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68 results for “forest resilience”
Wildfire disturbance reveals evidence of ecosystem resilience and precariousness in a forest-grassland mosaic
<p>Forest and grassland ecosystems are sometimes located adjacently within the same climate. In interior British Columbia, Canada, there are complex forest-grassland mosaics within the Interior Douglas-fir biogeoclimatic zone. Historically, both grassland and forest ecosystems experienced high-frequency, low-severity fire regimes. Since European settlement and introduction of livestock grazing and fire exclusion, trees have encroached on grasslands, and tree densities in forests have increased. In this study, we characterize plant communities and near-surface soil moisture in forest and grassland sites, and in historical grassland sites affected by tree encroachment. We hypothesized that spatial and temporal patterns of near-surface soil moisture are reflected in above-ground plant community composition and structure. After initial sampling of soil moisture and plant communities, the study area was burned in a wildfire. Applying a multifactorial approach to comparing adjacent grassland and forest sites, we treated the wildfire event as a natural experiment, sampling post-wildfire plant species composition and soil moisture, and measuring the severity and spatial heterogeneity of surface burn conditions. Evidence supports the concept of mutually exclusive fire-reinforced bi-stable grassland and forest states, with greater spatial heterogeneity of soil moisture and burn severity in forests, and highly uniform patterns of soil moisture, vegetation, and burn severity in grasslands. Areas of forest encroachment on grasslands had understory plant communities dominated by exotic species, while restored grasslands had native bunchgrass cover like typical grasslands of the region. Additionally, there was post-wildfire divergence of forest- and grassland- associated plant communities. Viewed through a resilience theory conceptual framework, we suggest that ecosystem legacies are reinforcing post-wildfire ecosystem identity and associated native plant communities. External factors - particularly past heavy livestock grazing and fire suppression - have caused ecosystem precariousness that can be addressed with management actions.</p>
Data for: Tree species size class patterns portend compositional shifts and low resilience in managed northern hardwood forests
<p><span>Declining biodiversity is a global challenge to sustainability and resilience of ecosystems facing multiple novel stressors, including climate change and invasive pests-pathogens. Northern hardwood forests (NHF) of the Great Lakes region have experienced declines in canopy tree diversity since European colonization, with current tree regeneration patterns in some areas suggesting perpetuation of this trend. However, regional (10<sup>6</sup> ha) patterns and possible causes are underexplored. To address this information gap, we used data from 141 managed NHF stands, Michigan, USA to examine diversity indices across tree size classes (seedling, sapling, and canopy); stand-level drivers of regeneration (seedling and sapling) diversity and individual species density; and patterns among species in relative abundances across size classes. Diversity was similar across size classes (mean asymptotic species richness of 6 – 7 species and <3 effective common species); however, some species contributing to sapling diversity are unlikely to contribute to future canopy diversity (<em>Fraxinus americana </em>and<em> Fagus grandifolia</em>, insect/pathogen limited; <em>Ostrya virginiana, </em>small maximum size). For the 11 most common species, conspecific canopy density (+, significant for 11 seedlings, 11 species) and stand basal area (-, saplings, 3 species) were the most consistent drivers of density, with less consistent effects for deer use, site quality, and substrate. Patterns of relative density by size class among the 18 species present on > 10 % of sites were consistent with theories of establishment or recruitment limitations due to deer browsing, deep shade, or limited suitable substrate. For seven species (including e.g., <em>Tsuga canadensis</em><span>, </span><em>Betula alleghaniensis, Populus grandidentata, Tilia americana</em><span>)</span>, relative abundance was lowest in the seedling layer and increased in larger size classes, <span>suggesting seedling establishment substrate and/or early shade mortality limitations. For two species (<em>Acer saccharum, Quercus rubra.</em>), patterns of reduced sapling relative abundance compared to seedling or canopy strata suggests a sapling recruitment bottleneck from deer browsing/shade, whereas six species (e.g., <em>F</em></span><em>agu<span>s grandifolia, Ostrya virginiana, Pinus strobus</span></em><span>) had highest relative density for saplings suggesting sapling to canopy recruitment limitations. Lastly, seedlings were relatively most abundant for </span><em>Acer rubrum </em><span>and </span><em>Prunus </em><span>spp., indicating disproportionally high seedling establishment, if not sapling or canopy recruitment, and for F. Americana, consistent with recent pest-related canopy mortality. Our results</span> suggest sustained low diversity and shifting composition are being driven by limited local seed availability, deep shading, limited seedling establishment substrate, and abundant deer. Management aimed at overcoming these specific limitations may be necessary to promote future NHF resilience.</span></p>
