Ecological Research Articles

Design for Sustainability Transformations: A Deep Leverage Points Research Agenda for the (Post-)Pandemic Context

This position paper presents a prototype research agenda for design for sustainability transformations (DfST) in the (post-)pandemic context. COVID-19 has made visible vulnerabilities, structural dysfunctions, inequalities and injustices across health, environmental, social, economic, provisional and political systems. In response to the crisis, rapid, adaptive, technological and social innovations have started to emerge across all levels of society, opening up a multiplicity of alternative futures. This is an opportune time to address long-standing and urgent sustainability challenges in ways that move beyond the ineffective and business-as-usual approaches of ecological modernism. The authors used a co-creative process to identify weak signals relevant to sustainability transformations. In alignment with the deep leverage points framework, the identified weak signals are presented under two main headings: first, social structures and institutions; and second, values, goals and worldviews. The deep leverage points form the basis of a research agenda on how DfST could contribute to sustainability transformations right now and in the longer-term.

Ecologies of Disappearance Today. Introduction

This introduction contrasts contemporary disappearances with the original disappearances typically framed by the state. With a particular focus on spatialities, the authors suggest that the contemporary disappearances can best be understood as part of an ecology. These reflections are a prologue to the dossier “Ecologies of Disappearance Today”.

Can the history of the balance of nature-idea inform the design of narratives for highlighting general aspects of nature of science?

The idea of the Balance of Nature (BON-idea), which implies a predetermined order and stability guaranteed by a God’s will or nature itself, is much older than the science of ecology and had a remarkable influence on it. It seems that the history of the BON-idea might be used for highlighting Nature of Science (NOS). Our study concerns whether it is actually feasible to draw on the BON-idea history in order to design historical narratives that could effectively support students to reach a better understanding of general NOS aspects. In this paper, we focus on which general NOS aspects could be highlighted by the BON-idea history and how. So, we argue that the BON-idea history can offer resources for the design of narratives that outline scientific knowledge as (i) influenced by socio-cultural contexts, (ii) mediated by creativity, and (iii) subject to change.

Determining the influence of snow and temperature on the movement rates of wood bison (Bison bison athabascae)

Snow is understood to limit wildlife movements, often being the most important determinant of winter movement for animals in the boreal forest. However, the combined effect of snow and temperature on the movement ecology of animals at high latitudes is less understood. Here, we used GPS-collar data from a small population of wood bison (Bison bison athabascae Rhoads, 1898) in northeastern Alberta, Canada, to develop a series of generalized additive mixed models characterizing the effect of cumulative snow depth, daily change in snow depth, and temperature on movement rates. Our most supported model included cumulative snow depth, temperature, and day of winter. Bison movements decreased in the first 75 days of winter during snow accumulation and dramatically increased in the final 14 days of winter during snow melt. Cumulative snow depth, not daily change in snow depth, reduced wood bison movement rates, and movement rates increased more rapidly in warmer temperatures than in temperatures below −6.4 °C. By quantifying both the direction and the magnitude of snow and temperature’s effects on bison movement, our study fills critical knowledge gaps relating to the winter movement ecology of wood bison and contributes to a growing body of knowledge informing their conservation in the Anthropocene.

Ecology for Birdwatchers

Ecology for Birdwatchers

Landscape use by fishers (Pekania pennanti): core areas differ in habitat than the entire home range

Home ranges have long been studied in animal ecology. Core areas may be used at a greater proportion than the rest of the home range, implying the core contains dependable resources. The Pacific fisher (Pekania pennanti (Erxleben, 1777)) is a rare mesocarnivore occupying a small area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA. Once statewide, fishers declined in the 1900s due to trapping, habitat fragmentation, and development. Recently, drought induced by climate change may be affecting this population. We examined space use of fishers in their core versus their home range for levels of anthropogenic modifications (housing density, road density, silvicultural treatments), habitat types, and tree mortality. We found core areas contained more late-successional forest and minimal human activity compared with their territory. Their core had higher levels of dense canopy and higher amounts of conifer cover, while minimizing the amount of buildings, developed habitat, and low canopy cover. Fishers may in effect be seeking refugia by minimizing their exposure to these elements in their core. Conserving landscape components used by fishers in their core areas will be important for the persistence of this isolated population.

