Sökresultat

To understand the relationship between conservation measures and agricultural yields, we need to know the contributions of organisms to both ecosystem services and disservices. We studied the activity and contribution of birds and mammals to intermediate ecosystem services (predation of weed seeds or invertebrate pests) and disservices (predation of crop seeds or beneficial invertebrates) in south

Extensively managed grasslands are recognized globally for their high biodiversity and their social and cultural values. However, their capacity to deliver multiple ecosystem services (ES) as parts of agricultural systems is surprisingly understudied compared to other production systems. We undertook a comprehensive overview of ES provided by natural and semi-natural grasslands, using southern Afr

Through geological time, cyanobacterial picoplankton have impacted the global carbon cycle by sequestrating CO 2 and forming authigenic carbonate minerals. Various studies have emphasized the cyanobacterial cell envelopes as nucleation sites for calcium carbonate formation. Little is known, however, about how environmental conditions (e.g., nutrient content) trigger a cell surface and its proper

Land-Use Change and Terrestrial Predator–Prey Networks Land-use change, here defined as the conversion of one land-use type into another (e.g., forest to arable land), affects biodiversity and biotic interactions worldwide (Sala et al., 2000). Although there has been large regional variation in the extent of agricultural expansion and abandonment in Europe in the past 50 years (Rabbinge and van Di

Nitrogen is the main limiting nutrient in boreal ecosystems, but studies in southwest Sweden suggest that certain forests approach phosphorus (P) limitation driven by nitrogen (N) deposition. We added N, P or N + P to a Norway spruce forest in this region, to push the system to N or P limitation. Tree growth and needle nutrient concentrations indicated that the trees are P limited. EMF biomass was

Salinization is recognized as a threat to soil fertility worldwide. A challenge in understanding the effects of salinity on soil microbial communities is the fact that it can be difficult to disentangle the effects of salinity from those of other variables that may co-vary with salinity. Here we use a trait-based approach to identify direct effects of salinity on soil bacterial communities across

Enhancing floral resources is a widely accepted strategy for supporting wild bees and promoting crop pollination. Planning effective enhancements can be informed with pollination service models, but these models should capture the behavioural and spatial dynamics of service-providing organisms. Model predictions, and hence management recommendations, are likely to be sensitive to these dynamics. W

Interactions between multiple stressors have been implicated in elevated honeybee colony losses. Here, we extend our landscape-scale study on the effects of placement at clothianidin seed-treated oilseed rape fields on honeybees with an additional year and new data on honeybee colony development, swarming, mortality, pathogens and immune gene expression. Clothianidin residues in pollen, nectar and

Phosphorous (P) cycling is often closely coupled to iron (Fe), particularly following mineral weathering or in hydromorphic soils where Fe redox reactions can control the equilibrium between P retention and release. While surface adsorption of P on Fe (hydr)oxides is a well-known and widely studied process, less attention has been devoted to the understanding of P (especially organic P) coprecipit

In spatially heterogeneous environments, coexistence between competing species can be facilitated by spatially mediated tradeoffs. In this paper we develop a mechanistic model to investigate under which circumstances interspecific differences in the tradeoff between foraging efficiency and travel costs can allow two central place foraging species to coexist in spite of considerable overlap in reso

Bees often focus their foraging effort on a few or even a single flower species, even if other equally rewarding flower species are present. Although this phenomenon-called flower constancy-has been widely documented during single foraging trips, it is largely unknown if the behavior persists over longer time periods, especially under field conditions with large temporal variations of resources. W

Most landscapes are comprised of multiple habitat types differing in the biodiversity they contain. This is certainly true for human modified landscapes, which are often a mix of habitats managed with different intensity, semi-natural habitats and even pristine habitats. To understand fundamental questions of how the composition of such landscapes affects biodiversity conservation, and to evaluate

Widespread contamination of ecosystems with pesticides threatens non-target organisms. However, the extent to which life-history traits affect pesticide exposure and resulting risk in different landscape contexts remains poorly understood. We address this for bees across an agricultural land-use gradient based on pesticide assays of pollen and nectar collected by Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris

To mitigate the climate change-induced water shortage and realize the sustainable development of agriculture, drip irrigation, a more efficient water-saving irrigation method, has been intensively implemented in most arid agricultural regions in the world. However, compared to traditional border irrigation, how drip irrigation affects the biophysical conditions in the cropland and how crops physio

In ecology, multifunctionality metrics measure the simultaneous performance of multiple ecosystem functions. If species diversity describes the variety of species that together build the ecosystem, multifunctionality attempts to describe the variety of functions these species perform. A range of methods have been proposed to quantify multifunctionality, successively attempting to alleviate problem

Tropical forest tree communities are structured by a range of large-scale drivers including elevation, certain high-impact anthropogenic activities (e.g., deforestation), and fires. However, low-impact human activities such as foraging may also be subtly but notably altering the composition of tropical forest tree communities. The study assessed the (i) differences in species diversity, patterns o

Piscivorous fish are important predators in aquatic systems and as such they can have far-reaching effects on ecosystem composition and function. These effects depend on piscivore predation rates and behaviour, and recruitment of young-of-the-year fish into piscivory can hereby govern ecosystem properties. Growth and recruitment can differ between water bodies due to e.g. general productivity, but