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van Breugel M, Bongers F, Norden N, Meave JA, Amissah L, Chanthorn W, Chazdon R, Craven D, Farrior C, Hall JS, Hérault B, Jakovac C, Lebrija-Trejos E, Martínez-Ramos M, Muñoz R, Poorter L, Rüger N, van der Sande M, Dent DH. Feedback loops drive ecological succession: towards a unified conceptual framework. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:928-949. [PMID: 38226776 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13051] [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: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Abstract
The core principle shared by most theories and models of succession is that, following a major disturbance, plant-environment feedback dynamics drive a directional change in the plant community. The most commonly studied feedback loops are those in which the regrowth of the plant community causes changes to the abiotic (e.g. soil nutrients) or biotic (e.g. dispersers) environment, which differentially affect species availability or performance. This, in turn, leads to shifts in the species composition of the plant community. However, there are many other PE feedback loops that potentially drive succession, each of which can be considered a model of succession. While plant-environment feedback loops in principle generate predictable successional trajectories, succession is generally observed to be highly variable. Factors contributing to this variability are the stochastic processes involved in feedback dynamics, such as individual mortality and seed dispersal, and extrinsic causes of succession, which are not affected by changes in the plant community but do affect species performance or availability. Both can lead to variation in the identity of dominant species within communities. This, in turn, leads to further contingencies if these species differ in their effect on their environment (priority effects). Predictability and variability are thus intrinsically linked features of ecological succession. We present a new conceptual framework of ecological succession that integrates the propositions discussed above. This framework defines seven general causes: landscape context, disturbance and land-use, biotic factors, abiotic factors, species availability, species performance, and the plant community. When involved in a feedback loop, these general causes drive succession and when not, they are extrinsic causes that create variability in successional trajectories and dynamics. The proposed framework provides a guide for linking these general causes into causal pathways that represent specific models of succession. Our framework represents a systematic approach to identifying the main feedback processes and causes of variation at different successional stages. It can be used for systematic comparisons among study sites and along environmental gradients, to conceptualise studies, and to guide the formulation of research questions and design of field studies. Mapping an extensive field study onto our conceptual framework revealed that the pathways representing the study's empirical outcomes and conceptual model had important differences, underlining the need to move beyond the conceptual models that currently dominate in specific fields and to find ways to examine the importance of and interactions among alternative causal pathways of succession. To further this aim, we argue for integrating long-term studies across environmental and anthropogenic gradients, combined with controlled experiments and dynamic modelling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michiel van Breugel
- Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Arts Link, #03-01 Block AS2, 117570, Singapore
- Yale-NUS College, 16 College Avenue West, Singapore, 138527, Singapore
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Roosevelt Ave. Tupper Building - 401, Panama City, 0843-03092, Panama
| | - Frans Bongers
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Natalia Norden
- Centro de Estudios Socioecológicos y Cambio Global, Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Avenida Circunvalar #16-20, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Jorge A Meave
- Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Circuito Exterior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, C.P. 04510, Mexico
| | - Lucy Amissah
- CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, UPO Box 63, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Wirong Chanthorn
- Department of Environmental Technology and Management, Faculty of Environment, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan Road, Jatujak District, 10900, Thailand
| | - Robin Chazdon
- Forest Research Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Dr, Sippy Downs, Queensland, 4556, Australia
| | - Dylan Craven
- Center for Genomics, Ecology & Environment, Universidad Mayor, Camino La Piramide 5750, Huechuraba, Santiago, 8580745, Chile
| | - Caroline Farrior
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 2415 Speedway, Stop C0930, Austin, Texas, 78705, USA
| | - Jefferson S Hall
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Roosevelt Ave. Tupper Building - 401, Panama City, 0843-03092, Panama
| | - Bruno Hérault
- CIRAD, UPR Forêts et Sociétés, F-34398 Montpellier, France & Forêts et Sociétés, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, Montpellier, France
| | - Catarina Jakovac
- Departamento de Fitotecnia, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Rod. Admar Gonzaga, 1346, 88034-000, Florianópolis, Brazil
| | - Edwin Lebrija-Trejos
- Department of Biology and Environment, University of Haifa-Oranim, Tivon, 36006, Israel
| | - Miguel Martínez-Ramos
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Morelia, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro # 8701, Col. Ex-Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, CP 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
| | - Rodrigo Muñoz
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Lourens Poorter
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Nadja Rüger
