Nematodes are the dominant and perhaps best studied soil animals of the Antarctic Dry Valleys, yet the genetic mechanisms by which these nematodes can survive multiple environmental stresses, such as freezing and desiccation, are poorly known. To reveal the molecular genetic mechanisms of anhydrobiotic survival, we investigated gene expression in a desiccation and freeze tolerant Antarctic nematode, Plectus murrayi.

Annual regeneration and sustainability of perennial grass populations rely heavily on the belowground population of meristems (the bud bank), yet the dynamics, morphology, and population sizes of grass bud banks have not been explored. Since the two major photosynthetic guilds of grasses vary in their aboveground phenology, their belowground bud bank phenology would likely vary as well.

Burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) on the Pawnee National Grassland in Colorado nest on black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) towns where periodic extinctions from plague (Yersinia pestis) have been studied since 1981. Plague, a non-native pathogen, is typically lethal for prairie dogs and leads to loss of owl nest sites and other habitat changes that may affect owl productivity.

 In temperate systems, invertebrate consumers have known impacts to ecosystem processes, but in tropical ecology, it is assumed that only plant and microbes affect these processes. This study investigated what impacts common folivores (walking sticks) and detritivores (litter snails) have on decomposition, nutrient cycling and primary productivity in the understory of the Luquillo rainforest (LUQ). To test these effects, we started an enclosure experiment with consumers both present and absent in 2005.

Stream microbial mats are dynamic communities of phototrophic and heterotrophic organisms that develop over intra-seasonal and inter-seasonal time scales. Diatom community composition is influenced by successional processes and physical and chemical gradients that together act to shape stream benthic habitats. In ephemeral streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Antarctica, MCM LTER), previous work has demonstrated that in streams across the Fryxell Lake Basin, the diatom composition in microbial mat communities is determined largely by the annual and historical flow regime.

A pandemic wasting disease coupled with a destructive hurricane in the1930s, caused the local extinction of eelgrass (Zostera marina) in the Virginia coastal bays. Small patches of naturally-recruited seagrass were noticed in the late 1990s, prompting a large-scale restoration effort using seeds from nearby Chesapeake Bay. Restored meadows are currently thriving and expanding; however, there is a concern about the genetic structure of these meadows.

Climate change represents one of the most challenging and important research topics of the 21st century. Rising global temperatures, particularly in urban areas, has prompted an influx of research not only on changes in physical conditions, but also on the increasing vulnerability of human health and well-being as a result of global and regional climate change.

Ecological communities can undergo sudden and dramatic changes between alternative states. Understanding the mechanisms that trigger such shifts and those that maintain them is crucial for ecological prediction as well as natural resource management. Differentiating between potential mechanisms is difficult however, because shifts are often recognized only in hindsight, and many occur on such large spatial scales that field experiments to test their cause are not possible.

The distinct rhizomorphic mats formed by Piloderma fungi are significant features of the organic soil horizons of coniferous forests throughout the Pacific Northwest. These ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal mats have been found to cover over 40% of the forest floor in some Douglas-fir stands and are associated with a variety of physical and biochemical properties that distinguish them from the surrounding non-mat soils. As part of an NSF-funded Microbial Observatory at the H.J.

 Lepidoptera larvae (caterpillar) abundance and biomass in the northern hardwood forests of central New Hampshire, USA, shows large interannual fluctuations in aggregated caterpillar biomass (21-fold variation in caterpillars/ 8000 leaves) that were spatially correlated across a regional landscape. Primary production of these mature forests has not varied over this period, and many hundreds of Lepidoptera species share comparatively few host plants.