Plant Traits, Climate Sensitivity, and Ecosystem Function Across Scales
Integrates multi-scale datasets, trait-based frameworks, and metabolic scaling theory to understand how plant functional traits mediate ecosystem responses to climate change, drawing on field sites in the Gunnison Basin alongside global comparative analyses.
Knowledge Graph (136 nodes, 1150 connections)
Research Primer
Background
National forest management in western Colorado shapes how millions of acres of public land support wildlife, water, recreation, livestock grazing, and local economies. The White River National Forest, which borders the northern Gunnison Basin and surrounds resort communities like Aspen, Vail, and Carbondale, is among the most heavily visited national forests in the United States. Its forest plan — the overarching land and resource management blueprint required under the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), a 1976 law mandating long-range planning for each national forest — guides decisions on timber harvest, ski area development, wilderness recommendations, off-road vehicle use, livestock grazing measured in animal-unit-months (AUMs), and habitat protections for sensitive species like Colorado River cutthroat trout.
Because forest plans set management prescriptions for decades at a time, they matter enormously for the Gunnison Basin. Decisions made on adjacent forests influence elk migration, watershed condition, recreational access, and the character of gateway communities. Concepts that recur across forest planning — Priority Habitat Management Areas, Semi-Primitive Non-Motorized zoning, Allowable Sale Quantity (the ceiling on timber harvest), travel management, wild and scenic river designation, scenic values, noxious weed control, electronic communications sites, aerial transportation corridors, ski area expansion, outfitter and guide operations, clear-cutting limits, and articles of designation for special areas — all shape how community disturbance ripples through forest ecosystems. Public review and comment, linkage programs with neighboring jurisdictions, and Resource Management Plans developed alongside Bureau of Land Management partners give residents and stakeholders meaningful input into these choices.
Historical context
Federal forest planning in Colorado was reshaped by NFMA and by the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation, known as RARE II, a late-1970s Forest Service inventory that classified undeveloped lands for possible wilderness designation RAREII map. A 1977 speech by Assistant Secretary of Agriculture M. Rupert Cutler to the Society of American Foresters laid out the policy logic for balancing timber, wildlife, and wilderness on national forests during this era Cutler speech. Early multi-resource planning efforts such as the Eagle/Aspen Planning Unit document established habitat management, dispersed recreation, and wilderness preservation as co-equal goals on the White River National Forest in coordination with the Pitkin County Commission and Bureau of Reclamation Aspen Planning Unit.
Through the late 1980s and 1990s, forest plans were continually refined through formal amendments. A series of amendments to the Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands — Amendment 13, 14, 15, 17, and 19 — adjusted Management Area prescriptions covering big game winter range, utility corridors, Management Area 1D, and electronic communications sites at places like Methodist Mountain Amendment 13 Amendment 14 Amendment 15 Amendment 17 Amendment 19. A summary letter explaining the intent of these amendments illustrates how Research Natural Areas and recreation opportunities are negotiated within the plan amendment process amendment intent letter.
Management actions and stakeholder roles
The U.S. Forest Service, working through the Forest Supervisor's Office and individual ranger districts such as the Taylor River and Cebolla Districts, is the lead agency for forest plan revision and travel management. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the White River Land and Resource Management Plan laid out alternatives for wilderness management, timber harvest, and recreation across the forest White River DEIS Summary. Conservation organizations including the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, the Aspen Wilderness Workshop, and the Audubon Society have submitted detailed comments urging stronger protections for biological diversity and roadless areas, including a Conservation Alternative for the plan revision White River Forest Plan Revision correspondence additional materials letter.
Management tools include zoning lands as Management Area 2A or Semi-Primitive Non-Motorized, designating Park Roads and Parkways, regulating mechanized equipment use, and issuing travel plan decisions that specify which routes are open to ATVs, mountain bikes, or non-motorized use only. The Uncompahgre National Forest Travel Plan Decision for the Mountain and Plateau Divisions illustrates how the Forest Road Development Transportation System is rationalized across a single forest Uncompahgre Travel Plan, while Fossil Ridge correspondence shows how travel management is applied within Wilderness Study Areas to protect wilderness character Fossil Ridge Travel Management.
