Publications
Explore WARC's science publications.
Filter Total Items: 3374
Integrative modelling reveals mechanisms linking productivity and plant species richness
How ecosystem productivity and species richness are interrelated is one of the most debated subjects in the history of ecology. Decades of intensive study have yet to discern the actual mechanisms behind observed global patterns. Here, by integrating the predictions from multiple theories into a single model and using data from 1,126 grassland plots spanning five continents, we detect the clear si
Authors
James B. Grace, T. Michael Anderson, Eric W. Seabloom, Elizabeth T. Borer, Peter B. Adler, W Stanley Harpole, Yann Hautier, Helmut Hillebrand, Eric M. Lind, Meelis Partel, Jonathan D. Bakker, Yvonne M. Buckley, Michael J. Crawley, Ellen Ingman Damschen, Kendi F. Davies, Philip A. Fay, Jennifer Firn, Daniel S. Gruner, Andy Hector, Johannes M.H. Knops, Andrew S. MacDougall, Brett A. Melbourne, John W. Morgan, John L. Orrock, Suzanne M. Prober, Melinda D. Smith
Diet of diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) in subtropical mangrove habitats in South Florida
Unique among turtles as the only exclusively estuarine species, the diamondback terrapin’s (Malaclemys terrapin) life history predisposes it to impacts from humans both on land and in the near-shore environment. Terrapins are found in salt marshes and mangroves along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Texas. Whereas previous dietary studies have elucidated terrapins’ role in temper
Authors
Mathew J. Denton, Kristen M. Hart, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Anton Oleinik, John N. Baldwin
Twenty-six years of post-release monitoring of Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris): evaluation of a cooperative rehabilitation program
The rescue, rehabilitation, and release of Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) into the wild has occurred since 1974; however, a comprehensive evaluation of the outcomes of the releases has never been conducted. Herein, we examined data for 136 Florida manatees that were rehabilitated and released with telemetry tags between 1988 and 2013 to determine release outcome of each individu
Authors
Nicole M. Adimey, Monica Ross, Madison Hall, James P. Reid, Margie E. Barlas, Lucy W Keith Diagne, Robert K. Bonde
Scaling relationships among drivers of aquatic respiration from the smallest to the largest freshwater ecosystems
To address how various environmental parameters control or constrain planktonic respiration (PR), we used geometric scaling relationships and established biological scaling laws to derive quantitative predictions for the relationships among key drivers of PR. We then used empirical measurements of PR and environmental (soluble reactive phosphate [SRP], carbon [DOC], chlorophyll a [Chl-a)], and tem
Authors
Ed K Hall, Donald Schoolmaster, A.M Amado, Edward G. Stets, J.T. Lennon, L. Domaine, J.B. Cotner
Invasive pythons, not anthropogenic stressors, explain the distribution of a keystone species
Untangling the causes of native species loss in human-modified systems is difficult and often controversial. Evaluating the impact of non-native species in these systems is particularly challenging, as additional human perturbations often precede or accompany introductions. One example is the ongoing debate over whether mammal declines within Everglades National Park (ENP) were caused by either th
Authors
Adia R. Sovie, Robert A. McCleery, Robert J. Fletcher, Kristen M. Hart
Management-driven science synthesis: An evaluation of Everglades restoration trajectories
The Synthesis of Everglades Restoration andEcosystem Services (SERES) Project was funded in 2010 by the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) through the Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative (CESI) and established to synthesize the ever-growing body of Everglades scientific information with the goal of addressing topics that have hampered restoration since the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Pla
Authors
Stephen E Davis, James M. Beerens, Rena R. Borkhataria, Daniel L. Childers, Jay Choi, Steven M Davis, Carl Fitz, Evelyn Gaiser, Hiram Henriquez, Thomas E. Lodge, Judson Harvey, Frank Marshall, Bobby McCormick, Melodie Naja, Todd Osborne, Michael S. Ross, Jay Sah, Joel C. Trexler, Thomas Van Lent, Paul R. Wetzel
Urban sprawl as a risk factor in motor vehicle crashes
A decade ago, compactness/sprawl indices were developed for metropolitan areas and counties which have been widely used in health and other research. In this study, we first update the original county index to 2010, then develop a refined index that accounts for more relevant factors, and finally seek to test the relationship between sprawl and traffic crash rates using structural equation modelli
Authors
Reid Ewing, Shima Hamidi, James B. Grace
Status of scientific knowledge, recovery progress, and future research directions for the Gulf Sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi Vladykov, 1955
The Gulf Sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi, is an anadromous species of Acipenseridae and native to North America. It currently inhabits and spawns in the upper reaches of seven natal rivers along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from the Suwannee River, Florida, to the Pearl River, Louisiana, during spring to autumn. Next to the Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula), the Gulf Sturgeon
Authors
Kenneth J. Sulak, F Parauka, W. Todd Slack, T Ruth, Michael T. Randall, K Luke, M. F Mette, M. E Price
Dispersal and spatial heterogeneity: Single species
A recent result for a reaction-diffusion equation is that a population diffusing at any rate in an environment in which resources vary spatially will reach a higher total equilibrium biomass than the population in an environment in which the same total resources are distributed homogeneously. This has so far been proven by Lou for the case in which the reaction term has only one parameter, m(x)m(x
Authors
Donald L. DeAngelis, Wei-Ming Ni, Bo Zhang
Hydrologic effects on diameter growth phenology for Celtis laevigata and Quercus lyrata in the floodplain of the lower White River, Arkansas
Bottomland hardwood (BLH) forests represent an extensive wetland system in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley and southeastern USA, and it is currently undergoing widespread transition in species composition. One such transition involves increased establishment of sugarberry (Celtis laevigata), and decreased establishment of overcup oak (Quercus lyrata). The ecological mechanisms that control this tr
Authors
Scott T. Allen, Wesley Cochran, Ken W. Krauss, Richard F. Keim, Sammy L. King
Functional integrity of freshwater forested wetlands, hydrologic alteration, and climate change
Climate change will challenge managers to balance the freshwater needs of humans and wetlands. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that most regions of the world will be exposed to higher temperatures, CO2, and more erratic precipitation, with some regions likely to have alternating episodes of intense flooding and mega-drought. Coastal areas will be exposed to more frequent sal
Authors
Beth A. Middleton, Nicholas J. Souter
Succession in wetlands
Succession refers to the change in vegetation over time driven by disturbances and the maturation of plant species. In wetlands, these disturbances include water and salinity level changes along other factors that can alter vegetation. The historical view of succession (Clementsian) was that vegetation change represented the linear progression of through stages of vegetation toward a climax state.
Authors
Beth A. Middleton