The stress-gradient hypothesis predicts a higher frequency of facilitative interactions as resource limitation increases. Under severe resource limitation, it has been suggested that facilitation may revert to competition, and identifying the presence as well as determining the magnitude of this shift is important for predicting the effect of climate change on biodiversity and plant community d...

Recent advances in biologically based ecosystem models of the coupled terrestrial, hydrological, carbon, and nutrient cycles have provided new perspectives on the terrestrial biosphere's behavior globally, over a range of time scales. We used the terrestrial ecosystem model Century to examine relationships between carbon, nitrogen, and water dynamics. The model, run to a quasi-steady-state, sho...

Pilot experiments in the tidally dominated Dutch Wadden Sea indicated a negative relationship between Zostera marina L. transplantation success and tidal depths. As light availability was sufficient, we hypothesised that water dynamics (particularly waves) and ensuing sediment mobility (movement or resuspension of the sediment) were the major cause for the loss of transplants at larger depths. ...

As highly mobile marine predators, many pinniped species routinely encounter a wide range of water temperatures during foraging and in association with seasonal, geographical and climatic changes. To determine how such variation in environmental temperature may impact energetic costs in otariids, we determined the thermal neutral zone of adult and juvenile California sea lions (Zalophus califor...

Global climate change is expected to increase annual temperatures and decrease summer precipitation in Central Europe. Little is known of how forests respond to the interaction of these climate factors and if their responses depend on soil conditions. In a 3-year lysimeter experiment, we investigated the growth response of young mixed oak stands, on either acidic or calcareous soil, to soil wat...