Current challenges and future directions
Pressing issues include reconciling rapid growth in motorized and mechanized recreation with habitat needs for species like Colorado River cutthroat trout, expanding ski area footprints near Aspen and Vail, managing noxious weeds spread by vehicles and livestock, and protecting scenic values along increasingly developed valley corridors. Plan revision correspondence from the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies highlights persistent concerns about biological diversity, roadless protection, and inadequate Conservation Alternatives in Forest Service preferred plans White River Forest Plan correspondence additional materials. Travel management decisions like those on the Uncompahgre suggest a continuing trend toward designated-route systems and away from cross-country motorized travel Uncompahgre Travel Plan.
Future forest plan revisions will likely place greater emphasis on climate adaptation, connectivity between Priority Habitat Management Areas, and linkage programs with county land use plans in Gunnison, Pitkin, and Eagle Counties. Wild and scenic river eligibility studies, electronic communications site consolidation, and revisions to Allowable Sale Quantity in light of beetle-killed forests will all reshape management prescriptions in the coming decade.
Connections to research
Forest planning decisions create direct links to the long-term ecological research conducted at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and across the Gunnison Basin. Studies of subalpine plant communities, pollinator networks, snowpack hydrology, and trout populations provide the empirical foundation for evaluating management prescriptions, identifying community disturbance thresholds, and designing Priority Habitat Management Areas. As forest plans are revised, RMBL datasets on phenology, streamflow, and species distributions can inform travel management, wilderness recommendations, and habitat connectivity planning across the White River, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests.
References
Amendment No. 17, Pike and San Isabel National Forests. →
Amendment Number 13, Pike and San Isabel National Forests. →
Amendment Number 14, Pike and San Isabel National Forests. →
Amendment Number 15, Pike and San Isabel National Forests. →
Amendment Number 19, Methodist Mountain. →
Aspen Planning Unit. →
Cutler speech to the Society of American Foresters. →
Fossil Ridge Travel Management correspondence. →
Intent of proposed Forest Plan amendments letter. →
RARE II map and inventory. →
Re: White River Forest Plan Revision – additional materials. →
Re: White River Forest Plan Revision. →
Summary of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, White River National Forest. →
Uncompahgre National Forest Travel Plan Decision, March 2002. →
Species (29) →
Acer saccharum
Juncus drummondii
Quercus ilex
Vaccinium uliginosum
Calluna vulgaris
Quercus rubra
Acer rubrum
Gaultheria collensoi
Carex bigelowii ssp. lugens
Papostipa speciosa
Show 19 more speciess
Concept (106) →
ecosystem function
The functioning of ecosystems including processes such as carbon and nutrient cycling and storage, community- and ecosystem-level responses, and overa...
climate change
Global temperature increase and associated changes in precipitation patterns and extreme weather affecting ecosystems worldwide
air temperature
elevation gradient
energy harvest capacity
The microbiome's ability to extract energy from dietary sources
trait variation
photosynthetic storage
seasonal cycle
environmental variability
Temporal variation in environmental conditions measured as standard deviation of temperature and vegetation indices
specific leaf area
The ratio of leaf area to dry mass, often associated with dry conditions as it reduces surface area and water loss from the leaf
Show 96 more concepts
community structure
temporal flexibility
Variation in interspecific interactions across time periods over which organisms co-occur that leads to flexible network structure
species abundance
Population size or density of individual species within a habitat
fitness consequences
effects of behavioral or life history decisions on individual reproductive success and survival
stand density effects
How tree growth and biomass allocation patterns change based on local neighborhood tree density and competition
stamen length
climate change experiments
Manipulative experiments that alter abiotic conditions or reciprocally transplant individuals to understand and predict the effects of environmental c...
aboveground primary productivity
Net production of plant biomass above ground surface measured as standing crop minus losses to herbivores
intraspecific variation
Raw material on which ecological and evolutionary processes act - variation of traits within species that can mediate responses to biotic and abiotic ...
