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National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis

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1831-1840 of 6248
  1. Publication

    Mapping status and conservation of global at-risk marine biodiversity

    To conserve marine biodiversity, we must first understand the spatial distribution and status of at-risk biodiversity. We combined range maps and conservation status for 5,291 marine species to map the global distribution of extinction risk of marine biodiversity. We find that for 83% of the ocean, 25% of assessed species are considered threatened, and 15% of the ocean shows 50% of assessed species threatened when weighting for range-limited species.

  2. Publication

    Temperature shapes opposing latitudinal gradients of plant taxonomic and phylogenetic B diversity

    Latitudinal and elevational richness gradients have received much attention from ecologists but there is little consensus on underlying causes. One possible proximate cause is increased levels of species turnover, or β diversity, in the tropics compared to temperate regions. Here, we leverage a large botanical dataset to map taxonomic and phylogenetic β diversity, as mean turnover between neighboring 100 × 100 km cells, across the Americas and determine key climatic drivers.

  3. Publication

    When Do Ecosystem Services Depend on Rare Species?

    Most species in all ecosystems are rare in some form. Rare species are often assumed to contribute little to ecosystem functioning and services, but evidence has accumulated that rare species can substantially contribute to some ecosystem services in a variety of ways. Rare species can have direct and indirect contributions to ecosystem services through species interactions. Research on functional trait uniqueness could provide new insights into the role of rare species in ecosystem services, yet explicit tests of connections between functional traits and measurable contributions to e

  4. Publication

    Planning for ecological drought: Integrating ecosystem services and vulnerability assessment

    As research recognizes the importance of ecological impacts of drought to natural and human communities, drought planning processes need to better incorporate ecological impacts. Drought planning currently recognizes the vulnerability of some ecological impacts from drought (e.g., loss of instream flow affecting fish populations). However, planning often does not identify all the ecological aspects in a landscape that stakeholders value, nor does it examine the extent to which those aspects are vulnerable to drought.

  5. Publication

    Globally Consistent Quantitative Observations of Planktonic Ecosystems

    In this paper we review the technologies available to make globally quantitative observations of particles in general €”and plankton in particular €”in the world oceans, and for sizes varying from sub-microns to centimeters. Some of these technologies have been available for years while others have only recently emerged.

  6. Publication

    Global forage fish recruitment dynamics: A comparison of methods, time-variation, and reverse causality

    The population dynamics of forage fish are often ‘boom or bust’, and variation in recruitment may be a contributing factor to changes in abundance. Here we applied several methods for identifying stock recruit relationships (SRR) to 52 forage fish stocks: a time-invariant Ricker model and two time-varying methods (dynamic linear models and regime-based models). A positive relationship between spawning biomass and recruitment existed for 28 stocks, with 14 of those being best fit by a Ricker curve. Time-varying models were preferred for 26 stocks over a time-invariant Ricker curve.

  7. Publication

    Emerging human infectious diseases and the links to global food production

    Infectious diseases are emerging globally at an unprecedented rate while global food demand is projected to increase sharply by 2100. Here, we synthesize the pathways by which projected agricultural expansion and intensification will influence human infectious diseases and how human infectious diseases might likewise affect food production and distribution.

  8. Publication

    Do or do not. There is no try in restoration ecology

    Change is a fundamental component of contemporary restoration ecology. The environment, the research, and the ideas in this discipline are rapidly evolving and changing. The California Society for Ecological Restoration annual meeting was an inclusive, diverse meeting that significantly advanced new thinking in the field and provided an exemplar of the value of scientific discourse at meetings. The restoration work in this region also amplified and identified trends in the scientific community at large.

  9. Publication

    Light-Level Geolocator Analyses: A user's guide

    1.Light-level geolocator tags use ambient light recordings to estimate the whereabouts of an individual over the time it carries the device. Over the past decade, these tags have emerged as an important tool and have been used extensively for tracking animal migrations, most commonly small birds. 2.Analysing geolocator data can be daunting to new and experienced scientists alike.

  10. Publication

    Temperature shapes opposing latitudinal gradients of plant taxonomic and phylogenetic β diversity

    Latitudinal and elevational richness gradients have received much attention from ecologists but there is little consensus on underlying causes. One possible proximate cause is increased levels of species turnover, or β diversity, in the tropics compared to temperate regions. Here, we leverage a large botanical dataset to map taxonomic and phylogenetic β diversity, as mean turnover between neighboring 100 × 100 km cells, across the Americas and determine key climatic drivers.