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ALT Cover of the May 2026 issue of Ecological Monographs
ALT Cover of the February 2026 issue of Ecological Monographs
ALT Nutrient foraging continuum shifts with stand age in the temperate larch forest. Tree nutrient foraging depends on (c) root and (d) mycorrhizal traits, and (b) associated fungi and (a) interacts with soil-associated fungi. (e) When a young sapling grows, the root system architecture parameters, such as root biomass or root length density, allometrically grow with the shoot (gray line); however, the proportion of carbon investment to resource acquiring organs is likely to decrease as the forest ages, and the root segment metabolic activity, such as respiration, declines (brown line). As a result, the ectomycorrhizal fungi foraging type adapts to the combinations of root carbon supplies and the quantity and quality of soil nutrients; thus, long-distance exploration types are likely to become short-distance types when soil inorganic N accumulates over time. Overall, the nutrient foraging shifts from an “explorative strategy” of young stands to a "conservative strategy" of mature stands.
ALT Multidimensional resource partitioning by large herbivores. Herbivores can reduce interspecific competition for food by selecting different sites (space), different plant taxa, and different plant organs. In this graphic, herbivores partition space, plant species, and organs in relation to three key trade-offs: Grazer-browser continuum, forage quality–quantity continuum, and water requirements continuum. Here, we use functional traits as proxies for the positioning of 15 large-herbivore species along these three axes to integrate multiple dimensions of food partitioning. We investigate their ability to explain partitioning of space and plant taxa (we did not consider partitioning of plant parts in this study). Underlined traits have been used as proxies for the three dimensions in this study
ALT Nutrient foraging continuum shifts with stand age in the temperate larch forest. Tree nutrient foraging depends on (c) root and (d) mycorrhizal traits, and (b) associated fungi and (a) interacts with soil-associated fungi. (e) When a young sapling grows, the root system architecture parameters, such as root biomass or root length density, allometrically grow with the shoot (gray line); however, the proportion of carbon investment to resource acquiring organs is likely to decrease as the forest ages, and the root segment metabolic activity, such as respiration, declines (brown line). As a result, the ectomycorrhizal fungi foraging type adapts to the combinations of root carbon supplies and the quantity and quality of soil nutrients; thus, long-distance exploration types are likely to become short-distance types when soil inorganic N accumulates over time. Overall, the nutrient foraging shifts from an “explorative strategy” of young stands to a "conservative strategy" of mature stands.
ALT Schematic illustrating how species interactions can depend on neighborhood density and identity.
ALT Conceptual setting and approach of this study. To quantify biotic versus abiotic imprints on fungal communities across the Arctic, we examined (A) bioclimatic responses among fungi in the soil vs in the rhizosphere and (B) changes in association specificity along geographic and environmental gradients in the Arctic.
