From Ecological Applications:
A long and winding road for urban pollinators
Author contact: Matthew J. Lundquist (mlundquist@mmm.edu)
Like humans making the daily commute into the city, urban pollinators must routinely thread their way through the maze of steel and concrete in search of food, shelter and mates. To explore the navigational challenges faced by city-dwelling insects, researchers in New York City modeled the shortest flight paths connecting green spaces throughout the city. They discovered that buildings often force pollinators to take the roundabout way, lengthening travel distance by as much as 20%; this extra flight time poses a particular challenge for solitary native bees and other insects that tend to stick close to home. Given that most properties in the study did not have enough plants to support pollinators throughout their life cycles, bugs are therefore compelled to spend a great deal of time and energy foraging. Increasing the overall amount of green space and creating islands of small habitat patches to improve connectivity between larger sites is therefore vital for conserving pollinators and maintaining urban biodiversity.
Read the article: Bug roads: Modeling the green space connectivity and pollinator habitat in a large city using open GIS data and tools
From Ecological Monographs:
Roots and mycorrhizal fungi mellow as trees mature
Author contact: Zeqing Ma (mazq@igsnrr.ac.cn)
Trees and soil fungi reinvent their partnership as forests age, according to a new study. The research reveals that the way tree roots and their fungal allies hunt for nutrients in the soil shifts dramatically over time. Experimental manipulation of soil nitrogen in stands of young, middle-aged and mature larch trees showed that forest age had a far greater impact on root traits than did nitrogen levels. Young trees deploy long, fast-growing roots that burn energy to scour the soil, while older trees rely on thicker, tougher, shorter roots that are cheaper to maintain and better protected. These physical differences matter — roots of different ages form different alliances with mutualistic soil fungi, which in turn shape how trees acquire nutrients. In younger forests, roots pair with fungi that specialize in long-distance nutrient foraging, but as trees mature, the partnership pivots to fungi that work closer to home. Together, these shifts create a continuum of strategies — from aggressive nutrient hunting in youth to resource conservation in old age — that drives the underground economy of forests as they grow.
Read the article: Root-mycorrhizal foraging strategies shift with forest age more than with nitrogen manipulation
From Ecology:
Reading the rings: halos signal ecosystem vulnerability
Author contact: Mario Minguito-Frutos (mminguito@ceab.csic.es)
When predators disappear and nutrients surge, plant-eating animals often take over, stripping ecosystems bare. But a recent study suggests that under the sea the relationship between grazing and collapse may not be so straightforward. Researchers looked for an easy-to-spot warning sign of trouble: sea urchin “halos” — bare patches left behind as urchins graze algae and kelp. These halos directly reflect how much the urchins eat and how quickly algae and plants can grow. Measuring more than 1,200 halos at 31 sites across the Mediterranean Sea, the team found that halo size varies widely depending on local conditions. Some urchin species and habitats produce bigger halos than others, and halos grow larger in deeper, nutrient-poor waters. Notably, halos are smaller within marine protected areas, where predators are more abundant and keep urchins in check. Despite global threats, the findings show that vulnerability to overgrazing depends on local ecological and environmental factors, underscoring the need for flexible conservation and management strategies that can be readily adapted to regional contexts.
Read the article: Grazing halos reveal differential ecosystem vulnerabilities in vegetated habitats
From Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment:
International agreements are for the birds
Author contact: Marina Corella Tor (corella.marina@gmail.com)
Multinational agreements are failing to safeguard migratory birds, new research shows. Although the 49 agreements currently in effect may seem nearly comprehensive on the surface, covering 187 countries and nearly 90% of the world’s migratory bird species, diving deeper into the details reveals protection to be highly uneven across countries, regions and species. Large, affluent countries with many migratory species and many neighbors were found to participate in more agreements than smaller, lower-income and more isolated countries, while agreements also tended to prioritize non-threatened over threatened species. Strikingly, a mere 28% of migratory birds are protected by international agreements along the full course of their migratory routes, while 14% have no such protection at all. Existing agreements have done much to help conserve migratory birds, but more extensive international cooperation is needed to expand coverage and ensure the future survival of species that cross national borders.
Read the article: Spatial and taxonomic coverage of international migratory bird agreements
From Ecosphere:
DNA detectives uncover a giant prawn’s Amazonian appetite
Author contact: Quentin Mauvisseau (quentin.mauvisseau@nhm.uio.no)
Giant river prawns were first brought to Brazil in 1977 for aquaculture farming, but escapees quickly established viable populations in the freshwaters of the Amazon Delta. Yet surprisingly little is known about what impacts the introduced crustacean has had on its new surroundings. To explore the dietary preferences of the invasive prawn in its Amazonian home, researchers turned to metabarcoding, a technique in which DNA present in stomach contents and feces is extracted and analyzed to identify what an animal has been eating. The results revealed that giant prawns consume a broad variety of prey, competing with native prawns for protein-rich fish, flies and other winged insects. In addition to competing with native crustaceans for food, the DNA evidence also hinted at the possibility that the newcomer directly targets at least one native prawn. Solving the long-standing mystery of where exactly the introduced giant river prawn fits into the Amazonian freshwater food web further highlights the usefulness of metabarcoding for monitoring biodiversity, exploring ecological interactions and studying the impacts of non-native species on native ecosystems.
Read the article: Invasive giant river prawns as opportunistic, generalist predators in the Amazon Delta: Insights from metabarcoding
From Earth Stewardship:
Sharpening children’s view of nature
Author contact: Milena Holmgren (milena.holmgren@wur.nl)
Environmental education is often assumed to encourage and build on children’s fascination with nature. However, figuring out the most effective ways to foster interest in the natural world among youth can be challenging. In this study, researchers led 120 11- and 12-year-old students on a field trip to the lagoon surrounding Venice, Italy, to explore how outdoor education influences their perception of nature. Activities included observing plants, animals and soil, collecting samples, using magnifying glasses and binoculars and playing games to learn about the local ecosystem. To assess changes in their perspectives of nature, each child completed questionnaires and drew sketches before and after the excursion. Before the program, most children held nature-centered views of the environment, while a smaller group focused on their surroundings’ man-made features. After the trip, more of the human-centered students switched to a nature-centered attitude than vice versa (although most retained their original perspective). Children with nature-centered views expressed greater environmental awareness and stronger emotional connections to the lagoon, suggesting that hands-on exploration and play deepen pre-existing appreciation of natural settings. Tapping into children’s innate sense of wonder through outdoor experiences strengthens positive views of nature — a critical step for fostering transformative societal change in how humans relate to the natural world.
Read the article: Quantifying plasticity of children’s visions of nature
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