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Journals & Publications

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  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

  As a stewardship practice in urban settings, wildlife gardening (namely, gardening for the promotion of locally native species) confers benefits not only to various taxa but also to human well-being. Pictured here in Melbourne, Australia, a wildlife garden hosts musk lorikeets (Glossopsitta concinna). In the August issue of Frontiers, Mumaw and Mata describe that by engaging in wildlife gardening, city residents can foster their personal connections to nature, place, and community while developing an improved sense of purpose.

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  Ecology

  Caught in the act, this arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) has just taken a snow goose egg. The Arctic fox is an active forager feeding primarily on lemming and eggs of various tundra-nesting bird species during the summer. Short-term positive effects of lemmings on birds through a common predator, the arctic fox, have been documented over the circumpolar Arctic but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In their study published in the August issue of Ecology, Beardsell et al. derived a mechanistic multi-prey functional response model to identify the proximate mechanisms of the short-term positive indirect effects of lemmings on tundra-nesting birds.

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  Ecosphere

  To examine the role fungal and bacterial microbiomes play in infection dynamics of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), McKnight et al. sequenced both fungal and bacterial amplicon sequence variants taken from 169 frogs, such as the Litoria dayi (Australian lace-lid frog) pictured here, in three national parks in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia. L. dayi has been seriously impacted by chytridiomycosis, and their populations have not recovered from the disease outbreak, despite having the highest relative abundance of inhibitory bacteria. In their study published in the July issue of Ecosphere, the authors found that fungal and bacterial microbiomes were positively correlated for both richness and beta diversity, but they did not find an association between the fungal microbiome and Bd infection in the populations studied.

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  Ecological Applications

  Two related papers in the July issue of Ecological Applications explore the combined impact of conservation actions. McNay et al. (Article 2580) highlight Indigenous-led conservation efforts which have successfully averted the extirpation of caribou through maternal penning and wolf reductions, tripling the abundance of caribou in less than a decade. Lamb et al. (Article 2581) illustrate how habitat restoration and protection will help these caribou grow rapidly and one day support a culturally meaningful hunt.

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  Ecological Monographs

  Using a meta-analysis, Stephens et al. demonstrate that trophic discrimination factors (TDFs)—offsets between the isotopic composition of diet and animal tissues—are strongly influenced by consumer type and diet source, particularly for carbon (TDF-δ¹³C). Using field-collected data from a variety of small mammal species (including the pictured deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus) the authors also show that using incorrect TDFs result in inaccurate estimates of diet. Their study is published in the August issue of Ecological Monographs.

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  Bulletin

  In the July issue of the ESA Bulletin, Robin et al. present the highlights of a community conversation about engaging more community college students in field research. Instructors and faculty from an array of United States community colleges shared insights and practices from their experiences designing and implementing accessible, inclusive field research opportunities for their students.

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