seed retention
soil pH
Measure of soil acidity/alkalinity that may influence plant phenotype expression
functional traits
Plant characteristics that reflect ecological strategies, including specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content
gene coalescence
Statistical method for recognizing evolutionarily independent lineages based on genealogical patterns in molecular data
macronutrient composition
The relative proportions of essential macronutrients (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) in pollen samples
interaction turnover
Changes in network composition between treatments, partitioned into species turnover versus interaction rewiring components
functional traits
Measurable morphological and physiological characteristics of organisms that influence ecological performance
ecoregion
Geographic classification system used to reduce complexity and simplify presentation of continental-scale results
PET/P ratio
seed dispersal
Movement of seeds away from parent plants through various mechanisms including wind, animals, and gravity
wood traits
environmental filtering
species range limits
The geographic or environmental boundaries beyond which species cannot persist, potentially influenced by biotic interactions
meadow moisture gradient
Variation in soil moisture conditions creating distinct dry and wet meadow habitat types
Leaf carbon content
body size variation
Variation in organismal body size both within and between species, influenced by environmental and genetic factors
Species Interaction-Abiotic Stress Hypothesis
Predicts that species interactions should disappear at the stressful end of environmental gradients where abiotic conditions constrain species ranges
extinction cascades
carbon mass balance
Accounting framework that tracks carbon inputs, transformations, and outputs in environmental systems to quantify net carbon fluxes
body size
phenophases
Distinct phases of bee flight period: emergence from nests, timing of peak abundance of foragers, and senescence
niche contraction
Rensch's Rule
community weighted mean
complexity
stomatal conductance
spatial gradients
coevolution
The reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species driven by natural selection, where adaptations of one species create selective pressures on ...
molecular formula abundance
leaf economics spectrum
Describes consistent and strong correlations among plant functional traits reflecting the ecological tradeoffs and constraints of plants around resour...
root mass depth distributions
climate change projections
Future climate scenarios based on different greenhouse gas emission pathways, specifically RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios
plasticity
competition
functional responses
Calvin cycle
apomixis
asexual reproduction via seeds
Relative Euclidean Distance
litter quality
soil moisture limitations
The constraint of microbial activity and carbon respiration by water availability in soil systems
percent cover
The percentage of ground area covered by a particular plant species when viewed from above
Metabolic Theory of Ecology
Theory providing mass-metabolism scaling rules that relate metabolic rate to organism mass through allometric relationships
LM
NPP
maximum temperature
Maximum temperature of warmest month, capturing seasonality in contrast to average annual temperatures
temporal overlap
distribution
endophytes
Internal aboveground symbionts living within plant tissues that can produce alkaloids for plant defense
apparency hypothesis
CO2 fertilization
Enhanced plant growth due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations
Functional Trait-based Approach
turnover times
body size-temperature rule
Higher temperatures shorten larval developmental period leading to smaller adults, where body size exhibits temperature-mediated variation
biogeographical patterns
Geographic patterns in biodiversity and chemical diversity across latitudinal and environmental gradients
LDMC
detection probability
overwinter survival
diversification
SLA
extracellular enzyme activity
emergence weight
competitive exclusion
leaf number
median run date
Range shifts
scaling relationships
trait covariance
nonlinear process interactions
Publication bias
GEP
bloom formation
Accuracy
space-for-time substitution
Assumption that spatial differences in environmental conditions can predict temporal responses to environmental change
abundance-occupancy relationships
cover of bare ground
base studies
aspect
molecular evolution rate
Rate of nonsynonymous substitutions per nonsynonymous site normalized by synonymous substitutions per synonymous site (dN/dS)
herbarium collections
Preserved plant specimens that are picked in the field, pressed flat, dried and attached to archival-grade paper with relevant information recorded, t...
altitudinal migration
Relative contributions
diffusion wave approximation
enemy release hypothesis
functional divergence
error model
sexual conflict
Gloger's rule
A relationship between plumage coloration and climate variation, predicting that darker coloration due to pigmentation occurred in warmer, more humid ...
Protocol (16) →
Mantel test (Plantae)
Meta-analytical approach to synthesize population-level climate sensitivities across multiple species using structured population models and standardi...
Historical herbarium database analysis for biographical reconstruction
Method for extracting and analyzing historical herbarium specimen data to reconstruct the life and career patterns of past collectors, including tempo...
