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Abstract Research Highlight:Dri, G. F., Bogdziewicz, M., Hunter, M., Witham, J., & Mortelliti, A. (2025). Coupled effects of forest growth and climate change on small mammal abundance and body weight: Results of a 39‐year field study.Journal of Animal Ecology.https://doi.org/10.1111/1365‐2656.70114. Biodiversity is declining due to global environmental change, yet it remains challenging to assess how specific drivers, such as climate change, affect the dynamics and trends of individual species. While many studies correlate climate variables with species abundance or occurrence, few explicitly link environmental drivers to demographic processes to uncover the mechanisms behind population trends. Such insight requires long‐term data capable of revealing slow‐moving, nonlinear trends and disentangling natural variability from directional change. In a 39‐year study, Dri et al. (2025) demonstrate the power of sustained observation and mechanistic approaches by linking climate warming and forest maturation to increased acorn production, which enhanced body condition and survival in white‐footed mice, ultimately driving population increases. Their findings underscore the importance of long‐term data for identifying meaningful ecological trends and tracing the causal pathways by which biodiversity changes. Effective conservation under global change depends on two key shifts: greater investment in long‐term biodiversity monitoring and broader adoption of frameworks that explicitly connect environmental drivers to demographic responses. Together, these approaches provide the foundation for adaptive, evidence‐based conservation strategies in a rapidly changing world.
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Community form, function and phylogenetic diversity respond differently across microhabitat and recovery gradients
Abstract Research Highlight:Hoenle, P. O., Staab, M., Donoso, D. A., Argoti, A., & Blüthgen, N. (2023). Stratification and recovery time jointly shape ant functional reassembly in a neotropical forest.Journal of Animal Ecology,https://doi.org/10.1111/1365‐2656.13896. Space, time and abiotic variation are primary axes across investigations of community ecology and disturbed ecosystems offer tractable systems for assessing their relative impact. While recovering forests can act as isolated case studies in understanding community assembly, it is not well understood how individual microhabitats respond to recovery and ultimately shape community attributes. Hoenle et al. (2023) leverage the ubiquity and microhabitat‐specific diversity of ants across a gradient from active agricultural sites to old‐growth forest and assess how recovery and stratification together shape communities. The authors find distinct stratification across phylogenetic, functional and trait diversity as forest recovery time increases, while also recovering unique recovery trajectories contingent on trait sampling. While stratified, phylogenetic and functional diversity did not increase along this recovery gradient. Ten out of 13 sampled traits were jointly influenced by both stratification and recovery time. In contrast to intuitive predictions, a majority of trait means converged throughout the recovery period. Results highlight the multifaceted nature of recovery‐based community assembly and the capacity of multidimensional sampling to uncover surprising patterns in ecologically diverse lineages.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2144915
- PAR ID:
- 10429309
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Animal Ecology
- Volume:
- 92
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 0021-8790
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 1290-1293
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
