Recent studies demonstrate that by focusing on traits linked to fundamental plant life-history trade-offs, ecologists can begin to predict plant community structure at global scales. Yet, consumers can strongly affect plant communities, and means for linking consumer effects to key plant traits and community assembly processes are lacking. We conducted a global literature review and meta-analysis to evaluate whether seed size, a trait representing fundamental life-history trade-offs in plant offspring investment, could predict post-dispersal seed predator effects on seed removal and plant recruitment. Seed size predicted small mammal seed removal rates and their impacts on plant recruitment consistent with optimal foraging theory, with intermediate seed sizes most strongly impacted globallyfor both native and exotic plants. However, differences in seed size distributions among ecosystems conditioned seed predation patterns, with relatively large-seeded species most strongly affected in grasslands (smallest seeds), and relatively small-seeded species most strongly affected in tropical forests (largest seeds). Such size-dependent seed predation has profound implications for coexistence among plants because it may enhance or weaken opposing life-history trade-offs in an ecosystem-specific manner. Our results suggest that seed size may serve as a key life-history trait that can integrate consumer effects to improve understandings of plant coexistence.

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Fascination with animals and their behaviour is one the most prominent patterns persisting in all human cultures. During the last decades, however, technological development and public access to the Internet have increased the speed and the extent of information sharing at an unprecedented rate, in some cases even challenging the traditional methods used in science. In order to understand the extent of this influence, we focused on the behaviour of shrikes. Shrikes are an enigmatic group of songbirds with a unique behaviour of impaling prey. We employed an extensive Internet search on YouTube (YT), a very popular and increasingly important source of information worldwide, for videos recording shrikes. Our analyses revealed that the number of shrike videos on YT is strongly positively correlated with classical knowledge on shrikes from books and scientific articles. Our results also suggest that in some cases YT may provide an alternative source of information on shrike ecology and behaviour. YT videos may thus provide new insights into the study of certain species or subjects and help identify gaps in ecological studies, especially in poorly studied species.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00114-017-1470-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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1. Urban ecosystems create suitable habitats for many plant and animal species, including pollinators. However, heterogenic habitats in city centres and suburban areas have various effects on pollinators due to variations in the composition of vegetation and in landscape management by humans.2. This study compared the abundance and species richness of three main groups of pollinators -wild bees, butterflies, and hoverflies -in Poznań, western Poland, and in three different types of urban green areas -urban grasslands, urban parks, and green infrastructure in housing estates.3. The total abundance of pollinators was higher in urban grasslands than in housing estates and urban parks. Species composition of pollinator communities differed between the three habitat types.4. The study results showed that species richness and abundance of butterflies varied between habitat types, whereas no such differences were found in the case of wild bees and hoverflies. Cover of green area, vegetation structure, and plant height were important for the pollinator community; however, these variables had different effects depending on habitat type. 5. These findings revealed that not all urban green areas are equally valuable in terms of local biodiversity. High-quality urban habitats such as urban grasslands are capable of supporting rich and abundant populations of pollinators. Therefore, it is important to protect high-value urban green areas and simultaneously strive to improve intensively managed urban habitats through effective planning and new management practices.

In their first phase of expanding into new areas, invasive plants often take advantage of the inability of existing herbivores and pathogenic species to exploit them. However, in the longer term local enemies may adapt to using these invasive species as a food source. This study assesses the use of mature acorns of two oak species in Europe (the native Pedunculate Oak Quercus robur and the invasive Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra) by moths Cydia fagiglandana and Cydia splendana and beetles Curculio spp. We show that acorns of invasive oak species can be equally attractive to C. splendana but only partially so to C. fagiglandana where infestation rates where significantly lower (approximately half) compared to the native oak. The infestation by Curculio beetles of Northern Red Oak was marginal, less than 1% of the rate in the native oak species. The larval final weights did not differ significantly between host species, but emergence of C. splendana and Curculio spp. took significantly longer in acorns of Northern Red Oak. It is likely that C. fagiglandana and C. splendana have increased their niche breadths by exploiting invasive oak species and avoiding competition with the Curculio weevils. Furthermore, the occurrence of Northern Red Oak could stabilize food resources during years when native oak species have poor acorn crops.