GIS polygon digitization
Using ArcGIS to digitize habitat polygons and generate random sampling points within appropriate community types.
Airborne LiDAR Remote Sensing
Data acquired using a Riegl Q1560 dual-channel LiDAR system mounted on a Piper Navajo aircraft. Survey complied with USGS QL1 standard with point dens...
Waveform data processing
Processing waveform LiDAR data using Optech LMS software and custom IDL waveform processor to synchronize GPS time tags and geolocate waveforms.
Water use efficiency analysis (Plantae)
R script analysis of sex differences in integrated water use efficiency and population operational sex ratios in Valeriana edulis.
Sensor data filtering
Data ranges for each sensor type were filtered based on a combination of sensor specifications and assumed reasonable values.
Multi-scale plant-pollinator network aggregation
A method for constructing plant-pollinator interaction networks at multiple temporal scales from temporally-explicit field observations. Networks are ...
Elevation gradient snowmelt manipulation experiment
Five sites established along an elevation gradient from 2774m to 3597m with experimental early snowmelt manipulation using paired control and treatmen...
Systematic review of microbial macroecology literature
A comprehensive systematic review using database searches, citation network expansion, and vote counting to assess evidence for macroecological rules ...
Show 6 more protocols
Leaf trait measurement (Plantae)
Measurement of leaf traits including nitrogen concentration, phosphorus concentration, specific leaf area, and tensile strength in African woody speci...
G-matrix analysis (Plantae)
Compilation and analysis of published plant population divergence data paired with evolvability estimates to test macroevolutionary predictions. Uses ...
Barometric pressure water level measurement
Water level elevations obtained using barometric pressure from pressure transducers in wells, combined with TOC elevation and depth measurements.
nested cross-validation
Statistical validation approach for model selection and parameter optimization to ensure robust performance.
standardised experimental burns
Standardised experimental burns on three types of leaf material (fresh, dried and senesced) to measure flammability parameters.
ICP-AES elemental analysis
Acid digestion of plant and soil samples followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry to quantify metal concentrations in tissu...
Publication (6) →
Scaling from traits to ecosystems: Developing a general trait driver theory via integrating trait-based and metabolic scaling theories
Do microorganisms obey macroecological rules?
Spatial patterns and climate relationships of major plant traits in the New World differ between woody and herbaceous species
Potential Effect of Nutrient on Native/Invasive Plants in Disturbed Road-cuts.
The effect of plant trait variation on plant production
The biosystematics of the Lupinus argenteus complex and allies
Dataset (66) →
Data from: Globally, functional traits are weak predictors of juvenile tree growth, and we do not know why
1. Plant functional traits, in particular specific leaf area (SLA), wood density and seed mass, are often good predictors of individual tree growth ra...
Data from: Are leaf functional traits “invariant” with plant size, and what is “invariance” anyway?
Studies of size-related plant traits have established a suite of mathematical functions describing whole plant investment and allocation. In parallel,...
Data from: Plasticity in plant functional traits is shaped by variability in neighbourhood species composition
Plant functional traits can vary widely as a result of phenotypic plasticity to abiotic conditions. Trait variation may also reflect responses to the ...
Data from: Shifts and disruptions in resource-use trait syndromes during the evolution of herbaceous crops
Trait-based ecology predicts that evolution in high-resource agricultural environments should select for suites of traits that enable fast resource ac...
Data from: Size-related scaling of tree form and function in a mixed-age forest
Many morphological, physiological and ecological traits of trees scale with diameter, shaping the structure and function of forest ecosystems. Underst...
Langenheim Plant Species Data (1953) and Associated Resurvey Datasets (2014), Gunnison Basin, Colorado, USA
Quantitative plant abundance data were collected from the same 121 sites at two time periods separated by 65 years (1948-1952 and 2012-2014) in the Co...
Data from: Accuracy of genomic selection models in a large population of open-pollinated families in white spruce
Genomic selection (GS) is of interest in breeding because of its potential for predicting the genetic value of individuals and increasing genetic gain...
Data from: Three keys to the radiation of angiosperms into freezing environments
Data from: Relative impacts of environmental variation and evolutionary history on the nestedness and modularity of tree-herbivore networks.
