Browsing by Author "Ellison, Aaron"

Now showing items 1-20 of 99

    • Analysis of Abrupt Transitions in Ecological Systems 

      Bestelmeyer, Brandon T.; Ellison, Aaron M.; Fraser, William R.; Gorman, Kristen B.; Holbrook, Sally J.; Laney, Christine M.; Ohman, Mark D.; Peters, Debra P. C.; Pillsbury, Finn C.; Rassweiler, Andrew; Schmitt, Russell J.; Sharma, Sapna (Ecological Society of America, 2011)
      The occurrence and causes of abrupt transitions, thresholds, or regime shifts between ecosystem states are of great concern and the likelihood of such transitions is increasing for many ecological systems. General understanding ...

    • Analytic Webs Support the Synthesis of Ecological Data Sets 

      Ellison, Aaron M.; Osterweil, Leon; Hadley, Julian L.; Wise, Alexander; Boose, Emery Robert; Clarke, Lori; Foster, David Russell; Hanson, Allen; Jensen, David Michael; Kuzeja, Paul; Riseman, Edward; Schultz, Howard (Ecological Society of America, 2006)
      A wide variety of data sets produced by individual investigators are now synthesized to address ecological questions that span a range of spatial and temporal scales. It is important to facilitate such syntheses so that ...

    • Ant-mediated ecosystem functions on a warmer planet: effects on soil movement, decomposition and nutrient cycling 

      Del Toro, Israel; Ribbons, Relena R.; Ellison, Aaron M. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)
      1.Direct and indirect consequences of global warming on ecosystem functions and processes mediated by invertebrates remain understudied but are likely to have major impacts on ecosystems in the future. Among animals, ...

    • The Ants of Nantucket: Unexpectedly High Biodiversity in an Anthropogenic Landscape 

      Ellison, Aaron M. (Eagle Hill Publications, 2012)
      This first comprehensive assessment of the ant fauna of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts revealed that 43% of New England ant species and 70% of New England ant genera occur on an island occupying only 0.07% of New England’s ...

    • Assessing the impacts of the decline of Tsuga canadensisstands on two amphibian species in a New England forest 

      Siddig, Ahmed Ali; Ellison, Aaron M.; Mathewson, Brooks (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016)
      Disturbances such as outbreaks of herbivorous insects and pathogens can devastate unique habitats and directly reduce biodiversity. The foundation tree species Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock) is declining due to infestation ...

    • Atmospheric deposition exposes Qinling pandas to toxic pollutants 

      Chen, Yi-ping; Zheng, Ying-juan; Liu, Qiang; Song, Yi; An, Zhi-sheng; Ma, Qing-yi; Ellison, Aaron M. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017)
      The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most endangered animals in the world, and it is recognized worldwide as a symbol for conservation. A previous study showed that wild and captive pandas were exposed ...

    • Building a foundation: land-use history and dendrochronology reveal temporal dynamics of a Tsuga canadensis (Pinaceae) forest 

      Ellison, Aaron M.; Lavine, Michael; Kerson, Peter; Barker Plotkin, Audrey A.; Orwig, David Alan (The New England Botanical Club, 2014)

    • Calibrating abundance indices with population size estimators of red back salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) in a New England Forest. 

      Siddig, Ahmed Ali; Ellison, Aaron M.; Jackson, Scott (PeerJ Inc., 2015)
      Herpetologists and conservation biologists frequently use convenient and cost-effective, but less accurate, abundance indices (e.g., number of individuals collected under artificial cover boards or during natural objects ...

    • Canopy and Litter Ant Assemblages Share Similar Climate-Species Density Relations 

      Weiser, Michael; Sanders, Nathan J.; Agosti, Donat; Anderson, Alan N.; Ellison, Aaron M.; Fisher, Brian L.; Gibb, Heloise; Gotelli, Nicholas; Gove, Aaron; Gross, Kevin; Janda, Milan; Kaspari, Michael; Lessard, Jean-Phillippe; Longino, John T.; Majer, Jonathan; Menke, Sean; Terrence, McGlynn; Parr, Catherine; Philpott, Stacy; Retana, Javier; Suarez, Andrew; Vasconcelos, Heraldo; Yanoviak, Stephen; Dunn, Robert; Guénard, Benoit (Royal Society, 2010)
      Tropical forest canopies house most of the globe’s diversity, yet little is known about global patterns and drivers of canopy diversity. Here we present models of ant species density, using climate, abundance and habitat ...

    • Captive pandas are at risk from environmental toxins 

      Chen, Yi-ping; Maltby, Lorraine; Liu, Qiang; Song, Yi; Zheng, Ying-juan; Ellison, Aaron M.; Ma, Qing-yi; Wu, Xiao-min (Ecological Society of America, 2016)
      Ex situ conservation efforts are the last resort for many critically endangered species and captive breeding centers are thought to provide a safe environment in which to produce individuals for eventual re-introduction ...

