The beach hopper amphipod Talorchestia quoyana is not distributed homogeneously in its sandy beach habitat, but instead occurs in dense patches under large pieces of tidal debris. This marked patchiness on a scale of just a few metres may create a higher level of aggregation among hosts for the symbionts and parasites of beach hoppers. Prevalence of infection by a mermithid nematode parasite va...

The combination of large networks, frequent operating system security patches, and software updates can create a daunting task for a systems administration team. This paper presents a system created to address these challenges with system security and ‘‘uptime’’ as the primary concerns. By using a file-form ‘‘database,’’ the Synctree system holds a full network’s configuration in an understanda...

Facilitation processes constitute basic elements of vegetation dynamics in harsh systems. Recent studies in tropical alpine environments demonstrated how pioneer plant species defined as "ecosystem engineers" are capable of enhancing landscape-level richness by adding new species to the community through the modification of microhabitats, and also provided hints about the alternation of differe...

Speciation, diversification, and competition between species challenge the stability of complex ecosystems. Laboratory experiments often focus on one or two species competing under conditions where they may grow exponentially. Field studies, in contrast, emphasize multi-species communities characterized by many types of ecological interactions. A general problem is to understand conditions that...

Large predators are often highly mobile and can traverse and use multiple habitats. We know surprisingly little about how predator mobility determines important processes of ecosystem connectivity. Here we used a variety of data sources drawn from Palmyra Atoll, a remote tropical marine ecosystem where large predators remain in high abundance, to investigate how these animals foster connectivit...

Changes in habitat-forming organisms can have complex consequences for associated species. Sessile epibenthic glass "plate" sponges (Porifera: Hexactinellida) are conspicuous inhabitants of soft-sediment abyssal areas and their siliceous spicules create persistent spicule patches on the seafloor. Sponge spicule patch density, spatial dispersion, and percent cover were examined over a seven-year...

Edge effects are increasingly important in British Columbia forests, as cutblocks become smaller and harvesting options with retention patches are more commonly used. This note summarizes edge effects for  ecosystem variables, including microclimate, soil chemistry, snow depth, windthrow, regeneration, vegetation, and animals, at the Sicamous Creek Silvicultural Systems project in a high-elev...