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Cuartero J, Querejeta JI, Prieto I, Frey B, Alguacil MM. Warming and rainfall reduction alter soil microbial diversity and co-occurrence networks and enhance pathogenic fungi in dryland soils. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 949:175006. [PMID: 39069184 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2024] [Revised: 07/10/2024] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
In this 9-year manipulative field experiment, we examined the impacts of experimental warming (2 °C, W), rainfall reduction (30 % decrease in annual rainfall, RR), and their combination (W + RR) on soil microbial communities and native vegetation in a semi-arid shrubland in south-eastern Spain. Warming had strong negative effects on plant performance across five coexisting native shrub species, consistently reducing their aboveground biomass growth and long-term survival. The impacts of rainfall reduction on plant growth and survival were species-specific and more variable. Warming strongly altered the soil microbial community alpha-diversity and changed the co-occurrence network structure. The relative abundance of symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) increased under W and W + RR, which could help buffer the direct negative impacts of climate change on their host plants nutrition and enhance their resistance to heat and drought stress. Indicator microbial taxa analyses evidenced that the marked sequence abundance of many plant pathogenic fungi, such as Phaeoacremonium, Cyberlindnera, Acremonium, Occultifur, Neodevriesia and Stagonosporopsis, increased significantly in the W and W + RR treatments. Moreover, the relative abundance of fungal animal pathogens and mycoparasites in soil also increased significantly under climate warming. Our findings indicate that warmer and drier conditions sustained over several years can alter the soil microbial community structure, composition, and network topology. The projected warmer and drier climate favours pathogenic fungi, which could offset the benefits of increased AMF abundance under warming and further aggravate the severe detrimental impacts of increased abiotic stress on native vegetation performance and ecosystem services in drylands.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Cuartero
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
| | - J I Querejeta
- Departamento de Conservación de Suelos y Agua, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Murcia, Spain
| | - I Prieto
- Departamento de Conservación de Suelos y Agua, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Murcia, Spain; Area de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071 León, Spain
| | - B Frey
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - M M Alguacil
- Departamento de Conservación de Suelos y Agua, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Murcia, Spain
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2
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Gaudin M, Eveillard D, Chaffron S. Ecological associations distribution modelling of marine plankton at a global scale. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230169. [PMID: 39034696 PMCID: PMC11293856 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Marine plankton communities form intricate networks of interacting organisms at the base of the food chain, and play a central role in regulating ocean biogeochemical cycles and climate. However, predicting plankton community shifts in response to climate change remains challenging. While species distribution models are valuable tools for predicting changes in species biogeography under climate change scenarios, they generally overlook the key role of biotic interactions, which can significantly shape ecological processes and ecosystem responses. Here, we introduce a novel statistical framework, association distribution modelling (ADM), designed to model and predict ecological associations distribution in space and time. Applied on a Tara Oceans genome-resolved metagenomics dataset, the present-day biogeography of ADM-inferred marine plankton associations revealed four major biogeographic biomes organized along a latitudinal gradient. We predicted the evolution of these biome-specific communities in response to a climate change scenario, highlighting differential responses to environmental change. Finally, we explored the functional potential of impacted plankton communities, focusing on carbon fixation, outlining the predicted evolution of its geographical distribution and implications for ecosystem function.This article is part of the theme issue 'Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marinna Gaudin
- Nantes Université, École Centrale Nantes, CNRS, LS2N, UMR 6004, Nantes44000, France
- Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris75016, France
| | - Damien Eveillard
- Nantes Université, École Centrale Nantes, CNRS, LS2N, UMR 6004, Nantes44000, France
- Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris75016, France
| | - Samuel Chaffron
- Nantes Université, École Centrale Nantes, CNRS, LS2N, UMR 6004, Nantes44000, France
- Research Federation for the Study of Global Ocean Systems Ecology and Evolution, FR2022/Tara Oceans GOSEE, Paris75016, France
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3
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Damos PT. On formal limitations of causal ecological networks. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230170. [PMID: 39034692 PMCID: PMC11293863 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2023] [Revised: 12/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Causal multivariate time-series analysis, combined with network theory, provide a powerful tool for studying complex ecological interactions. However, these methods have limitations often underestimated when used in graphical modelling of ecological systems. In this opinion article, I examine the relationship between formal logic methods used to describe causal networks and their inherent statistical and epistemological limitations. I argue that while these methods offer valuable insights, they are restricted by axiomatic assumptions, statistical constraints and the incompleteness of our knowledge. To prove that, I first consider causal networks as formal systems, define causality and formalize their axioms in terms of modal logic and use ecological counterexamples to question the axioms. I also highlight the statistical limitations when using multivariate time-series analysis and Granger causality to develop ecological networks, including the potential for spurious correlations among other data characteristics. Finally, I draw upon Gödel's incompleteness theorems to highlight the inherent limits of fully understanding complex networks as formal systems and conclude that causal ecological networks are subject to initial rules and data characteristics and, as any formal system, will never fully capture the intricate complexities of the systems they represent. This article is part of the theme issue 'Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petros T. Damos
- Minstry of Education, Religious and Sports, Directorate of Secondary Education Veroia, Ergohori59132, Greece
- Department of Agriculture, School of Agricultural Studies, University of Western Macedonia, Florina, 53100, Greece
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, Kozani50100, Greece
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Ma X, Zhai T, Wang X, Cai C, Qiu D, Yin R, Li J, Liu G. Salinity-induced variations in bacterial composition and co-occurrence patterns within Salicornia-based constructed wetlands in mariculture. CHEMOSPHERE 2024; 363:142795. [PMID: 38986781 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2024] [Revised: 07/03/2024] [Accepted: 07/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Constructed wetlands use vegetation and microorganisms to remove contaminants like nitrogen and phosphorus from water. For mariculture, the impact of salinity on the efficiency of wastewater treatment of wetlands is unneglectable. However, little is known about their impact on the microbiome in constructed wetlands. Here, we set four salinity levels (15, 22, 29, and 36) in Salicornia constructed wetlands, and the experiment was conducted for a period of 72 days. The 15 group exhibited the highest removal rates of nitrogen compounds and phosphate, compared to the other salinity groups, the nosZ gene exhibited significantly higher expression in the 22 group (p < 0.05), indicated that microorganisms in 22 salinity have higher denitrification abilities. The three dominant phyla identified within the microbiomes were Proteobacteria, known for their diverse metabolic capabilities; Cyanobacteria, important for photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation; and Firmicutes, which include many fermenters. The ecological network analysis revealed a 'small world' model, characterized by high interconnectivity and short path lengths between microbial species, and had higher co-occurrence (45.13%) observed in this study comparing to the Erdös-Réyni random one (32.35%). The genus Microbulbifer emerged as the sole connector taxon, pivotal for integrating different microbial communities involved in nitrogen removal. A negative correlation was observed between salinity levels and network complexity, as assessed by the number of connections and diversity of interactions within the microbial community. Collectively, these findings underscore the critical role of microbial community interactions in optimizing nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands, with potential applications in the design and management of such systems for improved wastewater treatment in mariculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaona Ma
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China; College of Bio-systems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Bioresources and Environment, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China
| | - Tangfang Zhai
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China
| | - Xinyuan Wang
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China
| | - Chen Cai
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China
| | - Denggao Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Cultivation and High-value Utilization of Marine Organisms in Fujian Province, Fisheries Research Institute of Fujian, Xiamen, China
| | - Rui Yin
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China
| | - Jiayu Li
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China
| | - Gang Liu
- College of Bio-systems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Ocean Academy, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan, China.
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5
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Mann-Vollrath F, Correa-Cuadros JP, Ávila-Thieme MI, Duclos M, Jaksic FM. The ecological roles of the European rabbit in the Magellanic/Fuegian ecosystem of southernmost Chile. Sci Rep 2024; 14:19581. [PMID: 39179722 PMCID: PMC11344046 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-70511-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/26/2024] Open
Abstract
The European rabbit has invaded numerous ecosystems worldwide, but rarely steppes. Since its various introduction attempts into the ecosystems of the Magallanes/Fuegian region, the rabbit has become a key player, interacting with species at different trophic levels and generating impacts on ecosystems. To better understand the role of the rabbit in steppe and scrub ecosystems, we characterised the food web in the Magallanes/Fuegian region to understand the identity of their interacting species, the mechanisms and complexities of their interactions to demonstrate that rabbit management may become more complex than just controlling a single species. Based on a bibliographic review and wildlife specialists' opinions, we built the Magellanic/Fuegian food web, evaluated their topological properties and performed a rabbit extinction simulation to assess the possible short-term ecological mechanisms operating in the community. We found that the network had 206 nodes (64% native, 13% exotic, and 22% mixed) and 535 links among nodes. The European rabbit was the most connected node of the food web, had the second largest dietary breadth, and ranked as the seventh prey item with more predators. A rabbit extinction simulation shows a possible release of herbivory pressure on plants, including that on several native plants (e.g., Gunnera tinctoria, Pratia repens, Gavilea lutea, Tetroncium magellanicus), and a possible release of competition for some herbivores that share resources with the rabbit (e.g., Ovis aries, Lama guanicoe, Bos taurus). Although rabbit predators have a broad and generalist diet, some such as the native Galicitis cuja, could face a 20% reduction in their trophic width and could intensify predation on alternative prey. These results show that the European rabbit is strongly embedded in the Magellanic/Fuegian ecosystem and linked to several native species. Therefore, rabbit management should consider ecosystem approaches accompanied by monitoring programs on native fauna and experimental pilot studies on native flora to conserve the Chilean Patagonia community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisca Mann-Vollrath
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Mención Ecología, Santiago, Chile
- Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Santiago, Chile
| | - Jennifer Paola Correa-Cuadros
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Mención Ecología, Santiago, Chile.
- Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Santiago, Chile.
| | - M Isidora Ávila-Thieme
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Mención Ecología, Santiago, Chile
- Escuela de Negocios, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Artes, Universidad Mayor, Temuco, Chile
- Center for Resilience, Adaptation and Mitigation (CReAM), Universidad Mayor, Temuco, Chile
- Instituto Milenio en Socio-Ecología Costera (SECOS), Santiago, Chile
| | - Melanie Duclos
- Centro de Investigación para la Sustentabilidad, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Fabian M Jaksic
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Mención Ecología, Santiago, Chile
- Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Santiago, Chile
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6
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Mougi A. Ecosystem engineering and food web stability. Sci Rep 2024; 14:19400. [PMID: 39169231 PMCID: PMC11339392 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-70626-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 08/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Ecosystem engineering, which involves organism-triggered physical modification of the environment, is a widespread phenomenon. Despite this, the role of engineering in ecological communities remains poorly understood. This study employs a food web model to uncover the key roles of ecosystem engineering in maintaining food webs. While engineers facilitating population growth and suppressing consumers' foraging activity can help maintain complex communities with diverse species, engineering effects that suppress population growth and facilitate consumers' foraging activity can largely destabilize community dynamics. Furthermore, in the middle levels of engineering-related species within a community, an increase in species richness can increase community stability, contrary to classical ecological prediction. The study findings suggest that ecosystem engineering can explain biodiversity persistence in nature, but it depends on the proportion of engineering-related species and how engineering affects organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akihiko Mougi
- Institute of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Academic Assembly, Shimane University, 1060 Nishikawatsu-cho, Matsue, 690-8504, Japan.
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7
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Peng Y, Wu C, Ma G, Chen H, Wu QL, He D, Jeppesen E, Ren L. Insight into diversity change, variability and co-occurrence patterns of phytoplankton assemblage in headwater streams: a study of the Xijiang River basin, South China. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1417651. [PMID: 39224213 PMCID: PMC11367421 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1417651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2024] [Accepted: 07/31/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Phytoplankton has been used as a paradigm for studies of coexistence of species since the publication of the "paradox of the plankton." Although there are a wealth of studies about phytoplankton assemblages of lakes, reservoirs and rivers, our knowledge about phytoplankton biodiversity and its underlying mechanisms in mountain headwater stream ecosystems is limited, especially across regional scales with broad environmental gradients. In this study, we collected 144 phytoplankton samples from the Xijiang headwater streams of the Pearl River across low altitude (< 1,000 m) located in Guangxi province, intermediate altitude (1,000 m < altitude <2,000 m) in Guizhou province and high altitude (> 2,000 m) in Yunnan province of China. Our study revealed high phytoplankton diversity in these streams. Freshwater phytoplankton, including cyanobacteria, Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, Chrysophyta, Euglenophyta, Glaucophyta, Phaeophyta and Cryptophyta, were all detected. However, phytoplankton alpha diversity exhibited a monotonic decreasing relationship with increasing altitude. High altitudes amplified the "isolated island" effect of headwater streams on phytoplankton assemblages, which were characterized by lower homogeneous selection and higher dispersal limitation. Variability and network vulnerability of phytoplankton assemblages increased with increasing altitudes. Our findings demonstrated diversity, variability and co-occurrence patterns of phytoplankton assemblages linked to environmental factors co-varying with altitude across regional scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuyang Peng
- Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chuangfeng Wu
- Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guibin Ma
- Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Haiming Chen
- Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qinglong L. Wu
- Center for Evolution and Conservation Biology, Southern Marine Sciences and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Dan He
- Center for Evolution and Conservation Biology, Southern Marine Sciences and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
| | - Erik Jeppesen
- Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Limnology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Ecosystem Research and Implementation, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Türkiye
- Institute for Ecological Research and Pollution Control of Plateau Lakes, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Lijuan Ren
- Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
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8
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Zhao W, Soininen J, Hu A, Liu J, Li M, Wang J. The structure of bacteria-fungi bipartite networks along elevational gradients in contrasting climates. Mol Ecol 2024; 33:e17442. [PMID: 38953280 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2024] [Revised: 04/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/03/2024]
Abstract
Climate change is altering species distribution and modifying interactions in microbial communities. Understanding microbial community structure and their interactions is crucial to interpreting ecosystem responses to climate change. Here, we examined the assemblages of stream bacteria and fungi, and the associations between the two groups along elevational gradients in two regions with contrasting precipitation and temperature, that is the Galong and Qilian mountains of the Tibetan Plateau. In the wetter and warmer region, the species richness significantly increased and decreased with elevation for bacteria and fungi, respectively, while were nonsignificant in the drier and colder region. Their bipartite network structure was also different by showing significant increases in connectance and nestedness towards higher elevations only in the wetter and warmer region. In addition, these correlation network structure generally exhibited similar positive association with species richness in the wetter and warmer region and the drier and colder region. In the wetter and warmer region, climatic change along elevation was more important in determining connectance and nestedness, whereas microbial species richness exerted a stronger influence on network structure and robustness in the drier and colder region. These findings indicate substantial forthcoming changes in microbial diversity and network structure in warming climates, especially in wetter and warmer regions on Earth, advancing the understanding of microbial bipartite interactions' response to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenqian Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Janne Soininen
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ang Hu
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jinfu Liu
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Mingjia Li
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jianjun Wang
- Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
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9
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Kim M, Radicchi F. Shortest-Path Percolation on Random Networks. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2024; 133:047402. [PMID: 39121422 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.133.047402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 06/20/2024] [Indexed: 08/11/2024]
Abstract
We propose a bond-percolation model intended to describe the consumption, and eventual exhaustion, of resources in transport networks. Edges forming minimum-length paths connecting demanded origin-destination nodes are removed if below a certain budget. As pairs of nodes are demanded and edges are removed, the macroscopic connected component of the graph disappears, i.e., the graph undergoes a percolation transition. Here, we study such a shortest-path-percolation transition in homogeneous random graphs where pairs of demanded origin-destination nodes are randomly generated, and fully characterize it by means of finite-size scaling analysis. If budget is finite, the transition is identical to the one of ordinary percolation, where a single giant cluster shrinks as edges are removed from the graph; for infinite budget, the transition becomes more abrupt than the one of ordinary percolation, being characterized by the sudden fragmentation of the giant connected component into a multitude of clusters of similar size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minsuk Kim
- Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47408, USA
| | - Filippo Radicchi
- Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47408, USA
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10
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Wang Z, Tai W, Zhang X, Liu S, Niu Y, Chen W, Li N. Importance of plant and fruit traits on the structure of bird seed dispersal networks in different disturbed habitats. Integr Zool 2024; 19:753-762. [PMID: 38488176 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Species functional traits can influence seed dispersal processes and consequently affect species' role in the mutualistic network. Although the effect of animal traits on the structure of the seed dispersal network is well explored, it remains poorly understood how plant and fruit traits contribute to the structure. We here studied the effects of plant and fruit traits on the structure of bird seed dispersal networks across different disturbed habitats in the Meihua Mountain National Nature Reserve, Southeastern China. During the study period, 16, 20, 13, and 15 bird species were recorded foraging on 10, 11, 12, and 8 plant species, resulting in 511, 312, 265, and 201 foraging events in the protected forest, natural forest, village, and bamboo forest, respectively. The composition of these seed dispersal networks is not primarily influenced by a specific group of bulbul species, but rather by the presence of an endangered plant species, Taxus chinensis. As we expected, the structure of the four networks was different among the four disturbed habitats. Furthermore, our results also showed tree height and canopy density were the most important plant traits for structuring the seed dispersal network, while sugar, amylase, dry matter, and alkaloids were identified as significant fruit traits. Overall, our findings highlight the value of integrating trait-based ecology into the framework of the seed dispersal network and provide new insights for mutualistic network conservation in disturbed habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Wang
- College of Life Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Wei Tai
- College of Life Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xuan Zhang
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Shouguo Liu
- College of Life Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yixing Niu
- College of Life Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Wenwen Chen
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei, China
| | - Ning Li
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
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11
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Wang X, Fu X, Shi M, Xue C, Yang J, Zhao Z, Li S, Tu T. Multiple interaction networks reveal that Lepidoptera larvae and adults prefer various host plants for diet and pollination. Integr Zool 2024; 19:763-776. [PMID: 37427545 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
Plant-Lepidoptera interactions are often studied using the pollination or herbivore networks only. Lepidoptera species are involved in two types of plant-insect interactions because they are herbivores as larvae and pollinators as adults. The study of entangled networks is critical, since the interaction of different networks can affect the overall network and community stability. Here, we studied the interaction of plants and Lepidoptera on the Yongxing Island, South China Sea. A plant-lepidopteran pollination network and a plant-lepidopteran herbivore network were built by using data from flower-pollinator and leaf-herbivore interactions. We then combined the two networks into a single network. We measured plant composition similarity within each sub-network and across sub-networks for Lepidoptera species. Our findings indicate that the plant-Lepidoptera pollination network and the herbivory network share significant proportions of Lepidoptera but small proportions of plant assemblages. The pollination network had higher nestedness and connectance than the herbivore network. Agrius convolvuli was the most specialized species, while Zizina otis had the highest species strength in the pollination network. Most Lepidoptera species were highly specialized in the herbivore network and their importance positively correlated across the two networks. Furthermore, there was no dietary composition similarity between the two networks for most Lepidoptera species. Our findings highlight the visible structural difference between the pollination and the herbivore networks. Adult Lepidoptera selects different plants for oviposition and feeding, a strategy that may benefit their reproduction and survival by sustaining adequate resources for their two life stages and the diversity of both plants and insects in oceanic island communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangping Wang
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- South China National Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiao Fu
- Ningxia Yunwu Mountain National Natural Reserve, Guyuan, China
| | - Miaomiao Shi
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- South China National Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chunquan Xue
- Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiazhi Yang
- Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhongtao Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- South China National Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shijin Li
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- South China National Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, China
| | - Tieyao Tu
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
- South China National Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, China
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12
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Lynn CW, Holmes CM, Palmer SE. Emergent scale-free networks. PNAS NEXUS 2024; 3:pgae236. [PMID: 38966012 PMCID: PMC11223655 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/06/2024]
Abstract
Many complex systems-from the Internet to social, biological, and communication networks-are thought to exhibit scale-free structure. However, prevailing explanations require that networks grow over time, an assumption that fails in some real-world settings. Here, we explain how scale-free structure can emerge without growth through network self-organization. Beginning with an arbitrary network, we allow connections to detach from random nodes and then reconnect under a mixture of preferential and random attachment. While the numbers of nodes and edges remain fixed, the degree distribution evolves toward a power-law with an exponent γ = 1 + 1 p that depends only on the proportion p of preferential (rather than random) attachment. Applying our model to several real networks, we infer p directly from data and predict the relationship between network size and degree heterogeneity. Together, these results establish how scale-free structure can arise in networks of constant size and density, with broad implications for the structure and function of complex systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher W Lynn
- Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Quantitative Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
- Initiative for the Theoretical Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016, USA
- Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Caroline M Holmes
- Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Stephanie E Palmer
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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13
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Martins LP, Garcia-Callejas D, Lai HR, Wootton KL, Tylianakis JM. The propagation of disturbances in ecological networks. Trends Ecol Evol 2024; 39:558-570. [PMID: 38402007 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2024.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/26/2024]
Abstract
Despite the development of network science, we lack clear heuristics for how far different disturbance types propagate within and across species interaction networks. We discuss the mechanisms of disturbance propagation in ecological networks, and propose that disturbances can be categorized into structural, functional, and transmission types according to their spread and effect on network structure and functioning. We describe the properties of species and their interaction networks and metanetworks that determine the indirect, spatial, and temporal extent of propagation. We argue that the sampling scale of ecological studies may have impeded predictions regarding the rate and extent that a disturbance spreads, and discuss directions to help ecologists to move towards a predictive understanding of the propagation of impacts across interacting communities and ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas P Martins
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, Aotearoa New Zealand.