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Roosevelt Ave. Tupper Building - 401, Panama City, 0843-03092, Panama
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstr. 4, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Economics, Institute of Empirical Economic Research, University of Leipzig, Grimmaische Str. 12, 04109, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Masha van der Sande
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Daisy H Dent
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Roosevelt Ave. Tupper Building - 401, Panama City, 0843-03092, Panama
- ETH Zürich, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute for Integrative Biology, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland
- Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
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Naves-Alegre L, Sebastián-González E, Sánchez-Zapata JA. Behavioral interactions are modulated by facilitation along a heterotrophic succession. Ecology 2024; 105:e4236. [PMID: 38185477 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Revised: 10/12/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Competition and facilitation drive ecological succession but are often hard to quantify. In this sense, behavioral data may be a key tool to analyze interaction networks, providing insights into temporal trends in facilitation and competition processes within animal heterotrophic succession. Here, we perform the first in-depth analysis of the factors driving temporal dynamics of carcass consumption by analyzing behavioral patterns (i.e., interactions) and community dynamics metrics (i.e., species richness, abundance, turnover, and diversity) in a Neotropical scavenger guild. For this purpose, we monitored goat carcasses using automatic cameras. From 573 reviewed videos, we registered 1784 intraspecific and 624 interspecific interactions, using intraspecific and interspecific aggressions (n = 2048) as a behavioral proxy of competition intensity. Our results show that resource availability shapes behavioral interactions between vultures, with a specific effect of the different species on behavioral and competition dynamics, showing the existence of a hierarchy between species. Furthermore, behavioral processes linked to carcass opening tended to be facilitative, related to moments of higher tolerance (i.e., lower aggressiveness), thus reducing competition intensity and also affecting community structure and dynamics. This novel framework demonstrates complex ephemeral successional processes characterized by a fluctuation in facilitation and competition intensity during the consumption of an unpredictable resource linked to key ecosystem processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Naves-Alegre
- Department of Applied Biology, Centro de Investigación e Innovación Agroalimentaria y Agroambiental (CIAGRO-UMH), Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Elche, Spain
| | | | - José Antonio Sánchez-Zapata
- Department of Applied Biology, Centro de Investigación e Innovación Agroalimentaria y Agroambiental (CIAGRO-UMH), Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Elche, Spain
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3
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Cantera I, Carteron A, Guerrieri A, Marta S, Bonin A, Ambrosini R, Anthelme F, Azzoni RS, Almond P, Alviz Gazitúa P, Cauvy-Fraunié S, Ceballos Lievano JL, Chand P, Chand Sharma M, Clague J, Cochachín Rapre JA, Compostella C, Cruz Encarnación R, Dangles O, Eger A, Erokhin S, Franzetti A, Gielly L, Gili F, Gobbi M, Hågvar S, Khedim N, Meneses RI, Peyre G, Pittino F, Rabatel A, Urseitova N, Yang Y, Zaginaev V, Zerboni A, Zimmer A, Taberlet P, Diolaiuti GA, Poulenard J, Thuiller W, Caccianiga M, Ficetola GF. The importance of species addition 'versus' replacement varies over succession in plant communities after glacier retreat. NATURE PLANTS 2024; 10:256-267. [PMID: 38233559 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-023-01609-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
The mechanisms underlying plant succession remain highly debated. Due to the local scope of most studies, we lack a global quantification of the relative importance of species addition 'versus' replacement. We assessed the role of these processes in the variation (β-diversity) of plant communities colonizing the forelands of 46 retreating glaciers worldwide, using both environmental DNA and traditional surveys. Our findings indicate that addition and replacement concur in determining community changes in deglaciated sites, but their relative importance varied over time. Taxa addition dominated immediately after glacier retreat, as expected in harsh environments, while replacement became more important for late-successional communities. These changes were aligned with total β-diversity changes, which were more pronounced between early-successional communities than between late-successional communities (>50 yr since glacier retreat). Despite the complexity of community assembly during plant succession, the observed global pattern suggests a generalized shift from the dominance of facilitation and/or stochastic processes in early-successional communities to a predominance of competition later on.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Cantera
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
| | - Alexis Carteron
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- Université de Toulouse, Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan, UMR INRAE-INPT DYNAFOR, Toulouse, France
| | - Alessia Guerrieri
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- Argaly, Bâtiment CleanSpace, Sainte-Hélène-du-Lac, France
| | - Silvio Marta
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, CNR, Pisa, Italy
| | - Aurélie Bonin
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- Argaly, Bâtiment CleanSpace, Sainte-Hélène-du-Lac, France
| | - Roberto Ambrosini
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Fabien Anthelme
