Publications by authors named "E S Menges"
Habitat heterogeneity is a key driver of biodiversity of macroorganisms, yet how heterogeneity structures belowground microbial communities is not well understood. Importantly, belowground microbial communities may respond to any number of abiotic, biotic, and spatial drivers found in heterogeneous environments. Here, we examine potential drivers of prokaryotic and fungal communities in soils across the heterogenous landscape of the imperiled Florida scrub, a pyrogenic ecosystem where slight differences in elevation lead to large changes in water and nutrient availability and vegetation composition.
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- The primary aim of rare plant translocation is to establish self-sustaining populations that can endure over time, but most studies only analyze short-term success metrics like survival and reproduction.
- A comprehensive analysis of 275 monitored at-risk plant translocations revealed that management techniques play a critical role in short-term success, while site attributes and species traits are more significant for long-term population persistence.
- Key findings indicated that larger founder sizes enhance reproductive potential, whereas poor habitat quality and low seed production in species heighten the risk of extinction in the long run; effective management can help mitigate these challenges.
Article Synopsis
- Life spans of plants can vary significantly, with some, like the long-lived palmettos studied, facing threats from extreme weather and fires despite their longevity.
- The research monitored the survival of two species, Serenoa repens and Sabal etonia, over 40 years in different habitats to assess impacts from events like drought and fire.
- Findings revealed both species had low mortality rates overall, with higher deaths in well-drained soils and during extreme fires, highlighting the need for fire-management strategies and the limitations to their adaptation due to their slow reproductive rates.
Amphicarpic plants produce both above-ground and below-ground seeds. Because below-ground seeds are protected in the soil and may maintain viability when above-ground conditions are stressful, they were proposed as an adaptation to recolonize a site after disturbance. However, whether below-ground seeds are the main colonizers after a disturbance remains unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFire plays a major role in structuring plant communities across the globe. Interactions with soil microbes impact plant fitness, scaling up to influence plant populations and distributions. Here we present the first factorial manipulation of both fire and soil microbiome presence to investigate their interactive effects on plant performance across a suite of plant species with varying life history traits.
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