| | - David Garcia-Callejas
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, Aotearoa New Zealand
| | - Hao Ran Lai
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, Aotearoa New Zealand; Bioprotection Aotearoa, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, Aotearoa New Zealand
| | - Kate L Wootton
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, Aotearoa New Zealand
| | - Jason M Tylianakis
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, Aotearoa New Zealand; Bioprotection Aotearoa, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, Aotearoa New Zealand
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14
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Cirtwill AR, Åkesson A, Wootton KL, Eklöf A. Species motif participation provides unique information about species risk of extinction. J Anim Ecol 2024; 93:731-742. [PMID: 38556748 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Loss of species in food webs can set in motion a cascade of additional (secondary) extinctions. A species' position in a food web (e.g. its trophic level or number of interactions) is known to affect its ability to persist following disturbance. These simple measures, however, offer only a coarse description of how species fit into their community. One would therefore expect that more detailed structural measures such as participation in three-species motifs (meso-scale structures which provide information on a species' direct and indirect interactions) will also be related to probability of persistence. Disturbances affecting the basal resources have particularly strong effects on the rest of the food web. However, how disturbances branch out and affect consumer persistence depends on the structural pattern of species interactions in several steps. The magnitude, for example, the proportion of basal resources lost, will likely also affect the outcome. Here, we analyse whether a consumer's risk of secondary extinction after the removal of basal resources depends on the consumer's motif participation and how this relationship varies with the severity of disturbance. We show that consumer species which participate more frequently in the direct competition motif and less frequently in the omnivory motif generally have higher probability of persistence following disturbance to basal resources. However, both the strength of the disturbance and the overall network structure (i.e. connectance) affect the strength and direction of relationships between motif participation and persistence. Motif participation therefore captures important trends in species persistence and provides a rich description of species' structural roles in their communities, but must be considered in the context of network structure as a whole and of the specific disturbance applied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa R Cirtwill
- Spatial Foodweb Ecology Group, Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Åkesson
- Department of Theoretical Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Kate L Wootton
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Anna Eklöf
- Department of Theoretical Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
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15
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Sun QW, Chen JZ, Liao XF, Huang XL, Liu JM. Identification of keystone taxa in rhizosphere microbial communities using different methods and their effects on compounds of the host Cinnamomum migao. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 926:171952. [PMID: 38537823 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Exploring keystone taxa affecting microbial community stability and host function is crucial for understanding ecosystem functions. However, identifying keystone taxa from humongous microbial communities remains challenging. We collected 344 rhizosphere and bulk soil samples from the endangered plant C. migao for 2 years consecutively. Used high-throughput sequencing 16S rDNA and ITS to obtain the composition of bacterial and fungal communities. We explored keystone taxa and the applicability and limitations of five methods (SPEC-OCCU, Zi-Pi, Subnetwork, Betweenness, and Module), as well as the impact of microbial community domain, time series, and rhizosphere boundary on the identification of keystone taxa in the communities. Our results showed that the five methods, identified abundant keystone taxa in rhizosphere and bulk soil microbial communities. However, the keystone taxa shared by the rhizosphere and bulk soil microbial communities over time decreased rapidly decrease in the five methods. Among five methods on the identification of keystone taxa in the rhizosphere community, Module identified 113 taxa, SPEC-OCCU identified 17 taxa, Betweenness identified 3 taxa, Subnetwork identified 3 taxa, and Zi-Pi identified 4 taxa. The keystone taxa are mainly conditionally rare taxa, and their ecological functions include chemoheterotrophy, aerobic chemoheterotrophy, nitrate reduction, and anaerobic photoautotrophy. The results of the random forest model and structural equation model predict that keystone taxa Mortierella and Ellin6513 may have an effects on the accumulation of 1, 4, 7, - Cycloundecatriene, 1, 5, 9, 9-tetramethyl-, Z, Z, Z-, beta-copaene, bicyclogermacrene, 1,8-Cineole in C. migao fruits, but their effects still need further evidence. Our study evidence an unstable microbial community in the bulk soil, and the definition of microbial boundary and ecologically functional affected the identification of keystone taxa in the community. Subnetwork and Module are more in line with the definition of keystone taxa in microbial ecosystems in terms of maintaining community stability and hosting function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing-Wen Sun
- School of Pharmacy, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 550025, China; Guizhou Province Key Laboratory of Chinese Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy, 550025, China
| | - Jing-Zhong Chen
- School of Pharmacy, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang 550025, China; Guizhou Province Key Laboratory of Chinese Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy, 550025, China.
| | | | | | - Ji-Ming Liu
- College of Forestry, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
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16
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Tack LFJ, Vonk JA, van Riel MC, de Leeuw JJ, Koopman J, Maathuis MAM, Schilder K, van Hall RL, Huisman J, van der Geest HG. Food webs in isolation: The food-web structure of a freshwater reservoir with armoured shores in a former coastal bay area. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 925:171780. [PMID: 38499096 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
Many shallow coastal bays have been closed off from the sea to mitigate the risk of flooding, resulting in coastal reservoir lakes with artificial armoured shorelines. Often these enclosed ecosystems show a persistent decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services, which is likely reflected in their food-web structure. We therefore hypothesize that the food webs of coastal reservoir lakes with armoured shorelines (1) consist of relatively few species with a low food-web connectance and short food chains, and (2) are mainly fuelled by autochthonous organic matter produced in the pelagic zone. To investigate these two hypotheses, we used stable-isotope analysis to determine the food-web structure of lake Markermeer (The Netherlands), a large reservoir lake with armoured shorelines in a former coastal bay area. Contrary to expectation, connectance of the food web in lake Markermeer was comparable to other lakes, while food-chain length was in the higher range. However, the trophic links revealed that numerous macroinvertebrates and fish species in this constructed lake exhibited omnivorous feeding behaviour. Furthermore, in line with our second hypothesis, primary consumers heavily relied on pelagically derived organic matter, while benthic primary production exerted only a minor and seasonal influence on higher trophic levels. Stable-isotope values and the C:N ratio of sediment organic matter in the lake also aligned more closely with phytoplankton than with benthic primary producers. Moreover, terrestrial subsidies of organic matter were virtually absent in lake Markermeer. These findings support the notion that isolation of the lake through shore armouring and the lack of littoral habitats in combination with persistent resuspension of sediments have affected the food web. We argue that restoration initiatives should prioritize the establishment of land-water transition zones, thereby enhancing habitat diversity, benthic primary production, and the inflow of external organic matter while preserving pelagic primary production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura F J Tack
- Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Rijkswaterstaat, afdeling Water, Verkeer en Leefomgeving, Lelystad, the Netherlands.
| | - J Arie Vonk
- Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Mariëlle C van Riel
- Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands; Bargerveen Foundation, University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Joep J de Leeuw
- Wageningen Marine Research, Wageningen University and Research, IJmuiden, the Netherlands
| | - Jos Koopman
- Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Margot A M Maathuis
- Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Wageningen Marine Research, Wageningen University and Research, IJmuiden, the Netherlands
| | - Karen Schilder
- Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Wageningen Marine Research, Wageningen University and Research, IJmuiden, the Netherlands
| | - Rutger L van Hall
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Jef Huisman
- Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Harm G van der Geest
- Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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17
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Hidalgo-Martinez K, Giachini AJ, Schneider M, Soriano A, Baessa MP, Martins LF, de Oliveira VM. Shifts in structure and dynamics of the soil microbiome in biofuel/fuel blend-affected areas triggered by different bioremediation treatments. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2024; 31:33663-33684. [PMID: 38687451 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-33304-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
The use of biofuels has grown in the last decades as a consequence of the direct environmental impacts of fossil fuel use. Elucidating structure, diversity, species interactions, and assembly mechanisms of microbiomes is crucial for understanding the influence of environmental disturbances. However, little is known about how contamination with biofuel/petrofuel blends alters the soil microbiome. Here, we studied the dynamics in the soil microbiome structure and composition of four field areas under long-term contamination with biofuel/fossil fuel blends (ethanol 10% and gasoline 90%-E10; ethanol 25% and gasoline 75%-E25; soybean biodiesel 20% and diesel 80%-B20) submitted to different bioremediation treatments along a temporal gradient. Soil microbiomes from biodiesel-polluted areas exhibited higher richness and diversity index values and more complex microbial communities than ethanol-polluted areas. Additionally, monitored natural attenuation B20-polluted areas were less affected by perturbations caused by bioremediation treatments. As a consequence, once biostimulation was applied, the degradation was slower compared with areas previously actively treated. In soils with low diversity and richness, the impact of bioremediation treatments on the microbiomes was greater, and as a result, the hydrocarbon degradation extent was higher. The network analysis showed that all abundant keystone taxa corresponded to well-known degraders, suggesting that the abundant species are core targets for biostimulation in soil remediation processes. Altogether, these findings showed that the knowledge gained through the study of microbiomes in contaminated areas may help design and conduct optimized bioremediation approaches, paving the way for future rationalized and efficient pollutant mitigation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly Hidalgo-Martinez
- Divisão de Recursos Microbianos, Centro Pluridisciplinar de Pesquisas Químicas, Biológicas E Agrícolas (CPQBA), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Paulínia, SP, CEP 13148-218, Brazil.