    • Changes in canopy structure and ant assemblages affect soil ecosystem variables as a foundation species declines 

      Kendrick, J.A.; Ribbons, R.R.; Classen, A.T.; Ellison, Aaron M. (Ecological Society of America, 2015)
      The decline of Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock) – a foundation tree species – due to infestation by Adelges tsugae (hemlock woolly adelgid) or its complete removal from a stand by salvage logging dramatically affects ...

    • Climatic Drivers of Hemispheric Asymmetry in Global Patterns of Ant Species Richness 

      Arnan, Xavier; McGlynn, Terrence P.; Bruhl, Carsten A.; Agosti, Donat; Lessard, Jean-Philippe; Anderson, Alan N.; Vascibcekis, Heraldo L.; Laurent, Edward J.; Kaspari, Michael E.; Guenard, Benoit; Janda, Milan; Fitzpatrick, Matthew; Pfeiffer, Martin; Weiser, Michael D.; Philpott, Stacy M.; Gove, Aaron D.; Retana, Javier; Suarez, Andrew V.; Dunn, Robert R.; Ellison, Aaron; Cerda, Xim; Parr, Catherine L.; Longino, John T.; Majer, Jonathan D.; Fisher, Brian L.; Manke, Sean B.; Sanders, Nathan J.; Gotelli, Nicholas J.; Gib, Heloise (Blackwell Science, 2009)
      Although many taxa show a latitudinal gradient in richness, the relationship between latitude and species richness is often asymmetrical between the northern and southern hemispheres. Here we examine the latitudinal pattern ...

    • Climatic warming destabilizes forest ant communities 

      Diamond, S. E.; Nichols, L. M.; Pelini, S. L.; Penick, C. A.; Barber, G. W.; Cahan, S. H.; Dunn, R. R.; Ellison, Aaron M.; Sanders, N. J.; Gotelli, N. J. (American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2016)
      How will ecological communities change in response to climate warming? Direct effects of temperature and indirect cascading effects of species interactions are already altering the structure of local communities, but the ...

    • Commentary: All species are important, but some species are more important than others 

      Ellison, Aaron M.; Degrassi, Allyson L. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008)
      Foundation species control biodiversity and ecosystem processes, but are difficult to identify. In this issue of Journal of Vegetation Science, Elumeeva et al. show that Festuca varia and Nardus stricta act as foundation ...

    • Common Garden Experiments Reveal Uncommon Responses across Temperatures, Locations, and Species of Ants 

      Pelini, Shannon Lynn; Diamond, Sarah E.; MacLean, Heidi; Ellison, Aaron M.; Gotelli, Nicholas J.; Sanders, Nathan J.; Dunn, Robert R. (Wiley Open Access, 2012-10-12)
      Population changes and shifts in geographic range boundaries induced by climate change have been documented for many insect species. On the basis of such studies, ecological forecasting models predict that, in the absence ...

    • Construction Costs, Payback Times, and the Leaf Economics of Carnivorous Plants 

      Karagatzides, Jim D.; Ellison, Aaron (Botanical Society of America, 2009)
      Understanding how different and functional types "invest" carbon and nutrients is a major goal of plant ecologists. Two measures of such investments are "construction costs" (carbon needed to produce each gram of tissue) ...

    • Convergence in Multispecies Interactions 

      Bittleston, Leonora Sophia; Pierce, Naomi E.; Ellison, Aaron M.; Pringle, Anne (Elsevier BV, 2016)
      The concepts of convergent evolution and community convergence highlight how selective pressures can shape unrelated organisms or communities in similar ways. We propose a related concept, convergent interactions, to ...

    • Counting Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Biodiversity Sampling and Statistical Analysis for Myrmecologists 

      Gotelli, Nicholas J.; Ellison, Aaron M.; Dunn, Robert R.; Sanders, Nathan J. (Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics, 2011)
      Biodiversity sampling is labor intensive and is especially challenging for myrmecologists, because the sampling units (individual workers) do not correspond in a simple way to the natural units of diversity (individual ...

    • Critical minimum temperature limits xylogenesis and maintains treelines on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau 

      Li, Xiaoxiang; Liang, Eryuan; Gri?ar, Jozica; Rossi, Sergio; Cufar, Katarina; Ellison, Aaron M. (Elsevier BV, 2017)
      Physiological and ecological mechanisms that define treelines are still debated. It has been suggested that the absence of trees above the treeline is caused by low temperatures that limit growth. Thus, we hypothesized ...

    • Critical temperature and precipitation thresholds for the onset of xylogenesis of Juniperus przewalskii in a semi-arid area of the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau 

      Ren, Ping; Rossi, Sergio; Camarero, J; Ellison, Aaron M.; Liang, Eryuan; Penuelas, Josep (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2017-12-29)
      Background and Aims The onset of xylogenesis plays an important role in tree growth and carbon sequestration, and it is thus a key variable to model the responses of forest ecosystems to climate change. Temperature regulates ...