D. Pfeifer results 38
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Climate warming threatens the persistence of a community of disturbance‐adapted native annual plantsNARA Subscribed
With ongoing climate change, populations are expected to exhibit shifts in demographic performance that will alter where a species can persist. This presents unique challenges for managing plant populations and may require ongoing interventions, including in situ management or introduction into new locations. However, few studies have examined how climate change may affect plant demographic performance for a suite of species,...
Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyon...
NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the NeotropicsNARA Subscribed
Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal specie...
NEOTROPICAL XENARTHRANS: a data set of occurrence of xenarthran species in the NeotropicsNARA Subscribed
Xenarthrans—anteaters, sloths, and armadillos—have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their full distribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos,...
Characterizing human cytomegalovirus reinfection in congenitally infected infants: an evolutionary perspectiveNARA Subscribed
Given the strong selective pressures often faced by populations when colonizing a novel habitat, the level of variation present on which selection may act is an important indicator of adaptive potential. While often discussed in an ecological context, this notion is also highly relevant in our clinical understanding of viral infection, in which the novel habitat is a new host. Thus, quantifying the factors determining levels o...
Climate change alters plant biogeography in Mediterranean prairies along the West Coast, USANARA Subscribed
Projected changes in climate are expected to have widespread effects on plant community composition and diversity in coming decades. However, multisite, multifactor climate manipulation studies that have examined whether observed responses are regionally consistent and whether multiple climate perturbations are interdependent are rare. Using such an experiment, we quantified how warming and increased precipitation intensity af...
The population genomics of rapid adaptation: disentangling signatures of selection and demography in white sands lizardsNARA Subscribed
Understanding the process of adaptation during rapid environmental change remains one of the central focal points of evolutionary biology. The recently formed White Sands system of southern New Mexico offers an outstanding example of rapid adaptation, with a variety of species having rapidly evolved blanched forms on the dunes that contrast with their close relatives in the surrounding dark soil habitat. In this study, we focu...
Inferring the age of a fixed beneficial alleleNARA Subscribed
Estimating the age and strength of beneficial alleles is central to understanding how adaptation proceeds in response to changing environmental conditions. Several haplotype‐based estimators exist for inferring the age of segregating beneficial mutations. Here, we develop an approximate Bayesian‐based approach that rather estimates these parameters for fixed beneficial mutations in single populations. We integrate a range of e...
Soil respiration response to climate change in Pacific Northwest prairies is mediated by a regional Mediterranean climate gradientNARA Subscribed
Soil respiration is expected to increase with rising global temperatures but the degree of response may depend on soil moisture and other local factors. Experimental climate change studies from single sites cannot discern whether an observed response is site‐dependent or generalizable. To deconvolve site‐specific vs. regional climatic controls, we examined soil respiration for 18 months along a 520 km climate gradient in three...
The case for fencing remains intactNARA Subscribed
Creel et al . argue against the conservation effectiveness of fencing based on a population measure that ignores the importance of top predators to ecosystem processes. Their statistical analyses consider, first, only a subset of fenced reserves and, second, an incomplete examination of ‘costs per lion.’ Our original conclusions remain unaltered.
Pushing the limit: experimental evidence of climate effects on plant range distributionsNARA Subscribed
Whether species will be extirpated in their current geographic ranges due to rapidly changing climate, and if so, whether they can avoid extinction by shifting their distributions are pressing questions for biodiversity conservation. However, forecasts of climate change impacts on species' geographic distributions rarely incorporate a demographic understanding of species' responses to climate. Because many biotic and abiotic f...
Conserving large carnivores: dollars and fenceNARA Subscribed
Conservationists often advocate for landscape approaches to wildlife management while others argue for physical separation between protected species and human communities, but direct empirical comparisons of these alternatives are scarce. We relate African lion population densities and population trends to contrasting management practices across 42 sites in 11 countries. Lion populations in fenced reserves are significantly cl...
Phylogeography and genetic structure of the orchid Himantoglossum hircinum (L.) Spreng. across its European central–marginal gradientNARA Subscribed
Aim This study aims to link demographic traits and post‐glacial recolonization processes with genetic traits in Himantoglossum hircinum (L.) Spreng (Orchidaceae), and to test the implications of the central–marginal concept (CMC) in Europe. Location Twenty sites covering the entire European distribution range of this species. Methods We employed amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and performed a plastid micr...