- Programa de Pós-Graduação de Genética E Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, CEP 13083-970, Brazil.
| | - Admir José Giachini
- Núcleo Ressacada de Pesquisas Em Meio Ambiente (REMA)-Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Campus Universitário Sul da Ilha-Rua José Olímpio da Silva, 1326-Bairro Tapera, Florianópolis, SC, 88049-500, Brazil
| | - Marcio Schneider
- Núcleo Ressacada de Pesquisas Em Meio Ambiente (REMA)-Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Campus Universitário Sul da Ilha-Rua José Olímpio da Silva, 1326-Bairro Tapera, Florianópolis, SC, 88049-500, Brazil
| | - Adriana Soriano
- PETROBRAS/R&D Center (CENPES), Cidade Universitária, Av. Horácio Macedo, Ilha Do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, 950, ZIP 21941-915, Brazil
| | - Marcus Paulus Baessa
- PETROBRAS/R&D Center (CENPES), Cidade Universitária, Av. Horácio Macedo, Ilha Do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, 950, ZIP 21941-915, Brazil
| | - Luiz Fernando Martins
- PETROBRAS/R&D Center (CENPES), Cidade Universitária, Av. Horácio Macedo, Ilha Do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, 950, ZIP 21941-915, Brazil
| | - Valéria Maia de Oliveira
- Divisão de Recursos Microbianos, Centro Pluridisciplinar de Pesquisas Químicas, Biológicas E Agrícolas (CPQBA), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Paulínia, SP, CEP 13148-218, Brazil
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18
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Beaudrot L, Acevedo MA, Gorczynski D, Harris NC. Geographic differences in body size distributions underlie food web connectance of tropical forest mammals. Sci Rep 2024; 14:6965. [PMID: 38521800 PMCID: PMC10960815 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-57500-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding variation in food web structure over large spatial scales is an emerging research agenda in food web ecology. The density of predator-prey links in a food web (i.e., connectance) is a key measure of network complexity that describes the mean proportional dietary breadth of species within a food web. Connectance is a critical component of food web robustness to species loss: food webs with lower connectance have been shown to be more susceptible to secondary extinctions. Identifying geographic variation in food web connectance and its drivers may provide insight into community robustness to species loss. We investigated the food web connectance of ground-dwelling tropical forest mammal communities in multiple biogeographic regions to test for differences among regions in food web connectance and to test three potential drivers: primary productivity, contemporary anthropogenic pressure, and variation in mammal body mass distributions reflective of historical extinctions. Mammal communities from fifteen protected forests throughout the Neo-, Afro-, and Asian tropics were identified from systematic camera trap arrays. Predator-prey interaction data were collected from published literature, and we calculated connectance for each community as the number of observed predator-prey links relative to the number of possible predator-prey links. We used generalized linear models to test for differences among regions and to identify the site level characteristics that best predicted connectance. We found that mammal food web connectance varied significantly among continents and that body size range was the only significant predictor. More possible predator-prey links were observed in communities with smaller ranges in body size and therefore sites with smaller body size ranges had higher mean proportional dietary breadth. Specifically, mammal communities in the Neotropics and in Madagascar had significantly higher connectance than mammal communities in Africa. This geographic variation in contemporary mammalian food web structure may be the product of historical extinctions in the Late Quaternary, which led to greater losses of large-bodied species in the Neotropics and Madagascar thus contributing to higher average proportional dietary breadth among the remaining smaller bodied species in these regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydia Beaudrot
- Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of BioSciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
- Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
| | - Miguel A Acevedo
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Daniel Gorczynski
- Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of BioSciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Nyeema C Harris
- Applied Wildlife Ecology Lab, School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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19
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Toju H, Suzuki SS, Baba YG. Interaction network rewiring and species' contributions to community-scale flexibility. PNAS NEXUS 2024; 3:pgae047. [PMID: 38444600 PMCID: PMC10914369 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Abstract
The architecture of species interaction networks is a key factor determining the stability of ecological communities. However, the fact that ecological network architecture can change through time is often overlooked in discussions on community-level processes, despite its theoretical importance. By compiling a time-series community dataset involving 50 spider species and 974 Hexapoda prey species/strains, we quantified the extent to which the architecture of predator-prey interaction networks could shift across time points. We then developed a framework for finding species that could increase the flexibility of the interaction network architecture. Those "network coordinator" species are expected to promote the persistence of species-rich ecological communities by buffering perturbations in communities. Although spiders are often considered as generalist predators, their contributions to network flexibility vary greatly among species. We also found that detritivorous prey species can be cores of interaction rewiring, dynamically interlinking below-ground and above-ground community dynamics. We further found that the predator-prey interactions between those network coordinators differed from those highlighted in the standard network-analytical framework assuming static topology. Analyses of network coordinators will add a new dimension to our understanding of species coexistence mechanisms and provide platforms for systematically prioritizing species in terms of their potential contributions in ecosystem conservation and restoration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hirokazu Toju
- Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Otsu, Shiga 520-2133, Japan
- Laboratory of Ecosystems and Coevolution, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
- Center for Living Systems Information Science (CeLiSIS), Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Sayaka S Suzuki
- Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Otsu, Shiga 520-2133, Japan
| | - Yuki G Baba
- Biodiversity Division, Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, NARO, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604, Japan
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20
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Melgarejo-Colmenares K, Vezzani D, Gallego A, Cardo MV. Blood meal sources of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in domestic and open green environments from two urbanisations of temperate Argentina. BULLETIN OF ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 114:30-40. [PMID: 38112065 DOI: 10.1017/s0007485323000573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the blood-feeding patterns of mosquitoes is essential for evaluating their potential as disease vectors, especially in urban areas where mosquitoes coexist with humans, domestic animals and wildlife. This study aimed to bridge a substantial gap in regional knowledge by identifying the blood meal sources of field-collected mosquitoes in domestic and open green environments from two urbanisations of temperate Argentina, the Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (AMBA) and Tandil, using molecular techniques. Female mosquitoes were collected from November 2019 to March 2020 and April-May 2021. A bipartite network analysis was performed for each environment and urbanisation. A total of 103 blood meals from Aedes (2 species) and Culex (7 species) were identified. Among these, five mammal and 18 bird species were recognised as hosts. Aedes mosquitoes exclusively fed on mammals, while Culex mosquitoes exhibited a broader host range including both birds and mammals. In AMBA, the open green environments were composed by more mosquito species than the domestic environments, while both presented similar numbers of vertebrate species. In contrast, in open green environments from Tandil only blood-fed Aedes albifasciatus were collected. For open green environments of AMBA and domestic environments of Tandil, results suggested some degree of host selection. For the three main vectors of diseases in the region, Aedes aegypti, Ae. albifasciatus and Culex pipiens molestus, we present the first molecular evidence of human blood meals in South America. Epidemiological significance of the present findings is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karelly Melgarejo-Colmenares
- IIIA-UNSAM-CONICET, Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental, Escuela de Hábitat y Sostenibilidad, San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Darío Vezzani
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto Multidisciplinario sobre Ecosistemas y Desarrollo Sustentable, UNCPBA-CICPBA, Tandil, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alejandra Gallego
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto Multidisciplinario sobre Ecosistemas y Desarrollo Sustentable, UNCPBA-CICPBA, Tandil, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - María V Cardo
- IIIA-UNSAM-CONICET, Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental, Escuela de Hábitat y Sostenibilidad, San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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21
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Shirey V, Neupane N, Guralnick R, Ries L. Rising minimum temperatures contribute to 50 years of occupancy decline among cold-adapted Arctic and boreal butterflies in North America. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17205. [PMID: 38403895 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/10/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Global climate change has been identified as a potential driver of observed insect declines, yet in many regions, there are critical data gaps that make it difficult to assess how communities are responding to climate change. Poleward regions are of particular interest because warming is most rapid while biodiversity data are most sparse. Building on recent advances in occupancy modeling of presence-only data, we reconstructed 50 years (1970-2019) of butterfly occupancy trends in response to rising minimum temperatures in one of the most under-sampled regions of North America. Among 90 modeled species, we found that cold-adapted species are far more often in decline compared with their warm-adapted, more southernly distributed counterparts. Furthermore, in a post hoc analysis using species' traits, we find that species' range-wide average annual temperature is the only consistent predictor of occupancy changes. Species with warmer ranges were most likely to be increasing in occupancy. This trend results in the majority of butterflies increasing in occupancy probability over the last 50 years. Our results provide the first look at macroscale butterfly biodiversity shifts in high-latitude North America. These results highlight the potential of leveraging the wealth of presence-only data, the most abundant source of biodiversity data, for inferring changes in species distributions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vaughn Shirey
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
- Marine and Environmental Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Naresh Neupane
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Robert Guralnick
- Florida Museum of Natural History - University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Leslie Ries
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
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22
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Domínguez-García V, Kéfi S. The structure and robustness of ecological networks with two interaction types. PLoS Comput Biol 2024; 20:e1011770. [PMID: 38241353 PMCID: PMC10830016 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Until recently, most ecological network analyses investigating the effects of species' declines and extinctions have focused on a single type of interaction (e.g. feeding). In nature, however, diverse interactions co-occur, each of them forming a layer of a 'multilayer' network. Data including information on multiple interaction types has recently started to emerge, giving us the opportunity to have a first glance at possible commonalities in the structure of these networks. We studied the structural features of 44 tripartite ecological networks from the literature, each composed of two layers of interactions (e.g. herbivory and pollination), and investigated their robustness to species losses. Considering two interactions simultaneously, we found that the robustness of the whole community is a combination of the robustness of the two ecological networks composing it. The way in which the layers of interactions are connected to each other affects the interdependence of their robustness. In many networks, this interdependence is low, suggesting that restoration efforts would not automatically propagate through the whole community. Our results highlight the importance of considering multiple interactions simultaneously to better gauge the robustness of ecological communities to species loss and to more reliably identify key species that are important for the persistence of ecological communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginia Domínguez-García
- ISEM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier, France
- Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Seville, Spain
| | - Sonia Kéfi
- ISEM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier, France
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States of America
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23
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Graham NR, Krehenwinkel H, Lim JY, Staniczenko P, Callaghan J, Andersen JC, Gruner DS, Gillespie RG. Ecological network structure in response to community assembly processes over evolutionary time. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:6489-6506. [PMID: 36738159 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Revised: 01/07/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The dynamic structure of ecological communities results from interactions among taxa that change with shifts in species composition in space and time. However, our ability to study the interplay of ecological and evolutionary processes on community assembly remains relatively unexplored due to the difficulty of measuring community structure over long temporal scales. Here, we made use of a geological chronosequence across the Hawaiian Islands, representing 50 years to 4.15 million years of ecosystem development, to sample 11 communities of arthropods and their associated plant taxa using semiquantitative DNA metabarcoding. We then examined how ecological communities changed with community age by calculating quantitative network statistics for bipartite networks of arthropod-plant associations. The average number of interactions per species (linkage density), ratio of plant to arthropod species (vulnerability) and uniformity of energy flow (interaction evenness) increased significantly in concert with community age. The index of specializationH 2 ' has a curvilinear relationship with community age. Our analyses suggest that younger communities are characterized by fewer but stronger interactions, while biotic associations become more even and diverse as communities mature. These shifts in structure became especially prominent on East Maui (~0.5 million years old) and older volcanos, after enough time had elapsed for adaptation and specialization to act on populations in situ. Such natural progression of specialization during community assembly is probably impeded by the rapid infiltration of non-native species, with special risk to younger or more recently disturbed communities that are composed of fewer specialized relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie R Graham
- Department of Environmental Sciences Policy and Management, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Henrik Krehenwinkel
- Department of Biogeography, Faculty of Regional and Environmental Sciences, Trier University, Trier, Germany
