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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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2
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López-Vázquez K, Lara C, Corcuera P, Castillo-Guevara C, Cuautle M. The human touch: a meta-analysis of anthropogenic effects on plant-pollinator interaction networks. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17647. [PMID: 38948210 PMCID: PMC11214738 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Anthropogenic activities significantly impact natural ecosystems, leading to alterations in plant and pollinator diversity and abundance. These changes often result in shifts within interacting communities, potentially reshaping the structure of plant-pollinator interaction networks. Given the escalating human footprint on habitats, evaluating the response of these networks to anthropization is critical for devising effective conservation and management strategies. Methods We conducted a comprehensive review of the plant-pollinator network literature to assess the impact of anthropization on network structure. We assessed network metrics such as nestedness measure based on overlap and decreasing fills (NODF), network specialization (H2'), connectance (C), and modularity (Q) to understand structural changes. Employing a meta-analytical approach, we examined how anthropization activities, such as deforestation, urbanization, habitat fragmentation, agriculture, intentional fires and livestock farming, affect both plant and pollinator richness. Results We generated a dataset for various metrics of network structure and 36 effect sizes for the meta-analysis, from 38 articles published between 2010 and 2023. Studies assessing the impact of agriculture and fragmentation were well-represented, comprising 68.4% of all studies, with networks involving interacting insects being the most studied taxa. Agriculture and fragmentation reduce nestedness and increase specialization in plant-pollinator networks, while modularity and connectance are mostly not affected. Although our meta-analysis suggests that anthropization decreases richness for both plants and pollinators, there was substantial heterogeneity in this regard among the evaluated studies. The meta-regression analyses helped us determine that the habitat fragment size where the studies were conducted was the primary variable contributing to such heterogeneity. Conclusions The analysis of human impacts on plant-pollinator networks showed varied effects worldwide. Responses differed among network metrics, signaling nuanced impacts on structure. Activities like agriculture and fragmentation significantly changed ecosystems, reducing species richness in both pollinators and plants, highlighting network vulnerability. Regional differences stressed the need for tailored conservation. Despite insights, more research is crucial for a complete understanding of these ecological relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karla López-Vázquez
- Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Carlos Lara
- Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, San Felipe Ixtacuixtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico
| | - Pablo Corcuera
- Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Citlalli Castillo-Guevara
- Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, San Felipe Ixtacuixtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico
| | - Mariana Cuautle
- Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, San Felipe Ixtacuixtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico
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3
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Durand-Bessart C, Akomo-Okoue EF, Ebang Ella GW, Porcher V, Bitome Essono PY, Bretagnolle F, Fontaine C. Local people enhance our understanding of Afrotropical frugivory networks. Curr Biol 2024; 34:1541-1548.e3. [PMID: 38452760 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.026] [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: 08/21/2023] [Revised: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
Afrotropical forests are undergoing massive change caused by defaunation, i.e., the human-induced decline of animal species,1 most of which are frugivorous species.1,2,3 Frugivores' depletion and their functional disappearance are expected to cascade on tree dispersal and forest structure via interaction networks,4,5,6,7 as the majority of tree species depend on frugivores for their dispersal.8 However, frugivory networks remain largely unknown, especially in Afrotropical areas,9,10,11 which considerably limits our ability to predict changes in forest dynamics and structures using network analysis.12,13,14,15 While the academic workforce may be inadequate to fill this knowledge gap before it is too late, local ecological knowledge appears as a valuable source of ecological information and could significantly contribute to our understanding of such crucial interactions for tropical forests.16,17,18,19,20,21 To investigate potential synergies between local ecological knowledge and academic knowledge,20,21 we compiled frugivory interactions linking 286 trees to 100 frugivore species from the academic literature and local ecological knowledge coming from interviews of Gabonese forest-dependent people. Here, we showed that local ecological knowledge on frugivory interactions was substantial and original, with 39% of these interactions unknown by science. We demonstrated that combining academic and local ecological knowledge affects the functional relationship linking frugivore body mass to seed size, as well as the network structure. Our results highlight the benefits of bridging knowledge systems between academics and local communities for a better understanding of the functioning and response to perturbations of Afrotropical forests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clémentine Durand-Bessart
- Biogeosciences, UMR 6282, Université Bourgogne Franche Comte-CNRS, 21000 Dijon, France; Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, CESCO, UMR 7204, MNHN-CNRS-SU, 75005 Paris, France; SENS, IRD, CIRAD, 34000 Montpellier, France.
