The Experts below are selected from a list of 1878 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
William J. Resetarits - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Aquatic beetles influence colonization of disparate taxa in small Lentic Systems.
Ecology and evolution, 2020Co-Authors: Matthew R. Pintar, William J. ResetaritsAbstract:Structure of natural communities is shaped by both abiotic characteristics and the ongoing processes of community assembly. Important to this process are the habitat selection behaviors and subsequent survival of colonists, both in the context of temporal changes in the abiotic characteristics and priority effects driven by earlier colonists. Aquatic beetles are prevalent in temporary freshwater Systems, form speciose assemblages, and are often early colonists of temporary ponds. While beetles have the potential to influence community structure through post-colonization interactions (predation and competition), our goal was to determine whether the presence of beetle assemblages (versus patches without beetles) influences the colonization and oviposition of a diverse group of animals in a naturally colonized experimental landscape. We established mesocosms that either contained existing beetle assemblages or contained no beetles and assessed abundances of subsequent colonists. Treefrogs, Hyla chrysoscelis, and mosquitoes, Culex restuans, both deposited fewer eggs in patches containing beetle assemblages, while two beetles, Copelatus glyphicus and Paracymus, colonized those patches at lower rates. One beetle, Helophorus linearis, colonized patches containing beetle assemblages at higher rates, while two beetles, Berosus infuscatus and Tropisternus lateralis, exhibited no colonization differences between treatments. Overall, there were no differences in the assemblage structure or richness of beetles that colonized patches. Our results illustrate the importance of species-specific habitat selection behavior in determining the species composition of habitat patches, while emphasizing the role of priority effects in influencing patterns of community assembly. Habitat selection in response to abiotic and biotic characteristics of habitat patches can potentially create greater spatiotemporal niche separation among the numerous, often closely related species (phylogenetically and trophically), that can be simultaneously found in similar patches across landscapes.
-
Tree leaf litter composition drives temporal variation in aquatic beetle colonization and assemblage structure in Lentic Systems.
Oecologia, 2017Co-Authors: Matthew R. Pintar, William J. ResetaritsAbstract:Tree leaf litter inputs to freshwater Systems are a major resource and primary drivers of ecosystem processes and structure. Spatial variation in tree species distributions and forest composition control litter inputs across landscapes, but inputs to individual Lentic habitat patches are determined by adjacent plant communities. In small, ephemeral, fishless ponds, resource quality and abundance can be the most important factor affecting habitat selection preferences of colonizing animals. We used a landscape of experimental mesocosms to assess how natural populations of aquatic beetles respond over time to variation in tree leaf litter composition (pine or hardwood). Patches with faster-decomposing hardwood leaf litter were initially colonized at higher rates than slower-decomposing pine pools by most species of Hydrophilidae, but this pattern reversed later in the experiment with higher colonization of pine pools by hydrophilids. Colonization did not differ between pine and hardwood for dytiscids and the small hydrophilid Paracymus, but there were distinct beetle assemblages between pine and hardwood patches both early and late in the experiment. Our data support the importance of patch quality and habitat selection as determinants of species abundances, richness, and community structure in freshwater aquatic Systems, not only when new habitat patches are formed and initial conditions set, but as patches change due to interactions of processes such as decomposition with time.
Amadeu M.v.m. Soares - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Ecotoxicological tools for the tropics: Sublethal assays with fish to evaluate edge-of-field pesticide runoff toxicity.
Ecotoxicology and environmental safety, 2010Co-Authors: Susana Moreira, Matilde Moreira-santos, J. Rendón-von Osten, E. M. Da Silva, Rui Ribeiro, Lúcia Guilhermino, Amadeu M.v.m. SoaresAbstract:Abstract This study proposes short-term sublethal assays for the tropics using the fish Poecilia reticulata. Assays were evaluated under realistic exposure scenarios by simulating a runoff over an agricultural area sprayed with deltamethrin (Decis). In situ assays were performed inside microcosms set up to simulate runoff water entrance in Lentic Systems. Laboratory assays were conducted with water samples from the microcosms. In both assays the biochemical parameters were similarly responsive to Decis, with a significant inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (30–46%) and induction of lactate dehydrogenase (33–67%) and glutathione S-transferases (48–176%) activities, observed as of the lowest Decis dose. Postexposure feeding was more sensitive in the laboratory assay than in situ. Among the additional potential stressors, only acetylcholinesterase was significantly influenced by the runoff per se. The proposed methodologies were well adapted for assays with P. reticulata, as organisms were easily deployed and retrieved and enzymatic activities and postexposure feeding were sensitive endpoints.
Matthew R. Pintar - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Aquatic beetles influence colonization of disparate taxa in small Lentic Systems.
