The use of static indicator species, in which species are expected to have a similar sensitivity or tolerance to either natural or human-induced stressors, does not account for possible shifts in tolerance along natural environmental gradients and between biogeographic regions. Their indicative value may therefore be considered at least questionable. In this paper we demonstrate how species res...

The degree to which host suitability is a reflection of host community structure in generalist parasites was studied experimentally in the common fish acanthocephalan Leptorhynchoides thecatus. Previous study has shown that green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) are required, and largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) are suitable (but not required) hosts, where they occur sympatrically in natural ...

Ecology is the study of living organisms and their environment in an attempt to explain and predict. While natural history involves the accumulation of detailed data with emphasis on the autecology of each species, the objectives of ecology in general and of functional ecology in particular are to develop predictive theories and to assemble the data to develop general models. Functional ecology...

Diverse interpretations of Ediacaran organisms arise not only from their enigmatic body plans, but also from confusion surrounding the sedimentary environments they inhabited and the processes responsible for their preservation. Excavation of Ediacaran bedding surfaces of the Rawnsley Quartzite in South Australia has provided the opportunity to study the community structure of the Ediacara biot...

Fluorescent markers appropriately conjugated to antibody proteins provide the basis for a method to visualize those antibodies as they participate in antigenantibody reactions. The method is referred to as the fluorescent antibody (FA) or immunofluorescence (IF) technique; it has been in widespread and successful use in medical microbiology and in pathology as a highly sensitive and specific cy...

Classical niche-assembly models propose that the composition of biotic communities in continental landscapes is determined chiefly by the autecology of species, interspecific competition, and the diversity of resources and habitats within a region. In contrast, stochastic models propose that simulation algorithms can replicate the macroecological patterns, if not the mechanisms, of community as...

The annually recurrent spring phytoplankton blooms in freshwater lakes initiate pronounced successions of planktonic ciliate species. Although there is considerable knowledge on the taxonomic diversity of these ciliates, their species-specific interactions with other microorganisms are still not well understood. Here we present the succession patterns of 20 morphotypes of ciliates during spring...

31 K ey innovations are aspects of organismal phenotype important to the origin or subsequent success of a taxonomic group. This concept is controversial, however, because it is difficult to test hypothesized key innovations1 and because researchers understand the concept in different ways (see Box 1). Nevertheless, the various definitions of key innovation share the basic idea that some attrib...

Conservation programs often focus on select species, leading to management plans based on the autecology of the focal species, but multiple ecosystem components can be affected both by the environmental factors impacting, and the management targeting, focal species. These broader effects can have indirect impacts on target species through the web of interactions within ecosystems. For example, ...

Abstract Context The determination of autecological preferences based on long-term vegetation dynamics is hampered by the lack realistic estimates for past occurrence and abundance patterns. Palaeoecological record has still rather character points than spatially continuous maps. Objectives To infer trees from reconstructed vegetation. Compare reconstructions pollen charcoals. Methods We employ...