Downhill seed dispersal by temperate mammals: a potential threat to plant escape from global warming.

Vertical seed dispersal, i.e. seed dispersal towards a higher or lower altitude, is considered a critical process for plant escape from climate change.

Spatial genetic structure and body size divergence in endangered Gymnogobius isaza in ancient Lake Biwa.

Gymnogobius isaza is a freshwater goby endemic to ancient Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. The species is now listed as 'Critically Endangered' in the Red Data Book of Japan. Nevertheless, it remains subject to fishing without any specific management strategies.

Integrated trophic position decreases in more diverse communities of stream food webs.

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is an important theme in environmental sciences. We propose a new index for configuration of the biomass pyramid in an ecosystem, named integrated trophic position (iTP). The iTP is defined as a sum of trophic positions (i.

Mountain-climbing bears protect cherry species from global warming through vertical seed dispersal.

In a warming climate, temperature-sensitive plants must move toward colder areas, that is, higher latitude or altitude, by seed dispersal [1]. Considering that the temperature drop with increasing altitude (-0.65°C per 100 m altitude) is one hundred to a thousand times larger than that of the equivalent latitudinal distance [2], vertical seed dispersal is probably a key process for plant escape from warming temperatures.

Long-term changes in the diet of Gymnogobius isaza from Lake Biwa, Japan: effects of body size and environmental prey availability.

Body size and environmental prey availability are both key factors determining feeding habits of gape-limited fish predators. However, our understanding of their interactive or relative effects is still limited. In this study, we performed quantitative dietary analysis of different body sizes of goby (Gymnogobius isaza) specimens collected from Lake Biwa between 1962 and 2004.

Is the relationship between body size and trophic niche position time-invariant in a predatory fish? First stable isotope evidence.

Characterizing relationships between individual body size and trophic niche position is essential for understanding how population and food-web dynamics are mediated by size-dependent trophic interactions. However, whether (and how) intraspecific size-trophic relationships (i.e.