| | - Jun Ying Lim
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Phillip Staniczenko
- Department of Biology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA
| | - Jackson Callaghan
- Department of Integrative, Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Jeremy C Andersen
- Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Daniel S Gruner
- Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Rosemary G Gillespie
- Department of Environmental Sciences Policy and Management, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
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24
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Cardo MV, Vezzani D. Host-mosquito interactions in rural and urban equestrian facilities from temperate Argentina. MEDICAL AND VETERINARY ENTOMOLOGY 2023; 37:816-825. [PMID: 37565364 DOI: 10.1111/mve.12686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023]
Abstract
Targeted vector surveillance informed by data on mosquito biting patterns can help limit arboviral zoonotic diseases. To characterise host-biting networks in rural and urban equestrian facilities from temperate Argentina, adult resting mosquitoes were collected (December 2018-April 2019) with a battery-powered aspirator. Engorged females were sorted to species, and their blood source was identified using molecular techniques. Bipartite network analysis was performed for rural and urban matrices. A total of 177 bloodmeals from 11 mosquito species of Aedes and Culex were identified, with seven mammal and 17 bird species recognised as hosts. Mammals represented 61% of the total feeds, mainly horse, dog and sheep; the best represented avian hosts were Columbiformes. Aedes species and Culex maxi fed only on mammals, while most other Culex species presented a wide range of hosts. The rural network had more nodes and interactions than its urban counterpart, both with some degree of host selection and aggregated patterns according to network indices. Culex quinquefasciatus was the strongest species in both networks, whereas Culex apicinus and Culex dolosus had a prominent role in the rural network. Bipartite network analysis will contribute to understanding the effects of urbanisation in the dynamics of vector-borne diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- María V Cardo
- IIIA-UNSAM-CONICET, Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental, Escuela de Hábitat y Sostenibilidad, San Martín, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Darío Vezzani
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto Multidisciplinario sobre Ecosistemas y Desarrollo Sustentable, UNCPBA-CICPBA, Tandil, Argentina
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25
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van Velzen E. High importance of indirect evolutionary rescue in a small food web. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:2110-2121. [PMID: 37807971 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Evolutionary rescue may allow species to survive environmental change, but how this mechanism operates in food webs is poorly understood. Here, the evolutionary rescue was investigated in a small model food web, systematically allowing the evolution of each single species in order to reveal how its adaptation affects the persistence of itself and others. The impact of evolution was highly species-specific and not necessarily positive: only one species, the specialist predator, consistently had a positive impact on overall persistence. Most strikingly, evolution overwhelmingly affected other species: rescue of others (indirect rescue) was far more frequent than self-rescue, and negative effects were nearly always indirect. This demonstrates that evolutionary rescue in food webs is inextricably bound up with species interactions, as the effects of evolution in one species ripple through the entire community. It is therefore critically important to consider the food web context in efforts to understand how species may survive global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen van Velzen
- Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Modelling, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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26
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Zhao J, Li Y, Wang X, Li M, Yu W, Chen J, Zhang L. Parasite-host network analysis provides insights into the evolution of two mistletoe lineages (Loranthaceae and Santalaceae). PLANT DIVERSITY 2023; 45:702-711. [PMID: 38197012 PMCID: PMC10772182 DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2023.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024]
Abstract
Mistletoes are ecologically important parasitic plants, with > 1600 species from five lineages worldwide. Mistletoe lineages exhibit distinct patterns of species diversification and host specificity, however, the mechanisms underlying these differences are poorly understood. In this study, we analysed a comprehensive parasite-host network, including 280 host species from 60 families and 22 mistletoe species from two lineages (Santalaceae and Loranthaceae) in Xishuangbanna, located in a biodiversity hotspot of tropical Asia. We identified the factors that predict the infection strength of mistletoes. We also detected host specificity and the phylogenetic signal of mistletoes and their hosts. We found that this interaction network could be largely explained by a model based on the relative abundance of species. Host infection was positively correlated with diameter at breast height and tree coverage, but negatively correlated with wood density. Overall, closely related mistletoe species tend to interact more often with similar hosts. However, the two lineages showed a significantly different network pattern. Rates of host generality were higher in Loranthaceae than in Santalaceae, although neither lineage showed phylogenetic signal for host generality. This study demonstrates that the neutral interaction hypothesis provides suitable predictions of the mistletoe-host interaction network, and mistletoe species show significant phylogenetic signals for their hosts. Our findings also indicate that high species diversification in Loranthaceae may be explained by high rates of host generality and the evolutionary history shared by Loranthaceae species with diverse host plants in the tropics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Zhao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, Yunnan, China
- Engineering Research Center of Eco-environment in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, China Three Gorges University, Yichang 443002, Hubei, China
| | - Yuanjie Li
- Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xuanni Wang
- Linnaeus Labs Technology Co., Ltd, Wuyuan 333200, Jiangxi, China
| | - Manru Li
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, Yunnan, China
- Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Wenbin Yu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, Yunnan, China
| | - Jin Chen
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, Yunnan, China
| | - Ling Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, Yunnan, China
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27
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Nauta J, Lammers C, Lexmond R, Christianen MJA, Borst A, Lamers LPM, van Lavieren H, Naipal S, Govers LL. Habitat complexity drives food web structure along a dynamic mangrove coast. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2023; 196:115597. [PMID: 37832500 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
Structurally complex habitats, such as mangrove forests, allow for rich assemblages of species that benefit from the provided space, volume and substrate. Changes in habitat complexity can affect species abundance, diversity and resilience. In this study, we explored the effects of habitat complexity on food web networks in four developmental stages of mangrove forests with differing structural complexities: climax > degrading > colonizing > bare, by analyzing food web structure, stable isotopes and habitat complexity. We found that food webs became gradually more biodiverse (species richness: +119 %), complex (link density: +39 %), and robust (connectance: -35 %) in climax versus bare stages with increasing complexity of the mangrove forest (i.e., number of trees, leaf cover, and pneumatophore densities). This study shows that habitat complexity drives food web network structure in dynamic mangrove forests. We recommend restoration practitioners to use this food web network approach to quantify habitat restoration successes complementary to traditional biodiversity metrics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janne Nauta
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 AA Groningen, the Netherlands; Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Carlijn Lammers
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 AA Groningen, the Netherlands; Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Coastal Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ), 1790 AB Den Burg, the Netherlands
| | - Robin Lexmond
- Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Plant Ecology and Physiology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Marjolijn J A Christianen
- Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Annieke Borst
- Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Leon P M Lamers
- Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands; B-WARE Research Centre, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | | | - Sieuwnath Naipal
- Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Leysweg 86, P.O.B. 9212, Paramaribo, Suriname
| | - Laura L Govers
- Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 AA Groningen, the Netherlands; Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Coastal Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ), 1790 AB Den Burg, the Netherlands
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28
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Hu B, Han S, He H. Effect of epidemic diseases on wild animal conservation. Integr Zool 2023; 18:963-980. [PMID: 37202360 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Under the background of global species extinction, the impact of epidemic diseases on wild animal protection is increasingly prominent. Here, we review and synthesize the literature on this topic, and discuss the relationship between diseases and biodiversity. Diseases usually reduce species diversity by decreasing or extinction of species populations, but also accelerate species evolution and promote species diversity. At the same time, species diversity can regulate disease outbreaks through dilution or amplification effects. The synergistic effect of human activities and global change is emphasized, which further aggravates the complex relationship between biodiversity and diseases. Finally, we emphasize the importance of active surveillance of wild animal diseases, which can protect wild animals from potential diseases, maintain population size and genetic variation, and reduce the damage of diseases to the balance of the whole ecosystem and human health. Therefore, we suggest that a background survey of wild animal populations and their pathogens should be carried out to assess the impact of potential outbreaks on the population or species level. The mechanism of dilution and amplification effect between species diversity and diseases of wild animals should be further studied to provide a theoretical basis and technical support for human intervention measures to change biodiversity. Most importantly, we should closely combine the protection of wild animals with the establishment of an active surveillance, prevention, and control system for wild animal epidemics, in an effort to achieve a win-win situation between wild animal protection and disease control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Hu
- National Research Center for Wildlife-Borne Diseases, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shuyi Han
- National Research Center for Wildlife-Borne Diseases, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hongxuan He
- National Research Center for Wildlife-Borne Diseases, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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29
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Liu Y, Dai W, Yao D, Wang N, Liu M, Wang L, Tian W, Yan P, Huang Z, Wang H. Arsenic pollution from human activities drives changes in soil microbial community characteristics. Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:2592-2603. [PMID: 37349980 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Soil arsenic (As) pollution not only decreases plant productivity but also soil quality, in turn hampering sustainable agricultural development. Despite the negative effects of As contamination on rice yield and quality being reported widely, the responses of microbial communities and co-occurrence networks in paddy soil to As pollution have not been explored. Here, based on high-throughput sequencing technologies, we investigated bacterial abundance and diversity in paddy soils with different levels of As contamination, and constructed associated microbial co-occurrence networks. As pollution reduced soil bacterial diversity significantly (p < 0.001). In addition, bioavailable As concentrations were negatively correlated with Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria relative abundance (p < 0.05). Conversely, As pollution had a positive relationship with Chloroflexi, Betaproteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes relative abundance (p < 0.05). Firmicutes relative abundance decreased with an increase in total As concentration. The ecological clusters and key groups in bacterial co-occurrence networks exhibited distinct trends with an increase in As pollution. Notably, Acidobacteria play an important role in maintaining microbial networks in As contaminated soils. Overall, we provide empirical evidence that As contamination influences soil microbial community structure, posing a threat to soil ecosystem health and sustainable agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Wei Dai
- CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Dandan Yao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Ning Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Mingqing Liu
- Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing, China
| | - Lei Wang
- Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing, China
| | - Wei Tian
- Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing, China
| | - Peirui Yan
- Mangshi Soil and Fertilizer Workstation, Yunnan, China
| | - Zhonglin Huang
- Guangxi Bossco Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., Nanning, China
| | - Hui Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
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30
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Jiang R, Wang M, Chen W. Heavy metal pollution triggers a shift from bacteria-based to fungi-based soil micro-food web: Evidence from an abandoned mining-smelting area. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2023; 459:132164. [PMID: 37598513 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
Heavy metals pose significant threats to soil biota, ultimately disrupting soil micro-food web. However, no studies have yet elucidated the impact of heavy metals on soil micro-food web. In this study, we explored the response of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and soil micro-food web along a gradient of heavy metals in an abandoned smelting-mining area. We found that bacteria responded strongly to heavy metals, whereas fungi showed greater resistance and tolerance. Nematodes responses were less apparent. With the increasing levels of heavy metal pollution, the importance of heavy metal-tolerant organisms in micro-food webs increased significantly. For instance, the keystone bacteria in soil micro-food web shifted from copiotrophic to oligotrophic types, while the keystone nematodes shifted from to bacterial-feeding (e.g., Eucephalobus) to fungal-feeding species (e.g., Ditylenchus). Additionally, elevated heavy metal concentrations increased the proportion of fungi (e.g., Mortierellomycota), intensifying their interactions with bacteria and nematodes and causing a shift from bacteria-based to fungi-based soil micro-food web. Furthermore, heavy metal contamination induced a more complex and stable soil micro-food web. Overall, we highlight the changes in soil micro-food web as a mechanism for coping with heavy metal stress. Our study provides valuable insights into how heavy metal pollution can cause shifts in soil micro-food webs and has critical implications for enhancing our understanding of the ecological consequences of environmental pollution at the ecosystem level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rong Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Meie Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China.
