Biology subjects

Phillips, E. W.

Publications and source records attributed to Phillips, E. W..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Diversifying stocking practices within rangelands supports diverse plant-pollinator communities and interactions

Understanding how management alters species' biodiversity and interactions is critical for sustainable agriculture. This can be especially important for rangelands, grasslands used for livestock grazing that cover 30% of land worldwide. In rangelands, ranchers need to maximize livestock production while supporting healthy ecosystems. Grazing management can alter the impact of livestock by varying grazing timing and intensity, but its ecological impacts remain poorly understood. One critical function that may be supported in these systems is pollination; how rangeland management may alter this ecosystem service is not systematically understood. We investigated how rotational stocking, where livestock are rotated among pastures, affected plant and pollinator communities and plant-pollinator interactions using working ranches in the Southern Great Plains. Sites were managed through continuous stocking or rotation with low or high frequency. We found that high-frequency livestock rotation supported greater flower abundance, and consequently greater pollinator abundance. Pollinator orders varied in their responses to management with Hymenoptera directly responding to management, and Coleoptera and Lepidoptera responding indirectly via changes in flower abundance. Community-level changes produced more specialized interaction networks and higher interaction diversity. These community changes, and resulting species turnover, led to high interaction turnover across rangeland sites. This suggests that a mosaic of management strategies likely diversifies habitat and helps support plant and pollinator biodiversity at the landscape scale. This study demonstrates that rangelands can support plants, pollinators, and their interactions, particularly when managed with high-frequency rotational stocking.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Lionfish Pterois volitans can see UV light: UV Vision in an Invasive Aquatic Predator

UV vision is wide-spread across animals. Many coral reef fish species use the reflection of UV light to communicate with conspecifics, as most aquatic predators are UV-blind. This creates a "secret" communication system for prey fish to signal to others while minimizing their risk of predation. Exploitation of this system by a predator that can see UV light would likely help facilitate prey detection and increase predator efficiency. Recently, indirect evidence has emerged that the Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans), a highly invasive predator in the Caribbean, might be able to see into the UV spectrum. We propose that UV vision might be an important, and so far overlooked, reason for lionfishs predatory success. Using an associative learning assay, we investigated lionfishs ability to discriminate UV from non-UV light and found the first behavioral evidence that lionfish can indeed see UV light. We also measured the UV body reflectance of lionfish and found that lionfish reflect UV light, suggesting that lionfish may communicate with conspecifics via UV vision. Further studies should investigate if the UV vision is more widespread in marine predators than originally thought, as well as continue to investigate the function of UV vision in lionfish and other predators.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

Where are they now? Tracking the Mediterranean Lionfish Invasion via Local Dive Centers

Invasive species are globally on the rise due to human-induced environmental change and are often a source of harm to their new ecosystems. Tracking the spread of invaders is crucial to better management of invasive species, and citizen science is often used to collect sighting data. However, this can be unreliable due to the general publics limited expertise for accurate identification and a lack of clear absence data. Here, we introduce a refined method of citizen science by tracking the spread of the invasive lionfish (Pterois miles) in the Mediterranean Sea using dive centers expertise on local marine wildlife. We contacted 1131 dive centers on the Mediterranean coast via email and received 216 responses reporting whether or not lionfish were present in their area and, if present, the year they were first sighted. Currently, lionfish sightings are observed in the eastern half of the Mediterranean, though the front is continuing to move west with the furthest sighting as far as Corfu, Greece (19.939423{degrees}E, 39.428017{degrees}N). In 2020, lionfish also expanded their invasive range north on the Turkish Aegean coast to Karaburun (26.520657{degrees}E, 38.637033{degrees}N), showing that the invasion is ongoing. We found that the invasive range is now exceeding previous invasion models, highlighting the need for additional research on lionfish biology to inform management efforts. Continuous monitoring of invasive fronts based on dive center reports and a better understanding of what makes lionfish so invasive is crucial to mitigating their negative impact on native ecosystems.

ecology↗