We investigated the effects of several tree species on dehydrogenase and urease activities in soils derived from two different parent materials (glaciofluvial sand and loess) in forested areas in southern Poland. We hypothesized that coniferous forests (pine, spruce) alter the soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) and decrease soil pH and, therefore, might decrease soil enzyme...
Mountain forest soils contain an important stock of carbon. Their altitudinal gradient can serve as a model for research on the potential risk of increased emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, in a positive feedback of global warming. Using soil samples collected at three elevations (600, 900, and 1200 m a.s.l.) from five separate slopes of the Carpathian Mountains...
Distorted plant diversity patterns due to ungulate herbivory could be explained by changes in community assembly processes, but the effects of ungulate herbivory on plant community assembly remain unclear. Here, we examined the role of deer herbivory in the regulation of the assembly processes of a forest floor plant community by assessing species and functional diversity in over...
In 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant accident resulted in the evacuation of about 81,000 people from the evacuation zone, which suffered from high levels of radioactive contamination. Large-scale and long-term land abandonment can cause changes in species assemblages. Despite the extensive global attention this incident received, open and spatially-explicit datasets of...
Using Japanese literature, we created a consolidated list of host records of butterflies in Japan. The list used the host records described in eight major illustrated reference books, two checklists, and 14 other pieces of literature. The presence of larvae on plants, the observation of larvae eating plants or insects in the field were considered as host records. We collected all...
Community N-mixture abundance models for replicated counts provide a powerful and novel framework for drawing inferences related to species abundance within communities subject to imperfect detection. To assess the performance of these models, and to compare them to related community occupancy models in situations with marginal information, we used simulation to examine the...
This study reports the primary production of phytoplankton determined with a 13C tracer, and their related variables, in Lake Kasumigaura, a shallow, hyper-eutrophic lake, and the second largest lake in Japan. Measurements were conducted monthly from August 1981 to December 2013 at four stations within the lake. Monitoring was a component of the Lake Kasumigaura Long-term...
What do animal signals mean? This is a central question in studies on animal communication. Research into the semantics of animal signals began in 1980, with evidence that alarm calls of a non-human primate designated predators as external referents. These studies have challenged the historical assumption that such referential signaling is a unique feature of human language and...
The application of advanced technologies to the study of little-known species is a necessary step in generating effective conservation strategies. Despite the biological importance of the small carnivore guild, a paucity of data exists in terms of the spatial ecology of these species, largely due to logistical constraints of large and bulky collar units. This study reports the...
Introduced species negatively impact native species through competitive and trophic interactions, particularly on oceanic islands that have never been connected to any continental landmass. However, there are few studies on the relative importance of competitive interactions (resource competition with introduced species) and trophic interactions (predation or herbivory by...
Fishery sustainability and the extinction risk of the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica, are of global concern. The landings of the Japanese eel in Japan comprise a large part of the landings in East Asia. This study provides a compiled dataset of the annual fisheries statistics of the Japanese eel in Japan for stock assessment. The Japanese government has been recording Japanese...
The studies, which were conducted in southern Poland, focused on the recovery of the herb layer in 17-year-old post-fire silver birch and black alder forests. Although both types of stands, which are of the same age, developed spontaneously, the alder stands occupied damper sites (with thicker A horizons that survived the fire) than those in the birch forests. We surveyed the...
Bark beetles infest several pine tree species, often creating major economic losses. Biotic interactions between Scolytinae populations inhabiting Pinus sylvestris were analyzed using a new sampling method involving a two dimensional division of tree space resources into units and sections. The goal was to evaluate the effects of the type of available reproduction material on...
Citizen science has a long history in the ecological sciences and has made substantial contributions to science, education, and society. Developments in information technology during the last few decades have created new opportunities for citizen science to engage ever larger audiences of volunteers to help address some of ecology’s most pressing issues, such as global...
The successful establishment of vegetation, soil development and biogeochemical cycling during the restoration process of mine tailings requires a diverse and metabolically active microbial communities. The objective of this study was to test whether there is any link between the functional groups of both the dominant plant species and soil microbial communities on unreclaimed...
Birds select habitats on the basis of structural characteristics, food and nest-site availability or other features that affect survival and reproduction. This study investigates factors influencing colony re-occupation, the number of nests in 2013 and changes in the numbers of nest between 2004 and 2013 in re-occupied colonies of Grey Herons Ardea cinerea in northern Poland. The...
Land use data serve as an essential part of large-scale ecological research, such as landscape ecology and macroecological studies. For agricultural fields in Japan, existing time series statistical records can be used to convert map data according to a map of municipality units. In this data paper, we determined the areas of agricultural land use in Japan from 1970 to 2005...
Because fish have a high dispersal ability, an understanding coral reef fish metacommunity structure is vital for effective conservation. Coral reefs provide patchy habitat of various sizes and scales. We examined the species–area relationship (SAR) of damselfish (Pomacentridae) assemblages over 81 environmentally homogenous patch reefs ranging 0.07–45.4 m2 with low coral cover...
Species distribution models should identify ecological requirements of species and predict their spatial density. However, data from remote sensing sources are often used alone as predictors in modelling distributions. Such data will only produce accurate models if features that are distinguishable by remote sensing are a good match to the environmental traits that delineate...
To provide new insights into microbial functions in the Kushiro Wetland, Japan, we measured vertical profiles of fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis (total microbial activity), β-glucosidase and xylosidase (organic matter decomposition), acid phosphatase (phosphate production) and potential denitrifying (denitrification) activities as microbial enzyme activities in soil to depths of...
The diversity of insect species in cultivated fields provides a number of ecosystem benefits, including natural pest control and pollination. However, current knowledge of the insect fauna in agricultural landscapes is extremely limited when compared with information available for other ecosystems, such as forests and rivers. Here, we present data on insect diversity, including...
Plants defense against herbivore damage is achieved through resistance and tolerance, of which resistance is composed of avoidance and antibiosis. Plants have developed various adaptations that facilitate escape from herbivory. We hypothesized that post-anthesis prostrate scapes in Taraxacum is an adaptation for avoidance of capitulum grazing by large herbivores. To test this...