Publications by authors named "Simon D Schowanek"
Various authors have suggested that extinctions and extirpations of large mammalian herbivores during the last ca. 50,000 years have altered ecological processes. Yet, the degree to which herbivore extinctions have influenced ecosystems has been difficult to assess because past changes in herbivore impact are difficult to measure directly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe moon's influence on the activity of tropical forest mammals.
Proc Biol Sci
October 2024
Article Synopsis
- Changes in lunar illumination affect the risks and opportunities for animals, influencing their behavior and interactions, particularly in tropical forests.
- The study analyzed long-term data from 86 mammal species across 17 protected forests, revealing that many species avoid moonlight during full moons (lunar phobia) more than they are attracted to it (lunar philia).
- The findings highlight that lunar phases significantly influence mammal activity even in dense forests, which may be more pronounced in areas that are degraded or fragmented.
Since prehistory, humans have altered the composition of ecosystems by causing extinctions and introducing species. However, our understanding of how waves of species extinctions and introductions influence the structure and function of ecological networks through time remains piecemeal. Here, focusing on Australia, which has experienced many extinctions and introductions since the Late Pleistocene, we compared the functional trait composition of Late Pleistocene (130,00-115,000 years before present [ybp]), Holocene (11,700-3,000 ybp), and current Australian mammalian predator assemblages (≥70% vertebrate meat consumption; ≥1 kg adult body mass).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrehistoric and recent extinctions of large-bodied terrestrial herbivores had significant and lasting impacts on Earth's ecosystems due to the loss of their distinct trait combinations. The world's surviving large-bodied avian and mammalian herbivores remain among the most threatened taxa. As such, a greater understanding of the ecological impacts of large herbivore losses is increasingly important.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduced herbivores restore Late Pleistocene ecological functions.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
April 2020
Article Synopsis
- Large-bodied mammalian herbivores were key players in Earth's ecosystems for millions of years but faced significant declines during the Late Pleistocene due to prehistoric human activities, leading to ecological changes from their loss.
- Recent human efforts to introduce new herbivore species in various regions may help recover some lost ecological functions, with these introduced species resembling extinct ones more than current native species.
- Analysis shows that introduced herbivores can restore important traits that influence ecosystem processes like wildfire management and shrub growth, suggesting they may mitigate some impacts of past extinctions.
Trophic rewilding presents regionally specific opportunities for mitigating climate change.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
March 2020
Large-bodied mammalian herbivores can influence processes that exacerbate or mitigate climate change. Herbivore impacts are, in turn, influenced by predators that place top-down forcing on prey species within a given body size range. Here, we explore how the functional composition of terrestrial large-herbivore and -carnivore guilds varies between three mammal distribution scenarios: Present-Natural, Current-Day and Extant-Native Trophic (ENT) Rewilding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access.
Glob Chang Biol
January 2020
Article Synopsis
- Plant traits, which include various characteristics like morphology and physiology, play a crucial role in how plants interact with their environment and impact ecosystems, making them essential for research in areas like ecology, biodiversity, and environmental management.
- The TRY database, established in 2007, has become a vital resource for global plant trait data, promoting open access and enabling researchers to identify and fill data gaps for better ecological modeling.
- Although the TRY database provides extensive data, there are significant areas lacking consistent measurements, particularly for continuous traits that vary among individuals in their environments, presenting a major challenge that requires collaboration and coordinated efforts to address.
Data needed for macroecological analyses are difficult to compile and often hidden away in supplementary material under non-standardized formats. Phylogenies, range data, and trait data often use conflicting taxonomies and require ad hoc decisions to synonymize species or fill in large amounts of missing data. Furthermore, most available data sets ignore the large impact that humans have had on species ranges and diversity.
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