , Morellet Nicolas , Heurich Marco , Kjellander Petter , Linnell John D. C. , Cagnacci Francesca 
Published: January 2017

AbstractPartial migration, when only part of the population migrates seasonally while the other part remains resident on the shared range, is the most common form of migration in ungulates. Migration is often defined by spatial separation of seasonal ranges and consequently, classification of individuals as migrants or residents is usually only based on geographic criteria. However, the underlying mechanism for migration is hypothesized to be movement in response to spatiotemporal resource variability and thus, migrants are assumed to travel an “ecological distance” (ED) or shift their realized ecological niches. While ecological and geographic distances should be related, their relationship may depend on landscape heterogeneity. Here, we tested the utility of ecological niche theory to both classify migratory individuals and to understand the underlying ecological factors for migratory behavior. We developed an integrative approach combining measures in geographic and ecological niche space and used this to classify and explain migratory behavior of 71 annual roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) movement trajectories in five European study areas. First, to assess the utility of theEDconcept for classifying migratory behavior, we tested whether roe deer sought the same ecological conditions year‐round or moved to different ecological conditions by measuring the annualEDtravelled and the seasonal niche overlap using multivariate statistics. Comparing methods to classify migrants and residents based on geographic and ecological niche space, we found that migratory roe deer switched between seasons both in geographic and in ecological dimensions. Second, we tested which seasonal ecological factors separated resident from migrant niches using discriminant analysis and which broad‐scale determinants (e.g., spatiotemporal forage variation and population density) predicted migration probability using generalized linear models. Our results indicated that factors describing forage and topographic variability discriminated seasonal migrant from resident niches. Determinants for predicting migration probability included the temporal variation (seasonality) and also the spatial variability of forage patches. Last, we also found suggestive evidence for a positive relationship between population density and migration probability. By applying the ecological niche concept to the study of partial migration in ungulates, our work underlines that partial migration is a form of behavioral plasticity.
Assimilation and isotopic discrimination of hydrogen in tilapia: implications for studying animal diet with δ2H
Authors: Newsome Seth D. , Wolf Nathan , Bradley Christina J. , Fogel Marilyn L. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractHydrogen isotope (δ2Η) analysis has become a valuable tool in the study of animal migration; however, the biochemical framework required for ecologists to confidently apply δ2Η to quantify resource use has yet to be adequately resolved. In contrast to carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes where food is the only source of these elements, there are two distinct sources of hydrogen available to consumers for tissue synthesis: food and water. To effectively use tissue δ2Η values as a tracer of food and water resources, two fundamental questions need to be examined in animals that inhabit different environments: (1) What proportion of hydrogen in tissues is derived from sources of food vs. water? and (2) What is the magnitude and degree of variation in total δ2Η discrimination (Δ2Hnet) between consumer tissues and these sources? We completed a 3 × 3 controlled feeding experiment on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in which we varied the δ2Η of tank water and dietary macromolecules to examine these questions in two tissues commonly analyzed by ecologists: muscle and liver. We found that the proportion of hydrogen in tilapia tissue derived from tank water was similar for muscle (~23%) and liver (~25%). We then used linear regression and an isotope mixing model based on accompanying δ13C data to estimate the proportion of hydrogen in muscle and liver tissue derived from dietary protein (34–44%), cornmeal (21–27%), corn syrup (4–5%), and lipids (≤1%). With this information and the δ2Η values of water, protein, carbohydrates, and lipids supplied to fish in each treatment, we calculated Δ2Hnet values of −47‰ ± 5‰ for muscle and −41‰ ± 5‰ for liver. Our experiment is the first to quantify the relative proportion of hydrogen from different dietary macromolecules used by an omnivore to synthesize its tissues. Such information is needed to further refine the use of δ2Η analysis as a dietary tracer for aquatic animals.
Academic productivity in the field of ecology
Authors: Keville Megan P. , Nelson Cara R. , Hauer F. Richard 
Published: January 2017

AbstractAlthough the broad field of ecology and its role in understanding the distribution and diversity of life on earth is a central part of the natural sciences, there is currently no comprehensive ranking of academic institutions for this discipline, which has quadrupled in research volume and visibility over the past three decades. We assessed scholarly productivity in the field of ecology for 316 North American academic institutions between the years 2000 and 2014. We present institutional rankings of productivity in terms of number of publications, number of citations, and Hirsch'shindex, a measure that integrates productivity and impact. For the top‐ranked institutions, we also calculatedhm, anh‐based metric used to compare productivity across institutions of different sizes. In addition, we analyzed the effect of institution size onhindex, publication rate, and number of citations. We found that scholarship in ecology is not significantly different between public and private universities, and from institutions ranging in size from extremely large to relatively small. Many of the institutions in the “ecology top 20” are widely considered as being among North America's elite schools. However, there are several smaller institutions that have very high research productivity and impact in ecology with an apparently very strong ecology faculty. Administrators, faculty, prospective faculty, and students use institutional rankings, along with other data, to make decisions about programs in which to invest or participate. Relative institutional strength in the field of ecology, however, has not been previously measured, perhaps because faculty with expertise in ecology are often dispersed through multiple academic units of a university. Thus, our findings fill an important gap for ecology as a discipline.
