1
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Lepori VJ, Loeuille N, Rohr RP. Robustness versus productivity during evolutionary community assembly: short-term synergies and long-term trade-offs. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232495. [PMID: 38196359 PMCID: PMC10777152 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2495] [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: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
The realization that evolutionary feedbacks need to be considered to fully grasp ecological dynamics has sparked interest in the effect of evolution on community properties like coexistence and productivity. However, little is known about the evolution of community robustness and productivity along diversification processes in species-rich systems. We leverage the recent structural approach to coexistence together with adaptive dynamics to study such properties and their relationships in a general trait-based model of competition on a niche axis. We show that the effects of coevolution on coexistence are two-fold and contrasting depending on the time scale considered. In the short term, evolution of niche differentiation strengthens coexistence, while long-term diversification leads to niche packing and decreased robustness. Moreover, we find that coevolved communities tend to be on average more robust and more productive than non-evolutionary assemblages. We illustrate how our theoretical predictions echo in observed empirical patterns and the implications of our results for empiricists and applied ecologists. We suggest that some of our results such as the improved robustness of Evolutionarily Stable Communities could be tested experimentally in suitable model systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasco J. Lepori
- Department of Biology – Ecology and Evolution, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Nicolas Loeuille
- Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, IEES, Sorbonne Université, UPEC, CNRS, IRD, INRA, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Rudolf P. Rohr
- Department of Biology – Ecology and Evolution, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
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2
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Leale A, Auxier B, Smid EJ, Schoustra S. Influence of metabolic guilds on a temporal scale in an experimental fermented food derived microbial community. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2023; 99:fiad112. [PMID: 37771082 PMCID: PMC10550249 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiad112] [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: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 09/06/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The influence of community diversity, which can be measured at the level of metabolic guilds, on community function is a central question in ecology. Particularly, the long-term temporal dynamic between a community's function and its diversity remains unclear. We investigated the influence of metabolic guild diversity on associated community function by propagating natural microbial communities from a traditionally fermented milk beverage diluted to various levels. Specifically, we assessed the influence of less abundant microbial types, such as yeast, on community functionality and bacterial community compositions over repeated propagation cycles amounting to ∼100 generations. The starting richness of metabolic guilds had a repeatable effect on bacterial community compositions, metabolic profiles, and acidity. The influence of a single metabolic guild, yeast in our study, played a dramatic role on function, but interestingly not on long-term species sorting trajectories of the remaining bacterial community. Our results together suggest an unexpected niche division between yeast and bacterial communities and evidence ecological selection on the microbial communities in our system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alanna Leale
- Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ben Auxier
- Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Eddy J Smid
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Sijmen Schoustra
- Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Agricultural Sciences, University of Zambia, Lusaka 10101, Zambia
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3
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Calcagno V, David P, Jarne P, Massol F. Coevolution of species colonisation rates controls food-chain length in spatially structured food webs. Ecol Lett 2023; 26 Suppl 1:S140-S151. [PMID: 37303299 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
How the complexity of food webs depends on environmental variables is a long-standing ecological question. It is unclear though how food-chain length should vary with adaptive evolution of the constitutive species. Here we model the evolution of species colonisation rates and its consequences on occupancies and food-chain length in metacommunities. When colonisation rates can evolve, longer food-chains can persist. Extinction, perturbation and habitat loss all affect evolutionarily stable colonisation rates, but the strength of the competition-colonisation trade-off has a major role: weaker trade-offs yield longer chains. Although such eco-evo dynamics partly alleviates the spatial constraint on food-chain length, it is no magic bullet: the highest, most vulnerable, trophic levels are also those that least benefit from evolution. We provide qualitative predictions regarding how trait evolution affects the response of communities to disturbance and habitat loss. This highlights the importance of eco-evolutionary dynamics at metacommunity level in determining food-chain length.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Calcagno
- Institut Sophia Agrobiotech, Université Côte d'Azur - CNRS - INRAE, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France
| | - Patrice David
- CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - IRD - EPHE, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Philippe Jarne
- CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - IRD - EPHE, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - François Massol
- Institut Pasteur de Lille, Univ. Lille, CNRS, Inserm, CHU Lille, U1019 - UMR 9017 - CIIL - Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille, Lille, France
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4
