By assessing current leaf litter nutrient dynamics, we may be able to predict responses of nutrient cycling in tropical ecosystems to future environmental change. The goal of this study was to assess whether nutrient cycling is related to seasonal variation in rainfall in a wet tropical forest. We examined leaf litter of an old-growth tropical rain forest in N.E. Costa Rica over a 4-year period...

Climate warming may induce shifts in soil microbial communities possibly altering the long-term carbon mineralization potential of soils. We assessed the response of the bacterial community in a forest soil to experimental soil warming (+4 °C) in the context of seasonal fluctuations. Three experimental plots were sampled in the fourth year of warming in summer and winter and compared to control...

Seasonal migration is the long-distance movement of a large number of animals belonging to one or more species that occurs on a seasonal basis. It is an important phenomenon that often has a major impact on one or more ecosystem(s). It is not fully understood how this population dynamics phenomenon emerges from the behaviours and interactions of a large number of animals. We propose an approach...

The phylogenetic diversity and seasonal dynamics of free-living and particle-associated bacterial communities were investigated in the epilimnion of 4 lakes of the Mecklenburg Lake District, northeastern Germany. All lakes differed in their limnological features, ranging from oligotrophic to eutrophic and dystrophic. Bacterial community structure and seasonal dynamics were analyzed by denaturin...

The Pantanal is a South American biome characterized by extensive plains and stark environmental seasonality. Several habitats are subject to annual flooding, forcing small mammal species to aggregate in dry forest patches, which most likely influences their population dynamics and life history strategies. In order to investigate the seasonal influence on the life history traits of these small ...