- Laboratory AMAP, IRD, University of Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier, France
| | - Roberto Sergio Azzoni
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra 'Ardito Desio', Milano, Italy
| | - Peter Almond
- Department of Soil and Physical Sciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand
| | - Pablo Alviz Gazitúa
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Biodiversidad, Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile
| | | | | | - Pritam Chand
- Department of Geography, School of Environment and Earth Sciences, Central University of Punjab, VPO- Ghudda, Bathinda, Punjab, India
| | - Milap Chand Sharma
- Centre for the Study of Regional Development - School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - John Clague
- Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | | | | | - Olivier Dangles
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
| | - Andre Eger
- Mannaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Soils and Landscapes, Lincoln, New Zealand
| | - Sergey Erokhin
- Institute of Water Problems and Hydro-Energy, Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
| | - Andrea Franzetti
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), - University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
| | - Ludovic Gielly
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France
| | - Fabrizio Gili
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Mauro Gobbi
- Research and Museum Collections Office, Climate and Ecology Unit, MUSE-Science Museum, Trento, Italy
| | - Sigmund Hågvar
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management (INA), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
- UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø Museum, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Norine Khedim
- Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, EDYTEM, Chambéry, France
| | - Rosa Isela Meneses
- Herbario Nacional de Bolivia: La Paz, La Paz, Bolivia
- Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
| | - Gwendolyn Peyre
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of the Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Francesca Pittino
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), - University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
| | - Antoine Rabatel
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble-INP, Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (IGE, UMR 5001), Grenoble, France
| | - Nurai Urseitova
- Institute of Water Problems and Hydro-Energy, Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
| | - Yan Yang
- Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China
| | - Vitalii Zaginaev
- Mountain Societies Research Institute, University of Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
| | - Andrea Zerboni
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra 'Ardito Desio', Milano, Italy
| | - Anaïs Zimmer
- Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Pierre Taberlet
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France
- UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø Museum, Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Jerome Poulenard
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
| | - Wilfried Thuiller
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France
| | - Marco Caccianiga
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Gentile Francesco Ficetola
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France
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4
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McDevitt-Irwin JM, McCauley DJ, Brumbaugh DR, Elmer F, Ferretti F, Joyce FH, White TD, Wible JG, Micheli F. Consumers decrease variability across space and turnover through time during coral reef succession. Oecologia 2023:10.1007/s00442-023-05404-y. [PMID: 37344733 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05404-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023]
Abstract
Consumers play an integral role in mediating ecological succession-the change in community composition over time. As consumer populations are facing rapid decline in ecosystems around the world, understanding of their ecological role is becoming increasingly urgent. Increased understanding of how changes in consumer populations may influence community variability across space and turnover through time during succession is particularly important for coral reefs, which are among the most threatened ecosystems globally, and where fishes play vital roles in structuring benthic succession. Here, we examine how consumers influence coral reef succession by deploying 180 paired settlement tiles, caged (to exclude fishes larger than approximately 15 cm) and uncaged, within Palmyra Atoll, a remote marine wildlife refuge with previously documented high fish abundance, and monitored benthic community development one and three years after deployment. We found that excluding large fishes lead to lower alpha diversity and divergent community states across space (i.e.,, high beta diversity among caged tiles), suggesting that benthic fish feeding maintains local diversity but tends to homogenize community composition with dominance by crustose coralline algae. In addition, when fish were experimentally excluded, the developing benthic community exhibited a greater change in species composition over time (i.e., high temporal beta diversity), indicating that fish feeding tends to canalize community successional trajectories. Finally, the caged and uncaged tiles became more similar over time, suggesting that fish feeding plays a more important role during early succession. Our results demonstrate that the loss of large fishes, for example from overfishing, may result in benthic communities that are more variable across space and time. Increased variability could have important implications for ecosystem function and coral reef resilience in the face of escalating global stressors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Douglas J McCauley
