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Soh M, Tay YC, Lee CS, Low A, Orban L, Jaafar Z, Seedorf H. The intestinal digesta microbiota of tropical marine fish is largely uncultured and distinct from surrounding water microbiota. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes 2024; 10:11. [PMID: 38374184 PMCID: PMC10876542 DOI: 10.1038/s41522-024-00484-x] [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: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Studying the gut microbes of marine fishes is an important part of conservation as many fish species are increasingly threatened by extinction. The gut microbiota of only a small fraction of the more than 32,000 known fish species has been investigated. In this study we analysed the intestinal digesta microbiota composition of more than 50 different wild fish species from tropical waters. Our results show that the fish harbour intestinal digesta microbiota that are distinct from that of the surrounding water and that location, domestication status, and host intrinsic factors are strongly associated with the microbiota composition. Furthermore, we show that the vast majority (~97%) of the fish-associated microorganisms do not have any cultured representative. Considering the impact of the microbiota on host health and physiology, these findings underpin the call to also preserve the microbiota of host species, especially those that may be exposed to habitat destruction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Soh
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, 117604, Singapore
| | - Ywee Chieh Tay
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, 117604, Singapore
| | - Co Sin Lee
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, 117604, Singapore
| | - Adrian Low
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, 117604, Singapore
- Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, MD6-Centre for Translational Medicine, 14 Medical Drive, Singapore, 117599, Singapore
| | - Laszlo Orban
- Frontline Fish Genomics Research Group, Department of Applied Fish Biology, Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Georgikon Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Keszthely, 8360, Hungary
| | - Zeehan Jaafar
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117558, Singapore
| | - Henning Seedorf
- Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, Singapore, 117604, Singapore.
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117558, Singapore.
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Strain EMA, Cumbo VR, Morris RL, Steinberg PD, Bishop MJ. Interacting effects of habitat structure and seeding with oysters on the intertidal biodiversity of seawalls. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0230807. [PMID: 32673342 PMCID: PMC7365354 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2019] [Accepted: 05/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The construction of artificial structures, such as seawalls, is increasing globally, resulting in loss of habitat complexity and native species biodiversity. There is increasing interest in mitigating this biodiversity loss by adding topographic habitat to these structures, and/or seeding them with habitat-forming species. Settlement tile experiments, comparing colonisation of species to more and less complex habitats, have been used to inform eco-engineering interventions prior to their large-scale implementation. Most studies have focused on applying one type of intervention (either adding habitat structure or seeding with native organisms), so it is unclear whether there are greater benefits to biodiversity when multiple interventions are combined. Using a fully orthogonal experiment, we assessed the independent and interactive effects of habitat structure (flat vs. crevice/ridges) and seeding with native oysters (unseeded vs. seeded) on the biodiversity of four different functional groups (sessile and mobile taxa, cryptobenthic and pelagic fishes). Concrete tiles (flat unseeded, flat seeded, complex unseeded and complex seeded) were deployed at two sites in Sydney Harbour and monitored over 12 months, for the survival and colonisation of oysters and the species density and abundances of the four functional groups. The survival of seeded oysters was greater on the complex than flat tiles, at one of the two sites, due to the protective role of crevices. Despite this, after 12 months, the species density of sessile invertebrates and the percentage cover of seeded and colonising oysters did not differ between complex and seeded tiles each of which supported more of these variables than the flat unseeded tiles. In contrast, the species density of mobile invertebrates and cryptobenthic fishes and the MaxN of pelagic fishes, at 1 month, were only positively influenced by seeding with oysters, which provided food as well as habitat. Within the complex seeded and unseeded tiles, there was a greater species density of sessile taxa, survival and percentage cover of oysters in the crevices, which were more humid and darker at month 12, had lower high temperature extremes at months 1 and 12, than on the ridges or flat tiles. Our results suggest that eco-engineering projects which seek to maximise the biodiversity of multiple functional groups on seawalls, should apply a variety of different microhabitats and habitat-forming species, to alter the environmental conditions available to organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth Marijke Anne Strain
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Vivian Ruth Cumbo
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Rebecca Louise Morris
- Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Peter David Steinberg
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Melanie Jane Bishop
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia
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Ben-Hur E, Kadmon R. An experimental test of the area-heterogeneity tradeoff. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:4815-4822. [PMID: 32071250 PMCID: PMC7060741 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1911540117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A fundamental property of ecosystems is a tradeoff between the number and size of habitats: as the number of habitats within a fixed area increases, the average area per habitat must decrease. This tradeoff is termed the "area-heterogeneity tradeoff." Theoretical models suggest that the reduction in habitat sizes under high levels of heterogeneity may cause a decline in species richness because it reduces the amount of effective area available for individual species under high levels of heterogeneity, thereby increasing the likelihood of stochastic extinctions. Here, we test this prediction using an experiment that allows us to separate the effect of the area-heterogeneity tradeoff from the total effect of habitat heterogeneity. Surprisingly, despite considerable extinctions, reduction in the amount of effective area available per species facilitated rather than reduced richness in the study communities. Our data suggest that the mechanism behind this positive effect was a decrease in the probability of deterministic competitive exclusion. We conclude that the area-heterogeneity tradeoff may have both negative and positive implications for biodiversity and that its net effect depends on the relative importance of stochastic vs. deterministic drivers of extinction in the relevant system. Our finding that the area-heterogeneity tradeoff may contribute to biodiversity adds a dimension to existing ecological theory and is highly relevant for understanding and predicting biodiversity responses to natural and anthropogenic variations in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eyal Ben-Hur
