Concepts

Spatial gradients in elevation that capture variation in temperature, soil age and type, disturbance regimes, and land-use histories providing important insights into how organisms, communities, and e...

A measure of community diversity that accounts for both species richness and relative abundance, calculated using the Shannon-Weiner index

Way in which individuals distribute themselves across landscape, including movement patterns and spatial organization like home range size and overlap

The concept that co-occurring species occupy distinct positions in multidimensional nutrient space to minimize competition and facilitate coexistence

The positive relationship between species richness and the surveyed area, described by the power-law S=cA^z where c is the intercept and z measures the rate of community turnover

Fungal symbionts that form specialized structures (arbuscules, vesicles) within plant root cells and are important for nutrient exchange

The study of reproductive behaviors, nesting habitat selection, and breeding success in bird populations

A species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance and whose presence/absence significantly affects ecosystem structure and function

The modification of environments by organisms in ways that influence resource availability for other species, exemplified by beaver dam construction creating pond habitats.

The identity and relative abundance of species within an ecological community

Alpine plants growing in clumps with multiple species interacting in close proximity, affecting microhabitats and species interactions

Environmental processes that filter trait values admitted by changing abiotic and biotic conditions, maintaining trait distributions through phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation

A group of fungal endophytes characterized by dark-pigmented, septate hyphae that commonly colonize plant roots and can increase under environmental stress

Ecosystem responses to climate change that exert positive or negative feedbacks on climate, mediated by slow-moving factors such as shifts in vegetation community composition

Theory that predicts patterns of distribution, abundance, and energetics using instantaneous values of community state variables including total area, total abundance, total species richness, and tota...

Bird species that utilize nest cavities created by other species rather than excavating their own

SPAD measurement of leaf chlorophyll concentration indicating photosynthetic capacity

Taxa that are significantly associated with particular habitat conditions and can be used to assess ecosystem state or restoration success

Territorial behavior including alarm and warning calls to protect midden from squirrels and other mammals, with territories ranging from 0.5 to 1 hectares defended through vocalizations and chasing

The range of climate conditions that a species can tolerate, estimated from ecological niche models

The process by which non-native species become established and spread in new environments

The ratio of dry root weight to total dry plant weight, used as an indicator of soil nutrient availability with higher values indicating nutrient-poor conditions

Parasitic plants that retain absorptive roots and are capable of carbon fixation through photosynthesis but still need to draw some of their resources from their hosts because they have low nutrient-u...

The degree to which parasites show preference or restriction to particular host species rather than being generalist

A measure of the evolutionary history represented in an ecological community, calculated as the sum of branch lengths connecting species in a phylogenetic tree

Mathematical models that represent how different pollinators perceive color based on their photoreceptor sensitivities and opponent color processing

Chemical composition of plant litter that determines its decomposability, typically characterized by C:N ratios and lignin content

Hypothesis that parasitism of dominant plant species reduces their competitive ability, allowing less competitive species to increase in abundance

The process of managing or assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed as a means of sustaining ecosystem resilience and conserving biodiversity

Areas of transition between adjacent, distinct ecosystems with unique species assemblages at the fringes of mature stands

The relationship between a host organism and its associated microbial community, including costs and benefits to host fitness

Theory suggesting that offspring sex ratios might vary according to maternal condition, hence females should vary the sex of their offspring according to their ability to physically invest in their of...

Statistical inference procedure that selects flattest probability distributions compatible with constraints imposed by prior knowledge

Distribution of metabolic rates over individuals in a community, obtained by summing over abundance

Physiological shifts that allow plants to adjust their rates of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance to compensate for changes in temperature

Classification of species with similar characteristics into plant functional groups or plant functional types to reduce complexity in ecological communities

Reduction in population growth rates, size, or occurrence across species ranges

Shift toward woody plant encroachment into nonwoody meadows and grasslands

Plot showing cumulative number of species discovered as a function of sampling effort, used to assess sampling completeness

Theory that animals distribute themselves among habitat patches in proportion to resource availability, with high-quality patches becoming occupied first and animals moving to lower-quality patches as...

A quantitative measure of uncertainty about an outcome of a draw from a probability distribution

Mountain ecosystem characterized by specific elevation, climate, and vegetation adapted to montane conditions

Differences in environmental conditions and species composition between north and south-facing slopes

Preserved plant specimens that are picked in the field, pressed flat, dried and attached to archival-grade paper with relevant information recorded, then stored in climate-controlled cabinets

Species with greater primary production exert the main controls for the functioning of ecosystems due to greater aboveground abundance of biomass or leaf area that promotes resource uptake

Species best suited for the environment that make up most of the vegetation in early successional stages

Percentage of leaf area affected by pathogen symptoms including powdery mildew, rust, and other fungal diseases

A metric that compares observed values to null model expectations, calculated as (observed - expected) / standard deviation of null distribution