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Loreau M, Jarne P, Martiny JBH. Opportunities to advance the synthesis of ecology and evolution. Ecol Lett 2023; 26 Suppl 1:S11-S15. [PMID: 36731905 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Revised: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/21/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Despite decades of research on the interactions between ecology and evolution, opportunities still remain to further integrate the two disciplines, especially when considering multispecies systems. Here, we discuss two such opportunities. First, the traditional emphasis on the distinction between evolutionary and ecological processes should be further relaxed as it is particularly unhelpful in the study of microbial communities, where the very notion of species is hard to define. Second, key processes of evolutionary theory such as adaptation should be exported to hierarchical levels higher than populations to make sense of biodiversity dynamics. Together, we argue that broadening our perspective of eco-evolutionary dynamics to be more inclusive of all biodiversity, both phylogenetically and hierarchically, will open up fertile new research directions and help us to address one of the major scientific challenges of our time, that is, to understand and predict changes in biodiversity in the face of rapid environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel Loreau
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS, Moulis, France
| | - Philippe Jarne
- CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS-Université de Montpellier-Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-IRD-EPHE, Montpellier, France
| | - Jennifer B H Martiny
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
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5
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Blanchet S, Fargeot L, Raffard A. Phylogenetically-conserved candidate genes unify biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships and eco-evolutionary dynamics across biological scales. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:4467-4481. [PMID: 37296539 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The intra- and interspecific facets of biodiversity have traditionally been analysed separately, limiting our understanding of how evolution has shaped biodiversity, how biodiversity (as a whole) alters ecological dynamics and hence eco-evolutionary feedbacks at the community scale. Here, we propose using candidate genes phylogenetically-conserved across species and sustaining functional traits as an inclusive biodiversity unit transcending the intra- and interspecific boundaries. This framework merges knowledge from functional genomics and functional ecology, and we first provide guidelines and a concrete example for identifying phylogenetically-conserved candidate genes (PCCGs) within communities and for measuring biodiversity from PCCGs. We then explain how biodiversity measured at PCCGs can be linked to ecosystem functions, which unifies recent observations that both intra- and interspecific biodiversity are important for ecosystem functions. We then highlight the eco-evolutionary processes shaping PCCG diversity patterns and argue that their respective role can be inferred from concepts derived from population genetics. Finally, we explain how PCCGs may shift the field of eco-evolutionary dynamics from a focal-species approach to a more realistic focal-community approach. This framework provides a novel perspective to investigate the global ecosystem consequences of diversity loss across biological scales, and how these ecological changes further alter biodiversity evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Blanchet
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Station d'Écologie Théorique et Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, UAR2029, Moulis, France
| | - Laura Fargeot
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Station d'Écologie Théorique et Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, UAR2029, Moulis, France
| | - Allan Raffard
- Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, INRAE, CARRTEL, Thonon-les-Bains, France
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6
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Ghedini G, Marshall DJ. Metabolic evolution in response to interspecific competition in a eukaryote. Curr Biol 2023:S0960-9822(23)00777-7. [PMID: 37392743 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 07/03/2023]
Abstract
Competition drives rapid evolution, which, in turn, alters the trajectory of ecological communities. These eco-evolutionary dynamics are increasingly well-appreciated, but we lack a mechanistic framework for identifying the types of traits that will evolve and their trajectories. Metabolic theory offers explicit predictions for how competition should shape the (co)evolution of metabolism and size, but these are untested, particularly in eukaryotes. We use experimental evolution of a eukaryotic microalga to examine how metabolism, size, and demography coevolve under inter- and intraspecific competition. We find that the focal species evolves in accordance with the predictions of metabolic theory, reducing metabolic costs and maximizing population carrying capacity via changes in cell size. The smaller-evolved cells initially had lower population growth rates, as expected from their hyper-allometric metabolic scaling, but longer-term evolution yielded important departures from theory: we observed improvements in both population growth rate and carrying capacity. The evasion of this trade-off arose due to the rapid evolution of metabolic plasticity. Lineages exposed to competition evolved more labile metabolisms that tracked resource availability more effectively than lineages that were competition-free. That metabolic evolution can occur is unsurprising, but our finding that metabolic plasticity also co-evolves rapidly is new. Metabolic theory provides a powerful theoretical basis for predicting the eco-evolutionary responses to changing resource regimes driven by global change. Metabolic theory needs also to be updated to incorporate the effects of metabolic plasticity on the link between metabolism and demography, as this likely plays an underappreciated role in mediating eco-evolutionary dynamics of competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Ghedini
- Centre for Geometric Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia.
