Oecologia

Breeding phenological responses to changing environments affect demographics and population persistence. However, inter-individual variation in adjustment of reproductive timing to predation risk has been overlooked. We thus tested whether increasing natural predation risk enhanced or homogenized reproductive timing of females differing in risk sensitivity. Using behavioral (flight initiation dis…

Nutrient dynamics substantially influences forest productivity, yet the influence of competition on these processes in forests is not well understood. Nitrogen is an important limiting nutrient for tree growth, but how canopy nitrogen dynamics are influenced by tree diversity and competition is unclear. Nitrogen-use efficiency is one mechanism suggested to support niche complementarity, promoting…

Climate change is rapidly altering high-latitude coastal wetlands through increasing temperatures, more frequent flooding, and changing herbivore abundance and distribution. Examining plant functional trait responses to these drivers provides insight into how plant communities are shaped by climate change. We used a one-year full-factorial mesocosm experiment in coastal Alaska to assess immediate…

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by deadwood are increasingly recognised as key olfactory cues used by saproxylic beetles to locate suitable substrates, yet their role during colonisation remains poorly understood. To address this, we quantified VOC emissions and beetle assemblages while experimentally disentangling the main ecological drivers of the deadwood volatilome (tree species, su…

Understanding the influence of species interactions on community structure and biodiversity is a long-standing goal in ecology. While species interactions are predicted to be vulnerable to environmental change, how the environment influences species interactions is not well understood. We used a network analysis approach to examine how network structure and dissimilarity of one type of mixed-spec…

Human-induced changes in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) global cycles and availability significantly impact plant growth and nutritional composition, thereby affecting ecosystem dynamics. However, research on the effects of increased nutrient availability often focuses on plant community-level effects, overlooking interspecific variability and neglecting impacts on higher trophic levels. Using a…

The megaherbivore concept suggests that mammals >1000 kg are insensitive to predation as adults. Consequently, their space use should be largely driven by resources. This does not account for the fact that megaherbivores have been hunted by humans for >100,000 years and likely evolved innate responses against human predation. Recent studies indeed show that megaherbivores, such as elephants and r…