ORCID Profile
0000-0002-3852-7532
Current Organisation
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2016
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 11-01-2022
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-1242094/V1
Abstract: Animals, such as termites, have largely been overlooked as global-scale drivers of biogeochemical cycles 1,2 , despite site-specific findings 3,4 . Deadwood turnover, an important component of the carbon cycle, is driven by multiple decay agents. Studies have focused on temperate systems 5,6 , where microbes dominate decay 7 . Microbial decay is sensitive to temperature, typically doubling per 10°C increase (decay effective Q 10 = ~2) 8–10 . Termites are important decayers in tropical systems 3,11–13 and differ from microbes in their population dynamics, dispersal, and substrate discovery 14–16 , meaning their climate sensitivities also differ. Using a network of 133 sites spanning 6 continents, we report the first global field-based quantification of temperature and precipitation sensitivities for termites and microbes, providing novel understandings of their response to changing climates. Temperature sensitivity of microbial decay was within previous estimates. Termite discovery and consumption were both much more sensitive to temperature (decay effective Q 10 = 6.53), leading to striking differences in deadwood turnover in areas with and without termites. Termite impacts were greatest in tropical seasonal forests and savannas and subtropical deserts. With tropicalization 17 (i.e., warming shifts to a tropical climate), the termite contribution to global wood decay will increase as more of the earth’s surface becomes accessible to termites.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-06-2019
Abstract: Predicting changes in plant ersity in response to human activities represents one of the major challenges facing ecologists and land managers striving for sustainable ecosystem management. Classical field studies have emphasized the importance of community primary productivity in regulating changes in plant species richness. However, experimental studies have yielded inconsistent empirical evidence, suggesting that primary productivity is not the sole determinant of plant ersity. Recent work has shown that more accurate predictions of changes in species ersity can be achieved by combining measures of species’ cover and height into an index of space resource utilization (SRU). While the SRU approach provides reliable predictions, it is time‐consuming and requires extensive taxonomic expertise. Ecosystem processes and plant community structure are likely driven primarily by dominant species (mass ratio effect). Within communities, it is likely that dominant and rare species have opposite contributions to overall bio ersity trends. We, therefore, suggest that better species richness predictions can be achieved by utilizing SRU assessments of only the dominant species (SRU D ), as compared to SRU or biomass of the entire community. Here, we assess the ability of these measures to predict changes in plant ersity as driven by nutrient addition and herbivore exclusion. First, we tested our hypotheses by carrying out a detailed analysis in an alpine grassland that measured all species within the community. Next, we assessed the broader applicability of our approach by measuring the first three dominant species for five additional experimental grassland sites across a wide geographic and habitat range. We show that SRU D outperforms community biomass, as well as community SRU, in predicting bio ersity dynamics in response to nutrients and herbivores in an alpine grassland. Across our additional sites, SRU D yielded far better predictions of changes in species richness than community biomass, demonstrating the robustness and generalizable nature of this approach. Synthesis. The SRU D approach provides a simple, non‐destructive and more accurate means to monitor and predict the impact of global change drivers and management interventions on plant communities, thereby facilitating efforts to maintain and recover plant ersity.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 28-09-2022
Abstract: Deadwood is a large global carbon store with its store size partially determined by biotic decay. Microbial wood decay rates are known to respond to changing temperature and precipitation. Termites are also important decomposers in the tropics but are less well studied. An understanding of their climate sensitivities is needed to estimate climate change effects on wood carbon pools. Using data from 133 sites spanning six continents, we found that termite wood discovery and consumption were highly sensitive to temperature (with decay increasing .8 times per 10°C increase in temperature)—even more so than microbes. Termite decay effects were greatest in tropical seasonal forests, tropical savannas, and subtropical deserts. With tropicalization (i.e., warming shifts to tropical climates), termite wood decay will likely increase as termites access more of Earth’s surface.
No related grants have been discovered for Mariet Hefting.