Ecology and evolution, 2020Co-Authors: Matthew R. Pintar, William J. ResetaritsAbstract:Structure of natural communities is shaped by both abiotic characteristics and the ongoing processes of community assembly. Important to this process are the habitat selection behaviors and subsequent survival of colonists, both in the context of temporal changes in the abiotic characteristics and priority effects driven by earlier colonists. Aquatic beetles are prevalent in temporary freshwater Systems, form speciose assemblages, and are often early colonists of temporary ponds. While beetles have the potential to influence community structure through post-colonization interactions (predation and competition), our goal was to determine whether the presence of beetle assemblages (versus patches without beetles) influences the colonization and oviposition of a diverse group of animals in a naturally colonized experimental landscape. We established mesocosms that either contained existing beetle assemblages or contained no beetles and assessed abundances of subsequent colonists. Treefrogs, Hyla chrysoscelis, and mosquitoes, Culex restuans, both deposited fewer eggs in patches containing beetle assemblages, while two beetles, Copelatus glyphicus and Paracymus, colonized those patches at lower rates. One beetle, Helophorus linearis, colonized patches containing beetle assemblages at higher rates, while two beetles, Berosus infuscatus and Tropisternus lateralis, exhibited no colonization differences between treatments. Overall, there were no differences in the assemblage structure or richness of beetles that colonized patches. Our results illustrate the importance of species-specific habitat selection behavior in determining the species composition of habitat patches, while emphasizing the role of priority effects in influencing patterns of community assembly. Habitat selection in response to abiotic and biotic characteristics of habitat patches can potentially create greater spatiotemporal niche separation among the numerous, often closely related species (phylogenetically and trophically), that can be simultaneously found in similar patches across landscapes.
-
Tree leaf litter composition drives temporal variation in aquatic beetle colonization and assemblage structure in Lentic Systems.
Oecologia, 2017Co-Authors: Matthew R. Pintar, William J. ResetaritsAbstract:Tree leaf litter inputs to freshwater Systems are a major resource and primary drivers of ecosystem processes and structure. Spatial variation in tree species distributions and forest composition control litter inputs across landscapes, but inputs to individual Lentic habitat patches are determined by adjacent plant communities. In small, ephemeral, fishless ponds, resource quality and abundance can be the most important factor affecting habitat selection preferences of colonizing animals. We used a landscape of experimental mesocosms to assess how natural populations of aquatic beetles respond over time to variation in tree leaf litter composition (pine or hardwood). Patches with faster-decomposing hardwood leaf litter were initially colonized at higher rates than slower-decomposing pine pools by most species of Hydrophilidae, but this pattern reversed later in the experiment with higher colonization of pine pools by hydrophilids. Colonization did not differ between pine and hardwood for dytiscids and the small hydrophilid Paracymus, but there were distinct beetle assemblages between pine and hardwood patches both early and late in the experiment. Our data support the importance of patch quality and habitat selection as determinants of species abundances, richness, and community structure in freshwater aquatic Systems, not only when new habitat patches are formed and initial conditions set, but as patches change due to interactions of processes such as decomposition with time.
Susana Moreira - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Ecotoxicological tools for the tropics: Sublethal assays with fish to evaluate edge-of-field pesticide runoff toxicity.
Ecotoxicology and environmental safety, 2010Co-Authors: Susana Moreira, Matilde Moreira-santos, J. Rendón-von Osten, E. M. Da Silva, Rui Ribeiro, Lúcia Guilhermino, Amadeu M.v.m. SoaresAbstract:Abstract This study proposes short-term sublethal assays for the tropics using the fish Poecilia reticulata. Assays were evaluated under realistic exposure scenarios by simulating a runoff over an agricultural area sprayed with deltamethrin (Decis). In situ assays were performed inside microcosms set up to simulate runoff water entrance in Lentic Systems. Laboratory assays were conducted with water samples from the microcosms. In both assays the biochemical parameters were similarly responsive to Decis, with a significant inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (30–46%) and induction of lactate dehydrogenase (33–67%) and glutathione S-transferases (48–176%) activities, observed as of the lowest Decis dose. Postexposure feeding was more sensitive in the laboratory assay than in situ. Among the additional potential stressors, only acetylcholinesterase was significantly influenced by the runoff per se. The proposed methodologies were well adapted for assays with P. reticulata, as organisms were easily deployed and retrieved and enzymatic activities and postexposure feeding were sensitive endpoints.
Gabriel Yvon-durocher - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Nutrient limitation constrains thermal tolerance in freshwater phytoplankton
Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 2018Co-Authors: Elvire Bestion, C-elisa Schaum, Gabriel Yvon-durocherAbstract:Thermal tolerance can depend critically on environmental context (e.g., resource availability and biotic interactions), yet it is often measured only under idealized conditions. Here, we investigated how the concentration of phosphate (a limiting resource for algal growth in freshwater ecoSystems) influences the thermal optimum for growth rate in five species of freshwater phytoplankton. We found that low-phosphate concentrations led to a sharp decline in species' thermal optima, by up to 15 C relative to replete conditions, with the magnitude of the decline varying between species. Rapid global environmental change is expected to lead to rising temperatures , while nutrient concentrations in freshwaters are forecast to increase in waterbodies subject to eutrophication and decline in large Lentic Systems that become warmer and more stratified. Our findings suggest that phytoplankton that experience warming and nutrient limitation concurrently will be more vulnerable to environmental change.