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 9190401 Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ronen Kadmon
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 9190401 Jerusalem, Israel
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4
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Lambdon P, Cronk Q. Extinction Dynamics Under Extreme Conservation Threat: The Flora of St Helena. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Ben-Hur E, Kadmon R. Heterogeneity-diversity relationships in sessile organisms: a unified framework. Ecol Lett 2019; 23:193-207. [PMID: 31692214 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Revised: 10/07/2019] [Accepted: 10/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The hypothesis that environmental heterogeneity promotes species richness by increasing opportunities for niche partitioning is a fundamental paradigm in ecology. However, recent studies suggest that heterogeneity-diversity relationships (HDR) are more complex than expected from this niche-based perspective, and often show a decrease in richness at high levels of heterogeneity. These findings have motivated ecologists to propose new mechanisms that may explain such deviations. Here we provide an overview of currently recognised mechanisms affecting the shape of HDRs and present a conceptual model that integrates all previously proposed mechanisms within a unified framework. We also translate the proposed framework into an explicit community dynamic model and use the model as a tool for generating testable predictions concerning how landscape properties interact with species traits in determining the shape of HDRs. Our main finding is that, despite the enormous complexity of such interactions, the predicted HDRs are rather simple, ranging from positive to unimodal patterns in a highly consistent and predictable manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eyal Ben-Hur
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel
| | - Ronen Kadmon
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel
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Tielens EK, Neel MN, Leopold DR, Giardina CP, Gruner DS. Multiscale analysis of canopy arthropod diversity in a volcanically fragmented landscape. Ecosphere 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Elske K. Tielens
- Department of Entomology University of Maryland College Park Maryland USA
| | - Maile N. Neel
- Department of Entomology University of Maryland College Park Maryland USA
| | - Devin R. Leopold
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology Oregon State University Oregon USA
| | | | - Daniel S. Gruner
- Department of Entomology University of Maryland College Park Maryland USA
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van der Hoek Y, Tuyisingize D, Eckardt W, Garriga N, Derhé MA. Spatial variation in anuran richness, diversity, and abundance across montane wetland habitat in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:4220-4230. [PMID: 31016000 PMCID: PMC6468056 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 12/14/2018] [Accepted: 02/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The spatial distribution of species has long sparked interest among ecologists and biogeographers, increasingly so in studies of species responses to climate change. However, field studies on spatial patterns of distribution, useful to inform conservation actions at local scales, are still lacking for many regions, especially the tropics. We studied elevational trends and species-area relationships among anurans in wetland habitats within Volcanoes National Park (VNP) in Rwanda, part of the biodiverse Albertine Rift region. In VNP, wetlands are key sites for anuran reproduction, and anurans are likely threatened by wetland desiccation which has occurred for the last few decades. Between 2012 and 2017, we sampled anuran communities in ten VNP wetlands located along an elevational gradient of c. 600 m (from 2,546 to 3,188 m a.s.l.) and found at least eight species, including at least two Albertine Rift Endemics. We show that species richness, diversity, and abundance likely decline with a decrease in wetland size and with an increase in elevation, though additional sampling (e.g., at night) might be needed to derive definite conclusions. Larger wetlands at lower elevations contained most species and individuals, which indicates the potential threat of wetland size reduction (through desiccation) for anuran conservation. However, we also found that wetlands differed in species composition and that some species (e.g., Sclerophrys kisoloensis) were likely restricted in distribution to only a few of the smaller wetlands-suggesting that the conservation of each individual wetland should be prioritized, regardless of size. We propose that all wetlands in VNP require additional conservation measures, which should be based on knowledge gathered through long-term monitoring of anuran communities and research on drivers of wetland decline. Only such extended research will allow us to understand the response of anurans in VNP to threats such as climate change and wetland desiccation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Nuria Garriga
- Department of Evolutive Biology, Ecology, and Environmental SciencesUniversity of BarcelonaBarcelonaSpain
| | - Mia A. Derhé
- The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund InternationalMusanzeRwanda
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DeLong JP, Gibert JP. Larger Area Facilitates Richness-Function Effects in Experimental Microcosms. Am Nat 2019; 193:738-747. [PMID: 31002568 DOI: 10.1086/702705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Species-area relationships (SAR) and biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) relationships are central patterns in community ecology. Although research on both patterns often invokes mechanisms of community assembly, both SARs and BEFs are generally treated as separate phenomena. Here we link the two by creating an experimental SAR in microcosm communities and show that greater species richness in larger areas is accompanied by greater ecosystem function. We then explore mechanisms of community assembly by determining whether rare, large, or high-biomass species are more likely to persist in the larger microcosms. Our results indicate that larger areas harbor more rare species of a wider range of body sizes and have higher functional diversity, implying that the addition of niche space that supports rare species underlies the effect of area on species richness and function. Our results suggest that the preservation of large areas is a potentially useful way of maximizing the provisioning of ecosystem services through the maintenance of biodiversity.
