http://www.journalofecology.org EarlyView RSS Feed http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/765293/Biological_Flora_of_the_British_Isles_Spiranthes_spiralis_L__Chevall_.html 1. This account presents information on all aspects of the biology of Spiranthes spiralis (L.) Chevall. that are relevant to understanding its ecological characteristics and behaviour. The main topics are presented within the framework of the Biological Flora of the British Isles: distribution, habitat, communities, responses to biotic factors, responses to environment, structure and physiology, phenology, floral and seed characteristics, herbivores and disease, history and conservation.... 2010-07-26T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/765291/Community_development_along_a_proglacial_chronosequence_are_aboveground_and_belo.html 1. We studied vascular plant and soil-dwelling testate amoeba communities in deglaciated sites across a range of substrate ages in Kenai Fjords, Alaska, USA to test four hypotheses. (i) Patterns of community assembly are similar for vascular plants and testate amoebae. (ii) Vascular plant and testate amoeba communities are more strongly correlated to abiotic variables than to each other, since these communities are not directly linked trophically. (iii) Plant community structure becomes less... 2010-07-26T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/765289/Resource_allocation_to_defence_and_growth_are_driven_by_different_responses_to_g.html 1. Invasive plants often have novel biotic interactions in their introduced ranges. These interactions, including less frequent herbivore attacks, may convey a competitive advantage over native plants. Invasive plants may vary in defence strategies (resistance vs. tolerance) or in response to the type of herbivore (generalists vs. specialists), but no study to date has examined this broad set of traits simultaneously. 2. Here, we examined resistance and tolerance of Chinese tallow (Triadica... 2010-07-26T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/765287/Contrasting_effects_of_cattle_and_wildlife_on_the_vegetation_development_of_a_sa.html 1. Through their effects on plant communities, herbivores can exert strong direct and indirect effects on savanna ecosystems and have the potential to create and maintain savanna landscape heterogeneity. Throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, periodic creation and abandonment of livestock corrals leads to landscape mosaics of long-term ecosystem hotspots that attract both cattle and large ungulate wildlife. 2. The development and maintenance of vegetation in these types of hotspots may be... 2010-07-26T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/765285/California_annual_grass_invaders_the_drivers_or_passengers_of_change.html 1. The dominance of invasive species is often assumed to reflect their competitive superiority over displaced native species. However, invasive species may be abundant because of their greater tolerance to anthropogenic impacts accompanying their introduction. Thus, invasive species can either be the drivers or passengers of change. 2. We distinguish between these two possibilities in California grasslands currently dominated by Mediterranean annuals (exotics) and subjected to livestock... 2010-07-26T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/760695/Sizedependent_flowering_and_costs_of_reproduction_affect_population_dynamics_in_.html 1. In woodland herbs, the probability of flowering and costs associated with reproduction may strongly depend on environmental context (shade vs. light habitats) and on plant size. This may be particularly true for tuberous orchids that inhabit woodlands, as the amount of incoming radiation and total leaf area strongly determine photosynthetic capacity and hence the amount of carbohydrates that can be relocated to below-ground storage organs that form next year's rosette and flowering stalk.... 2010-07-19T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/760693/Experimental_investigation_of_fire_ecology_in_the_C3_and_C4_subspecies_of_Allote.html 1. C4 grasses possess characteristics that potentially advantage growth in fire-prone environments, including high photosynthetic productivity, efficient light and nutrient use and significant allocation to below-ground reserves and reproduction. Such characteristics allow fast regeneration after fire, and may be the consequence of photosynthetic physiology, phylogenetic ancestry or may have been acquired as adaptations to frequently burnt environments. 2. The aim of this study was to examine... 