Long‐term response of oak‐hickory regeneration to partial harvest and repeated fires: influence of light and moisture
Authors: Iverson Louis R. , Hutchinson Todd F. , Peters Matthew P. , Yaussy Daniel A. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractBy tracking oak‐hickory (Quercus‐Carya) regeneration for 13 yr across management‐manipulated light and topographically driven moisture gradients after partial harvest and three prescribed fires, we document best‐case conditions to promote advanced oak regeneration, and thereby provide a promising management tool to reverse the downward spiral in oak that plagues much of the Central Hardwoods within the eastern United States. This study was established in 2000 to assess regeneration following prescribed fire (spring of 2001, 2005, and 2010) in combination with partial harvest (late 2000) across two sites in southern Ohio. Each of the four 20+ ha treatment units (two partial harvest and burn, two controls) were modeled and mapped for long‐term moisture regime using the Integrated Moisture Index (IMI) , and a 50‐m grid of sampling points established throughout the units. Vegetation and light were sampled at each gridpoint before and after treatments, in 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2009, and 2013. The partial harvest and burn treatments generally had more light which resulted in an increased number of oak stems. The fires promoted heterogeneity (pyrodiversity) in tree mortality and light availability, and consequently oak‐hickory regeneration, mostly following IMI patterns with the drier portions of the landscape having more fire, more light penetration, and greater regeneration compared to moist locations. Several other species also had marked variations in numbers and size throughout this period, depending on landscape variation in fire intensity and moisture regimes. These included Acer rubrum and Liriodendron tulipifera which expanded initially then collapsed after repeated fire, and Sassafras albidum which continued to flourish on dry sites. Based on this study, we recommend for topographically appropriate dry and intermediate sites, a partial harvest followed by two or three dormant‐season fires (depending on fire intensity) allowing roughly 6–18% light to penetrate the forest floor. This will promote oak‐hickory into the advanced oak regeneration status. Then, following a hiatus from burning for some years to further advance oak‐hickory growth without topkill, some proportion of oaks and hickories can be expected to advance to the canopy following natural disturbance or harvest of current canopy. On mesic sites, though treatments demonstrated here do improve oak‐hickory regeneration, the relative cost to benefit would be high.
Three decades of coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: a contrast of scleractinians and octocorals
Authors: Tsounis Georgios , Edmunds Peter J. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractTo better understand phase shifts on Caribbean reefs, we quantified community structure on shallow reefs over 27 yr in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, contrasted the community dynamics of scleractinians and octocorals, and evaluated the extent to which community structure was associated with rainfall, temperature, and hurricanes. To gain insight into the likely abundance of octocorals on future reefs with low scleractinian cover, we compared two sites dominated by the major Caribbean reef‐building coral Orbicella annularis. Between 1987 and 2013, scleractinian cover declined from 45% to 6% at Yawzi Point, but remained at ~30% at Tektite. We compared changes in community structure using four benthic assemblage constructs—“scleractinian‐focused” (cover of scleractinians, macroalgae, and CTB i.e. crustose coralline algae, algal turf, and bare space), “octocoral‐focused” (abundance of octocorals, cover of macroalgae, and CTB), “octocoral genera” (abundance by genus), and a “complete” approach (all taxa)—to reveal how a consideration of octocoral abundance influenced the interpretation of coral reef community dynamics. Overall, temporal variation in community structure differed among the four assemblage constructs at both sites and was associated with rainfall and mean seawater temperature. These results suggest that: (1) scleractinian‐ and octocoral‐focused communities in the same location responded differentially to the same environmental conditions, (2) their communities generally were influenced more by the chronic effects of rainfall and temperature than acute effects of storms, and (3) octocoral‐focused communities were more resilient to environmental conditions than scleractinian‐focused communities. With further declines in cover of scleractinians, octocoral communities are likely to become more common throughout the Caribbean.
