Colonial-nesting organisms can strongly alter the chemical and biotic conditions around their aggregation sites, with cascading impacts on other components of the ecosystem. In tropical Australia, Metallic Starlings (Aplonis metallica) nest in large colonies far above the forest canopy, in emergent trees. The ground beneath those trees is open, in stark contrast to the dense foliage all around. We surveyed the areas beneath 27 colony trees (and nearby randomly chosen trees lacking bird colonies) to quantify the birds' impacts on soil and vegetation characteristics, and to test alternative hypotheses about the proximate mechanisms responsible for the lack of live vegetation beneath colony trees. Nutrient levels were greatly elevated beneath colony trees (especially, those with larger colonies), potentially reaching levels toxic to older trees. However, seedlings thrived in the soil from beneath colony trees. The primary mechanism generating open areas beneath colony trees is disturbance by scavengers (feral pigs and native Turkeys) that are attracted in vast numbers to these nutrient hotspots. Seedlings flourished within exclosures inaccessible to vertebrate herbivores, but were rapidly consumed if unprotected. Our results contrast with previous studies of colonies of seabirds on remote islands, where a lack of large terrestrial herbivores results in bird colonies encouraging rather than eliminating vegetation in areas close to the nesting site. In our continental study system, scavengers may rapidly dilute the spatial heterogeneity generated by the massive nutrient subsidy from bird colonies.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1642DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

beneath colony
20
colony trees
20
bird colonies
16
trees
9
aggregation sites
8
areas beneath
8
colonies
7
beneath
6
colony
5
biotic interactions
4

Similar Publications

This article argues that beneath the veneer of legitimacy in the organ, tissue, and body part transplantation systems exists a horrifying history of human commodification whose vestiges surprisingly linger in contemporary supply and allocation systems. This history, as the Article demonstrates, dates back to the colonial period in the United States, where "grave robbing" became an important feature in the advancement of medicine. This legacy lives on.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study examined how pitting corrosion affects L245 carbon steel in a medium with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB).
  • It found that corrosion is tied to the growth of biofilms and other product layers on the steel surface.
  • Over time, while overall corrosion slowed down, the bacteria helped to increase and spread the damage, leading to more pitting corrosion on the steel.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Turfgrasses are susceptible to a wide variety of ectotrophic root-infecting (ERI) fungi that cause root rot (Tredway et al., 2023). Among the root rot diseases, fairway patch, caused by Phialocephala bamuru P.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica Oliv.) constitutes about 61% of the global poplar population, thriving in arid regions of western China (Wu et al. 2023).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Micropatterned human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) treated with BMP4 (2D gastruloids) are among the most widely used stem cell models for human gastrulation. Due to its simplicity and reproducibility, this system is ideal for high throughput quantitative studies of tissue patterning and has led to many insights into the mechanisms of mammalian gastrulation. However, 2D gastruloids have only been studied up to 48h.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!