A new, simplified protocol for determining particulate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels allows for the assessment of microbial biomass distribution in aquatic systems at a high temporal and spatial resolution. A comparison of ATP data with related variables, such as particulate carbon, nitrogen, chlorophyll, and turbidity in pelagic samples, yielded significant and strong correlations in a gradient from the tributaries of t...

Human-mediated dispersal is a major contributor of biological invasions. To reduce impacts induced by the introduction and spread of exotic species, biosecurity interventions are put into place. These interventions often rely on risk-assessment procedures, whereby biosecurity practitioners (which includes researchers, stakeholders such as national park managers, and all other decision makers who determine when and how to prote...

Insectivores of the tropical rainforest floor are consistently among the most vulnerable birds to forest clearing and fragmentation. Several hypotheses attempt to explain this pattern, including sensitivity to extreme microclimates found near forest borders, particularly brighter and warmer conditions. Importantly, this “microclimate hypothesis” has additional implications for intact forest under global climate change that cou...

How are rainforest birds faring in the Anthropocene? We use bird captures spanning > 35 years from 55 sites within a vast area of intact Amazonian rainforest to reveal reduced abundance of terrestrial and near‐ground insectivores in the absence of deforestation, edge effects or other direct anthropogenic landscape change. Because undisturbed forest includes far fewer terrestrial and near‐ground insectivores than it did histori...

Aim How do factors such as space, time, climate and other ecological drivers influence food web structure and dynamics? Collections of well‐studied food webs and replicate food webs from the same system that span biogeographical and ecological gradients now enable detailed, quantitative investigation of such questions and help integrate food web ecology and macroecology. Here, we integrate macroecology and food web ecology by...

Some parasites move from one host to another via trophic transmission, the consumption of the parasite (inside its current host) by its future host. Feeding links among free‐living species can thus be understood as potential transmission routes for parasites. As these links have different dynamic and structural properties, they may also vary in their effectiveness as trophic transmission routes. That is, some links may be bett...

Aim MacArthur and W ilson's original formulation of the theory of island biogeography ( TIB ) included the corollary hypothesis that species richness might affect immigration and extinction rates. Building on this, other researchers have suggested additional top‐down and bottom‐up effects. We compare these hypotheses to identify the strongest candidates for inclusion in a ‘trophic TIB ’. Location Six mangrove islands in the F...

The response of an ecosystem to perturbations is mediated by both antagonistic and facilitative interactions between species. It is thought that a community's resilience depends crucially on the food web—the network of trophic interactions—and on the food web's degree of compartmentalization. Despite its ecological importance, compartmentalization and the mechanisms that give rise to it remain poorly understood. Here we invest...