| | | | | | - Vincent Porcher
- Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain; SENS, IRD, CIRAD, 34000 Montpellier, France
| | | | - François Bretagnolle
- Biogeosciences, UMR 6282, Université Bourgogne Franche Comte-CNRS, 21000 Dijon, France
| | - Colin Fontaine
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, CESCO, UMR 7204, MNHN-CNRS-SU, 75005 Paris, France
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4
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Pontarp M, Runemark A, Friberg M, Opedal ØH, Persson AS, Wang L, Smith HG. Evolutionary plant-pollinator responses to anthropogenic land-use change: impacts on ecosystem services. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:372-389. [PMID: 37866400 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13026] [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: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
Agricultural intensification at field and landscape scales, including increased use of agrochemicals and loss of semi-natural habitats, is a major driver of insect declines and other community changes. Efforts to understand and mitigate these effects have traditionally focused on ecological responses. At the same time, adaptations to pesticide use and habitat fragmentation in both insects and flowering plants show the potential for rapid evolution. Yet we lack an understanding of how such evolutionary responses may propagate within and between trophic levels with ensuing consequences for conservation of species and ecological functions in agroecosystems. Here, we review the literature on the consequences of agricultural intensification on plant and animal evolutionary responses and interactions. We present a novel conceptualization of evolutionary change induced by agricultural intensification at field and landscape scales and emphasize direct and indirect effects of rapid evolution on ecosystem services. We exemplify by focusing on economically and ecologically important interactions between plants and pollinators. We showcase available eco-evolutionary theory and plant-pollinator modelling that can improve predictions of how agricultural intensification affects interaction networks, and highlight available genetic and trait-focused methodological approaches. Specifically, we focus on how spatial genetic structure affects the probability of propagated responses, and how the structure of interaction networks modulates effects of evolutionary change in individual species. Thereby, we highlight how combined trait-based eco-evolutionary modelling, functionally explicit quantitative genetics, and genomic analyses may shed light on conditions where evolutionary responses impact important ecosystem services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikael Pontarp
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund, 22362, Sweden
| | - Anna Runemark
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund, 22362, Sweden
| | - Magne Friberg
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund, 22362, Sweden
| | - Øystein H Opedal
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund, 22362, Sweden
| | - Anna S Persson
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC), Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund, 22362, Sweden
| | - Lingzi Wang
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC), Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund, 22362, Sweden
- School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton, 58 Salisbury Rd, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Henrik G Smith
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund, 22362, Sweden
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC), Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, Lund, 22362, Sweden
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5
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Brimacombe C, Bodner K, Michalska-Smith M, Poisot T, Fortin MJ. Shortcomings of reusing species interaction networks created by different sets of researchers. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002068. [PMID: 37011096 PMCID: PMC10101633 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Given the requisite cost associated with observing species interactions, ecologists often reuse species interaction networks created by different sets of researchers to test their hypotheses regarding how ecological processes drive network topology. Yet, topological properties identified across these networks may not be sufficiently attributable to ecological processes alone as often assumed. Instead, much of the totality of topological differences between networks-topological heterogeneity-could be due to variations in research designs and approaches that different researchers use to create each species interaction network. To evaluate the degree to which this topological heterogeneity is present in available ecological networks, we first compared the amount of topological heterogeneity across 723 species interaction networks created by different sets of researchers with the amount quantified from non-ecological networks known to be constructed following more consistent approaches. Then, to further test whether the topological heterogeneity was due to differences in study designs, and not only to inherent variation within ecological networks, we compared the amount of topological heterogeneity between species interaction networks created by the same sets of researchers (i.e., networks from the same publication) with the amount quantified between networks that were each from a unique publication source. We found that species interaction networks are highly topologically heterogeneous: while species interaction networks from the same publication are much more topologically similar to each other than interaction networks that are from a unique publication, they still show at least twice as much heterogeneity as any category of non-ecological networks that we tested. Altogether, our findings suggest that extra care is necessary to effectively analyze species interaction networks created by different researchers, perhaps by controlling for the publication source of each network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chris Brimacombe
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Korryn Bodner
- MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Matthew Michalska-Smith
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Timothée Poisot
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
- Centre de la Science de la Biodiversité du Québec, Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Marie-Josée Fortin
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Perrin A, Khimoun A, Ollivier A, Richard Y, Pérez-Rodríguez A, Faivre B, Garnier S. Habitat fragmentation matters more than habitat loss: The case of host-parasite interactions. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:951-969. [PMID: 36461661 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16807] [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: 05/22/2021] [Revised: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