| | - Dustin J Marshall
- Centre for Geometric Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
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7
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Wu B, Guan X, Deng T, Yang X, Li J, Zhou M, Wang C, Wang S, Yan Q, Shu L, He Q, He Z. Synthetic Denitrifying Communities Reveal a Positive and Dynamic Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationship during Experimental Evolution. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0452822. [PMID: 37154752 PMCID: PMC10269844 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.04528-22] [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: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Biodiversity is vital for ecosystem functions and services, and many studies have reported positive, negative, or neutral biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships in plant and animal systems. However, if the BEF relationship exists and how it evolves remains elusive in microbial systems. Here, we selected 12 Shewanella denitrifiers to construct synthetic denitrifying communities (SDCs) with a richness gradient spanning 1 to 12 species, which were subjected to approximately 180 days (with 60 transfers) of experimental evolution with generational changes in community functions continuously tracked. A significant positive correlation was observed between community richness and functions, represented by productivity (biomass) and denitrification rate, however, such a positive correlation was transient, only significant in earlier days (0 to 60) during the evolution experiment (180 days). Also, we found that community functions generally increased throughout the evolution experiment. Furthermore, microbial community functions with lower richness exhibited greater increases than those with higher richness. Biodiversity effect analysis revealed positive BEF relationships largely attributable to complementary effects, which were more pronounced in communities with lower richness than those with higher richness. This study is one of the first studies that advances our understanding of BEF relationships and their evolutionary mechanisms in microbial systems, highlighting the crucial role of evolution in predicting the BEF relationship in microbial systems. IMPORTANCE Despite the consensus that biodiversity supports ecosystem functioning, not all experimental models of macro-organisms support this notion with positive, negative, or neutral biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships reported. The fast-growing, metabolically versatile, and easy manipulation nature of microbial communities allows us to explore well the BEF relationship and further interrogate if the BEF relationship remains constant during long-term community evolution. Here, we constructed multiple synthetic denitrifying communities (SDCs) by randomly selecting species from a candidate pool of 12 Shewanella denitrifiers. These SDCs differ in species richness, spanning 1 to 12 species, and were monitored continuously for community functional shifts during approximately 180-day parallel cultivation. We demonstrated that the BEF relationship was dynamic with initially (day 0 to 60) greater productivity and denitrification among SDCs of higher richness. However, such pattern was reversed thereafter with greater productivity and denitrification increments in lower-richness SDCs, likely due to a greater accumulation of beneficial mutations during the experimental evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Wu
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiaotong Guan
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ting Deng
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xueqin Yang
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Juan Li
- College of Agronomy, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
| | - Min Zhou
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Cheng Wang
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shanquan Wang
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qingyun Yan
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Longfei Shu
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qiang He
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Zhili He
- Environmental Microbiomics Research Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- College of Agronomy, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
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8
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Guo H, Zhou XB, Tao Y, Yin JF, Zhang L, Guo X, Liu CH, Zhang YM. Perennial herb diversity contributes more than annual herb diversity to multifunctionality in dryland ecosystems of North-western China. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1099110. [PMID: 36890885 PMCID: PMC9986965 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1099110] [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: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Considerable attention has been given to how different aspects of biodiversity sustain ecosystem functions. Herbs are a critical component of the plant community of dryland ecosystems, but the importance of different life form groups of herbs is often overlooked in experiments on biodiversity-ecosystem multifunctionality. Hence, little is known about how the multiple attributes of diversity of different life form groups of herbs affect changes to the multifunctionality of ecosystems. METHODS We investigated geographic patterns of herb diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality along a precipitation gradient of 2100 km in Northwest China, and assessed the taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional attributes of different life form groups of herbs on the multifunctionality. RESULTS We found that subordinate (richness effect) species of annual herbs and dominant (mass ratio effect) species of perennial herbs were crucial for driving multifunctionality. Most importantly, the multiple attributes (taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional) of herb diversity enhanced the multifunctionality. The functional diversity of herbs provided greater explanatory power than did taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity. In addition, the multiple attribute diversity of perennial herbs contributed more than annual herbs to multifunctionality. CONCLUSIONS Our findings provide insights into previously neglected mechanisms by which the diversity of different life form groups of herbs affect ecosystem multifunctionality. These results provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between biodiversity and multifunctionality, and will ultimately contribute to multifunctional conservation and restoration programs in dryland ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiao-bing Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ye Tao
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jin-fei Yin
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lan Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xing Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Chao-hong Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
| | - Yuan-ming Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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9
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Stoian V, Vidican R, Florin P, Corcoz L, Pop-Moldovan V, Vaida I, Vâtcă SD, Stoian VA, Pleșa A. Exploration of Soil Functional Microbiomes—A Concept Proposal for Long-Term Fertilized Grasslands. PLANTS 2022; 11:plants11091253. [PMID: 35567254 PMCID: PMC9102102 DOI: 10.3390/plants11091253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Revised: 05/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Exploring grassland microbiomes is a challenge in the current context of linking soil microorganism activity with the balance of these ecosystems. Microbiologists are constantly attempting to develop faster and lower-cost methods, and propose new and best-fitted indicators that will provide a more complex data analysis. A different concept was proposed for assessing functional microbiomes by splitting the functional ecological niche into complementary segments. The comparison with the upper and lower limits of the ecological niche provides a clearer image of community alterations due to long-term applied treatments. The method allows the extraction of the most sensitive and stable functional guilds, with the extraction of the most critical dominant–codominant functional groups in every segment of the functional niche. The resulting microbial functional–sociological model is ready to use on community-level physiological profile databases and also can be applied backward for vegetation analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vlad Stoian
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (V.S.); (L.C.); (V.P.-M.)