Data from: Mycorrhizal driven feedbacks and forest resilience to reduced rainfall
<p>Forests can experience negative feedbacks in the growth of tree populations but positive feedbacks within the two dominant mycorrhizal types of trees: ectomycorrhizal (EM) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM). Positive feedbacks within mycorrhizal types may provide communities with resistance to climate change. We tested whether each mycorrhizal type led to positive feedbacks on seedling survival, while statistically controlling for the effect of congeneric trees in ambient versus rainfall reduced conditions. We explored two potential drivers; the variation in soil fungal community structure and soil chemistry. Seedlings benefited from growing in stands dominated by their own mycorrhizal type, and simultaneously, tree seedlings performed worse in the presence of adult trees of their own genus, but only in rainfall reduced conditions. We found that the composition of the EM fungal community differed between plots dominated by EM versus AM trees. These results indicated that mycorrhizal types may create positive feedbacks in dry conditions that should be considered when predicting future states.</p>
Data from: Canopy seed survival through extreme fire in non-serotinous conifers: An unexpected source of forest resilience
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Wildfire disturbance reveals evidence of ecosystem resilience and precariousness in a forest-grassland mosaic
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Data from: Resilience of lake biogeochemistry to boreal-forest wildfires during the late Holocene
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Data for: Tree species size class patterns portend compositional shifts and low resilience in managed northern hardwood forests
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Conifer seedling demography reveals mechanisms of initial forest resilience to wildfires in the northern Rocky Mountains
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Data from: How neighbourhood interactions control the temporal stability and resilience to drought of trees in mountain forests
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Data from: Mycorrhizal driven feedbacks and forest resilience to reduced rainfall
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How does species rarity influence the functional diversity and resilience along the successional pathway in heterogeneous karst forests?
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Resilience of a tropical montane pine forest to fire and severe droughts
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Autogenic regulation and resilience in tropical dry forest
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Data from: Ocean warming undermines the recovery resilience of New England kelp forests following a fishery-induced trophic cascade
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Data from: The importance of using topographic features to predict climate-resilient habitat for migratory forest landbirds: an example for the Rusty Blackbird, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Canada Warbler
<p>Maintaining a functionally-connected network of high-quality habitat is one of the most effective responses to biodiversity loss. However, the spatial distribution of suitable habitat may shift over time in response to climate change. Taxa such as migratory forest landbirds are already undergoing climate-driven range shifts. Therefore, patches of climate-resilient habitat (also known as "climate refugia") are especially valuable from a conservation perspective. Here, we performed maximum entropy (Maxent) species distribution modeling to predict suitable and potentially climate-resilient habitat in Nova Scotia, Canada, for three migratory forest landbirds: Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus), Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi), and Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis). We used a reverse stepwise elimination technique to identify covariates that influence habitat suitability for the target species at broad scales, including abiotic (topographic control of moisture and nutrient accumulation) and biotic (forest characteristics) covariates. As topography should be relatively unaffected by a changing climate and helps regulate the structure and composition of forest habitat, we posit that the inclusion of appropriate topographic features may support the identification of climate-resilient habitat. Of all covariates, Depth to water table was the most important predictor of relative habitat suitability for the Rusty Blackbird and Canada Warbler, with both species showing a strong association with wet areas. Mean canopy height was the most important predictor for the Olive-sided Flycatcher, whereby the species was associated with taller trees. Our models, which comprise the finest scale species distribution models available for these species in this region, further indicated that, for all species, habitat (1) remains relatively abundant and well distributed in Nova Scotia and (2) is often located in wet lowlands (a climate-resilient topographic landform). These findings suggest that opportunities remain to conserve breeding habitat for these species despite changing temperature and precipitation regimes.</p>
