
Tamed and controlled nature can be aesthetically pleasing but also boring, leading to a need to embrace the rawness and unpredictability of rewilding urban spaces.


coremsg

Thoughts on rewilding urban spaces and human life

Raw Existence and Ecological Boredom

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Embracing the Untamed: Exploring the Allure of Rewilding Urban Spaces and Overcoming Ecological Boredom


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Spatial niche partitioning is the key driver facilitating the coexistence of apex carnivore species, while spatial and temporal niche partitioning likely facilitate the coexistence of mesocarnivore species, and spatial and dietary niche partitioning facilitate the coexistence between apex and mesocarnivore species in Qilian Mountain National Park, China.


Carnivores play key roles in maintaining ecosystem structure and function as well as ecological processes. Understanding how sympatric species coexist in natural ecosystems is a central research topic in community ecology and biodiversity conservation. In this study, we explored intra- and interspecific niche partitioning along spatial, temporal, and dietary niche partitioning between apex carnivores (wolf Canis lupus , snow leopard Panthera uncia , Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx ) and mesocarnivores (Pallas’s cat Otocolobus manul , red fox Vulpes vulpes , Tibetan fox Vulpes ferrilata ) in Qilian Mountain National Park, China using camera trapping data and DNA metabarcoding sequencing data. Our study showed that apex carnivore species had more overlap temporally (coefficients of interspecific overlap ranging from 0.661 to 0.900) or trophically (Pianka’s index ranging from 0.458 to 0.892), mesocarnivore species had high dietary overlap with each other (Pianka’s index ranging from 0.945 to 0.997), and apex carnivore and mesocarnivore species had high temporal overlap (coefficients of interspecific overlap ranging from 0.497 to 0.855). Large dietary overlap was observed between wolf and snow leopard (Pianka’s index=0.892) and Pallas’s cat and Tibetan fox (Pianka’s index=0.997), suggesting the potential for increased resource competition for these species pairs. We concluded that spatial niche partitioning is likely to key driver in facilitating the coexistence of apex carnivore species, while spatial and temporal niche partitioning likely facilitate the coexistence of mesocarnivore species, and spatial and dietary niche partitioning facilitate the coexistence between apex and mesocarnivore species. Our findings consider partitioning across temporal, spatial and dietary dimensions while examining diverse coexistence patterns of carnivore species in Qilian Mountain National Park, China. These findings will contribute substantially to current understanding of carnivore guilds and effective conservation management in fragile alpine ecosystems.

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Different coexistence patterns between apex carnivores and mesocarnivores based on temporal, spatial, and dietary niche partitioning analysis in Qilian Mountain National Park, China

spatial-temporal-and-dietary-niche-partitioning-among-apex-carnivores-and-mesocarnivores-in-qilian-mountain-national-park-china


Spatial, Temporal, and Dietary Niche Partitioning Among Apex Carnivores and Mesocarnivores in Qilian Mountain National Park, China



다양한 서식지로 구성된 경관은 단일 서식지 경관에 비해 더 높은 종 다양성과 상호작용 균형, 상호보완적인 종 상호작용, 그리고 더 안정적인 내구성을 가지며, 이는 경관 수준의 생태계 서비스 향상으로 이어진다.


Species interaction data, a field experiment and modelling of plant–insect communities show that landscapes with more habitat types support more even&nbsp;species, more complementary interactions, are more consistently&nbsp;robust to species loss, and confer&nbsp;greater pollination function.

Multi-habitat landscapes are more diverse and stable with improved function - Nature

다양한-서식지를-가진-경관이-더-다양하고-안정적이며-기능이-향상됨


다양한 서식지를 가진 경관이 더 다양하고 안정적이며 기능이 향상됨



Multi-habitat landscapes support higher species and interaction evenness, more complementary species interactions, and more consistent robustness to species loss, leading to improved ecosystem function such as pollination success.


diverse-and-stable-multi-habitat-landscapes-enhance-ecosystem-function


Diverse and Stable Multi-Habitat Landscapes Enhance Ecosystem Function



The opposing climatic dependencies of microbes, mesofauna, and macrofauna lead to similar overall decomposition rates across a precipitation gradient, except in hyper-arid sites.


Litter decomposition is expected to be positively associated with precipitation despite evidence that decomposers of varying sizes have different moisture dependencies. We hypothesized that higher tolerance of macro-decomposers to aridity may counterbalance the effect of smaller decomposers, leading to similar decomposition rates across climatic gradients. We tested this hypothesis by placing plant litter baskets of different mesh sizes in seven sites along a sharp precipitation gradient, and by characterizing the macro-decomposer assemblages using pitfall trapping. We found that decomposers responded differently to precipitation levels based on their size. Microbial decomposition increased with precipitation in the winter while macro-decomposition peaked in arid sites during the summer. This led to similar overall decomposition rates across the gradient except in hyper-arid sites. Macro-decomposer richness, abundance and biomass peaked in arid environments. Our findings highlight the importance of macro-decomposition in arid-lands, possibly resolving the dryland decomposition conundrum, and emphasizing the need to contemplate decomposer size when investigating zoogeochemical processes.

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Contrasting responses to aridity by different-sized decomposers cause similar decomposition rates across a precipitation gradient

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Differential Responses of Microbes, Mesofauna, and Macrofauna to Aridity Shape Similar Decomposition Rates Across a Precipitation Gradient



The decline of vulture populations in India has had severe public health consequences, leading to a dramatic increase in human deaths.


And still, there is no better time to be alive than today — imagine if we cared

How The Collapse of India’s Vultures Led to Half a Million Human Deaths

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The Devastating Impact of India's Vulture Decline on Public Health: Half a Million Human Deaths



Habitat fragmentation mediates the mechanisms underlying long-term climate-driven shifts in bird community composition towards more warm-adapted species.