| | - Roxana Vidican
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (V.S.); (L.C.); (V.P.-M.)
- Correspondence: (R.V.); (P.F.)
| | - Păcurar Florin
- Department of Grasslands and Forage Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (I.V.); (A.P.)
- Correspondence: (R.V.); (P.F.)
| | - Larisa Corcoz
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (V.S.); (L.C.); (V.P.-M.)
| | - Victoria Pop-Moldovan
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (V.S.); (L.C.); (V.P.-M.)
| | - Ioana Vaida
- Department of Grasslands and Forage Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (I.V.); (A.P.)
| | - Sorin-Daniel Vâtcă
- Department of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (S.-D.V.); (V.A.S.)
| | - Valentina Ancuța Stoian
- Department of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (S.-D.V.); (V.A.S.)
| | - Anca Pleșa
- Department of Grasslands and Forage Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Mănăştur 3-5, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (I.V.); (A.P.)
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10
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Sánchez AM, Peralta AML, Luzuriaga AL, Prieto M, Escudero A. Climate change and biocrust disturbance synergistically decreased taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity in annual communities on gypsiferous soils. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ana M. Sánchez
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, Rey Juan Carlos Univ. Madrid Spain
| | - Ana M. L. Peralta
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, Rey Juan Carlos Univ. Madrid Spain
| | | | - María Prieto
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, Rey Juan Carlos Univ. Madrid Spain
| | - Adrián Escudero
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, Rey Juan Carlos Univ. Madrid Spain
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11
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Ghedini G, Marshall DJ, Loreau M. Phytoplankton diversity affects biomass and energy production differently during community development. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Ghedini
- Centre for Geometric Biology School of Biological Sciences Monash University Melbourne Vic Australia
| | - Dustin J. Marshall
- Centre for Geometric Biology School of Biological Sciences Monash University Melbourne Vic Australia
| | - Michel Loreau
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station CNRS Moulis France
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12
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Moisset de Espanés P, Ramos-Jiliberto R, Soto JA. Avoiding artifacts when varying the number of species in ecological models. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:1976-1987. [PMID: 34169638 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Ecological theory recognizes the importance of the variety of species for maintaining the functioning of ecosystems and their derived services. We assert that when studying the effects of shifts in biodiversity levels using mathematical models, their dynamics must be sensitive to the variety of species traits but not to raw species numbers, a property that we call order-invariance. We present a testing procedure for verifying order-invariance of ecological network models -with or without trait adaptation- expressed as ODEs. Furthermore, we applied our test to several influential models used for evaluating biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning. In most of the surveyed studies the equations failed our test. This raises doubts about the validity of previous results and calls for revisiting the theory derived from these studies. Our results foster the creation of artifact-free models, a necessary step towards building a more robust theory of biodiversity-driven ecosystem functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rodrigo Ramos-Jiliberto
- GEMA Center for Genomics, Ecology & Environment, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile
| | - José A Soto
- Centro de Modelamiento Matemático, FCFM, IRL 2807 CNRS, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile.,Departamento de Ingeniería Matemática, FCFM, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
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13
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Blanco F, Calatayud J, Martín-Perea DM, Domingo MS, Menéndez I, Müller J, Fernández MH, Cantalapiedra JL. Punctuated ecological equilibrium in mammal communities over evolutionary time scales. Science 2021; 372:300-303. [PMID: 33859037 DOI: 10.1126/science.abd5110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
The study of deep-time ecological dynamics has the ability to inform conservation decisions by anticipating the behavior of ecosystems millions of years into the future. Using network analysis and an exceptional fossil dataset spanning the past 21 million years, we show that mammalian ecological assemblages undergo long periods of functional stasis, notwithstanding high taxonomic volatility due to dispersal, speciation, and extinction. Higher functional richness and diversity promoted the persistence of functional faunas despite species extinction risk being indistinguishable among these different faunas. These findings, and the large mismatch between functional and taxonomic successions, indicate that although safeguarding functional diversity may or may not minimize species losses, it would certainly enhance the persistence of ecosystem functioning in the face of future disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Blanco
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, an der Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
| | - Joaquín Calatayud
- Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
| | - David M Martín-Perea
- Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Calle José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/ José Antonio Nováis 12, 28040 Madrid, Spain.,Instituto de Evolución Humana en África IDEA, Calle Covarrubias 26, 28010 Madrid, Spain
| | - M Soledad Domingo
- Departamento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales, Ciencias Sociales y Matemáticas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), C/Rector Royo Villanova s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Iris Menéndez
