Colonization History and Alternative Community States in Experimental Microcosms

Colonization History and Alternative Community States in Experimental Microcosms PDF Author: Craig Richard Zimmermann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Using a suite of disparate experimental systems, three tests of the effect of variation in community history on community states were performed. The first test explored the effect of species invasion order on the structure and invasibility in soil microbial communities. Microcosm communities were assembled by augmenting an existing soil community with sequential introductions of three bacterial strains under three alternative sequences. Assembled communities were then probed with a genetically engineered bioremediative bacterium to test the relative vulnerability of these communities to this strain. Results indicated that variation in invasion order resulted in the production of alternative community states with distinct vulnerabilities to invasion. The second test explored the effect of the interaction of variation in invasion sequence with varying productivity level on community composition and media chemistry properties. Detritusbased aquatic communities consisting of bacteria and protists were assembled under two alternative sequences on a gradient of five nutrient concentrations. In total, five unique community states were found to emerge from the interaction of species order and productivity level. Alternative states arising from sequence effects were found at two of the five nutrient levels tested. In addition, sequence effects were found to produce unique biologically-mediated changes to media chemistry. Notably, such effects were not necessarily reflected by observable changes at the species compositional level. The third test evaluated trends in species turnover data for evidence of convergence in community composition among a suite of 15 artificial pond microcosms established at the same location. Ponds were arranged in five clusters of three. Here, an explicit manipulation of invasion sequence was not performed; rather, microcosms are assumed to possess similar histories and similar environments based on spatial proximity. Evidence of convergence was sought using five alternative compositional classification schemes. No evidence for convergence for the overall study site was found. Results of multiple analyses indicated a weak degree of convergence at the cluster level. Disturbance arising from multiple heavy rainfall events, however, had a strong disruptive effect on this convergence. Stronger evidence was found for a divergence in composition between two sets of microcosms that were independent of spatial proximity.

Colonization History and Alternative Community States in Experimental Microcosms

Colonization History and Alternative Community States in Experimental Microcosms PDF Author: Craig Richard Zimmermann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Using a suite of disparate experimental systems, three tests of the effect of variation in community history on community states were performed. The first test explored the effect of species invasion order on the structure and invasibility in soil microbial communities. Microcosm communities were assembled by augmenting an existing soil community with sequential introductions of three bacterial strains under three alternative sequences. Assembled communities were then probed with a genetically engineered bioremediative bacterium to test the relative vulnerability of these communities to this strain. Results indicated that variation in invasion order resulted in the production of alternative community states with distinct vulnerabilities to invasion. The second test explored the effect of the interaction of variation in invasion sequence with varying productivity level on community composition and media chemistry properties. Detritusbased aquatic communities consisting of bacteria and protists were assembled under two alternative sequences on a gradient of five nutrient concentrations. In total, five unique community states were found to emerge from the interaction of species order and productivity level. Alternative states arising from sequence effects were found at two of the five nutrient levels tested. In addition, sequence effects were found to produce unique biologically-mediated changes to media chemistry. Notably, such effects were not necessarily reflected by observable changes at the species compositional level. The third test evaluated trends in species turnover data for evidence of convergence in community composition among a suite of 15 artificial pond microcosms established at the same location. Ponds were arranged in five clusters of three. Here, an explicit manipulation of invasion sequence was not performed; rather, microcosms are assumed to possess similar histories and similar environments based on spatial proximity. Evidence of convergence was sought using five alternative compositional classification schemes. No evidence for convergence for the overall study site was found. Results of multiple analyses indicated a weak degree of convergence at the cluster level. Disturbance arising from multiple heavy rainfall events, however, had a strong disruptive effect on this convergence. Stronger evidence was found for a divergence in composition between two sets of microcosms that were independent of spatial proximity.

Dissertation Abstracts International

Dissertation Abstracts International PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 784

Get Book Here

Book Description


Experimental Ecology

Experimental Ecology PDF Author: William J. Resetarits
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780195150421
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 492

Get Book Here

Book Description
Experimentation is a dominant approach in contemporary ecological research, pervading studies at all levels of biological organization and across diverse taxa and habitats. Experimental Ecology assembles an eminent group of ecologists who synthesize insights from these varied sources into a cogent statement about experimentalism as an analytical paradigm, placing experimentation within the larger framework of ecological investigation. The book discusses diverse experimental approaches ranging from laboratory microcosms to manipulation of entire ecosystem, illustrating the myriad ways experiments strengthen ecological inference. Experimental ecologists critique their science to move the field forward on all fronts: from better designs, to better links between experiments and theory, to more realism in experiments targeted at specific systems and questions.