Nestedness and modularity are measures of ecological networks whose causative effects are little understood. We analyzed antagonistic plant–herbivore ...
Langenheim Plant Species Data (1953) and Associated Resurvey Datasets (2014), Gunnison Basin, Colorado, USA
Quantitative plant abundance data were collected from the same 121 sites at two time periods separated by 65 years (1948-1952 and 2012-2014) in the Co...
Show 56 more datasets
Data from: Trait-mediated community assembly: distinguishing the signatures of biotic and abiotic filters
Conflicting hypotheses predict how traits mediate species establishment and community assembly. Traits of newly establishing individuals are predicted...
Data from: Environmental controls on canopy foliar N distributions in a neotropical lowland forest
Distributions of foliar nutrients across forest canopies can give insight into their plant functional diversity and improve our understanding of bioge...
Data from: Burn or rot: leaf traits explain why flammability and decomposability are decoupled across species
In fire-prone ecosystems, two important alternative fates for leaves are burning in a wildfire (when alive or as litter) or they get consumed (as litt...
Data from: Genomic and phenotypic architecture of a spruce hybrid zone (Picea sitchensis x P. glauca)
Interspecific hybridization may enhance the capacity of populations to adapt to changing environments, and has practical implications for reforestatio...
Data from: Evidence of local adaptation to fine- and coarse-grained environmental variability in Poa alpina in the Swiss Alps
In the alpine landscape, characterized by high spatiotemporal heterogeneity and barriers, divergent selection is likely to lead to local adaptation of...
Data from: Pinus ponderosa alters nitrogen dynamics and diminishes the climate footprint in natural ecosystems of Patagonia
1. Evaluating climate effects on plant-soil interactions in terrestrial ecosystems remains challenging due to the fact that floristic composition co-v...
Data from: Species-specific responses of foliar nutrients to long-term nitrogen and phosphorus additions in a lowland tropical forest
1) The concentration, stoichiometry, and resorption of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in plant leaves are often used as proxies of the availability o...
Data from: Biotic resistance to tropical ornamental invasion
We examined invasive, casual (found occasionally outside cultivation) and non-invasive (found only in cultivation) species to investigate the role of ...
Supplementary material from "Life-history traits predict responses of wild bees to climate variation"
Life-history traits, which are physical traits or behaviours that affect growth, survivorship and reproduction, could play an important role in how we...
NEON AOP Survey of Upper East River CO Watersheds: Waveform LiDAR Binary Data
The waveform Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data in this package were generated through a National Ecological Observatory Network Airborne Observ...
Data from: Community assembly and functional diversity along succession post-management
1. Despite extensive development of successional theory, few empirical studies have evaluated whether existing models are applicable to human-modified...
Data from: Determinants of flammability in savanna grass species
1. Tropical grasses fuel the majority of fires on Earth. In fire-prone landscapes, enhanced flammability may be adaptive for grasses via the maintenan...
Data from: Tropical trees in a wind-exposed island ecosystem: height-diameter allometry and size at onset of maturity
1. Tropical tree species adapted to high wind environments might be expected to differ systematically in terms of stem allometry and life-history patt...
Data from: The oldest, slowest forests in the world? Exceptional biomass and slow carbon dynamics of Fitzroya cupressoides temperate rainforests in southern Chile
Old-growth temperate rainforests are, per unit area, the largest and most long-lived stores of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, but their carbon d...
Data from: Relationships between resprouting ability, species traits, and resource allocation patterns in woody species in a temperate forest
Many woody plants resprout to restore above-ground biomass after disturbances or to survive in stressful environments. Resprouting requires carbohydra...
Data from: Leaf traits of African woody savanna species across climate and soil fertility gradients: evidence for conservative vs. acquisitive resource use strategies
1. Establishing trade-offs among traits and the degree to which they co-vary along environmental gradients has become a key focal point in the effort ...
Microclimate observations associated with snowmelt experiment gradient sites, East River, Colorado, 2017 to 2020
The timing of snowmelt in mountain systems is a main driver of vegetation phenology and production, as well as recharge of soil moisture and ground wa...
NEON AOP Survey of Upper East River CO Watersheds: Waveform LiDAR Binary Data
The waveform Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data in this package were generated through a National Ecological Observatory Network Airborne Observ...
