Ecosystem ecology articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article | 07 February 2014

  Hidden dental diversity in the oldest terrestrial apex predator Dimetrodon

  Early Permian sphenacodontid synapsids were the first terrestrial large-bodied apex predators. Here, Brink and Reisz show that sphenacodontids had a diverse dentition associated with the evolution of changes in feeding style at the onset of the first well established, complex terrestrial ecosystems.

  • Kirstin S. Brink
  •  & Robert R. Reisz

• Article | 01 October 2013

  Advancing plant phenology and reduced herbivore production in a terrestrial system associated with sea ice decline

  The effect of lower Arctic sea ice levels on local terrestrial ecosystems is not well studied. Here Kerby and Post find that decreasing Arctic sea ice levels are associated with the early emergence of plant growth, which decouples plant growth from the birth of Caribou calves, and may be associated with increased calf mortality.

  • Jeffrey T. Kerby
  •  & Eric Post

• Article | 09 October 2012

  Phylogenetic constraints on ecosystem functioning

  It has been proposed that phylogenetic diversity can be used as a proxy to estimate functional diversity and to predict ecosystem functioning. Here, the rapid evolutionary response of marine bacteria is used to study the positive effects of evolutionary history and species diversity on ecosystem productivity.

  • Dominique Gravel
  • , Thomas Bell
  •  & Nicolas Mouquet

• Article
  26 July 2011 | Open Access

  Dust inputs and bacteria influence dissolved organic matter in clear alpine lakes

  Dissolved organic matter, the main form of aquatic organic carbon, supports the aquatic food web and regulates light penetration in lakes. This study probes the main influences on the optical properties of dissolved organic matter in a global dataset of alpine and remote lakes revealing latitudinal trends.

  • N. Mladenov
  • , R. Sommaruga
  •  & I. Reche

• Article | 05 July 2011

  Identification and characterization of a multidomain hyperthermophilic cellulase from an archaeal enrichment

  Archaea are microorganisms that use a wide range of carbon and energy sources. Grahamet al. describe an archaeal consortium that can grow at temperatures above 90 °C using crystalline cellulose as a carbon source, with potential applications in enzymatic degradation under extreme conditions.

  • Joel E. Graham
  • , Melinda E. Clark
  •  & Frank T. Robb

• Article | 08 March 2011

  Coastal pollution limits pelagic larval dispersal

  Storm water runoff and wastewater effluent are discharged into oceans, but the full ecological effects of these discharges are unknown. Here, the authors examine the population structure of a marine organism, the bat star, and show that these discharges alter the genetic structure and larval dispersal of this species.

  • Jonathan B. Puritz
  •  & Robert J. Toonen

• Article | 30 November 2010

  Historical land use change has lowered terrestrial silica mobilization

  Continental export of silicon to the coast is linked to ocean carbon sinks, but terrestrial silicon fluxes have not been quantified. Here, human deforestation and cultivation of the landscape are shown to be the most important factors in silicon mobilization in temperate European watersheds.

  • Eric Struyf
  • , Adriaan Smis
  •  & Patrick Meire

• Article
  19 October 2010 | Open Access

  Second-generation environmental sequencing unmasks marine metazoan biodiversity

  Recent developments in sequencing technologies have provided the opportunity to investigate the biodiversity of ecosystems. Such a metagenomic approach, combined with taxon clustering, is used here to demonstrate that the species richness of a marine community in Scotland is much greater than anticipated.

  • Vera G. Fonseca
  • , Gary R. Carvalho
  •  & Simon Creer