1 The theories of Grime and Tilman are ambitious attempts to unify disparate theories regarding the construction of plants, their interaction with the environment and the assembly of communities. After over two decades of parallel research, their ideas have not been reconciled, hindering progress in understanding the functioning of ecosystems. 2 Grime’s theories do not adequately incorporate th...

Gliding motility facilitates the movement of bacteria along surfaces in many Bacteroidetes species and results in spreading colonies. The adhesins required for the gliding are secreted through a gliding motility-associated protein secretion system, known as the type IX secretion system (T9SS). The fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare produces spreading (rhizoid [Rz], soft [S]) and non-spreadi...

Water quality in many stream catchments and river basins is severely impacted by nutrient enrichment as a result of agriculture. Water-resource managers worldwide are considering the potential role of riparian zones and floodplain wetlands in improving stream-water quality, as there is evidence at the site scale that such wetlands are efficient at removing nutrients from through-flowing water. ...

We investigated allocation to roots, stems and leaves of 27 species of herbaceous clonal plants grown at two nutrient levels. Allocation was analyzed as biomass ratios and also allometrically. As in other studies, the fraction of biomass in stems and, to a lesser extent, in leaves, was usually higher in the high-nutrient treatment than in the low-nutrient treatment, and the fraction of biomass ...

The role of positive interactions in structuring plant and animal communities is increasingly recognized, but the generality of current theoretical models has remained practically unexplored in animal communities. The stress gradient hypothesis predicts a linear increase in the intensity of facilitation as environmental conditions become increasingly stressful, whereas other theoretical models ...

The latter two principles protect the soil resource on which all food and fibre production ultimately depends. However, agricultural production systems differ from ‘natural’ or undeveloped systems in that they can be considered to be ‘leaky’ with respect to nutrients. This is inevitable, due to nutrient removal in harvested product, but inappropriate fertiliser management can exacerbate the ‘le...

Resource availability can affect the coevolutionary dynamics between host and parasites, shaping communities and hence ecosystem function. A key finding from theoretical and in vitro studies is that host resistance evolves to greater levels with increased resources, but the relevance to natural communities is less clear. We took two complementary approaches to investigate the effect of resource...

This study aimed to identify the relationship between self-management abilities, well-being and depression. Our study was conducted among older adults (>65 years of age) who were vulnerable to loss of function after hospital discharge. Three months after hospital admission, 296/456 patients (65 % response rate) were interviewed in their homes. The 30-item Self-Management Ability Scale was used ...