Data from: Transgenes for insect resistance reduce herbivory and enhance fecundity in advanced generations of crop-weed hybrids of rice
Gene flow from transgenic crops allows novel traits to spread to sexually compatible weeds. Traits such as resistance to insects may enhance the fitne...
Data from: The mechanical defence advantage of small seeds
Seed size and toughness affect seed predators, and size-dependent investment in mechanical defence could affect relationships between seed size and pr...
Data from: Growth and carbon relations of mature Picea abies trees under 5 years of free-air CO2 enrichment
Are mature forests carbon limited? To explore this question, we exposed ca. 110-year-old, 40-m tall Picea abies trees to a 550-ppm CO2 concentration i...
Data from: Deciphering the adjustment between environment and life history in annuals: lessons from a geographically-explicit approach in Arabidopsis thaliana
The role that different life-history traits may have in the process of adaptation caused by divergent selection can be assessed by using extensive col...
Data from: Evolution of the leaf economics spectrum in herbs: evidence from environmental divergences in leaf physiology across Helianthus (Asteraceae)
The leaf economics spectrum (LES) describes a major axis of plant functional trait variation worldwide, defining suites of leaf traits aligned with re...
Microclimate observations associated with snowmelt experiment gradient sites, East River, Colorado, 2017 to 2020
The timing of snowmelt in mountain systems is a main driver of vegetation phenology and production, as well as recharge of soil moisture and ground wa...
Data from: A test for a cost of opportunism in invasive species in the Commelinaceae
Many invasive species can respond opportunistically to favorable growing conditions. In a previous work, we found that invasive species in the family ...
Microclimate observations associated with snowmelt experiment gradient sites, East River, Colorado, 2017 to 2020
The timing of snowmelt in mountain systems is a main driver of vegetation phenology and production, as well as recharge of soil moisture and ground wa...
Data from: Functional traits in parallel evolutionary radiations and trait-environment associations in the Cape Floristic region of South Africa
Microclimate observations associated with snowmelt experiment gradient sites, East River, Colorado, 2017 to 2020
The timing of snowmelt in mountain systems is a main driver of vegetation phenology and production, as well as recharge of soil moisture and ground wa...
Microclimate observations associated with snowmelt experiment gradient sites, East River, Colorado, 2017 to 2020
The timing of snowmelt in mountain systems is a main driver of vegetation phenology and production, as well as recharge of soil moisture and ground wa...
Data from: Seed size predicts community composition and carbon storage potential of tree communities in rainforest fragments in India’s Western Ghats
Fragmentation is ubiquitous across tropical forests and drives marked shifts in tree community composition by differentially affecting species’ disper...
Data from: High genetic variation and moderate to high values for genetic parameters of Picea abies resistance to Pissodes strobi
Genetic parameters of Picea abies resistance to the white pine weevil (Pissodes strobi Peck) were estimated from 193 full-sib and 166 half-sib familie...
Data from: Radial changes in wood specific gravity of tropical trees: inter- and intra-specific variation during secondary succession
Variation in wood specific gravity (WSG) within and across species of tropical trees is poorly studied in relation to vegetation change during tropica...
Data from: Vegetation as self-adaptive coastal protection: reduction of current velocity and morphologic plasticity of a brackish marsh pioneer
By reducing current velocity, tidal marsh vegetation can diminish storm surges and storm waves. Conversely, currents often exert high mechanical stres...
Data from: How persistent are the impacts of logging roads on Central African forest vegetation?
1. Logging roads can trigger tropical forest degradation by reducing the integrity of the ecosystem and providing access for encroachment. Therefore, ...
Data from: Genome-wide scans reveal cryptic population structure in a dry-adapted eucalypt
Genome-wide DArTseq scans of 268 individuals of Eucalyptus salubris, distributed along an aridity gradient in southwestern Australia, revealed cryptic...
Data from: Evolutionary radiations of Proteaceae are triggered by the interaction between traits and climates in open habitats
Aim: Ecologically driven diversification can create spectacular diversity in both species numbers and form. However, the prediction that the match bet...