| | - Weiping Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049,China
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31
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Bertaccini D, Filippo A. A proposal for ranking through selective computation of centrality measures. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0289488. [PMID: 37721940 PMCID: PMC10506716 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023] Open
Abstract
In complex network analysis it is essential to investigate the alteration of network structures that results from the targeted removal of vertices or edges, ranked by centrality measures. Unfortunately, a sequential recalculation of centralities after each node elimination is often impractical for large networks, and computing rankings only at the beginning often does not accurately reflect the actual scenario. Here we propose a first result on the computational complexity of the sequential approach when nodes are removed from a network according to some centrality measures based on matrix functions. Moreover, we present two strategies that aim to reduce the computational impact of the sequential computation of centralities and provide theoretical results in support. Finally, we provide an application of our claims to the robustness of some synthetic and real-world networks.
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32
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Banville F, Gravel D, Poisot T. What constrains food webs? A maximum entropy framework for predicting their structure with minimal biases. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011458. [PMID: 37669314 PMCID: PMC10503755 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Food webs are complex ecological networks whose structure is both ecologically and statistically constrained, with many network properties being correlated with each other. Despite the recognition of these invariable relationships in food webs, the use of the principle of maximum entropy (MaxEnt) in network ecology is still rare. This is surprising considering that MaxEnt is a statistical tool precisely designed for understanding and predicting many types of constrained systems. This principle asserts that the least-biased probability distribution of a system's property, constrained by prior knowledge about that system, is the one with maximum information entropy. MaxEnt has been proven useful in many ecological modeling problems, but its application in food webs and other ecological networks is limited. Here we show how MaxEnt can be used to derive many food-web properties both analytically and heuristically. First, we show how the joint degree distribution (the joint probability distribution of the numbers of prey and predators for each species in the network) can be derived analytically using the number of species and the number of interactions in food webs. Second, we present a heuristic and flexible approach of finding a network's adjacency matrix (the network's representation in matrix format) based on simulated annealing and SVD entropy. We built two heuristic models using the connectance and the joint degree sequence as statistical constraints, respectively. We compared both models' predictions against corresponding null and neutral models commonly used in network ecology using open access data of terrestrial and aquatic food webs sampled globally (N = 257). We found that the heuristic model constrained by the joint degree sequence was a good predictor of many measures of food-web structure, especially the nestedness and motifs distribution. Specifically, our results suggest that the structure of terrestrial and aquatic food webs is mainly driven by their joint degree distribution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francis Banville
- Département de sciences biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
- Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, Quebec, Canada
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
- Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, Quebec, Canada
| | - Timothée Poisot
- Département de sciences biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, Quebec, Canada
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33
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Gómez JM, González-Megías A, Armas C, Narbona E, Navarro L, Perfectti F. The role of phenotypic plasticity in shaping ecological networks. Ecol Lett 2023; 26 Suppl 1:S47-S61. [PMID: 37840020 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2022] [Revised: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Plasticity-mediated changes in interaction dynamics and structure may scale up and affect the ecological network in which the plastic species are embedded. Despite their potential relevance for understanding the effects of plasticity on ecological communities, these effects have seldom been analysed. We argue here that, by boosting the magnitude of intra-individual phenotypic variation, plasticity may have three possible direct effects on the interactions that the plastic species maintains with other species in the community: may expand the interaction niche, may cause a shift from one interaction niche to another or may even cause the colonization of a new niche. The combined action of these three factors can scale to the community level and eventually expresses itself as a modification in the topology and functionality of the entire ecological network. We propose that this causal pathway can be more widespread than previously thought and may explain how interaction niches evolve quickly in response to rapid changes in environmental conditions. The implication of this idea is not solely eco-evolutionary but may also help to understand how ecological interactions rewire and evolve in response to global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- José M Gómez
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA-CSIC), Almería, Spain
- Research Unit Modeling Nature, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Adela González-Megías
- Research Unit Modeling Nature, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
- Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Cristina Armas
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA-CSIC), Almería, Spain
| | - Eduardo Narbona
- Departamento de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Bioquímica, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Luis Navarro
- Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ciencias del Suelo, Universidad de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
| | - Francisco Perfectti
- Research Unit Modeling Nature, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
- Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
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Revel-Muroz A, Akulinin M, Shilova P, Tyakht A, Klimenko N. Stability of human gut microbiome: Comparison of ecological modelling and observational approaches. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2023; 21:4456-4468. [PMID: 37745638 PMCID: PMC10511340 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2023.08.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Revised: 08/27/2023] [Accepted: 08/27/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in the human body, and perturbations in its composition have been linked to various disorders. Stability is an essential property of a healthy human gut microbiome, which allows it to maintain its functional richness under the external influences. This property has been explored through two distinct methodologies - mathematical modelling based on ecological principles and statistical analysis drawn from observations in interventional studies. Here we conducted a meta-analysis aimed to compare the two approaches utilising the data from 9 interventional and time series studies encompassing 3512 gut microbiome profiles obtained via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. By employing the previously published compositional Lotka-Volterra method, we modelled the dynamics of the microbial community and evaluated ecological stability measures. These measures were compared to those based on observed microbiome changes. There was a substantial correlation between the outcomes of the two approaches. Particularly, local stability assessed within the ecological paradigm was positively correlated with observational stability measures accounting for the compositional nature of microbiome data. Additionally, we were able to reproduce the previously reported inverse relationship between the community's robustness to microorganism loss and local stability, attributed to the distinct impacts of coefficient characterising the network decomposition on these two stability assessments. Our findings demonstrate harmonisation between the ecological and observational approaches to microbiome analysis, advancing the understanding of healthy gut microbiome concept. This paves the way to develop efficient microbiome-targeting interventions for disease prevention and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasia Revel-Muroz
- Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Mikhail Akulinin
- Department of Biological and Medical Physics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Institutskiy per. 9, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Polina Shilova
- Department of Biology, Moscow State University, 1–12 Leninskie Gory, Moscow, Russia
| | - Alexander Tyakht
- Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
- Atlas Biomed Group - Knomx LLC, Interchange House, Office 1.58, 81–85 Station Road, Croydon CR0 2AJ, United Kingdom
| | - Natalia Klimenko
- Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
- Atlas Biomed Group - Knomx LLC, Interchange House, Office 1.58, 81–85 Station Road, Croydon CR0 2AJ, United Kingdom
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Wang J, Wang C, Wu X, Zhang J, Zhao G, Hou Y, Sun H. Effects of moderate drought extension on bacterial network structure in the rhizosphere soil of Leymus chinensis in semi-arid grasslands. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1217557. [PMID: 37637130 PMCID: PMC10448527 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1217557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Grasslands are home to complex bacterial communities whose dynamic interactions play a crucial role in organic matter and nutrient cycling. However, there is limited understanding regarding the impact of changes in rainfall amount and the duration of dry intervals on bacterial interactions. Methods To assess the impact of changes in precipitation volume and dry intervals on bacterial co-occurrence networks, we carried out precipitation manipulation experiments in the Eastern Eurasian Steppe of China. Results and Discussion We found that alterations in precipitation and dry intervals did not significantly affect bacterial alpha and beta diversity. However, we observed significant changes in the co-occurrence network structure of bacteria in the rhizosphere ecosystem, with the 12-day dry interval showing the most notable reduction in the number of degrees, edges, and clustering coefficient. Additionally, the study identified putative keystone taxa and observed that the moderately prolonged dry intervals between precipitation events had a major effect on the robustness of bacterial networks. The complexity and stability of the network were found to be positively correlated, and were primarily influenced by soil water content, phosphorous, and aboveground biomass, followed by available phosphorus (AP) and total biomass. These findings have the potential to enhance our comprehension of how bacterial co-occurrence pattern react to variations in dry intervals, by regulating their interactions in water-limited ecosystems. This, in turn, could aid in predicting the impact of precipitation regime alterations on ecosystem nutrient cycling, as well as the feedback between ecosystem processes and global climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinlong Wang