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/ José Antonio Nováis 12, 28040 Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Cambio Medioambiental, Instituto de Geociencias (UCM, CSIC), C/ Severo Ochoa 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Johannes Müller
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, an der Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Manuel Hernández Fernández
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/ José Antonio Nováis 12, 28040 Madrid, Spain.,Departamento de Cambio Medioambiental, Instituto de Geociencias (UCM, CSIC), C/ Severo Ochoa 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan L Cantalapiedra
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, GloCEE Global Change Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Universidad de Alcalá, Plaza de San Diego s/n, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain
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14
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Malcom J, Carter A. Better Representation Is Needed in U.S. Endangered Species Act Implementation. FRONTIERS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2021.650543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In the United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses the concepts of resilience, redundancy, and representation—often known as the “3Rs”—to guide implementation of the Endangered Species Act, which requires the U.S. government to designate imperiled species as threatened or endangered, and take action to recover them. The Service has done little, however, to relate the 3Rs to the statutory requirements of the Act. Here we focus on interpreting the concept of representation given core tenets of science and conservation policy. We show that the Service's current interpretation, which focuses on a narrow set of characteristics intrinsic to species that facilitate future adaptation, falls far short of a reasonable interpretation from the scientific literature and other policy, and has significant consequences for the conservation of threatened and endangered species, including those found in other countries. To illustrate the shortcomings in practice, we discuss the cases of the Lower 48 gray wolf (Canis lupus) delisting, the proposed Red-cockadedWoodpecker (Picoides borealis) downlisting, and the possible downlisting of the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis). We then propose an alternative interpretation of representation that accommodates the Service's narrow interpretation and broadens it to include the importance of intraspecific variation for its own sake as well as extrinsic characteristics such as a species' role in ecological communities. We argue that this interpretation better reflects the intent of the Endangered Species Act, the best available science, and policy needs for conserving imperiled wildlife, all of which recognize the importance not only of preventing global extinction but also of preventing ecological extinction and extirpation across significant portions of a species' range.
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15
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van Moorsel SJ, Hahl T, Petchey OL, Ebeling A, Eisenhauer N, Schmid B, Wagg C. Co-occurrence history increases ecosystem stability and resilience in experimental plant communities. Ecology 2020; 102:e03205. [PMID: 32979225 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Revised: 08/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Understanding factors that maintain ecosystem stability is critical in the face of environmental change. Experiments simulating species loss from grassland have shown that losing biodiversity decreases ecosystem stability. However, as the originally sown experimental communities with reduced biodiversity develop, plant evolutionary processes or the assembly of interacting soil organisms may allow ecosystems to increase stability over time. We explored such effects in a long-term grassland biodiversity experiment with plant communities with either a history of co-occurrence (selected communities) or no such history (naïve communities) over a 4-yr period in which a major flood disturbance occurred. Comparing communities of identical species composition, we found that selected communities had temporally more stable biomass than naïve communities, especially at low species richness. Furthermore, selected communities showed greater biomass recovery after flooding, resulting in more stable post-flood productivity. In contrast to a previous study, the positive diversity-stability relationship was maintained after the flooding. Our results were consistent across three soil treatments simulating the presence or absence of co-selected microbial communities. We suggest that prolonged exposure of plant populations to a particular community context and abiotic site conditions can increase ecosystem temporal stability and resilience due to short-term evolution. A history of co-occurrence can in part compensate for species loss, as can high plant diversity in part compensate for the missing opportunity of such adaptive adjustments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia J van Moorsel
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland.,Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Dr Penfield Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Terhi Hahl
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Owen L Petchey
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Anne Ebeling
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Jena, Dornburger Strasse 159, Jena, 07743, Germany
| | - Nico Eisenhauer
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.,Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
| | - Bernhard Schmid
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland.,Department of Geography, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Cameron Wagg
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland.,Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 850 Lincoln Road, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 4Z7, Canada
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