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Daniel R Brumbaugh
- Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Watsonville, CA, USA
- Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Franziska Elmer
- School for Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
- Center for Marine Resource Studies, School for Field Studies, Cockburn Harbour, South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands
| | - Francesco Ferretti
- Fish and Wildlife Conservation Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Francis H Joyce
- Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Timothy D White
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - Joseph G Wible
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
| | - Fiorenza Micheli
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
- Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
- Oceans Department, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
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5
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Casenave C, Bisson A, Boudsocq S, Daufresne T. Impact of biological nitrogen fixation and livestock management on the manure transfer from grazing land in mixed farming systems. J Theor Biol 2022; 545:111136. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2022.111136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Revised: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 04/17/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Revillini D, David AS, Menges ES, Main KN, Afkhami ME, Searcy CA. Microbiome-mediated response to pulse fire disturbance outweighs the effects of fire legacy on plant performance. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 233:2071-2082. [PMID: 34432894 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/31/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Fire plays a major role in structuring plant communities across the globe. Interactions with soil microbes impact plant fitness, scaling up to influence plant populations and distributions. Here we present the first factorial manipulation of both fire and soil microbiome presence to investigate their interactive effects on plant performance across a suite of plant species with varying life history traits. We conducted fully factorial experiments on 11 species from the Florida scrub ecosystem to test plant performance responses to soils with varying fire histories (36 soil sources), the presence/absence of a microbiome, and exposure to an experimental burn. Results revealed interactive 'pulse' effects between fire and the soil microbiome on plant performance. On average, post-fire soil microbiomes strongly reduced plant productivity compared to unburned or sterilized soils. Interestingly, longer-term fire 'legacy' effects had minor impacts on plant performance and were unrelated to soil microbiomes. While pulse fire effects on plant-microbiome interactions are short-term, they could have long-term consequences for plant communities by establishing differential microbiome-mediated priority effects during post-disturbance succession. The prominence of pulse fire effects on plant-microbe interactions has even greater import due to expected increases in fire disturbances resulting from anthropogenic climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Revillini
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA
| | - Aaron S David
- Archbold Biological Station, 123 Main Drive, Venus, FL, 33960, USA
| | - Eric S Menges
- Archbold Biological Station, 123 Main Drive, Venus, FL, 33960, USA
| | - Kevin N Main
- Archbold Biological Station, 123 Main Drive, Venus, FL, 33960, USA
| | - Michelle E Afkhami
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA
| | - Christopher A Searcy
- Department of Biology, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA
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Bytnerowicz TA, Menge DNL. Divergent Pathways of Nitrogen-Fixing Trees through Succession Depend on Starting Nitrogen Supply and Priority Effects. Am Nat 2021; 198:E198-E214. [PMID: 34762566 DOI: 10.1086/717017] [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] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractNitrogen-fixing trees are a major potential source of nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems. The degree to which they persist in older forests has considerable implications for forest nitrogen budgets. We characterized nitrogen-fixing tree abundance across stand age in the contiguous United States and analyzed a theoretical model to help understand competitive outcomes and successional trajectories of nitrogen-fixing and nonfixing trees. Nitrogen-fixing tree abundance is bimodal in all regions except the northeastern United States, even in older forests, suggesting that competitive exclusion (including priority effects) is more common than coexistence at the spatial scale of our analysis. Our model analysis suggests conditions under which alternative competitive outcomes are possible and when they are transient (lasting decades or centuries) versus persistent (millennia). Critically, the timescale of the feedbacks between nitrogen fixation and soil nitrogen supply, which is thought to drive the exclusion of nitrogen-fixing trees through succession, can be long. Therefore, the long transient outcomes of competition are more relevant for real forests than the long-term equilibrium. Within these long-term transients, the background soil nitrogen supply is a major determinant of competitive outcomes. Consistent with the expectations of resource ratio theory, competitive exclusion is more likely at high and low nitrogen supply, while intermediate nitrogen supply makes coexistence or priority effects possible. However, these outcomes are modified by the nitrogen fixation strategy: obligate nitrogen fixation makes coexistence more likely than priority effects, compared with perfectly facultative fixation. These results advance our understanding of the successional trajectories of nitrogen-fixing trees and their effects on ecosystem development in secondary succession.