Climatic warming can shift community composition driven by the colonization-extinction dynamics of species with different thermal preferences; but simultaneously, habitat fragmentation can mediate species’ responses to warming. As this potential interactive effect has proven difficult to test empirically, we collected data on birds over 10 years of climate warming in a reservoir subtropical island system that was formed 65 years ago. We investigated how the mechanisms underlying climate-driven directional change in community composition were mediated by habitat fragmentation. We found thermophilization driven by increasing warm-adapted species and decreasing cold-adapted species in terms of trends in colonization rate, extinction rate, occupancy rate and population size. Critically, colonization rates of warm-adapted species increased faster temporally on smaller or less isolated islands; cold-adapted species generally were lost more quickly temporally on closer islands. This provides support for dispersal limitation and microclimate buffering as primary proxies by which habitat fragmentation mediates species range shift. Overall, this study advances our understanding of biodiversity responses to interacting global change drivers.

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Habitat fragmentation mediates the mechanisms underlying long-term climate-driven thermophilization in birds

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How Habitat Fragmentation Influences Climate-Driven Changes in Bird Communities Over Time



Human activities can push mammals together into more frequent encounters and associations, which likely influences the coexistence and persistence of wildlife, with potential far-ranging ecological consequences.


Spatial and temporal associations between sympatric species underpin biotic interactions, structure ecological assemblages, and sustain ecosystem functioning and stability. However, the resilience of interspecific spatiotemporal associations to human activity remains poorly understood, particularly in mountain forests where anthropogenic impacts are often pervasive. Here we applied context-dependent Joint Species Distribution Models to a systematic camera-trap survey dataset from a global biodiversity hotspot in eastern Himalaya to understand how prominent human activities in mountain forests influence species associations within terrestrial mammal communities. We obtained 10,388 independent detections of 17 focal species (12 carnivores and five ungulates) from 322 stations over 43,163 camera days of effort. We identified a higher incidence of positive associations in habitats with higher levels of human modification (87 %) and human presence (83 %) compared to those located in habitats with lower human modification (64 %) and human presence (65 %) levels. We also detected a significant reduction of pairwise encounter time at increasing levels of human disturbance, corresponding to more frequent encounters between pairs of species. Our findings indicate that human activities can push mammals together into more frequent encounters and associations, which likely influences the coexistence and persistence of wildlife, with potential far-ranging ecological consequences.

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Human disturbance increases spatiotemporal associations among mountain forest terrestrial mammal species

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Human Disturbance Increases Spatiotemporal Associations Among Mountain Forest Terrestrial Mammal Species



Water nutrient concentrations, especially phosphorus, significantly affect the elemental composition and stoichiometry of stream macroinvertebrate communities, driven by shifts in taxonomic and functional group composition.


Basal resources generally mirror environmental nutrient concentrations in the elemental composition of their tissue, meaning that nutrient alterations can directly reach consumer level. An increased nutrient content ( e . g . phosphorus) in primary and detrital resources under nutrient enriched conditions should favour taxa with a high demand for this nutrient. With the nutrient demand of a taxon being correlated to the elemental composition of its body tissue ( e . g . phosphorus content), such above described species shifts likely alter the overall community stoichiometry. However, studies addressing stoichiometry at community level are rare and most often restricted to lacustrine planktonic systems, single streams or limited experimental setups.

Relying on a stoichiometric database for >200 taxa and >1300 standardized sampling events of macroinvertebrate assemblages from the French national monitoring programme, we investigated the effect of water phosphorus and nitrogen load on stream macroinvertebrate community stoichiometry.

Community stoichiometry was significantly affected by water phosphorus concentration and the effect was strongest at low levels of nitrogen. While we could not confirm our hypothesis of increasing community %P (and decreasing C:P, N:P) with increasing water phosphorus concentrations for the overall community, it clearly followed this pattern for both Insecta and Malacostraca. General differences in the elemental composition among major taxonomic groups and a shift among these groups over the nutrient gradient probably explain the response of community stoichiometry. Our results show that assumptions from Ecological Stoichiometry Theory also hold at the community level, at least for two dominant taxa, and on a large spatial scale, with likely consequences for nutrient cycling and ecosystem function.

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Effects of water nutrient concentrations on stream macroinvertebrate community stoichiometry: a large-scale study

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Large-Scale Analysis Reveals How Water Nutrient Concentrations Shape Stream Macroinvertebrate Community Stoichiometry



Rough-legged buzzards exhibit a novel "foxtrot migration" pattern characterized by alternating quick and slow phases of movement during the non-breeding season, driven by environmental factors like snow cover dynamics. This results in a "dynamic non-breeding range" that changes throughout the season.


Advancements in tracking technologies have revolutionized our understanding of bird migrations, revealing a diverse array of migratory behaviors. We propose a new pattern of migratory behavior termed ‘foxtrot migration,’ characterized by alternating quick and slow phases during the non-breeding period. This behavior involves directional and continuous movements, distinct from traditional seasonal itinerancy or forage-on-fly migration. Using the Rough-legged buzzard as a model species, we confirmed the presence of foxtrot migration and ‘dynamic non-breeding ranges’, driven by environmental factors such as snow cover dynamics. We advocate for accurate representation of dynamic ranges on maps and emphasize the need to consider range dynamics when assessing species conservation status. Our findings underscore the importance of understanding complex migratory behaviors in the face of environmental change, facilitated by advancements in tracking technologies. This knowledge is crucial for effective conservation strategies amid ongoing global environmental challenges.

### Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Quick-quick-slow: the foxtrot migration and dynamic non-breeding range

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Tracking Migratory Patterns of Rough-legged Buzzards Reveals a Novel "Foxtrot Migration" Behavior and Dynamic Non-breeding Ranges
