Phenology and foraging bias contribute to sex-specific foraging patterns in the rare declining butterfly .

Variation in pollinator foraging behavior can influence pollination effectiveness, community diversity, and plant-pollinator network structure. Although effects of interspecific variation have been widely documented, studies of intraspecific variation in pollinator foraging are relatively rare. Sex-specific differences in resource use are a strong potential source of intraspecific variation, especially in species where the phenology of males and females differ.

Species-specific interactions in avian-bryophyte dispersal networks.

Studies from seed plants have shown that animal dispersal fundamentally alters the success of plant dispersal, shaping community composition through time. Our understanding of this phenomenon in spore plants is comparatively limited. Though little is known about species-specific dispersal relationships between passerine birds and bryophytes, birds are particularly attractive as a potential bryophyte dispersal vector given their highly vagile nature as well as their association with bryophytes when foraging and building nests.

Species-specific effects of passive warming in an Antarctic moss system.

Polar systems are experiencing rapid climate change and the high sensitivity of these Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems make them especially vulnerable to accelerated ecological transformation. In Antarctica, warming results in a mosaic of ice-free terrestrial habitats dominated by a diverse assemblage of cryptogamic plants (i.e.

Forest passerines as a novel dispersal vector of viable bryophyte propagules.

Animal dispersal influences the community structure and diversity of a wide variety of plant taxa, yet the potential effects of animal dispersal in bryophytes (hornworts, liverworts, and mosses) is poorly understood. In many communities, birds use bryophyte-abundant niche space for foraging and gathering nest material, suggesting that birds may play a role in bryophyte dispersal. As highly motile animals with long migratory routes, birds potentially provide a means for both local and long-distance bryophyte dispersal in a manner that differs greatly from passive, aerial spore dispersal.

Rapid population sex-ratio changes in the moss Ceratodon purpureus.

Premise Of The Study: Sex-ratio variation occurs widely in dioecious plants, but the mechanisms of population sex-ratio bias are poorly understood. In bryophytes, sex ratios are often female biased, and little information is available about how and when bias forms.

Methods: To test whether population sex-ratio variation can emerge during the gametophytic phase and is not purely a product of spore sex ratios, we created artificial populations of the moss Ceratodon purpureus, with male- and female-biased sex ratios, and placed half under a stress treatment.