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Journals & Publications

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  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

  Introducing grazers such as wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) into parts of Alaska beyond their historical range would help to diversify and reinforce novel grasslands, which have replaced the prior forested ecosystem. In the October issue of Frontiers, Lynch et al. explain how when faced with ecosystem-scale transformations, resource managers may be more successful at maintaining services, such as biological diversity, by taking a more pragmatic approach, one that includes accepting or directing irreversible change as opposed to only resisting it.

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  Ecology

  A sanye'ye' (Argiope appensa), a spider from the Micronesian island of Guam, astride her zigzag web decoration. Geographic variation in community composition is expected to influence the display of polymorphic visual signals involved in prey attraction and predator avoidance. In their contribution to The Scientific Naturalist series published in the October issue of Ecology, Kerr et al. find an association between the frequency of a visual signal, web decorations by A. appensa, and the history of ecosystem upheaval among isolated oceanic islands in the Mariana Archipelago, Micronesia.

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  Ecosphere

  Adult Canada jays (Perisoreus canadensis), such as the one pictured here from Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, are a food-caching songbird of boreal and subalpine ecosystems. In a study using 55 years of breeding and resighting data, published in the September issue of Ecosphere, Fuirst et al. used mixed-effect models to determine the short- and long-term fitness consequences of breeding dispersal. The authors found that Canada jays improve their brood size and probability of nest success after dispersing, but that these benefits are reduced when individuals disperse in fall/winter, when there is less time to cache food. Importantly, jays also improved their lifetime reproductive success due to breeding dispersal.

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  Ecological Applications

  Large mammalian herbivores sculpt plant communities across savanna landscapes, and their impacts are pronounced around resource hotspots. In their study published in the October issue of Ecological Applications, Titcomb et al. investigated the effects of large herbivores on plant communities around water sources, showing that the degree and direction of plant diversity responses to herbivores depended on soil properties and rainfall. Elephants (Loxodonta africana) such as those pictured here at Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia County, Kenya, are key drivers of plant communities around water sources due to their dependence on water and ability to consume large volumes of plant material.

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  Ecological Monographs

  Diatoms are the most recently added major algal lineage in the geological record, yet today they play a dominant role in ocean biological carbon sequestration and support of Earth’s largest fisheries. In their study published in the August issue of Ecological Monographs, Behrenfeld et al. conclude that specific physiological attributes linked to predator–prey dynamics and speciation rates are responsible for the diatom’s grand success. Pictured is a scanning electron micrograph of a centric species illustrating an important and unique diatom attribute, a highly specialized siliceous cell wall (frustule).

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  Bulletin

  In the Networks, Centers, Observatories, and Field Stations section of the October issue of the ESA Bulletin, Flowers et al. share strategies for creating more diverse and inclusive field stations.

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