Identifying drivers of forest resilience in long-term records from the Neotropics
<p class="CxSpFirst">Here we use 30 long-term, high-resolution palaeoecological records from Mexico, Central and South America to address two hypotheses regarding possible drivers of resilience in tropical forests as measured in terms of recovery rates from previous disturbances. First, we hypothesise that faster recovery rates are associated with regions of higher biodiversity, as suggested by the insurance hypothesis. And second, that resilience is due to intrinsic abiotic factors that are location specific, thus regions presently displaying resilience in terms of persistence to current climatic disturbances should also show higher recovery rates in the past. To test these hypotheses, we applied a threshold approach to identify past disturbances to forests within each sequence. We then compared the recovery rates to these events with pollen richness before the event. We also compared recovery rates of each site with a measure of present resilience in the region as demonstrated by measuring global vegetation persistence to climatic perturbations using satellite imagery. Preliminary results indeed show a positive relationship between pre-disturbance taxonomic diversity and faster recovery rates. However, there is less evidence to support the concept that resilience is intrinsic to a region; patterns of resilience apparent in ecosystems presently are not necessarily conservative through time.</p>
Data from: Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests
Land-use change occurs nowhere more rapidly than in the tropics, where the imbalance between deforestation and forest regrowth has large consequences for the global carbon cycle1. However, considerable uncertainty remains about the rate of biomass recovery in secondary forests, and how these rates are influenced by climate, landscape, and prior land use2, 3, 4. Here we analyse aboveground biomass recovery during secondary succession in 45 forest sites and about 1,500 forest plots covering the major environmental gradients in the Neotropics. The studied secondary forests are highly productive and resilient. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years was on average 122 megagrams per hectare (Mg ha−1), corresponding to a net carbon uptake of 3.05 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, 11 times the uptake rate of old-growth forests. Aboveground biomass stocks took a median time of 66 years to recover to 90% of old-growth values. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years varied 11.3-fold (from 20 to 225 Mg ha−1) across sites, and this recovery increased with water availability (higher local rainfall and lower climatic water deficit). We present a biomass recovery map of Latin America, which illustrates geographical and climatic variation in carbon sequestration potential during forest regrowth. The map will support policies to minimize forest loss in areas where biomass resilience is naturally low (such as seasonally dry forest regions) and promote forest regeneration and restoration in humid tropical lowland areas with high biomass resilience.
Collapse of dispersal trait diversity across a long-term chronosequence reveals a strong negative impact of frugivore extinctions on forest resilience
<p><span><b>1. </b></span><span>Understanding how seed dispersal disruption may alter plant community diversity and dynamics over a large temporal scale remains a challenge. Here, we use a long-term chronosequence to compare changes in the richness and composition of different dispersal trait assemblages in communities established before and after human colonisation in the Mascarene archipelago.</span></p> <p><span><b>2. </b></span><span>Our study was located on Réunion on the slopes of the Piton de la Fournaise, one of the most active volcanoes worldwide. We analysed 151 vegetation surveys on lava flows dated between 1401-AD and 1956-AD and in tropical rainforests established on older substrata. We defined five classes of substratum age, according to the well-known chronology of native frugivore defaunation: "old substrata" and </span>[1401, 1665[ when frugivores were abundant and diverse <span>before permanent human settlement</span>; [1665, 1800[ when large-bodied frugivore populations were strongly reduced; [1800, 1900[ when large-bodied frugivores went extinct and small-bodied frugivores were still abundant; [1900, 1956] <span>decline in the population of small-bodied frugivores. Based on dispersal traits, we categorised 146 native woody species as anemochorous, small fleshy-fruited or large fleshy-fruited, i.e. plant of which fruit could not theoretically be dispersed by extant frugivores.</span></p> <p><span><b>3. </b></span><span>Changes in dispersal trait diversity strongly correlated with the chronology of defaunation. Species-rich communities settled before human colonisation were strongly dominated by fleshy-fruited species. </span>L<span>arge fleshy-fruited plants in the oldest communities </span>settled after human colonisation <span>declined markedly and almost disappeared after 1800. The richness of small fleshy-fruited plants decreased less rapidly across the chronosequence, with medium levels on </span>[1665, 1800[ and [1800, 1900[ <span>lava flows and low levels on </span>[1900, 1956] lava flows<span>. Conversely, the richness of anemochorous plants remained unchanged. Communities settled before human colonisation had a similar composition. Fleshy-fruited assemblages showed strong species loss across the chronosequence, while anemochorous assemblages showed strong species turnover, which was probably due to lower dispersal limitation.</span></p> <p><span><b>4. Synthesis. </b></span><span>Our results provide the first insights into the tremendous impact that frugivore extinction has on plant colonisation dynamics over 300 years. The dramatic loss of fleshy-fruited plant diversity on historical lava flows highlights the irreplaceable dispersal role played by frugivores, especially large-bodied species. The conservation of </span>plant-animal mutualistic interactions<span> is invaluable and refaunation efforts need to be undertaken in areas where frugivores have been extirpated.</span></p>
