Allometry, the scaling of traits or biological rates with body mass, is central to a wide range of ecological research including dynamic food web modelling. There has been extensive focus on exponents (3/4 scaling laws), but little on the coefficients (normalisation constants). Coefficients that have been used since 2006 are derived from limited data and dated methodologies. Here, we compiled a data set of over 1000 genera wit...

Motivation We compiled a global database of long‐term riverine fish surveys from 46 regional and national monitoring programmes and from individual academic research efforts, with which numerous basic and applied questions in ecology and global change research can be explored. Such spatially and temporally extensive datasets have been lacking for freshwater systems in comparison to terrestrial ones. Main types of variables con...

Species ranges are expected to move northward with climate warming. However, species will likely encounter soil conditions that differ from their historic ranges. Black (Quercus velutina) and chestnut (Q. montana) oaks are expected to do well in climates that are hotter and drier, but it is unknown as to how they respond to soils of different geological histories. At a glaciated and nonglaciated site in northwestern Pennsylvan...

Speed is a key trait of animal movement, and while much is already known about vertebrate speed and how it scales with body mass, studies on invertebrates are sparse, especially across diverse taxonomic groups. Here, we used automated image‐based tracking to characterize the exploratory (voluntary) speed of 173 invertebrates comprising 57 species across six taxonomic groups (Arachnida, Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Entognatha, Insecta...

Since vegetative associations stabilized about 4,000 years ago, the Appalachian mixed-oak forests have experienced three profoundly different fire regimes. Periodic, low-intensity surface fires lit by American Indians characterized the first regime, and this regime helped perpetuate oak as one of the dominant species groups. The Industrial Revolution led to high-intensity, stand-replacing fires, causing extensive damage to the...