Hairy pads relying on dry adhesion are fascinating structures that convergently evolved among spiders and lizards. Numerous studies underline the functional aspects leading to their strong adhesion to smooth surfaces, but rarely has their role been studied in the context of natural habitats and surfaces that animals are faced with. In hunting spiders, the hairy foot pads (claw tufts) underneath...

Fire occurrences are a common perturbation in Cerrado ecosystems, and may differently impact the local biodiversity. Arthropods are one of the taxa affected by fires, and among them, ants are known as good bioindicators. We aimed to evaluate the effect of anthropic fires on epigaeic and hypogaeic ant communities (species richness and composition) in Cerrado areas with different post-fire event ...

Over the course of a day, aridland plants experience a range of incident photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) spanning three orders of magnitude. Rapid photosynthetic responses to changes in PPF have large effects on individual plant carbon gain and water use patterns, hence are important to plant distribution and success. We investigated the response over time of photosynthesis (A), stomatal condu...

Habitat choice is defined as a nonrandom distribution of genotypes in different microhabitats. Therefore, it could exert a great impact on the genetic variance of natural populations by promoting genetic divergence, local adaptation, and may even lead to sympatric speciation. Despite this potential role in micro- and macro-evolutionary processes, there is little empirical evidence that the vari...

This study investigated the effects of microhabitat characteristics on soil seed bank structure, regeneration strategies, and plant composition in a Mediterranean coastal sand dune in Israel. Three different microhabitats were selected: (a) open patches between shrubs, (b) shrub understorey, and (c) open, disturbed patches in pedestrian trails. In each microhabitat two types of sampling plots w...

The process of seed dispersal of many animal-dispersed plants is frequently mediated by a small set of biotic agents. However, the contribution that each of these dispersers makes to the overall recruitment may differ largely, with important ecological and management implications for the population viability and dynamics of the species implied in these interactions. In this paper, we compared t...

— In this paper we analyze the seed dispersal stage of the Prunus mahaleb1 frugivorous bird interaction from fruit removal through seed delivery within the context of 2 disperser effectiveness. The effectiveness of a frugivorous species as a seed disperser is the 3 contribution it makes to plant fitness. Effectiveness depends on the quantity of seed dispersed 4 and the quality of dispersal prov...

Microhabitat preferences are assumed to be adaptive, suggesting that fitness is higher in preferred microhabitats and potentially reflecting natural selection on habitat choices. I examined microhabitat preferences and adaptiveness of preferences for seven bird species coexisting in high elevation snowmelt drainages based on study of microhabitat and survival of 1556 nests. Habitat features in ...

Mean column velocity in the filling bank of the channelized Missouri River reached a maximum of 0.875 rnIs. In these locations nose velocity was 30% less. Increased volume discharge did not result in increased velocity in the filling bank locations studied. Surface velocity did not exceed 0.5 rnIs within the first 3 m from the cutting bank at two locations along the channelized Missouri River n...

Maximum likelihood supervised classifications with 1-m 128 band hyperspectral data accurately map in-stream habitats in the Lamar River, Wyoming with producer’s accuracies of 91% for pools, 87% for glides, 76% for riffles, and 85% for eddy drop zones. Coarser resolution 5-m hyperspectral data and 1-m simulated multiband imagery yield lower accuracies that are unacceptable for inventory and anal...