This study investigates the isolated decomposition of spruce and lodgepole conifer needles to enhance our understanding of how needle litter impacts near-surface terrestrial biogeochemical processes. Harvested needles were exported to a subalpine meadow to enable a discrete analysis of the decomposi

Nutrients used in reproduction may come from adult feeding or reserves stored from the juvenile stage. The dynamics of allocation from these sources are predicted to differ among nutrient types, depending on the relative availability of each nutrient type from adult and juvenile feeding. Using radio

AbstractReproduction is thought to be costly for female mammals due to high energetic costs associated with pregnancy and lactation. Such costs of reproduction can be particularly high for younger females, who are less experienced and smaller than fully grown adults, and can manifest themselves with

Climate change is likely to alter both flowering phenology and water availability for plants. Either of these changes alone can affect pollinator visitation and plant reproductive success. The relative impacts of phenology and water, and whether they interact in their impacts on plant reproductive s

AbstractQuantifying flow and transport from hillslopes is vital for understanding water quantity and quality in rivers, but remains obscure because of limited subsurface measurements. Using measured hydraulic conductivity K profiles and water balance over a single year to calibrate a transmissivity

The fact that residual nectar exists is consistent with predictions of optimal foraging theory but more detailed work is necessary before it can be concluded that the volumes left behind in A. columbianum flowers are optimal.

Identifying, protecting, and restoring habitats for declining wildlife populations is foundational to conservation and recovery planning for any species at risk of decline. Resource selection analysis is a key tool to assess habitat and prescribe management actions. Yet, it can be challenging to map

Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that, in these pollen-rewarding species, pollen secondary chemistry may reflect the need to attract and reward pollinators more than the need to defend pollen from herbivory.

AbstractPremiseGenetic variation influences the potential for evolution to rescue populations from impacts of environmental change. Most studies of genetic variation in fitness‐related traits focus on either vegetative or floral traits, with few on floral scent. How vegetative and floral traits comp

Ralph L. Sulerud, Dwight D. Miller, A Study of Key Characteristics for Distinguishing Several Drosophila affinis Subgroup Species, with a Description of a New Related Species, The American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Apr., 1966), pp. 446-474

Climate change is affecting species and their mutualists and can lead to the weakening or loss of important interspecific interactions. Through independent shifts in partner phenology and distribution, climatic stress can separate mutualists temporally or spatially, leading to alterations in partner

Background. Understanding the underlying factors that determine the relative abun- dance of plant species is critical to predict both biodiversity and ecosystem function. Biotic and abiotic factors can shape the distribution and the relative abundance of species across natural communities, greatly i

Animals adapt to changing environments by behaving flexibly when solving problems. Traits, such as sex and age, and spe- cifically behavioral traits like persistence–the amount of time spent attempting to solve a problem, are positively associated with successful problem-solving. However, individual

A vegetation classification based on a combination of concepts and methods developed by Braun-Blanquet and Daubenmire was used to identify 37 tentative forest habitat types on the Gunnison National Forest. Woodland habitat types comprised two series with a total of 3 habitat types, and forest habita

Abstract Biogeochemical exports of C, N, S and H 2 from watersheds are modulated by the activity of microorganisms that function over micron scales. This disparity of scales presents a substantial challenge for development of predictive models describing watershed function. Here, we tested the hypot

The WIVERN (Wind VElocity Radar Nephoscope) mission, one of the four ESA Earth Explorer 11 candidate missions, aims at globally observing, for the first time, simultaneously vertical profiles of reflectivities and line of sight winds in cloudy and precipitating regions. WIVERN adopts a dual-polariza

Hummingbirds, with their impressive flight ability and competitive aerial contests, make ideal candidates for applying a mechanistic approach to studying community structure. Because flight costs are influenced by abiotic factors that change systematically with altitude, elevational gradients provid