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8
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Ficetola GF, Marta S, Guerrieri A, Gobbi M, Ambrosini R, Fontaneto D, Zerboni A, Poulenard J, Caccianiga M, Thuiller W. Dynamics of Ecological Communities Following Current Retreat of Glaciers. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND SYSTEMATICS 2021. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-010521-040017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Glaciers are retreating globally, and the resulting ice-free areas provide an experimental system for understanding species colonization patterns, community formation, and dynamics. The last several years have seen crucial advances in our understanding of biotic colonization after glacier retreats, resulting from the integration of methodological innovations and ecological theories. Recent empirical studies have demonstrated how multiple factors can speed up or slow down the velocity of colonization and have helped scientists develop theoretical models that describe spatiotemporalchanges in community structure. There is a growing awareness of how different processes (e.g., time since glacier retreat, onset or interruption of surface processes, abiotic factors, dispersal, biotic interactions) interact to shape community formation and, ultimately, their functional structure through succession. Here, we examine how these studies address key theoretical questions about community dynamics and show how classical approaches are increasingly being combined with environmental DNA metabarcoding and functional trait analysis to document the formation of multitrophic communities, revolutionizing our understanding of the biotic processes that occur following glacier retreat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gentile Francesco Ficetola
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy
- Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, F-38000, Grenoble, France
| | - Silvio Marta
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Alessia Guerrieri
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Mauro Gobbi
- Section of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, MUSE-Science Museum, I-38122 Trento, Italy
| | - Roberto Ambrosini
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Diego Fontaneto
- Molecular Ecology Group, Water Research Institute (IRSA), Italian National Research Council (CNR), I-28922 Verbania Pallanza, Italy
| | - Andrea Zerboni
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio,” Università degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Jerome Poulenard
- Laboratory of Environments, Dynamics, and Mountain Territories (EDYTEM), Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, F‐73000 Chambéry, France
| | - Marco Caccianiga
- Department of Biosciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Wilfried Thuiller
- Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, F-38000, Grenoble, France
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Koffel T, Daufresne T, Klausmeier CA. From competition to facilitation and mutualism: a general theory of the niche. ECOL MONOGR 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Koffel
- W. K. Kellogg Biological Station Michigan State University Hickory Corners Michigan 49060 USA
- Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Departments of Plant Biology and Integrative Biology Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan 48824 USA
| | - Tanguy Daufresne
- Department of Soil Ecology UMR 210 Eco&Sols INRA Montpellier 34060 France
| | - Christopher A. Klausmeier
- W. K. Kellogg Biological Station Michigan State University Hickory Corners Michigan 49060 USA
- Program in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Departments of Plant Biology and Integrative Biology Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan 48824 USA
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Guittar J, Koffel T, Shade A, Klausmeier CA, Litchman E. Resource Competition and Host Feedbacks Underlie Regime Shifts in Gut Microbiota. Am Nat 2021; 198:1-12. [PMID: 34143726 DOI: 10.1086/714527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe spread of an enteric pathogen in the human gut depends on many interacting factors, including pathogen exposure, diet, host gut environment, and host microbiota, but how these factors jointly influence infection outcomes remains poorly characterized. Here we develop a model of host-mediated resource competition between mutualistic and pathogenic taxa in the gut that aims to explain why similar hosts, exposed to the same pathogen, can have such different infection outcomes. Our model successfully reproduces several empirically observed phenomena related to transitions between healthy and infected states, including (1) the nonlinear relationship between pathogen inoculum size and infection persistence, (2) the elevated risk of chronic infection during or after treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics, (3) the resolution of gut dysbiosis with fecal microbiota transplants, and (4) the potential protection from infection conferred by probiotics. We then use the model to explore how host-mediated interventions-namely, shifts in the supply rates of electron donors (e.g., dietary fiber) and respiratory electron acceptors (e.g., oxygen)-can potentially be used to direct gut community assembly. Our study demonstrates how resource competition and ecological feedbacks between the host and the gut microbiota can be critical determinants of human health outcomes. We identify several testable model predictions ready for experimental validation.
