Publications
Explore WARC's science publications.
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Perspectives on the scientific legacy of J. Philip Grime
Perhaps as much as any other scientist in the 20th century, J.P. Grime transformed the study of plant ecology and helped shepherd the field toward international prominence as a nexus of ideas related to global environmental change. Editors at the Journal of Ecology asked a group of senior plant ecologists to comment on Grime's scientific legacy.This commentary piece includes individual responses o
Authors
Jason D. Fridley, Xiaojuan Liu, Natalia Perez-Harguindeguy, F. Stuart Chapin III, Mick Crawley, Gerlinde De Deyn, Sandra Diaz, James Grace, Peter Grubb, Susan P. Harrison, Sandra Lavorel, Zhimin Liu, Simon Pierce, Bernhard Schmid, Carly J. Stevens, David A. Wardle, Mark Westoby
Integrating remote sensing with ground-based observations to quantify the effects of an extreme freeze event on black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) at the landscape scale
Climate change is altering the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Quantifying ecosystem responses to extreme events at the landscape scale is critical for understanding and responding to climate-driven change but is constrained by limited data availability. Here, we integrated remote sensing with ground-based observations to quantify landscape-scale vegetation damage from an extrem
Authors
Melinda Martinez, Michael Osland, James B. Grace, Nicholas Enwright, Camille Stagg, Simen Kaalstad, Gordon Anderson, Anna R. Armitage, Just Cebrian, Karen L. Cummins, Richard Day, Donna J. Devlin, Kenneth H. Dunton, Laura Feher, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, Elena A. Flores, Andrew From, A. Randall Hughes, David A. Kaplan, Amy K. Langston, Christopher J. Miller, Charles E. Proffitt, Nathan G.F. Reaver, Colt R. Sanspree, Caitlin M. Snyder, Andrew P. Stetter, Kathleen M. Swanson, Jamie E. Thompson, Carlos Zamora-Tovar
Telescoping prey selection in invasive Burmese pythons spells trouble for endangered rodents
The allometric scaling of predators and their prey is well established within snakes (i.e., gape-width limits maximum prey sizes). However, while some species exhibit ontogenetic shifts to larger prey as they grow, others exhibit telescoping prey selection and continue to consume small prey in addition to larger prey. The Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is a large dietary generalist constrictor
Authors
Issac Lord, Joseph Redinger, Jeremy Dixon, Kristen Hart, Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Christina M. Romagosa, Michael V. Cove
Boreal conifers maintain carbon uptake with warming despite failure to track optimal temperatures
Warming shifts the thermal optimum of net photosynthesis (ToptA) to higher temperatures. However, our knowledge of this shift is mainly derived from seedlings grown in greenhouses under ambient atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) conditions. It is unclear whether shifts in ToptA of field-grown trees will keep pace with the temperatures predicted for the 21st century under elevated atmospheric CO2 con
Authors
Mirindi E. Dusenge, Jeffery M. Warren, Peter B. Reich, Eric Ward, Bridget K. Murphy, Artur Stefanski, Raimundo Bermudez, Marisol Cruz, David A. McLennan, Anthony W. King, Rebecca A. Montgomery, Paul J. Hanson, Danielle A. Way
Tidal restriction likely has greater impact on the carbon sink of coastal wetland than climate warming and invasive plant
AimsCoastal salt marshes are productive ecosystems that are highly efficient carbon sinks, but there is uncertainty regarding the interactions among climate warming, plant species, and tidal restriction on C cycling.MethodsOpen-top chambers (OTCs) were deployed at two coastal wetlands in Yancheng, China, where native Phragmites australis (Phragmites) and invasive Spartina alterniflora (Spartina) w
Authors
Pan Zhou, Siyuan Ye, Liujuan Xie, Ken Krauss, Lixin Pei, Samantha K. Chapman, Hans Brix, Edward A. Laws, Hongming Yuan, Shixiong Yang, Xigui Ding, Shucheng Xie
Satellite tracking reveals use of Biscayne National Park by sea turtles tagged in multiple locations
