Effective comparisons of natural grasslands and improved pasture require a robust model for plant growth, soil water balance, runoff, soil erosion, and climatic impacts. Our first objective was to develop plant parameters in the field that enabled the ALMANAC model to simulate growth of coastal bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.]. Pensacola bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flügge var saurae ...

Source populations of polyphagous pests often occur on host plants other than the economically damaged crop. We evaluated the contribution of patches of a non-native meadow grass, Lolium multiflorum Lam. (Poaceae), and other weeds growing in fallow fields or meadows as source hosts of an important native pest of rice, Stenotus rubrovittatus (Matsumura) (Hemiptera: Miridae), in an agricultural ...

The Collared Crescentchest (Melanopareia torquata) is a small insectivore endemic to the Cerrado. We examine the habitat use of this bird in a preserved Cerrado area in southeastern Brazil. Despite its occurrence in grassland with shrubs, the species used these areas less frequently than expected. The Collared Crescentchest mainly used areas of campo cerrado, but it was not recorded in a distur...

1. Wetlands in the Lake Victoria basin serve as structural and hypoxic refugia for some native fishes against predation by introduced Nile perch (Lates niloticus); however, little is known about the fine-scale patterns of distribution and abundance of these refuge inhabitants. 2. This study sought to quantify wetland ecological gradients and determine where peaks in native fish abundance and ri...

Context. Invasions by non-native plants can alter the abundance and distribution of resources that can affect habitat quality for native animals. Aims. We sought to understand the demographic consequences of a plant invasion on a functionally and numerically important rodent in a grassland ecosystem. Specifically, we evaluated how abundance, survival, reproductive activity and population struct...

Barrier islands are complex and dynamic systems that provide critical ecosystem services to coastal populations. Stability of these systems is threatened by rising sea level and the potential for coastal storms to increase in frequency and intensity. Recovery of dune-building grasses following storms is an important process that promotes topographic heterogeneity and long-term stability of barr...