Plant-plant interactions change through succession from facilitative to competitive. At early stages of succession, early-colonizing plants can increase the survival and reproductive output of other plants by ameliorating disturbance and stressful conditions. At later stages of succession, plant interactions are more competitive as plants put more energy towards growth and reproduction. In northern temperate rainforests, gap dynamics result in tree falls that facilitate tree regeneration (nurse logs) and bryophyte succession. How bryophyte-tree seedling interactions vary...

Epiphyte trait data for the paper Hietz et al. 2021 Putting vascular epiphytes on the traits map. Journal of Ecology Plant functional traits impact the fitness and environmental niche of plants. Major plant functional types have been characterized by their trait spectrum, and the environmental and phylogenetic imprints on traits have advanced several ecological fields. Yet very few trait data on epiphytes, which represent almost 10% of vascular plants, are available. We collated >80,000 mostly...

Microscopic sessile suspension feeders live attached to surfaces and, by consuming bacteria-sized prey and by being consumed, they form an important part of aquatic ecosystems. Their environmental impact is mediated by their feeding rate, which depends on a self-generated feeding current. The feeding rate has been hypothesized to be limited by recirculating eddies that cause the organisms to feed from water that is depleted of food particles. However, those results considered organisms in still water,...

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) present on the surface of arthropods are important mediators of both intraspecific and interspecific interactions. They are known to be important chemical cues that help predatory arthropods locate prey, yet less is known about if and how vertebrate insectivores use these nearly ubiquitous chemical cues. We examined behavioral responses of insectivorous lizards (Aspidoscelis exsanguis) to the CHCs of three different species of arthropod prey (crickets, ants, and spiders). We presented cotton swabs...

Microbial diversity and community function are related, and both can be highly specialized in different regions of the gut. The cloacal microbiome of Sceloporus virgatus lizards has low diversity, suggesting a specialized function, and is known to transfer antifungal microbes to eggshells during oviposition. We hypothesize that the cloacal microbiome is distinct from other parts of the digestive and reproductive systems. Here, we compare the microbiome of tissue samples from the cloaca, lower intestine, upper...

Controlled low-intensity fires are commonly used in ecosystem management for both habitat restoration and wildfire management. Animals in those ecosystems may respond to fire by shifting energy allocation away from reproduction and growth, and toward maintenance. Stress-induced shifts in energy allocation may affect expression of condition-dependent sexual signals, which are sensitive to energetic and physiological trade-offs mediated by glucocorticoids. Here, we examine the effect of fire on ornament expression, corticosterone, and other phenotypic traits in...