Although historical observations date back to the 1800’s, there is little information on sea turtle occupancy within Biscayne National Park (BNP). The park is located along the Florida reef tract and is dominated by the Gulfstream, which acts as a corridor for many marine animals. Here we used satellite telemetry to determine areas of use in BNP for two species of imperiled sea turtles, loggerhead
Authors
Kristen Hart, Allison Benscoter, Haley M. Turner, Michael Cherkiss, Andrew Crowder, Jacquelyn C. Guzy, David Roche, Christopher R. Sasso, Glenn D. Goodwin, Derek A. Burkholder
Estuarine salinity extremes: Using the Coastal Salinity Index to quantify the role of droughts, floods, hurricanes, and freshwater flow alteration
In the face of accelerating climate change, advancing understanding of how extreme climatic events influence estuarine salinities can help to inform resource management. Extreme salinities driven by droughts, hurricanes, floods, and freshwater flow alterations can lead to ecological transformations in estuarine ecosystems. Here, we applied the Coastal Salinity Index (CSI; Conrads and Darby 2017) t
Authors
Laura Feher, Michael Osland, Christopher Swarzenski
Soil salinity and water level interact to generate tipping points in low salinity tidal wetlands responding to climate change
Low salinity tidal wetlands (LSTW) are vulnerable to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, thus their carbon sequestration capacity is threatened. However, the thresholds of rapid changes in carbon dynamics and biogeochemical processes in LSTW due to changes in hydroperiod and salinity regime remain unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of soil porewater salinity and water level on cha
Authors
Hongqing Wang, Ken Krauss, Gregory B. Noe, Zhaohua Dai, Carl C. Trettin
Amino acid variation at the mitochondrial binding site of Antimycin A is proposed to reflect sensitivity and toxicity differences among fish species
To better understand differential sensitivities among fish species to the piscicidal compound Antimycin-A (ANT-A), we hypothesized that variations in amino acids at the ANT-A binding site may reflect toxicity differences. Protein sequences for six motifs comprising the ANT-A binding site were obtained and compared for invasive carp species (N = 515) and seven non-target species (N = 277); a consen
Authors
Brooke A. Baudoin, Bonnie L. Brown, Robin Calfee, Jill Jenkins
Seed banks of rare Physostegia correllii (Lamiaceae) in Lady Bird Lake, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.
Rare species threatened by climate and land-use change may harbor seeds in soil seed banks for periods of time even if adults have disappeared from the site. Soil samples were collected from sites with current Phyostegia correllii populations and from sites with former populations in Lady Bird Lake (a reservoir of the Colorado River, Austin, Texas. A seedling emergence study was conducted under gr
Authors
Beth Middleton, Casey R. Williams
Coevolution with host fishes shapes parasitic life histories in a group of freshwater mussels (Unionidae: Quadrulini)
Ecological interactions among species often lead to parasitic lineages coevolving with host resources, which is often suggested as the primary driver of parasite diversification. Freshwater mussels are bivalves that possess a parasitic life cycle requiring larval encystment on freshwater vertebrates to complete metamorphosis. The North American freshwater mussel tribe Quadrulini has a suite of lif
Authors
Sakina Neemuchwala, Nathan Johnson, John M. Pfeiffer, Manuel Lopes-Lima, Andre Gomes-dos-Santos, Elsa Froufe, David M. Hillis, Chase H. Smith
Cross-continental evaluation of landscape-scale drivers and their impacts to fluvial fishes: Understanding frequency and severity to improve fish conservation in Europe and the United States
Fluvial fishes are threatened globally from intensive human landscape stressors degrading aquatic ecosystems. However, impacts vary regionally, as stressors and natural environmental factors differ between ecoregions and continents. To date, a comparison of fish responses to landscape stressors over continents is lacking, limiting understanding of consistency of impacts and hampering efficiencies
Authors
Maria M. Üblacker, Dana M. Infante, Arthur R. Cooper, Wesley M. Daniel, Stefan Schmutz, Rafaela Schinegger