Concepts

Availability of flowering plants that provide pollen and nectar for bee reproduction, quantified as floral density in standardized plots

Plant characteristics that reflect ecological strategies, including specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content

Secondary metabolites that mediate interactions with herbivores and pathogens in Brassicaceae

The identity and relative abundance of species within an ecological community

Diet breadth of bees classified as oligolectic (collect pollen from flowers in multiple plant families) or polylectic (collect pollen from flowers in just one family)

A group of fungal endophytes characterized by dark-pigmented, septate hyphae that commonly colonize plant roots and can increase under environmental stress

The extent to which fungal symbionts colonize plant tissues, measured as percentage of tissue colonized

The length of flower tubes, which correlates with bumble bee proboscis length and determines flower accessibility

Taxa that are significantly associated with particular habitat conditions and can be used to assess ecosystem state or restoration success

The species assemblage and relative abundances of aquatic invertebrates in a habitat, used as indicators of ecosystem condition and habitat quality

The nutritional value of algae as food for aquatic consumers, typically measured by nutrient content

A measure of the evolutionary history represented in an ecological community, calculated as the sum of branch lengths connecting species in a phylogenetic tree

Chemical compounds emitted by plants as signals to other organisms, interrelated with atmospheric chemistry and climate change

Distribution of metabolic rates over individuals in a community, obtained by summing over abundance

Plot showing cumulative number of species discovered as a function of sampling effort, used to assess sampling completeness

Sugar composition of plant phloem sap which honeydew is derived from, potentially altered by temperature affecting ant recruitment or tending behavior

Percentage of leaf area affected by pathogen symptoms including powdery mildew, rust, and other fungal diseases

Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera orders used as indicators of aquatic ecosystem health

The energetic cost of provisioning brood cells, measured by number of foraging flights per completed cell and provision mass

The rate at which predators consume prey, measured as prey mortality per predator per unit time

Having superior aggressive behaviors that deter other ants, measured through direct encounters

Diversity of soil microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, archaea, and protist communities

Total biomass of animal community, which was the strongest predictor of nutrient supply contributions across hydroperiods

Having the ability to discover resources quickly due to high foraging efficiency or abundance

Having the greatest foraging success relative to abundance in the environment

Leaf-level characteristics including nitrogen content, carbon content, leaf mass per area, and water content that can be measured and mapped using spectroscopy

Diversity and abundance of fungal morphotypes colonizing organic substrates