- College of Science, Traditional Chinese Medicine Biotechnology Innovation Center in Jilin Province, Beihua University, Jilin, China
| | - Chunjuan Wang
- College of Science, Traditional Chinese Medicine Biotechnology Innovation Center in Jilin Province, Beihua University, Jilin, China
| | - Xuefeng Wu
- Chongqing Institute of Quality and Standardization, Chongqing, China
| | - Jinwei Zhang
- Department of Grassland Science, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China
| | - Guiyun Zhao
- College of Science, Traditional Chinese Medicine Biotechnology Innovation Center in Jilin Province, Beihua University, Jilin, China
| | - Yu Hou
- College of Science, Traditional Chinese Medicine Biotechnology Innovation Center in Jilin Province, Beihua University, Jilin, China
| | - Haiming Sun
- College of Science, Traditional Chinese Medicine Biotechnology Innovation Center in Jilin Province, Beihua University, Jilin, China
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36
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Li L, Meng D, Yin H, Zhang T, Liu Y. Genome-resolved metagenomics provides insights into the ecological roles of the keystone taxa in heavy-metal-contaminated soils. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1203164. [PMID: 37547692 PMCID: PMC10402746 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1203164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Microorganisms that exhibit resistance to environmental stressors, particularly heavy metals, have the potential to be used in bioremediation strategies. This study aimed to explore and identify microorganisms that are resistant to heavy metals in soil environments as potential candidates for bioremediation. Metagenomic analysis was conducted using microbiome metagenomes obtained from the rhizosphere of soil contaminated with heavy metals and mineral-affected soil. The analysis resulted in the recovery of a total of 175 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), 73 of which were potentially representing novel taxonomic levels beyond the genus level. The constructed ecological network revealed the presence of keystone taxa, including Rhizobiaceae, Xanthobacteraceae, Burkholderiaceae, and Actinomycetia. Among the recovered MAGs, 50 were associated with these keystone taxa. Notably, these MAGs displayed an abundance of genes conferring resistance to heavy metals and other abiotic stresses, particularly those affiliated with the keystone taxa. These genes were found to combat excessive accumulation of zinc/manganese, arsenate/arsenite, chromate, nickel/cobalt, copper, and tellurite. Furthermore, the keystone taxa were found to utilize both organic and inorganic energy sources, such as sulfur, arsenic, and carbon dioxide. Additionally, these keystone taxa exhibited the ability to promote vegetation development in re-vegetated mining areas through phosphorus solubilization and metabolite secretion. In summary, our study highlights the metabolic adaptability and ecological significance of microbial keystone taxa in mineral-affected soils. The MAGs associated with keystone taxa exhibited a markedly higher number of genes related to abiotic stress resistance and plant growth promotion compared to non-keystone taxa MAGs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liangzhi Li
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Delong Meng
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Huaqun Yin
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Teng Zhang
- School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hunan Urban and Rural Environmental Construction Co., Ltd, Changsha, China
| | - Yongjun Liu
- Hunan Tobacco Science Institute, Changsha, China
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37
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Tamayo-Quintero J, Martínez-de la Puente J, San-José M, González-Quevedo C, Rivera-Gutiérrez HF. Bird community effects on avian malaria infections. Sci Rep 2023; 13:11681. [PMID: 37468559 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-38660-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023] Open
Abstract
In community assembly processes, interspecific interactions play an important role in shaping community diversity, especially at the local scale. Changes in species richness or abundance can modify local infectious disease dynamics, either reducing or increasing the risk of transmission within the community. This study evaluates the effects of bird community on avian haemosporidians infections in a Neotropical region. Bird samples were collected from areas surrounding three dams, and molecular analysis were performed to identify blood-parasitic haemosporidia infecting the birds. Generalized linear models were used to analyze the relationships between the bird community and the prevalence, number of infections, and richness of avian haemosporidian lineages. Non-significant effects of bird community dominance and richness on the prevalence of avian parasites and the number of infections of Haemoproteus were found. However, there was evidence of an amplification effect. Host dominance was associated with the total number of infections, the number Plasmodium infections and the expected richness of Plasmodium lineages, while the expected richness of Haemoproteus lineages was associated with the richness of bird species. These findings highlight the role of host community dominance and richness in the dynamics of parasite infections, potentially influenced by the availability of competent hosts. This study contributes significantly to our understanding of blood parasite diversity in tropical birds within a relatively understudied region of South America.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana Tamayo-Quintero
- Grupo de Ecología y Evolución de Vertebrados, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia.
| | | | - Miriam San-José
- Charles Darwin Foundation, Charles Darwin Research Station, Puerto Ayora, Ecuador
| | - Catalina González-Quevedo
- Grupo de Ecología y Evolución de Vertebrados, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Héctor F Rivera-Gutiérrez
- Grupo de Ecología y Evolución de Vertebrados, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
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38
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Zhao Q, Van den Brink PJ, Xu C, Wang S, Clark AT, Karakoç C, Sugihara G, Widdicombe CE, Atkinson A, Matsuzaki SIS, Shinohara R, He S, Wang YXG, De Laender F. Relationships of temperature and biodiversity with stability of natural aquatic food webs. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3507. [PMID: 37316479 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38977-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Temperature and biodiversity changes occur in concert, but their joint effects on ecological stability of natural food webs are unknown. Here, we assess these relationships in 19 planktonic food webs. We estimate stability as structural stability (using the volume contraction rate) and temporal stability (using the temporal variation of species abundances). Warmer temperatures were associated with lower structural and temporal stability, while biodiversity had no consistent effects on either stability property. While species richness was associated with lower structural stability and higher temporal stability, Simpson diversity was associated with higher temporal stability. The responses of structural stability were linked to disproportionate contributions from two trophic groups (predators and consumers), while the responses of temporal stability were linked both to synchrony of all species within the food web and distinctive contributions from three trophic groups (predators, consumers, and producers). Our results suggest that, in natural ecosystems, warmer temperatures can erode ecosystem stability, while biodiversity changes may not have consistent effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qinghua Zhao
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
- Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology (URBE), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium.
- Institute of Complex Systems (naXys), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium.
- Institute of Life, Earth and the Environment (ILEE), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium.
| | - Paul J Van den Brink
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Wageningen Environmental Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Chi Xu
- School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China
| | - Adam T Clark
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Holteigasse 6, 8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Canan Karakoç
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA
| | - George Sugihara
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | - Angus Atkinson
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL13DH, UK
| | | | | | - Shuiqing He
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Yingying X G Wang
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, FI-40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Frederik De Laender
- Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology (URBE), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
- Institute of Complex Systems (naXys), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
- Institute of Life, Earth and the Environment (ILEE), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
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39
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Porter TM, Smenderovac E, Morris D, Venier L. All boreal forest successional stages needed to maintain the full suite of soil biodiversity, community composition, and function following wildfire. Sci Rep 2023; 13:7978. [PMID: 37198223 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-30732-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Wildfire is a natural disturbance in boreal forest systems that has been predicted to increase in frequency, intensity, and extent due to climate change. Most studies tend to assess the recovery of one component of the community at a time but here we use DNA metabarcoding to simultaneously monitor soil bacteria, fungi, and arthropods along an 85-year chronosequence following wildfire in jack pine-dominated ecosites. We describe soil successional and community assembly processes to better inform sustainable forest management practices. Soil taxa showed different recovery trajectories following wildfire. Bacteria shared a large core community across stand development stages (~ 95-97% of their unique sequences) and appeared to recover relatively quickly by crown closure. By comparison fungi and arthropods shared smaller core communities (64-77% and 68-69%, respectively) and each stage appeared to support unique biodiversity. We show the importance of maintaining a mosaic ecosystem that represents each stand development stage to maintain the full suite of biodiversity in soils following wildfire, especially for fungi and arthropods. These results will provide a useful baseline for comparison when assessing the effects of human disturbance such as harvest or for assessing the effects of more frequent wildfire events due to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresita M Porter
- Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Canada.
- University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, Guelph, ON, Canada.
