Concepts

A measure of how successful a bird is at food acquisition, quantified through observations as foraging rate (number of forages divided by time observed)

The identity and relative abundance of species within an ecological community

The tendency for related species to resemble each other more than expected by chance, measured by Blomberg's K and Pagel's lambda

Diet breadth of bees classified as oligolectic (collect pollen from flowers in multiple plant families) or polylectic (collect pollen from flowers in just one family)

Measurable morphological and physiological characteristics of organisms that influence ecological performance

Daily mass gain during critical post-emergence development period in juvenile mammals

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

Standardized measure of water deficit calculated using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) over 12-month periods

The degree to which values at nearby locations are correlated, used to assess spatial clustering in disease patterns

Per-capita population growth rate λ calculated as the dominant eigenvalue of the projection matrix at equilibrium

Chemical composition of water occupying soil pore spaces, indicating mobility of dissolved constituents

Population parameter measuring the relative frequency of males and females, specifically operational sex ratio of flowering individuals

Cortisol and glucocorticoids that help regulate energy balance in animals and could determine dispersal behavior under stressful conditions

October through September annual cycle used for water resource analysis

The extent to which fungal symbionts colonize plant tissues, measured as percentage of tissue colonized

Percentage of leaf biomass composed of water, calculated as difference between wet and dry weight divided by wet weight

An approximation of non-water stressed evapotranspiration calculated using energy-only methods from net radiation estimates

Naturally occurring isotopes of hydrogen (²H) and oxygen (¹⁸O) in water molecules used to trace water sources and movement through soil-plant systems

Probability of surviving the summer active season, measured by last sighting dates relative to seasonal cutoffs

SPAD measurement of leaf chlorophyll concentration indicating photosynthetic capacity

The length of flower tubes, which correlates with bumble bee proboscis length and determines flower accessibility

Metabolites of stress hormones measured in fecal samples as a proxy for physiological stress levels

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

A method to test for phylogenetic signal by comparing empirical data variance to variance from randomly reshuffled species identities across trait data sets

Future water flow estimates derived from climate model projections processed through hydrologic models

The difference between net radiation flux at the surface under all-sky and clear-sky conditions, accounting for both downwelling and upwelling radiation changes

Non-invasive wildlife monitoring technique using motion-triggered cameras to detect and photograph animals

Distributions that provide fundamental insights on hydrological processes within watersheds by describing how long water spends underground

High fidelity remote sensing data collection using hyperspectral sensors to capture contiguous spectral bands for vegetation and surface characterization

The relative proportions of essential macronutrients (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) in pollen samples

The measure of seed quality based on embryonic development and potential for successful germination