Disentangling the contributions of dispersal limitation, ecological drift, and ecological filtering to wild bee community assembly
Authors: Sydenham Markus A. K. , Moe Stein R. , Kuhlmann Michael , Potts Simon G. , Roberts Stuart P. M. , Totland Ørjan , Eldegard Katrine 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe species composition within communities is highly dependent on the rate of species immigration and whether immigrating species possess the functional traits required by the prevailing environmental conditions. Once established, random fluctuations in birth and death rates may reduce the diversity of ecologically equivalent species if local populations are not replenished by immigrating individuals. Consequently, three key processes drive community assembly: dispersal limitation, ecological filtering, and ecological drift. However, disentangling the relative contribution of these processes remains a challenge in community ecology. We used a binomial generalized linear mixed model to test whether the occurrences of solitary bees within 46 communities in southeast Norway were driven by (1) dispersal limitation, that is, the geographic distance to the nearest site where conspecifics occurred; (2) ecological filtering, that is, if forb species richness selected for non‐Ericaceae‐affiliated species; and (3) ecological drift, that is, if small, isolated communities were dominated by regionally common species. The regression slopes from the model for each potential driver of community composition were compared with those expected under a null model, in which species were treated as ecologically equivalent. Both dispersal limitation and ecological filtering influenced the probability of species occurring within communities. The occurrence of species decreased with elevation, and this relationship depended on the relative commonness of species and their floral preferences. For non‐Ericaceae‐affiliated species, the patterns of occurrence mirrored that expected under the null (neutral) model, resulting in the same patterns as would be expected under ecological drift. In contrast, the response of Ericaceae‐affiliated species differed from what would be expected from the null model. Our results also indicate that processes leading to neutral dynamics in species compositions drive a large part of the gradient in species richness in Norwegian bee communities. These processes seem related to sampling effects so that large and interconnected communities have a higher probability of including regionally rare species than small, isolated communities. Our results suggest that targeting habitats—where the influence of ecological filtering is expected to be greater than that of neutral dynamics—can increase the success of habitat management plans aimed at promoting rare species.
Multi‐state, multi‐stage modeling of nest‐success suggests interaction between weather and land‐use
Authors: Miller Mark W. , Leech David I. , Pearce‐Higgins James W. , Robinson Robert A. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractMany factors may affect daily nest survival. We present a novel multi‐state, multi‐stage model to estimate daily survival for each nest stage, daily hatching probability and probability that a failed nest died during a specific stage when stage of failure is unknown. The model does not require that hatching date be known. We used data from a large citizen science dataset to demonstrate the application of this approach, exploring the impact of laying dates, weather conditions, conserved soil moisture, soil carbon, habitat type and urbanization on failure rates of common blackbird (Turdus merula) nests. Models selected and estimates of nest success were similar to those of the simpler logistic exposure method, but accounted for additional uncertainty. Simulations suggest the multi‐state approach performs better when incubation mortality is affected by nest age, but not when incubation mortality is assumed constant. Both approaches worked best when date of incubation initiation was known for all nests first visited during the incubation stage. Daily blackbird survival probabilities were higher in human rural habitat than in urban or countryside habitats supporting the hypothesis that these intermediate habitats offer a better balance between low food availability in urban areas and high predation rates in the wider countryside. Nest success was influenced more by recent precipitation in urban habitats, but by a longer‐term measure of water availability, soil moisture, in non‐human dominated habitats, indicating that climatic change is likely to alter relationships between habitat and breeding success (and their temporal scale) by influencing the trade‐off between food availability and predation rates. The multi‐state, multi‐stage model developed here may be helpful to other researchers modelling ecological processes in which transition probabilities between multiple stages are of interest.
Phylogenetic occupancy models integrate imperfect detection and phylogenetic signal to analyze community structure
Authors: Frishkoff Luke O. , de Valpine Perry , M'Gonigle Leithen K. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractBiological communities are structured phylogenetically—closely related species are typically more likely to be found at the same sites. This may be, in part, because they respond similarly to environmental gradients. Accurately surveying biological communities is, however, made difficult by the fact that detection of species is not perfect. In recent years, numerous statistical methods have been developed that aim to overcome deficiencies in the species detection process. However, these methods do not allow investigators to assess phylogenetic community structure. Here, we introduce the phylogenetic occupancy model (POM), which accounts for imperfect species detection while assessing phylogenetic patterns in community structure. Using simulated data sets we show that the POM grants less biased estimates of phylogenetic structure than models without imperfect detection, and can correctly ascertain the effects of species traits on community composition while accounting for evolutionary non‐independence of taxa. Integrating phylogenetic methods into widely used occupancy models will help clarify how evolutionary history influences modern day communities.