| | - Emily Smenderovac
- Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Canada
| | - Dave Morris
- Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada
| | - Lisa Venier
- Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Canada
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40
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Fan C, Zhu D, Zhang T, Wu R. Efficient keystone species identification strategy based on tabu search. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0285575. [PMID: 37167265 PMCID: PMC10174581 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
As species extinction accelerates globally and biodiversity declines dramatically, identifying keystone species becomes an effective way to conserve biodiversity. In traditional approaches, it is considered that the extinction of species with high centrality poses the greatest threat to secondary extinction. However, the indirect effect, which is equally important as the local and direct effects, is not included. Here, we propose an optimized disintegration strategy model for quantitative food webs and introduced tabu search, a metaheuristic optimization algorithm, to identify keystone species. Topological simulations are used to record secondary extinctions during species removal and secondary extinction areas, as well as to evaluate food web robustness. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is also validated by comparing it with traditional methods. Results of our experiments demonstrate that our strategy can optimize the effect of food web disintegration and identify the species whose extinction is most destructive to the food web through global search. The algorithm provides an innovative and efficient way for further development of keystone species identification in the ecosystem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanjin Fan
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Shandong University, Weihai, Shandong, China
| | - Donghui Zhu
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Shandong University, Weihai, Shandong, China
| | - Tongtong Zhang
- SDU-ANU Joint Science College, Shandong University, Weihai, Shandong, China
| | - Ruijia Wu
- School of Law, Weihai, Shandong University, Weihai, Shandong, China
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41
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Quinto J, Díaz-Castelazo C, Ramírez-Hernández A, Padilla A, Sánchez-Almodóvar E, Galante E, Micó E. Interaction Networks Help to Infer the Vulnerability of the Saproxylic Beetle Communities That Inhabit Tree Hollows in Mediterranean Forests. INSECTS 2023; 14:insects14050446. [PMID: 37233074 DOI: 10.3390/insects14050446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Insect communities are facing contrasting responses due to global change. However, knowledge on impacts of communities' reorganizations is scarce. Network approaches could help to envision community changes in different environmental scenarios. Saproxylic beetles were selected to examine long-term variations in insect interaction/diversity patterns and their vulnerability to global change. We evaluated interannual differences in network patterns in the tree hollow-saproxylic beetle interaction using absolute samplings over an 11-year interval in three Mediterranean woodland types. We explored saproxylic communities' vulnerability to microhabitat loss via simulated extinctions and by recreating threat scenarios based on decreasing microhabitat suitability. Although temporal diversity patterns varied between woodland types, network descriptors showed an interaction decline. The temporal beta-diversity of interactions depended more on interaction than on species turnover. Interaction and diversity temporal shifts promoted less specialized and more vulnerable networks, which is particularly worrisome in the riparian woodland. Network procedures evidenced that saproxylic communities are more vulnerable today than 11 years ago irrespective of whether species richness increased or decreased, and the situation could worsen in the future depending on tree hollow suitability. Network approaches were useful for predicting saproxylic communities' vulnerability across temporal scenarios and, thus, for providing valuable information for management and conservation programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier Quinto
- Instituto de Investigación CIBIO (Centro Iberoamericano de la Biodiversidad), Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
| | | | | | - Ascensión Padilla
- Instituto de Investigación CIBIO (Centro Iberoamericano de la Biodiversidad), Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
- Instituto Interuniversitario de Geografía, Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
| | | | - Eduardo Galante
- Instituto de Investigación CIBIO (Centro Iberoamericano de la Biodiversidad), Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
| | - Estefanía Micó
- Instituto de Investigación CIBIO (Centro Iberoamericano de la Biodiversidad), Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
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42
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Ceron K, Sales LP, Santana DJ, Pires MM. Decoupled responses of biodiversity facets driven from anuran vulnerability to climate and land‐use changes. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:869-882. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.14207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023]
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43
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Merz E, Saberski E, Gilarranz LJ, Isles PDF, Sugihara G, Berger C, Pomati F. Disruption of ecological networks in lakes by climate change and nutrient fluctuations. NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE 2023; 13:389-396. [PMID: 37038592 PMCID: PMC10079529 DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01615-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Climate change interacts with local processes to threaten biodiversity by disrupting the complex network of ecological interactions. While changes in network interactions drastically affect ecosystems, how ecological networks respond to climate change, in particular warming and nutrient supply fluctuations, is largely unknown. Here, using an equation-free modelling approach on monthly plankton community data in ten Swiss lakes, we show that the number and strength of plankton community interactions fluctuate and respond nonlinearly to water temperature and phosphorus. While lakes show system-specific responses, warming generally reduces network interactions, particularly under high phosphate levels. This network reorganization shifts trophic control of food webs, leading to consumers being controlled by resources. Small grazers and cyanobacteria emerge as sensitive indicators of changes in plankton networks. By exposing the outcomes of a complex interplay between environmental drivers, our results provide tools for studying and advancing our understanding of how climate change impacts entire ecological communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ewa Merz
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Erik Saberski
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA USA
| | - Luis J. Gilarranz
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Peter D. F. Isles
- Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, Montpelier, VT USA
| | - George Sugihara
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA USA
| | - Christine Berger
- Stadt Zuerich, Wasserversorgung, Qualitaetsueberwachung, Zuerich, Switzerland
| | - Francesco Pomati
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
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44
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Terrestrial food web of the Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary, Colombia: An analysis from a topological approach. ECOL INFORM 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2023.102074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/22/2023]
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45
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Ren P, Didham RK, Murphy MV, Zeng D, Si X, Ding P. Forest edges increase pollinator network robustness to extinction with declining area. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:393-404. [PMID: 36717744 PMCID: PMC9998274 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01973-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Edge effects often exacerbate the negative effects of habitat loss on biodiversity. In forested ecosystems, however, many pollinators actually prefer open sunny conditions created by edge disturbances. We tested the hypothesis that forest edges have a positive buffering effect on plant-pollinator interaction networks in the face of declining forest area. In a fragmented land-bridge island system, we recorded ~20,000 plant-pollinator interactions on 41 islands over 3 yr. We show that plant richness and floral resources decline with decreasing forest area at both interior and edge sites, but edges maintain 10-fold higher pollinator abundance and richness regardless of area loss. Edge networks contain highly specialized species, with higher nestedness and lower modularity than interior networks, maintaining high robustness to extinction following area loss while forest interior networks collapse. Anthropogenic forest edges benefit community diversity and network robustness to extinction in the absence of natural gap-phase dynamics in small degraded forest remnants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng Ren
- MOE Key Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis and Protection, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Raphael K Didham
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.,CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Centre for Environment and Life Sciences, Floreat, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Mark V Murphy
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Di Zeng
- Zhejiang Zhoushan Archipelago Observation and Research Station, Institute of Eco-Chongming, Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xingfeng Si
- Zhejiang Zhoushan Archipelago Observation and Research Station, Institute of Eco-Chongming, Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ping Ding
- MOE Key Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis and Protection, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
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46
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Species extinction in different time scales: Comment on "Knowledge gaps and missing links in understanding mass extinctions: Can mathematical modeling help?" by Ivan Sudakow et al. Phys Life Rev 2023; 44:176-178. [PMID: 36764152 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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47
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Zhou Y, Zhang H, Liu D, Khashaveh A, Li Q, Wyckhuys KA, Wu K. Long-term insect censuses capture progressive loss of ecosystem functioning in East Asia. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eade9341. [PMID: 36735783 PMCID: PMC9897670 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade9341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Insects provide critical ecosystem services such as biological pest control, in which natural enemies (NE) regulate the populations of crop-feeding herbivores (H). While H-NE dynamics are routinely studied at small spatiotemporal scales, multiyear assessments over entire agrolandscapes are rare. Here, we draw on 18-year radar and searchlight trapping datasets (2003-2020) from eastern Asia to (i) assess temporal population trends of 98 airborne insect species and (ii) characterize the associated H-NE interplay. Although NE consistently constrain interseasonal H population growth, their summer abundance declined by 19.3% over time and prominent agricultural pests abandoned their equilibrium state. Within food webs composed of 124 bitrophic couplets, NE abundance annually fell by 0.7% and network connectance dropped markedly. Our research unveils how a progressive decline in insect numbers debilitates H trophic regulation and ecosystem stability at a macroscale, carrying implications for food security and (agro)ecological resilience during times of global environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Dazhong Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, P.R. China
| | - Adel Khashaveh
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, P.R. China
| | - Qian Li
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, P.R. China
| | - Kris A. G. Wyckhuys
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, P.R. China
| | - Kongming Wu
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, P.R. China
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48
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Nakas G, Kantsa A, Vujić A, Mescher MC, De Moraes CΜ, Petanidou T. Recent fire in a Mediterranean ecosystem strengthens hoverfly populations and their interaction networks with plants. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9803. [PMID: 36789333 PMCID: PMC9905663 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Fire affects many critical ecological processes, including pollination, and effects of climate change on fire regimes may have profound consequences that are difficult to predict. Considerable work has examined effects of fire on pollinator diversity, but relatively few studies have examined these effects on interaction networks including those of pollinators other than bees. We examined the effects of a severe wildfire on hoverfly pollinators in a Mediterranean island system. Using data collected over 3 consecutive years at burnt and unburnt sites, we documented differences in species diversity, abundance, and functional traits, as well as hoverfly interactions with flowering plants. Hoverfly abundance and species richness peaked during the first post-fire flowering season (year 1), which coincided with the presence of many opportunistic species. Also in year 1, hoverfly pollination networks were larger, less specialized, more nested, and less modular at burnt (vs. unburnt) sites; furthermore, these networks exhibited higher phylogenetic host-plant diversity. These effects declined over the next 2 years, with burnt and unburnt sites converging in similarity to hoverfly communities and interaction networks. While data obtained over 3 years provide a clear timeline of initial post-fire recovery, we emphasize the importance of longer-term monitoring for understanding the responses of natural communities to wildfires, which are projected to become more frequent and more destructive in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgios Nakas
- Department of GeographyUniversity of the AegeanMytileneGreece
| | - Aphrodite Kantsa
- Department of Environmental System SciencesETH ZürichZürichSwitzerland
| | - Ante Vujić
- Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of SciencesUniversity of Novi SadNovi SadSerbia
| | - Mark C. Mescher
- Department of Environmental System SciencesETH ZürichZürichSwitzerland
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49
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González C. Evolution of the concept of ecological integrity and its study through networks. Ecol Modell 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
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50
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Tian W, Zhang H, Wang Z, Tian Y, Huang T. Analysis on the stability of plankton in a food web with empirical organism body mass distribution. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2023; 30:21327-21343. [PMID: 36269477 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-23696-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The mechanism supporting the stability of complex food webs is an important, yet still controversial issue in ecology. Integrating the bioenergetic model with a natural plankton food web with empirical organism body mass distribution, we studied the effects of taxa diversity, nutrient enrichment simulation and connectance on the stability of plankton, and the underlying mechanisms. The behavior and functions of plankton with different body masses in the system were also explored. The results showed that genus richness promoted the temporal stability of community but reduced that of population. Meanwhile, the effects of taxon extinction on community biomass and temporal stability depended on the body masses of those lost taxa. Enrichment decreased phytoplankton and zooplankton community stability directly by increasing the temporal variability of biomass and indirectly by reducing taxa diversity. Enrichment preferentially caused phytoplankton taxa with the highest individual biomass to go extinct and the ones with smaller to increase in biomass. The effects, as well as the underlying mechanisms of connectance on phytoplankton and zooplankton stability were different. High connectance promoted the persistence and biomasses of both zooplankton and small-bodied phytoplankton but reduced those of larger-bodied phytoplankton. The results and methodology in this research will be helpful in understanding and analyzing the stability of plankton communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wang Tian
- Research Center for Engineering Ecology and Nonlinear Science, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, People's Republic of China
| | - Huayong Zhang
- Research Center for Engineering Ecology and Nonlinear Science, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, People's Republic of China.
| | - Zhongyu Wang
- Research Center for Engineering Ecology and Nonlinear Science, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, People's Republic of China
| | - Yonglan Tian
- Research Center for Engineering Ecology and Nonlinear Science, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, People's Republic of China
| | - Tousheng Huang
- Research Center for Engineering Ecology and Nonlinear Science, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, People's Republic of China
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