While ecologists agree that habitat loss has a substantial negative effect on biodiversity it is still very much a matter of debate whether habitat fragmentation has a lesser effect and whether this effect is positive or negative for biodiversity. Here, we assess the relative influence of tropical forest loss and fragmentation on the prevalence of vector-borne blood parasites of the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus in six forest bird species. We also determine whether habitat loss and fragmentation are associated with a rise or fall in prevalence. We sample more than 4000 individual birds from 58 forest sites in Guadeloupe and Martinique. Considering 34 host-parasite combinations independently and a fine characterization of the amount and spatial configuration of habitat, we use partial least square regressions to disentangle the relative effects of forest loss, forest fragmentation, landscape heterogeneity, and local weather conditions on spatial variability of parasite prevalence. Then we test for the magnitude and the sign of the effect of each environmental descriptor. Strikingly, we show that forest fragmentation explains twice as much of the variance in prevalence as habitat loss or landscape heterogeneity. In addition, habitat fragmentation leads to an overall rise in prevalence in Guadeloupe, but its effect is variable in Martinique. Both habitat loss and landscape heterogeneity exhibit taxon-specific effects. Our results suggest that habitat loss and fragmentation may have contrasting effects between tropical and temperate regions and that inter-specific interactions may not respond in the same way as more commonly used biodiversity metrics such as abundance and diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Perrin
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France.,Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Aurélie Khimoun
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Anthony Ollivier
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Yves Richard
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | | | - Bruno Faivre
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Stéphane Garnier
- Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
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7
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Xiang G, Jiang Y, Lan J, Huang L, Hao L, Liu Z, Xia J. Different influences of phylogenetically conserved and independent floral traits on plant functional specialization and pollination network structure. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1084995. [PMID: 36760631 PMCID: PMC9902514 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1084995] [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: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Plant specialization and pollination network structure play important roles in community assembly. Floral traits can mediate plant-pollinator interactions and thus have important impacts on nestedness and modularity of pollination network. When such traits are phylogenetically conserved, therefore, phylogeny and traits should predict network structure to similar degrees. Moreover, conserved network structures were also found attributed to pollination syndrome or pollination system. However, we still know little about the relation between pollination syndrome and pollination network, especially under a phylogenetic framework. Herein, we established a phylogenetic framework including five floral traits (flower density, floral size, floral shape, floral symmetry, and floral color) and five species-level metrics (species strength, weighted closeness, specialization d', nestedness contribution, and modularity contribution) to test how floral traits could directly or indirectly influence species' specialization and network structure in central China. Phylogenetic signals were found in all floral traits except flower density. Structural equation model and phylogenetic structural equation model results showed that both floral size and floral density affected plant specialization and its contribution to network modularity indirectly. However, compared with phylogenetic independent flower density, phylogenetic conserved floral size had much more complexed influences, having a direct influence both on species' specialization and on modularity contribution. In this nested and modular network, abundant species with larger flowers tend to be more central and had larger values of z. Floral shape, symmetry, and color could act as co-flowering filters in pollination sharing and help to shape network modularity. Our results emphasize that phylogenetically conserved traits partially represent pollination syndrome and are important drivers for modular structure of local pollination network. This study may improve the understanding how the evolutionary history and ecological process drive local network structure and dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ganju Xiang
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Protection and Application of Special Plant Germplasm in Wuling Area of China, College of Life Sciences, South-Central Minzu University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, Hubei Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, China
| | - Yunyi Jiang
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Protection and Application of Special Plant Germplasm in Wuling Area of China, College of Life Sciences, South-Central Minzu University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Jinmao Lan
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Protection and Application of Special Plant Germplasm in Wuling Area of China, College of Life Sciences, South-Central Minzu University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Liuying Huang
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Protection and Application of Special Plant Germplasm in Wuling Area of China, College of Life Sciences, South-Central Minzu University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Lijun Hao
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Protection and Application of Special Plant Germplasm in Wuling Area of China, College of Life Sciences, South-Central Minzu University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Zhiqian Liu
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Protection and Application of Special Plant Germplasm in Wuling Area of China, College of Life Sciences, South-Central Minzu University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Jing Xia
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Protection and Application of Special Plant Germplasm in Wuling Area of China, College of Life Sciences, South-Central Minzu University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
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8