2010-07-19T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/760691/Unveiling_belowground_species_abundance_in_a_biodiversity_experiment_a_test_of_v.html 1. Plant diversity has profound effects on primary production. Plant diversity has been shown to correlate with increased primary production in nutrient-limited grassland ecosystems. This overyielding has been attributed to vertical niche differentiation among species below-ground, allowing for complementarity in resource capture. However, a rigorous test of this longstanding hypothesis is lacking because roots of different species could not be distinguished in diverse communities. 2. Here, we... 2010-07-19T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/759263/Geographic_variation_in_seed_mass_within_and_among_nine_species_of_Pedicularis_O.html 1. We examined geographic variation in mean individual seed mass (MISM) among 38 populations within and across nine Pedicularis species in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, measuring the effects of one extrinsic factor (elevation) and two intrinsic factors (plant size and mean seed number per fruit). 2. Across all populations, elevation is negatively correlated with MISM; within eight of nine species, this pattern is also observed among populations. This relationship, however, is not significant... 2010-07-13T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/759261/Ultramafic_soils_and_species_sorting_in_the_flora_of_New_Caledonia.html 1. Island floras are generally characterized by disharmony due to uneven representations of plant groups. This has usually been explained by the unequal capacity of plants to disperse and colonize islands, but it has been suggested that the ecology of the recipient islands may also be important. 2. We investigated the phylogenetic structure of the flora of New Caledonia, a biodiversity hotspot in the South-West Pacific, to examine the phylogenetic pattern of a disharmonic flora and to test two... 2010-07-13T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/759247/High_Arctic_plant_community_resists_15nbspyears_of_experimental_warming.html 1. Identifying plant communities that are resistant to climate change will be critical for developing accurate, wide-scale vegetation change predictions. Most northern plant communities, especially tundra, have shown strong responses to experimental and observed warming. 2. Experimental warming is a key tool for understanding vegetation responses to climate change. We used open-top chambers to passively warm an evergreen-shrub heath by 1.0–1.3 °C for 15 years at Alexandra Fiord, Nunavut,... 2010-07-13T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/759243/Changes_in_pollinator_fauna_cause_spatial_variation_in_pollen_limitation.html 1. Pollen limitation may be a consequence of changes in pollinator abundance, diversity and identity. However, no empirical evidence exists concerning the consequences that the spatial variation in pollinator fauna has on pollen limitation intensity and plant reproduction. In this study, we test the effect that changes in flower-visitor abundance, diversity and identity exert on the occurrence and strength of pollen limitation by experimentally quantifying pollen limitation in eight... 2010-07-13T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/759251/Intraspecific_aggregation_does_not_increase_species_richness_in_dune_grasslands.html 1. One of the possible mechanisms to maintain a high number of species in a plant community is that intraspecific aggregation due to limited dispersal reduces the importance of interspecific competition. 2. The hypothesis has been examined both theoretically and experimentally in the simplifying case of two species in a uniform abiotic environment, and there is a solid qualitative understanding that intraspecific aggregation reduces the importance of interspecific competition; however, there... 2010-07-13T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/759241/Can_optimal_defence_theory_be_used_to_predict_the_distribution_of_plant_chemical.html 1. The optimal defence theory (ODT) of chemical defence provides a predictive framework for the distribution of anti-herbivore defences in plants. One of its predictions is that chemical defences will be allocated within a plant as a function of tissue value, where value is correlated with the cost of having that tissue removed. While many studies have examined intra-plant variation in defence chemistry, these results have rarely been compiled quantitatively to assess whether defence... 2010-07-13T00:00:00Z http://www.journalofecology.org/details/journalArticle/759235/Antmediated_seed_dispersal_does_not_facilitate_niche_expansion.html 1. Whereas classic niche theory is based on the contraction of the niche via negative interactions, facilitative niche theory suggests that mutualisms can expand the niche via positive interactions. Specifically, animal-mediated seed dispersal can expand the utilization of physical space by plants and allow greater access to resources and other environmental requirements. Ant-mediated dispersal of plant propagules (myrmecochory) is a common mutualism throughout the world, particularly in the... 2010-07-13T00:00:00Z