Stephen E. Williams
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View article: The effect of forest gap dynamics on tropical rainforest birds
The effect of forest gap dynamics on tropical rainforest birds Open
Forest gap dynamics are a key driver of bird community structure. Understanding the effect of forest gaps on abundance and communities is critical in an era of increasing anthropogenic disturbance in tropical forests. In this study, we inv…
Climate‐Induced Physiological Stress Drives Rainforest Mammal Population Declines Open
Climate change is a major driver of global biodiversity loss, yet the precise mechanisms linking climate change to population declines remain poorly understood. We developed a novel, broadly applicable framework that integrates biophysical…
Evaluation of the lithospheric magnetic field mapped by the first year of MSS-1 data Open
The MSS-1 satellite began mapping Earth’s magnetic field in November 2023. Here, we perform a preliminary assessment of the new information provided on Earth’s lithospheric magnetic field from the first 12 months of data from MSS-1. We ana…
Rates of species turnover across elevation vary with vertical stratum in rainforest ant assemblages Open
Climatic variation at local scales can influence both exposure and sensitivity of organisms and thereby scale up to influence population persistence and community composition across broader geographic extents. Tropical forest canopies are …
Estimating co‐extinction threats in terrestrial ecosystems Open
The biosphere is changing rapidly due to human endeavour. Because ecological communities underlie networks of interacting species, changes that directly affect some species can have indirect effects on others. Accurate tools to predict the…
The climatic drivers of long‐term population changes in rainforest montane birds Open
Climate‐driven biodiversity erosion is escalating at an alarming rate. The pressure imposed by climate change is exceptionally high in tropical ecosystems, where species adapted to narrow environmental ranges exhibit strong physiological c…
Climate change threatens the future of rain forest ringtail possums by 2050 Open
Aim The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather escalate the pressure of global warming on biodiversity. Globally, synergistic effects of multiple components of climate change have driven local extinctions and community colla…
Laying low: Rugged lowland rainforest preferred by feral cats in the Australian Wet Tropics Open
Invasive mesopredators are responsible for the decline of many species of native mammals worldwide. Feral cats have been causally linked to multiple extinctions of Australian mammals since European colonization. While feral cats are found …
Predicted alteration of vertebrate communities in response to climate‐induced elevational shifts Open
Aim Climate change is driving species to migrate to novel areas as current environments become unsuitable. As a result, species distributions have shifted uphill in montane ecosystems globally. Heterogeneous dispersal rates among shifting …
Long-term changes in populations of rainforest birds in the Australia Wet Tropics bioregion: A climate-driven biodiversity emergency Open
Many authors have suggested that the vulnerability of montane biodiversity to climate change worldwide is significantly higher than in most other ecosystems. Despite the extensive variety of studies predicting severe impacts of climate cha…
Predicting species abundance by implementing the ecological niche theory Open
Species are not uniformly distributed across the landscape. For every species, there should be few favoured sites where abundance is high and many other sites of lower suitability where abundance is low. Consequently, local abundance could…
Frequency of trap closure and capture of prey by Dionaea muscipula in the field Open
Measurements in the field on dry days indicate that when the traps of Dionaea muscipula (Venus’ flytraps) close, they capture prey about 40% of the time at one site and 44% at another. The 60% and 56% of traps that close but do not catch p…
Long-term changes in populations of rainforest birds in the Australia Wet Tropics bioregion: a climate-driven biodiversity emergency Open
Many authors have suggested that the vulnerability of montane biodiversity to climate change worldwide is significantly higher than in most other ecosystems. Despite the extensive variety of studies predicting severe impacts of climate cha…
Using a trail camera for recording plant-insect interactions with Venus flytrap as an example Open
Trail cameras can be used for the study of the interaction between plants and insects if they have a close-up lens and the capability of doing time-lapse photographs or videos. Typical trail cameras are mounted vertically, often on unstabl…
Can Venus flytraps be triggered to close by raindrops? Open
Dionaea muscipula traps, in a natural setting, are sometimes triggered to close without capturing prey. In the Florida panhandle, in dry weather, time-lapse photographs show the frequency of closure without capture to be 2.1 closures/% of …