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Zoller L, Bennett J, Knight TM. Plant-pollinator network change across a century in the subarctic. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:102-112. [PMID: 36593294 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01928-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Animal-mediated pollination is a vital ecosystem service to crops and wild plants, and long-term stability of plant-pollinator interactions is therefore crucial for maintaining plant biodiversity and food security. However, it is unknown how the composition of pollinators and the structure of pollinator interactions have changed across longer time spans relevant to examining responses to human activities such as climate change. We resampled an historical dataset of plant-pollinator interactions across several orders of pollinating insects in a subarctic location in Finland that has already experienced substantial climate warming but little land use change. Our results reveal a dramatic turnover in pollinator species and rewiring of plant-pollinator interactions, with only 7% of the interactions shared across time points. The relative abundance of moth and hoverfly pollinators declined between time points, whereas muscoid flies, a group for which little is known regarding conservation status and responses to climate, became more common. Specialist pollinators disproportionately declined, leading to a decrease in network-level specialization, which could have harmful consequences for pollination services. Our results exemplify the changes in plant-pollinator networks that might be expected in other regions as climate change progresses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leana Zoller
- Institute of Biology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany. .,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Joanne Bennett
- Institute of Biology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.,Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Canberra, Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Tiffany M Knight
- Institute of Biology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Halle (Saale), Germany
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9
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Iriart V, Baucom RS, Ashman TL. Interspecific variation in resistance and tolerance to herbicide drift reveals potential consequences for plant community co-flowering interactions and structure at the agro-eco interface. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2022; 130:1015-1028. [PMID: 36415945 PMCID: PMC9851304 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac137] [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: 09/27/2022] [Revised: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS When plant communities are exposed to herbicide 'drift', wherein particles containing the active ingredient travel off-target, interspecific variation in resistance or tolerance may scale up to affect community dynamics. In turn, these alterations could threaten the diversity and stability of agro-ecosystems. We investigated the effects of herbicide drift on the growth and reproduction of 25 wild plant species to make predictions about the consequences of drift exposure on plant-plant interactions and the broader ecological community. METHODS We exposed potted plants from species that commonly occur in agricultural areas to a drift-level dose of the widely used herbicide dicamba or a control solution in the glasshouse. We evaluated species-level variation in resistance and tolerance for vegetative and floral traits. We assessed community-level impacts of drift by comparing the species evenness and flowering networks of glasshouse synthetic communities comprised of drift-exposed and control plants. KEY RESULTS Species varied significantly in resistance and tolerance to dicamba drift: some were negatively impacted while others showed overcompensatory responses. Species also differed in the way they deployed flowers over time following drift exposure. While drift had negligible effects on community evenness based on vegetative biomass, it caused salient differences in the structure of co-flowering networks within communities. Drift reduced the degree and intensity of flowering overlap among species, altered the composition of groups of species that were more likely to co-flower with each other than with others and shifted species roles (e.g. from dominant to inferior floral producers, and vice versa). CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that even low levels of herbicide exposure can significantly alter plant growth and reproduction, particularly flowering phenology. If field-grown plants respond similarly, then these changes would probably impact plant-plant competitive dynamics and potentially plant-pollinator interactions occurring within plant communities at the agro-ecological interface.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica Iriart
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Regina S Baucom
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Tia-Lynn Ashman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Ouadah
- UMR MIA-Paris, AgroParisTech, INRAE, Université Paris-Saclay, 75005 Paris, France MAP5, UMR CNRS 8145, Université de Paris, 75006 Paris, France
| | - Pierre Latouche
- MAP5, UMR CNRS 8145, Université de Paris, 75006 Paris, France
| | - Stéphane Robin
- UMR MIA-Paris, AgroParisTech, INRAE, Université Paris-Saclay, 75005 Paris, France CESCO, UMR 7204, MNHN - CNRS - UPMC, Paris, France
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11
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Demeter I, Balog A, Józan Z, Sárospataki M. Comparison of wild bee communities of three semi-natural meadow habitats at Harghita–Covasna Region, Transylvania, Romania. ACTA ZOOL ACAD SCI H 2021. [DOI: 10.17109/azh.67.2.161.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In the temperate climate wild bees are the most important pollinator organisms. Pollination is essential for the communities of semi-natural habitats since this ecosystem service directly affects plant reproduction. The diversity of wild bees living in such areas is remarkably high, but they are susceptible to various anthropogenic influences.In our study, the composition and structure of wild bee communities were examined in Romania (Transylvania) at three semi-natural areas near Filia, Merești and Vârghiș. The surveyed areas were used as extensive meadows under relatively low but slightly different anthropogenic influence levels. We collected bees in these areas at several places (9 sampling points/area) by individual netting four times during the season. In the studied areas, 129 bee species were found, which makes up about 18% of the approximately 726 wild bee species registered in Romania. In addition to the high number of species, we also observed high diversity values. Our results showed that, even at our sampling site closest to the human settlements, the extensive use of the surveyed areas as meadows allows the development of diverse, species-rich bee communities.
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