A standardisation framework for bio‐logging data to advance ecological research and conservation

Abstract Bio‐logging data obtained by tagging animals are key to addressing global conservation challenges. However, the many thousands of existing bio‐logging datasets are not easily discoverable, universally comparable, nor readily accessible through existing repositories and across platforms, slowing down ecological research and effective management. A set of universal standards is needed to ensure discoverability, interoperability and effective translation of bio‐logging data into research and management recommendations. We propose a standardisation framework adhering to existing data principles (FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable; and TRUST: Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability and Technology) and involving the use of simple templates to create a data flow from manufacturers and researchers to compliant repositories, where automated procedures should be in place to prepare data availability into four standardised levels: (a) decoded raw data, (b) curated data, (c) interpolated data and (d) gridded data. Our framework allows for integration of simple tabular arrays (e.g. csv files) and creation of sharable and interoperable network Common Data Form (netCDF) files containing all the needed information for accuracy‐of‐use, rightful attribution (ensuring data providers keep ownership through the entire process) and data preservation security. We show the standardisation benefits for all stakeholders involved, and illustrate the application of our framework by focusing on marine animals and by providing examples of the workflow across all data levels, including filled templates and code to process data between levels, as well as templates to prepare netCDF files ready for sharing. Adoption of our framework will facilitate collection of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) in support of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and inter‐governmental assessments (e.g. the World Ocean Assessment), and will provide a starting point for broader efforts to establish interoperable bio‐logging data formats across all fields in animal ecology.

Molecular mechanisms of self-regulation in multiannual rodent populations: Experimental test of an updated hypothesis.

Edwards, P. D., Frenette-Ling, C., Palme, R., & Boonstra, R. (2021). Social density suppresses GnRH expression and reduces reproductivity in voles: A mechanism for population self-regulation. Journal of Animal Ecology, 90, 784-795. Intrinsic population processes are important in the regulation of populations of small rodents, including those which display multiannual cycles. By measuring reproductive parameters, faecal androgen metabolites, and gene expression and DNA methylation in the CNS of juvenile voles, this paper demonstrates that suppression of reproduction occurs in female voles at high density compared to low density in enclosures, and that this maternal, epigenetic effect is also apparent in their offspring. This suggsests that direct density dependence influences reproduction and, hence, immediate rate of population growth, while gene expression mediated by DNA methylation blocking transcription, may have a delayed density-dependent effect in juveniles. Both direct and delayed density dependence are necessary to generate multiannual population cycles. Edwards et al. (2021) break new ground in demonstrating the molecular and physiological basis of variation in population dynamics of small mammals ranging from multiannual cycles to stability that have fascinated researchers for nearly a century.

Multispecies Emergent Textualities: Writing and Reading in Ecologies of Selves

Multispecies Emergent Textualities: Writing and Reading in Ecologies of Selves

Dialogue with Nature and the Ecological Imperative

Dialogue with Nature and the Ecological Imperative

Microbially Mediated Chemical Ecology of Animals: A Review of Its Role in Conspecific Communication, Parasitism and Predation.

Simple SummarySymbiotic bacteria and fungi facilitate the acquisition of nutrients to their animal hosts, protect them against predators, parasites and diseases, and, in some ways, modulate complex animal behavior, including communication, by means of chemical signaling. However, odors of symbiotic bacterial origin would not only inform conspecifics of their animal host, but parasites and/or predators may also use those odors to detect their victims. We here review the role of bacterial symbionts on animal communication, and on interactions of their animal hosts with parasites and predators. Moreover, because microbial symbionts can have negative effects on their hosts facilitating predation and parasitism, these enemies could modulate the microbial community of animals, and we reviewed the available evidence supporting this idea. The inclusion of microorganisms in scenarios of communication, parasitism, and predation opens up new avenues of research that will contribute to understanding such interactions. We here elaborate some predictions and provide some guidance for future research.Microbial symbionts are nowadays considered of pivotal importance for animal life. Among the many processes where microorganisms are involved, an emerging research avenue focuses on their major role in driving the evolution of chemical communication in their hosts. Volatiles of bacterial origin may underlie chemical communication and the transfer of social information through signals, as well as inadvertent social information. We reviewed the role of microorganisms in animal communication between conspecifics, and, because the microbiome may cause beneficial as well as deleterious effects on their animal hosts, we also reviewed its role in determining the outcome of the interactions with parasites and predators. Finally, we paid special attention to the hypothetical role of predation and parasitism in driving the evolution of the animal microbiome. We highlighted the novelty of the theoretical framework derived from considering the microbiota of animals in scenarios of communication, parasitism, and predation. We aimed to encourage research in these areas, suggesting key predictions that need to be tested to better understand what is one of the main roles of bacteria in animal biology.