Data from: Interspecific functional convergence and divergence and intraspecific negative density dependence underlie the seed-to-seedling transition in tropical trees
The seed-to-seedling transition constitutes a critical bottleneck in the life history of plants and represents a major determinant of species composit...
Data from: Effects of soil resources on expression of a sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity in a mixed-mating plant
While environmental factors strongly influence plant growth and reproduction, less is known about environmental effects on sexual selection and sexual...
Data from: Disentangling the relative importance of species occurrence, abundance and intraspecific variability in community assembly: a trait-based approach at the whole-plant level in Mediterranean forests
Data from: Modeling intraspecific adaptation of Abies sachalinensis to local altitude and responses to global warming, based on a 36-year reciprocal transplant experiment
Intraspecific adaptation in Abies sachalinensis was examined using models based on long-term monitoring data gathered during a reciprocal transplant e...
Long-term changes in flowering synchrony reflect climatic changes across an elevational gradient
These are the data with the accompanying R code used in the article Long-term changes in flowering synchrony reflect climatic changes across an elevat...
Data from: Anthropogenic changes in sodium affect neural and muscle development in butterflies
The development of organisms is changing drastically because of anthropogenic changes in once-limited nutrients. Although the importance of changing m...
Summary Report: Gunnison Climate Adaptation Pilot Project
The Gunnison Climate Working Group is piloting a on-the-ground climate adaptation project to buildresilience of riparian areas/wet meadows – priority ...
Data from: Effects of tree architecture on pollen dispersal and mating patterns in Abies pinsapo Boiss. (Pinaceae)
Plant architecture is crucial to pollination and mating in wind pollinated species. We investigate the effect of crown architecture on pollen dispersa...
Data from: Closing a gap in tropical forest biomass estimation: taking crown mass variation into account in pantropical allometries
Accurately monitoring tropical forest carbon stocks is an outstanding challenge. Allometric models that consider tree diameter, height and wood densit...
Data from: Evidence for enemy release and increased seed production and size for two invasive Australian acacias
Invasive plants are hypothesized to have higher fitness in introduced areas due to their release from pathogens and herbivores and the relocation of r...
Data from: Crown asymmetry in high latitude forests: disentangling the directional effects of tree competition and solar radiation
Light foraging by trees is a fundamental process shaping forest communities. In heterogeneous light environments this behavior is expressed as plastic...
Data from: Does one model fit all? patterns of beech mortality in natural forests of three European regions
Large uncertainties characterize forest development under global climate change. Although recent studies have found widespread increased tree mortalit...
Data from: Evolution of specialization: a phylogenetic study of host range in the red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetraophthalmus)
Specialization is common in most lineages of insect herbivores, one of the most diverse groups of organisms on earth. To address how and why specializ...
Fruit/seed traits and phenology of trees in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar
This dataset contains information on fruit/seed traits of plants in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar as well as a summary of their fruiting phenol...
Data from: Networks, trees, and treeshrews: assessing support and identifying conflict with multiple loci and a problematic root
Multiple unlinked genetic loci often provide a more comprehensive picture of evolutionary history than any single gene can, but analyzing multigene da...
Data from: Genetic parameters in subtropical pine F1 hybrids: heritabilities, between-trait correlations and genotype-by-environment interactions
Growth and stem straightness traits of 29 Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis × Pinus tecunumanii (PCH × PTEC) and 26 P. caribaea var. hondurensis × Pinus...
TNC Fact Sheet: Managing for Change in the Gunnison Basin: Building Resilience
Our actions today to build ecosystem resilience to climate change will help us protect the Gunnison Basin’s natural resources—clean air and wildlife h...
Data from: Systematics of the lizard family Pygopodidae with implications for the diversification of Australian temperate biotas
We conducted a phylogenetic study of pygopodid lizards, a group of 38 species endemic to Australia and New Guinea, with two major goals:to reconstruct...
Data from: Modelling short-rotation coppice and tree planting for urban carbon management – a city-wide analysis
1. The capacity of urban areas to deliver provisioning ecosystem services is commonly overlooked and underutilized. Urban populations have globally in...
Webinar: Building Resilience to Climate Change in the Gunnison Basin
Webinar on Building Resilience to Climate Change in the Gunnison Basin