Deron E. Burkepile

TL;DR: The results demonstrate that phylogeny and function are sufficiently linked that this 'predictive metagenomic' approach should provide useful insights into the thousands of uncultivated microbial communities for which only marker gene surveys are currently available.

TL;DR: A meta-analysis of 63 field studies including more than 100 exotic plant species revealed that native herbivores suppressed exotic plants, whereas exotic herbivore facilitated both the abundance and species richness of exotic plants as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: It is shown that herbivore species richness can be critical for maintaining the structure and function of coral reefs, because complementary feeding by diverse herbivores produces positive, but indirect, effects on corals, the foundation species for the ecosystem.

TL;DR: It is suggested that human alteration of food webs and nutrient availability have significant effects on primary producers but that the effects vary among latitudes and primary producers, and with the inherent productivity of ecosystems.

TL;DR: Experimental evidence that chronic nutrient exposure leads to increases in both disease prevalence and severity and coral bleaching in scleractinian corals, the major habitat-forming organisms in tropical reefs is presented and simple improvements to water quality may be an effective way to mitigate some coral disease epizootics and the corresponding loss of coral cover in the future.