Ecolinguistics and ecosophy

This article presents a philosophical framework for studies of ecolinguistics, combining the Eastern wisdom of ecological harmony and the Western human geographical concept of sense of place. To establish the basic criteria for ecolinguistic analysis, the article traces the three most influential Chinese schools of philosophy and extracts three of their shared disciplines: benevolence, frugality and intimacy with nature. To reveal the dynamic relationship between human beings and the places where they reside, the article revisits the concept of sense of place and extends it to cover an ecological dimension of people and place. Connecting ecological ethics derived from classical Chinese philosophy with systemic human-place dynamics, this proposed framework provides an ideological basis for ecolinguistic research, especially for discourse analysis. Following this ecosophy, the involved human beings and other elements of places included in a discourse can be revealed through the system of sense of place; and the ecological implications of linguistic features can be evaluated according to the three major principles. To complete the analysis, positive and negative orientations will be distinguished as well as a middle ground of ambivalent orientation. To conclude, this article aims to provide a well-grounded ideological reference for the deconstruction and subsequent assessment of linguistic resources, and thereby to establish a crucial strand of ecolinguistic scholarship.

A bioavailable baseline strontium isotope map of southwestern Turkey for mobility studies

We present here a map of bioavailable strontium for Southwestern Turkey derived from measurements of modern plants and mollusk (land snail) shells from various geological areas. Samples were collected from 87 locations and strontium isotope measurements were made on 283 plant and mollusk samples. The plants consisted of deep-rooted, medium-rooted and shallow-rooted species each sampling strontium from different water sources. The data was interpolated to produce a predictive strontium isotope map (‘Sr-isoscape’) of the region. Despite the complex underlying geology of this region the bioavailable Sr values broadly grouped into two separate areas, related to the age of the underlying bedrock. These results provide a baseline for interpretation of strontium isotope values of archaeological samples to help understand past animal and human mobility, and can also be used by researchers in a range of other disciplines that incorporate strontium analysis for mobility, including animal ecology and forensics.

The Case for Welfare Biology

Animal welfare science and ecology are both generally concerned with the lives of animals, however they differ in their objectives and scope; the former studies the welfare of animals considered ‘domestic’ and under the domain of humans, while the latter studies wild animals with respect to ecological processes. Each of these approaches addresses certain aspects of the lives of animals living in the world though neither, we argue, tells us important information about the welfare of wild animals. This paper argues for the development of a new scientific discipline ‘welfare biology’ to address these issues and more, given the deficiencies of pre-existing life science disciplines to research the subject. Welfare biology is the study of the welfare of all living beings who have a welfare, with a value orientation toward promoting that welfare, regardless of the beings’ situation or relationship to humans and our activities.

Answering the call for #GenerationRestoration: The Special Feature from the Society for Ecological Restoration and British Ecological Society to meet the challenges under the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/) offers hope in a particularly turbulent time in human history. We write this in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted the entire planet's social systems exacerbated by increasing totalitarianism, kakistocracy, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. Hope seems in short supply. A practical path to build on hope might seem even scarcer. But letting the current state of the world bake into failure, ennui, and nihilism is not inevitable. In fact, restoration ecology was born of a failure to protect the environment and the socioecological systems as a whole. It has at the heart of its ethos an inherent optimism—that though we have damaged the environment, people also have the power and ability to repair that damage and imagine ecosystems of the future. It was—and is—one path out of the mess we have made. What we can achieve still depends on a seeming blizzard of “ifs”: it all depends on if we are successful in developing the technical, scientific, and engineering devices and engaging in the social, economic, policy, and governance processes. Some of this is achieved at the international and national level but the rise of economic systems that leave environmental damage and ecosystem services off of the ledgers, and the antipathy of too many citizens and political parties to grand plans, mean that the nurturing of restoration ecology is going to depend on making small efforts that are not only beautiful and functional but relevant to people. We launched the first joint project of the Society for Ecological Restoration and British Ecological Society in the spirit of cooperating to put our best minds and best efforts to the task of accomplishing the goals of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. This Special Feature runs across eight journals (Restoration Ecology, Ecological Solutions and Evidence, Functional Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, Journal of Ecology, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, and People and Nature) and readers will see the initial pulse of articles over the next year or more. We will not stop here. More initiatives are on a brighter horizon. As 2021 dawns and the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration breaks through the acidic fog of 2020, hundreds of restoration ecologists have answered the call. Not just our call for papers. The call to hope—and to make that hope into socioecological reality via #GenerationRestoration.

Morphological ontogeny of Ctenobelba pilosella (Acari: Oribatida: Ctenobelbidae), with comments on Ctenobelba Balogh

The morphological ontogeny of Ctenobelba pilosella Jeleva, 1962 is described and illustrated. This species was investigated from its description mainly in ecological aspect. It was recorded from the forest and meadow soils, with rather low density, and small percent of juveniles.The adult is of medium size and has setiform bothridial seta, with 6–10 anterior spines. Notogaster is covered with asteriform granules and has 10 pairs of medium size, barbed setae. Seta d is absent from genua I–III and all tibia. Bothridial seta of juveniles is setiform and barbed, prodorsal and gastronotal setae are short, except of medium size ro and long, curved inwards lp. Nymphs are quadrideficient and eupheredermous i.e. they carry the exuvial scalps of previous instars. Anal valves of protonymph and deutonymph have two pairs of alveolar setae, which is rare in Brachypylina. The juveniles have seta d on all genua and tibiae.