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12
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Song C, Von Ahn S, Rohr RP, Saavedra S. Towards a Probabilistic Understanding About the Context-Dependency of Species Interactions. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:384-396. [PMID: 32007296 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Revised: 12/11/2019] [Accepted: 12/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Observational and experimental studies have shown that an interaction class between two species (be it mutualistic, competitive, antagonistic, or neutral) may switch to a different class, depending on the biotic and abiotic factors within which species are observed. This complexity arising from the evidence of context-dependencies has underscored a difficulty in establishing a systematic analysis about the extent to which species interactions are expected to switch in nature and experiments. Here, we propose an overarching theoretical framework, by integrating probabilistic and structural approaches, to establish null expectations about switches of interaction classes across environmental contexts. This integration provides a systematic platform upon which it is possible to establish new hypotheses, clear predictions, and quantifiable expectations about the context-dependency of species interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuliang Song
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Av., Cambridge 02139, MA, USA
| | - Sarah Von Ahn
- Department of Mathematics, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Av., Cambridge 02139, MA, USA
| | - Rudolf P Rohr
- Department of Biology - Ecology and Evolution, University of Fribourg Chemin du Musée 10, Fribourg CH-1700, Switzerland
| | - Serguei Saavedra
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Av., Cambridge 02139, MA, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Dangles
- Inst. de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, CNRS, Univ. de Montpellier, Univ. Paul Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, IRD Montpellier France
- Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell Univ., Corson Hall Ithaca NY USA
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Sun Z, Koffel T, Stump SM, Grimaud GM, Klausmeier CA. Microbial cross-feeding promotes multiple stable states and species coexistence, but also susceptibility to cheaters. J Theor Biol 2019; 465:63-77. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2019.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Revised: 12/07/2018] [Accepted: 01/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
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De Laender F. Community- and ecosystem-level effects of multiple environmental change drivers: Beyond null model testing. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2018; 24:5021-5030. [PMID: 29959825 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2018] [Revised: 06/05/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the joint effect of multiple drivers of environmental change is a key scientific challenge. The dominant approach today is to compare observed joint effects with predictions from various types of null models. Drivers are said to combine synergistically (antagonistically) when their observed joint effect is larger (smaller) than that predicted by the null model. Here, I argue that this approach does not promote understanding of effects on important community- and ecosystem-level variables such as biodiversity and ecosystem function. I use ecological theory to show that different mechanisms can lead to the same deviation from a null model's prediction. Inversely, I show that the same mechanism can lead to different deviations from a null model's prediction. These examples illustrate that it is not possible to make strong mechanistic inferences from null models. Next, I present an alternative framework to study such effects. This framework makes a clear distinction between two different kinds of drivers (resource ratio shifts and multiple stressors) and integrates both by incorporating stressor effects into resource uptake theory. I show that this framework can advance understanding because of three reasons. First, it forces formalization of "multiple stressors," using factors that describe the number and kind of stressors, their selectivity and dynamic behaviour, and the initial trait diversity and tolerance among species. Second, it produces testable predictions on how these factors affect biodiversity and ecosystem function, alone and in combination with resource ratio shifts. Third, it can fail in informative ways. That is, its assumptions are clear, so that different kinds of deviations between predictions and observed effects can guide new experiments and theory improvement. I conclude that this framework will more effectively progress understanding of global change effects on communities and ecosystems than does the current practice of null model testing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederik De Laender
- Research Unit in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Namur Institute of Complex Systems, and the Institute of Life, Earth, and Environment, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
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