Data from: Resilient networks of ant-plant mutualists in Amazonian forest fragments
BACKGROUND: The organization of networks of interacting species, such as plants and animals engaged in mutualisms, strongly influences the ecology and evolution of partner communities. Habitat fragmentation is a globally pervasive form of spatial heterogeneity that could profoundly impact the structure of mutualist networks. This is particularly true for biodiversity-rich tropical ecosystems, where the majority of plant species depend on mutualisms with animals and it is thought that changes in the structure of mutualist networks could lead to cascades of extinctions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We evaluated effects of fragmentation on mutualistic networks by calculating metrics of network structure for ant-plant networks in continuous Amazonian forests with those in forest fragments. We hypothesized that networks in fragments would have fewer species and higher connectance, but equal nestedness and resilience compared to forest networks. Only one of the nine metrics we compared differed between continuous forest and forest fragments, indicating that networks were resistant to the biotic and abiotic changes that accompany fragmentation. This is partially the result of the loss of only specialist species with one connection that were lost in forest fragments. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We found that the networks of ant-plant mutualists in twenty-five year old fragments are similar to those in continuous forest, suggesting these interactions are resistant to the detrimental changes associated with habitat fragmentation, at least in landscapes that are a mosaic of fragments, regenerating forests, and pastures. However, ant-plant mutualistic networks may have several properties that may promote their persistence in fragmented landscapes. Proactive identification of key mutualist partners may be necessary to focus conservation efforts on the interactions that insure the integrity of network structure and the ecosystems services networks provide.
Data from: Introducing resprouters to enhance Mediterranean forest resilience: importance of functional traits to select species according to a gradient of pine density
Resprouter species are important for Mediterranean ecosystem resilience, but they are scarce in landscapes dominated by pioneer pines. Sound knowledge of resprouter seedling functional responses and establishment success across different pine habitats would help guide forest restoration efforts. Four broadleaved resprouter species, that is two shrubs – Arbutus unedo and Pistacia terebinthus – and two trees – Fraxinus ornus and Sorbus domestica – were planted under an experimentally created gradient of pine cover from totally open conditions to dense pine cover. Seedling survival and growth were monitored for 5 years. Phenological, physiological and morphological traits were measured to gain insight into the mechanisms of pine–seedling interaction. Interaction outcomes varied according to species identity, pine cover treatment and time. Light-to-moderate pine cover induced greater height growth and little or no effects on diameter and survival of the two trees. Competition was always detected for shrubs, whereas competition and facilitation were noted for trees. Within pine stands, negative interactions increased with tree cover, making dense stands the most limiting. Interactions were only detectable after 2–3 years, but increased in intensity with time. Functional responses to increasing pine cover indicated a seedling strategy of carbon gain optimization in the shade (increased specific leaf area and leaf area, decreased leaf dry matter content), particularly in tree species seedlings. Increasing pine cover induced higher water stress, but lower photochemical stress. The deciduous species had a longer vegetation season under pine canopies, whereas the evergreen shrub Arbutus unedo showed a lower polycyclism rate and flower production. Synthesis and applications. Moderate pine cover facilitates the establishment of deciduous trees at the expense of shrubs. This pattern can be attributed to a higher shade tolerance of the trees than the shrubs combined with a low tolerance of trees to photoinhibition. We therefore recommend using evergreen shrubs for the restoration of open land and high-specific-leaf-area deciduous trees for pine stand diversification. However, in dense forests, thinning is needed to increase light availability prior to seedling introduction.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
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The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
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