Mismatch Between Risk and Response May Amplify Lethal and Non-lethal Effects of Humans on Wild Animal Populations

Human activity has rapidly transformed the planet, leading to declines of animal populations around the world through a range of direct and indirect pathways. Humans have strong numerical effects on wild animal populations, as highly efficient hunters and through unintentional impacts of human activity and development. Human disturbance also induces costly non-lethal effects by changing the behavior of risk-averse animals. Here, we suggest that the unique strength of these lethal and non-lethal effects is amplified by mismatches between the nature of risk associated with anthropogenic stimuli and the corresponding response by wild animals. We discuss the unique characteristics of cues associated with anthropogenic stimuli in the context of animal ecology and evolutionary history to explore why and when animals fail to appropriately (a) detect, (b) assess, and (c) respond to both benign and lethal stimuli. We then explore the costs of over-response to a benign stimulus (Type I error) and under-response to a lethal stimulus (Type II error), which can scale up to affect individual fitness and ultimately drive population dynamics and shape ecological interactions. Finally, we highlight avenues for future research and discuss conservation measures that can better align animal perception and response with risk to mitigate unintended consequences of human disturbance.

The last meal of an Eocene pollen-feeding fly

One of the most important trophic interactions today is that between insects and their floral hosts. This biotic association is believed to have been critical to the radiation of flowering plants and many pollinating insect lineages over the last 120 million years (Ma). Trophic interactions among fossil organisms are challenging to study, and most inferences are based on indirect evidence. Fossil records providing direct evidence for pollen feeding, i.e., fossil stomach and gut contents, are exceptionally rare.1,2 Such records have the potential to provide information on aspects of animal behavior and ecology as well as plant-animal interactions that are sometimes not yet recognized for their extant relatives. The dietary preferences of short-proboscid nemestrinids are unknown, and pollinivory has not been recorded for extant Nemestrinidae.3 We analyzed the contents of the conspicuously swollen abdomen of an ca. 47.5 Ma old nemestrinid fly of the genus Hirmoneura from Messel, Germany, with photogrammetry and state-of-the-art palynological methods. The fly fed on pollen from at least four plant families-Lythraceae, Vitaceae, Sapotaceae, and Oleaceae-and presumably pollinated flowers of two extant genera, Decodon and Parthenocissus. We interpret the feeding and foraging behavior of the fly, reconstruct its preferred habitat, and conclude about its pollination role and importance in paratropical environments. This represents the first evidence that short-proboscid nemestrinid flies fed, and possibly feed to this day, on pollen, demonstrating how fossils can provide vital information on the behavior of insects and their ecological relationships with plants.

Detection range and efficiency of acoustic telemetry receivers in a connected wetland system

Acoustic telemetry is an important tool for assessing the behavioural ecology of aquatic animals, but the performance of receivers can vary spatially and temporally according to changes in environmental gradients. Studies testing detection efficiency and/ or detection range are, therefore, important for data interpretation, although the most thorough range-testing approaches are often costly or impractical, such as the use of fixed sentinel tags. Here, stationary tag data (from study animals that had either died or expelled their tags) provided a substitute for the long-term monitoring of receiver performance in a wetland environment and was complemented by periodic boat-based range testing, with testing of the effects of environmental variables (water temperature, conductivity, transparency, precipitation, wind speed, acoustic noise) on detection efficiency (DE) and detection range (DR). Stationary tag DE was highly variable temporally, the most influential factors being water temperature and precipitation. Transparency was a strong predictor of DR and was dependent on chlorophyll concentration (a surrogate measure of algal density). These results highlight the value of stationary tag data in assessments of acoustic receiver performance. The high seasonal variability in DE and DR emphasises the need for long-term receiver monitoring to enable robust conclusions to be drawn from telemetry data.

Productive Ecosystems and the arrow of development

Economic growth is associated with the diversification of economic activities, which can be observed via the evolution of product export baskets. Exporting a new product is dependent on having, and acquiring, a specific set of capabilities, making the diversification process path-dependent. Taking an agnostic view on the identity of the capabilities, here we derive a probabilistic model for the directed dynamical process of capability accumulation and product diversification of countries. Using international trade data, we identify the set of pre-existing products, the product Ecosystem, that enables a product to be exported competitively. We construct a directed network of products, the Eco Space, where the edge weight corresponds to capability overlap. We uncover a modular structure, and show that low- and middle-income countries move from product communities dominated by small Ecosystem products to advanced (large Ecosystem) product clusters over time. Finally, we show that our network model is predictive of product appearances.