Pollination of Dionaea muscipula, the Venus Flytrap Open
Dionaea flowers are pollinated by insects, primarily bees, in both their native habitat in the Carolinas and in the population growing from seed scattered many years ago in the Florida panhandle, the location of this study. The green sweat…
Vertical niche and elevation range size in tropical ants: Implications for climate resilience Open
Aim We propose that forest trees create a vertical dimension for ecological niche variation that generates different regimes of climatic exposure, which in turn drives species elevation distributions. We test this hypothesis by statistical…
Diversity and Distribution of the Dominant Ant Genus Anonychomyrma (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Australian Wet Tropics Open
Anonychomyrma is a dolichoderine ant genus of cool-temperate Gondwanan origin with a current distribution that extends from the north of southern Australia into the Australasian tropics. Despite its abundance and ecological dominance, litt…
View article: Presence-only and Presence-absence Data for Comparing Species Distribution Modeling Methods
Presence-only and Presence-absence Data for Comparing Species Distribution Modeling Methods Open
Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used to predict and study distributions of species. Many different modeling methods and associated algorithms are used and continue to emerge. It is important to understand how different approa…
Dionaea traps selectively allow small animals to escape Open
Dionaea muscipula selectively allows small animals to escape using a system of interlocking features that complement each other very efficiently. Ants of the species Lasius neglectus (length 3.5 mm) ran through open traps, pausing on the a…
Research priorities for natural ecosystems in a changing global climate Open
Climate change poses significant emerging risks to biodiversity, ecosystem function and associated socioecological systems. Adaptation responses must be initiated in parallel with mitigation efforts, but resources are limited. As climate r…
Substantial reduction in thermo-suitable microhabitat for a rainforest marsupial under climate change Open
Increases in mean temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change increase the frequency and severity of temperature extremes. Although extreme temperature events are likely to become increasingly important drivers of species' response…
Impacts of recent climate change on terrestrial flora and fauna: Some emerging Australian examples Open
The effects of anthropogenic climate change on biodiversity are well known for some high‐profile Australian marine systems, including coral bleaching and kelp forest devastation. Less well‐published are the impacts of climate change being …
Supplementary material from "Substantial reduction in thermo-suitable microhabitat for a rainforest marsupial under climate change" Open
Increases in mean temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change increase the frequency and severity of temperature extremes. Although extreme temperature events are likely to become increasingly important drivers of species' response…
Prey capture by Dionaea muscipula A review of scientific literature with supplementary original research Open
Many descriptions of prey capture by Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap) in popular publications and educational literature are inaccurate. Here we review well documented literature on prey capture in this plant’s natural habitat and add obs…
View article: Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being
Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being Open
Consequences of shifting species distributions Climate change is causing geographical redistribution of plant and animal species globally. These distributional shifts are leading to new ecosystems and ecological communities, changes that w…
National Climate Change Adaptation Research Plan Terrestrial Biodiversity: update 2017 Open
In 2011, a National Climate Change Adaptation Research Plan (NARP) was developed for the terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity theme of climate change adaptation (Terrestrial NARP 2011). The Terrestrial NARP aims to identify priority res…
Cool habitats support darker and bigger butterflies in Australian tropical forests Open
Morphology mediates the relationship between an organism's body temperature and its environment. Dark organisms, for example, tend to absorb heat more quickly than lighter individuals, which could influence their responses to temperature. …
Extinction debt from climate change for frogs in the wet tropics Open
The effect of twenty-first-century climate change on biodiversity is commonly forecast based on modelled shifts in species ranges, linked to habitat suitability. These projections have been coupled with species–area relationships (SAR) to …