The American Naturalist

The American Naturalist PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Natural history
Languages : en
Pages : 912

Get Book Here

Book Description


American Doctoral Dissertations

American Doctoral Dissertations PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertation abstracts
Languages : en
Pages : 776

Get Book Here

Book Description


Manual of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology

Manual of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology PDF Author: Arnold L. Demain
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 854

Get Book Here

Book Description
The editors have enlisted a broad range of experts, including microbial ecologists, physiologists, geneticists, biochemists, molecular biologists, and biochemical engineers, who offer practical experience not found in texts and journals. This comprehensive perspective makes MIMB a valuable "how to" resource, the structure of which resembles the sequence of operation involved in the development of a commercial biological process and product.

Chaos and Cosmos

Chaos and Cosmos PDF Author: Heidi C. M. Scott
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271065389
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Chaos and Cosmos, Heidi Scott integrates literary readings with contemporary ecological methods to investigate two essential and contrasting paradigms of nature that scientific ecology continues to debate: chaos and balance. Ecological literature of the Romantic and Victorian eras uses environmental chaos and the figure of the balanced microcosm as tropes essential to understanding natural patterns, and these eras were the first to reflect upon the ecological degradations of the Industrial Revolution. Chaos and Cosmos contends that the seed of imagination that would enable a scientist to study a lake as a microcosmic world at the formal, empirical level was sown by Romantic and Victorian poets who consciously drew a sphere around their perceptions in order to make sense of spots of time and place amid the globalizing modern world. This study’s interest goes beyond likening literary tropes to scientific aesthetics; it aims to theorize the interdisciplinary history of the concepts that underlie our scientific understanding of modern nature. Paradigmatic ecological ideas such as ecosystems, succession dynamics, punctuated equilibrium, and climate change are shown to have a literary foundation that preceded their status as theories in science. This book represents an elevation of the prospects of ecocriticism toward fully developed interdisciplinary potentials of literary ecology.

Ecological Society of America ... Annual Meeting Abstracts

Ecological Society of America ... Annual Meeting Abstracts PDF Author: Ecological Society of America. Meeting
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 900

Get Book Here

Book Description


Community Ecology

Community Ecology PDF Author: Herman A. Verhoef
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199228973
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book Here

Book Description
Community ecology is the study of the interactions between populations of co-existing species. Co-edited by two prominent community ecologists and featuring contributions from top researchers in the field, this book provides a survey of the state-of-the-art in both the theory and applications of the discipline. It pays special attention to topology, dynamics, and the importance of spatial and temporal scale while also looking at applications to emerging problems in human-dominated ecosystems (including the restoration and reconstruction of viable communities). Community Ecology: Processes, Models, and Applications adopts a mainly theoretical approach and focuses on the use of network-based theory, which remains little explored in standard community ecology textbooks. The book includes discussion of the effects of biotic invasions on natural communities; the linking of ecological network structure to empirically measured community properties and dynamics; the effects of evolution on community patterns and processes; and the integration of fundamental interactions into ecological networks. A final chapter indicates future research directions for the discipline.

Ecology

Ecology PDF Author: Charles J. Krebs
Publisher: Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Company
ISBN: 9780321068798
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 695

Get Book Here

Book Description
This best-selling majors ecology book continues to present ecology as a series of problems for readers to critically analyze. No other text presents analytical, quantitative, and statistical ecological information in an equally accessible style. Reflecting the way ecologists actually practice, the book emphasizes the role of experiments in testing ecological ideas and discusses many contemporary and controversial problems related to distribution and abundance. Throughout the book, Krebs thoroughly explains the application of mathematical concepts in ecology while reinforcing these concepts with research references, examples, and interesting end-of-chapter review questions. Thoroughly updated with new examples and references, the book now features a new full-color design and is accompanied by an art CD-ROM for instructors. The field package also includes The Ecology Action Guide, a guide that encourages readers to be environmentally responsible citizens, and a subscription to The Ecology Place (www.ecologyplace.com), a web site and CD-ROM that enables users to become virtual field ecologists by performing experiments such as estimating the number of mice on an imaginary island or restoring prairie land in Iowa. For college instructors and students.