Timothy M. Collins results 28
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Distribution and ecology of the four Macrourus species by‐caught in the longline fishery at South Georgia, Southern OceanNARA Subscribed
Although Macrourus species are the main by‐catch across Southern Ocean longline fisheries, including around South Georgia, the lack of species‐specific data has hindered effective management and ecological understanding. Aggregation of macrourids at genus level masks critical interspecific differences in life‐history strategies and vulnerabilities to fishing. Here, we provide the first comprehensive biological assessment of th...
Marine megafauna species are affected by a wide range of anthropogenic threats. To evaluate the risk of such threats, species’ vulnerability to each threat must first be determined. We build on the existing threats classification scheme and ranking system of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species by assessing the vulnerability of 256 marine megafauna species to 23 at‐sea threat...
Proteomic analysis resulting in species‐level identification of recently diverged North American arvicoline rodentsNARA Subscribed
North American arvicoline rodents have long been considered to have high biogeographic, biochronologic, and paleoecological value. They provide relative dating of faunal assemblages when absolute dating is not possible and contribute to paleobiome characterization. However, the scientific value of Arvicolinae is often limited by the level of taxonomic identification achievable by morphological analyses. ZooMS (zooarchaeology b...
Motivation Here, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimates for species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The updated version expands version 1.0 of the database by doubling the number of studies and includes substantial additional curation to the taxonomic accuracy of the records, as well as the metadata. Moreover, we now provide an R packag...
Supplemental Feeding as a Driver of Population Expansion and Morphological Change in Anna's HummingbirdsNARA Subscribed
Bird beaks are highly adaptable, with the potential to undergo rapid morphological shifts in response to environmental change such as climatic variation or food availability. Anna's Hummingbirds ( Calypte anna ) have undergone dramatic population range expansions over the last 160 years into novel climatic regimes, where supplemental feeders and introduced plant species are frequented. We used museum specimens to measure and c...
Seagrass wasting disease prevalence and lesion area increase with invertebrate grazing across the northeastern PacificNARA Subscribed
Disease is a key driver of community and ecosystem structure, especially when it strikes foundation species. In the widespread marine foundation species eelgrass ( Zostera marina ), outbreaks of wasting disease have caused large‐scale meadow collapse in the past, and the causative pathogen, Labyrinthula zosterae , is commonly found in meadows globally. Research to date has mainly focused on abiotic environmental drivers of sea...
Since 1955 snails of the Euglandina rosea species complex and Platydemus manokwari flatworms were widely introduced in attempted biological control of giant African snails ( Lissachatina fulica ) but have been implicated in the mass extinction of Pacific island snails. We review the histories of the 60 introductions and their impacts on L. fulica and native snails. Since 1993 there have been unofficial releases of Euglandina w...
Increasing effects of chronic nutrient enrichment on plant diversity loss and ecosystem productivity over timeNARA Subscribed
Human activities are enriching many of Earth’s ecosystems with biologically limiting mineral nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). In grasslands, this enrichment generally reduces plant diversity and increases productivity. The widely demonstrated positive effect of diversity on productivity suggests a potential negative feedback, whereby nutrient‐induced declines in diversity reduce the initial gains in productiv...
The global abundance of tree palmsNARA Subscribed
Aim Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree...
TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open accessNARA Subscribed
Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodivers...
Bridging the gap between omics and earth system science to better understand how environmental change impacts marine microbesNARA Subscribed
The advent of genomic‐, transcriptomic‐ and proteomic‐based approaches has revolutionized our ability to describe marine microbial communities, including biogeography, metabolic potential and diversity, mechanisms of adaptation, and phylogeny and evolutionary history. New interdisciplinary approaches are needed to move from this descriptive level to improved quantitative, process‐level understanding of the roles of marine micr...
Understanding how biotic mechanisms confer stability in variable environments is a fundamental quest in ecology, and one that is becoming increasingly urgent with global change. Several mechanisms, notably a portfolio effect associated with species richness, compensatory dynamics generated by negative species covariance and selection for stable dominant species populations can increase the stability of the overall community. W...
Priority research questions for the UK food systemNARA Subscribed
The rise of food security up international political, societal and academic agendas has led to increasing interest in novel means of improving primary food production and reducing waste. There are however, also many ‘post-farm gate’ activities that are critical to food security, including processing, packaging, distributing, retailing, cooking and consuming. These activities all affect a range of important food security elemen...