Herbivores sculpt leaf traits differently in grasslands depending on life form and land‐use histories
Authors: Firn Jennifer , Schütz Martin , Nguyen Huong , Risch Anita C. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractVertebrate and invertebrate herbivores alter plant communities directly by selectively consuming plant species; and indirectly by inducing morphological and physiological changes to plant traits that provide competitive or survivorship advantages to some life forms over others. Progressively excluding aboveground herbivore communities (ungulates, medium and small sized mammals, invertebrates) over five growing seasons, we explored how leaf morphology (specific leaf area or SLA) and nutrition (nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, and calcium) of different plant life forms (forbs, legumes, grasses, sedges) correlated with their dominance. We experimented in two subalpine grassland types with different land‐use histories: (1) heavily grazed, nutrient‐rich, short‐grass vegetation and (2) lightly grazed, lower nutrient tall‐grass vegetation. We found differences in leaf traits between treatments where either all herbivores were excluded or all herbivores were present, showing the importance of considering the impacts of both vertebrates and invertebrates on the leaf traits of plant species. Life forms responses to the progressive exclusion of herbivores were captured by six possible combinations: (1) increased leaf size and resource use efficiency (leaf area/nutrients) where lower nutrient levels are invested in leaf construction, but a reduction in the number of leaves, for example, forbs in both vegetation types, (2) increased leaf size and resource use efficiency, for example, legumes in short grass, (3) increased leaf size but a reduction in the number of leaves, for example, legumes in the tall grass, (4) increased number of leaves produced and increased resource use efficiency, for example, grasses in the short grass, (5) increased resource use efficiency of leaves only, for example, grasses and sedges in the tall grass, and (6) no response in terms of leaf construction or dominance, for example, sedges in the short grass. Although we found multiple possible responses by life forms to progressive exclusion of herbivores, we also found some important generalities. Changes in leaf traits of legumes and grasses correlated with their increasing dominance in the short‐grass vegetation and plants were more efficient at constructing photosynthetic tissue when herbivores are present with few exceptions. These results demonstrate that vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores are essential to maintain plant species richness and resource‐use efficiency.
Present Situation of Fukushima and Possibility of Decontamination Technology by Superconducting Magnetic Separation System
Authors: NISHIJIMA SHIGEHIRO , AKIYAMA YOKO 
Published: January 2017

SUMMARYA large amount of radionuclides were spread by the accident of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011. The situation of surrounding area of nuclear power plant is momentarily changing. In order to consider for decontamination or volume reduction of radioactive wastes, it is necessary taking into account not only the technical needs but also feelings of inhabitants, reduction of environmental load, reduction of the radiation exposure on workers, and efficiency and cost of decontamination work. In this paper, the application possibility of superconducting magnetic separation system for decontamination and volume reduction was discussed compared with other technologies from above multidirectional viewpoint.
Safety, feasibility and effectiveness of first in‐human administration of muscle‐derived stem/progenitor cells modified with connexin‐43 gene for treatment of advanced chronic heart failure
Authors: Gwizdala Adrian , Rozwadowska Natalia , Kolanowski Tomasz Jan , Malcher Agnieszka , Cieplucha Aleksandra , Perek Bartlomiej , Seniuk Wojciech , Straburzynska‐Migaj Ewa , Oko‐Sarnowska Zofia , Cholewinski Witold , Michalak Michal , Grajek Stefan , Kurpisz Maciej 
Published: January 2017

AbstractAimsTo assess the safety and efficacy of transendocardial delivery of muscle‐derived stem/progenitor cells with connexin‐43 overexpression (Cx‐43‐MDS/PC) in advanced heart failure (HF).Methods and resultsThirteen subjects with advanced HF, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II–III were enrolled and treated with targeted injection of Cx‐43‐MDS/PCs and then monitored for at least 6 months. Overexpression of Cx43 (Cx43+) was significantly higher in all but one subject (Cx43–). Injection of MDS/PCs was associated with significant improvement of exercise capacity: NYHA (3 ± 0 vs. 1.8 ± 0.7, P = 0.003), exercise duration (388.69 ± 141.83 s vs. 462.08 ± 176.69 s, P = 0.025), peak oxygen consumption (14.38 ± 3.97 vs. 15.83 ± 3.74 ml/kg.min, P = 0.022) and oxygen pulse (10.58 ± 2.89 vs. 18.88 ± 22.63 mLO2/heart rate, P = 0.012). Levels of BNP, left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction and LV end‐diastolic volumes tended to improve. There was a significant improvement of the mean unipolar voltage amplitudes measured for the injected segments and the entire left ventricle (9.62 ± 2.64 vs. 11.62 ± 3.50 mV, P = 0.014 and 8.83 ± 2.80 vs. 10.22 ± 3.41 mV, P = 0.041, respectively). No deaths were documented, Cx43+ (n = 12) subjects presented no significant ventricular arrhythmia; one Cx43– subject suffered from ventricular tachycardia (successfully treated with amiodarone).ConclusionsInjection of Cx‐43‐MDS/PCs in patients with severe HF led to significant improvement in exercise capacity and myocardial viability of the injected segments while inducing no significant ventricular arrhythmia. This may arise from improved electrical coupling of the injected cells and injured myocardium and thus better in‐situ mechanical cooperation of both cell types. Therefore, further clinical studies with Cx43+ MDS/PCs are warranted.