Seed dispersal by wind is one of the most important dispersal mechanisms in plants. The key seed trait affecting seed dispersal by wind is the effective terminal velocity (hereafter "terminal velocity", ), the maximum falling speed of a seed in still air. Accurate estimates of are crucial for predicting intra- and interspecific variation in seed dispersal ability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Long-distance seed dispersal (LDD) has strong impacts on the spatiotemporal dynamics of plants. Large animals are important LDD vectors because they regularly transport seeds of many plant species over long distances. While there is now ample evidence that behaviour varies considerably between individual animals, it is not clear to what extent inter-individual variation in behaviour alters seed dispersal by animals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLitter decomposition is a key process of nutrient and carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. The decomposition process will likely be altered under ongoing climate change, both through direct effects on decomposer activity and through indirect effects caused by changes in litter quality. We studied how hydrological change indirectly affects decomposition via plant functional community restructuring caused by changes in plant species' relative abundances (community-weighted mean (CWM) traits and functional diversity).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is well known that the cooling effect of an urban green space extends into its surroundings, cooling the immediate environment and mitigating urban heat problems. However, the effects of size, shape, and type of an urban green space on cooling remain uncertain. The objectives of our study were to quantify and compare the strength of the cooling effects of urban parks and forests, to determine how far the cooling effects extend into the surrounding residential environment, and to better understand how temperature gradients are driven by physical characteristics of the green space and the surroundings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMovement of organisms is one of the key mechanisms shaping biodiversity, e.g. the distribution of genes, individuals and species in space and time.
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