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DigitalCommons@USU
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Shallow lakes, the most prevalent type of freshwater ecosystems, can shift between clear states with macrophyte dominance and turbid, phytoplankton-dominated states. Such transformations, commonly termed regime shifts, have gained increasing...
2017-10-01
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The sum of benthic autotrophic and bacterial production often exceeds the sum of pelagic autotrophic and bacterial production, and hence may contribute substantially to whole-lake carbon fluxes, especially in shallow lakes. Furthermore, both...
2017-08-09
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Anthropogenic activities can induce major trophic shifts in aquatic systems, yet we have an incomplete understanding of the implication of such shifts on ecosystem function and on primary production (PP) in particular. In recent decades,...
2016-05-12
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This study examines a natural, rapid, fivefold increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in a temperate shallow lake, describing the processes by which increased DOC resulted in anoxic conditions and altered existing carbon cycling...
2014-07-20
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Lake ecosystems are strongly linked to their terrestrial surroundings by material and energy fluxes across ecosystem boundaries. However, the contribution of terrestrial particulate organic carbon (tPOC) from annual leaf fall to lake food webs has...
2014-06-01
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Ecological regime shifts and carbon cycling in aquatic systems have both been subject to increasing attention in recent years, yet the direct connection between these topics has remained poorly understood. A four-fold increase in sedimentation...
2013-11-01
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Regime shifts are commonly associated with the loss of submerged macrophytes in shallow lakes; yet, the effects of this on whole-lake primary productivity remain poorly understood. This study compares the annual gross primary production (GPP) of...
2013-07-15
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The composition of local ecological communities is determined by the members of the regional community that are able to survive the abiotic and biotic conditions of a local ecosystem. Anthropogenic activities since the industrial revolution have...
2017-08-29
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By acting as novel competitors and predators, a single invasive species can detrimentally affect multiple native species in different trophic levels. Although quantifying invasive effects through single-species interactions is important,...
2017-03-10
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The continental shelf of Northeast Brazil is a unique geological region, consisting of shallow-water rhodolith beds. However, very little information exists about the complexity of this part of the continental shelf and its biogenic sedimentation....
2016-11-01
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Variation in abundance and diversity of organisms along habitat edges has long been a key research focus in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Previous investigations into edge effects in seagrass ecosystems have predominantly focussed on the...
2015-12-17
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Evidence shows the important role biota play in the carbon cycle, and strategic management of plant and animal populations could enhance CO2 uptake in aquatic ecosystems. However, it is currently unknown how management-driven changes to community...
2017-11-08
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Dispersal decisions underlie the spatial dynamics of metacommunities. Prey individuals may disperse to reduce the risk of either predation or starvation, and both of these risks may depend on conspecific density. Surprisingly, there is little...
2015-03-29
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Geographic range size is often conceptualized as a fixed attribute of a species and treated as such for the purposes of quantification of extinction risk; species occupying smaller geographic ranges are assumed to have a higher risk of extinction,...
2015-01-09
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The strength of interspecific interactions is often proposed to affect food web stability, with weaker interactions increasing the persistence of species, and food webs as a whole. However, the mechanisms that modify interaction strengths, and...
2015-06-01
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Predators exert a strong selective force on the ecosystems in which they exist, thereby altering the structure of ecological communities and leading to the evolution of prey defences. However, how interspecific differences in defence ability...
2015-09-30
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Many members of the family Bromeliacae are able to adopt epiphytic lifestyles and colonize trees throughout the Neotropics. Bromeliacaedo not extract nutrients from their hosts and confer relatively minor costs on their host plants. We suggest...
2014-01-06
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Concern over accelerating rates of species invasions and losses have initiated investigations into how local and global changes to predator abundance mediate trophic cascades that influence CO2 fluxes of aquatic ecosystems. However, to date, no...
2014-10-09
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Climate change and invasive species have the potential to alter species diversity, creating novel species interactions. Interspecific competition and facilitation between predators may either enhance or dampen trophic cascades, ultimately...
2014-01-08
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The total effect of predators on prey is a combination of direct consumption, and non-consumptive effects (NCEs), such as predator-induced changes to prey morphology, behaviour and life history. Past research into NCEs has tended to focus on...
2013-11-21
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Predators can influence the exchange of carbon dioxide between ecosystems and the atmosphere by altering ecosystem processes such as decomposition and primary production, according to food web theory1,2. Empirical knowledge of such an effect in...
2013-02-17
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In laboratory and field studies of survival, one of two alternative analytical techniques is often used to estimate survival rates and identify covariates, namely parametric survival analysis or Cormack–Jolly–Seber models. These techniques differ...
2012-03-11
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Environmental shifts accompanying salmon spawning migrations from ocean feeding grounds to natal freshwater streams can be severe, with the underlying stress often cited as a cause of increased mortality. Here, a salmonid microarray was used to...
2011-10-18
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Long-term population viability of Fraser River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) is threatened by unusually high levels of mortality as they swim to their spawning areas before they spawn. Functional genomic studies on biopsied gill tissue from...
2011-01-14
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Defences induced against predators fall into three basic categories – behavioural, morphological and life history. Many species induce changes in more than one category. A theoretical advantage of a behavioural change is its potential for rapid...
2010-04-13
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