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Cantera I, Cilleros K, Valentini A, Cerdan A, Dejean T, Iribar A, Taberlet P, Vigouroux R, Brosse S. Optimizing environmental DNA sampling effort for fish inventories in tropical streams and rivers. Sci Rep 2019; 9:3085. [PMID: 30816174 PMCID: PMC6395586 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39399-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is a promising tool to estimate aquatic biodiversity. It is based on the capture of DNA from a water sample. The sampled water volume, a crucial aspect for efficient species detection, has been empirically variable (ranging from few centiliters to tens of liters). This results in a high variability of sampling effort across studies, making comparisons difficult and raising uncertainties about the completeness of eDNA inventories. Our aim was to determine the sampling effort (filtered water volume) needed to get optimal inventories of fish assemblages in species-rich tropical streams and rivers using eDNA. Ten DNA replicates were collected in six Guianese sites (3 streams and 3 rivers), resulting in sampling efforts ranging from 17 to 340 liters of water. We show that sampling 34 liters of water detected more than 64% of the expected fish fauna and permitted to distinguish the fauna between sites and between ecosystem types (stream versus rivers). Above 68 liters, the number of detected species per site increased slightly, with a detection rate higher than 71%. Increasing sampling effort up to 340 liters provided little additional information, testifying that filtering 34 to 68 liters is sufficient to inventory most of the fauna in highly diverse tropical aquatic ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Cantera
- Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique (EDB UMR5174), Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse 3, CNRS, IRD, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex, France.
| | - Kévin Cilleros
- Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique (EDB UMR5174), Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse 3, CNRS, IRD, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex, France
- Irstea, UR RECOVER, Equipe FRESHCO, 3275 Route de Cézanne, CS 40061, 13182, Aix en Provence, France
| | - Alice Valentini
- SPYGEN, 17 rue du Lac Saint-André Savoie Technolac - BP 274, Le Bourget-du-Lac, 73375, France
| | - Axel Cerdan
- Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique (EDB UMR5174), Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse 3, CNRS, IRD, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex, France
- Écologie des Forêts de Guyane (UMR EcoFoG), Campus Agronomique, Kourou, French Guiana
| | - Tony Dejean
- SPYGEN, 17 rue du Lac Saint-André Savoie Technolac - BP 274, Le Bourget-du-Lac, 73375, France
| | - Amaia Iribar
- Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique (EDB UMR5174), Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse 3, CNRS, IRD, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex, France
| | - Pierre Taberlet
- Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (LECA UMR5553), CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38041, Grenoble, France
| | - Régis Vigouroux
- HYDRECO, Laboratoire Environnement de Petit Saut, B.P 823, F-97388, Kourou Cedex, French Guiana
| | - Sébastien Brosse
- Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique (EDB UMR5174), Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse 3, CNRS, IRD, UPS, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse Cedex, France
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11
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Interplay of spatial dynamics and local adaptation shapes species lifetime distributions and species–area relationships. THEOR ECOL-NETH 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s12080-019-0410-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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12
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Reydon TAC. Are Species Good Units for Biodiversity Studies and Conservation Efforts? HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-10991-2_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
AbstractWhile species have long been seen as the principal units of biodiversity, with prominent roles in biodiversity research and conservation practice, the long-standing debate on the nature of species deeply problematizes their suitability as such units. Not only do the metaphysical questions remain unresolved what kinds of things species are, and whether species are at all real, there also is considerable disagreement on how to define the notion of species for use in practice. Moreover, it seems that different organism groups are best classified using different definitions of ‘species’, such that species of organisms in very different domains of biodiversity are not generally comparable units. In this chapter I will defend and elaborate the claim that species are not good units of biodiversity, focusing in the issue of species realism. I will sketch a pragmatic notion of ‘species’ that can be used as an epistemic tool in the context of biodiversity studies, without however involving a view of species as basic units of biodiversity or as the focal, real entities in biodiversity conservation.
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Lafuite AS, Denise G, Loreau M. Sustainable Land-use Management Under Biodiversity Lag Effects. ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS : THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS 2018; 154:272-281. [PMID: 30214128 PMCID: PMC6130804 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The destruction of natural habitats for agricultural production results in local biodiversity loss. Biodiversity loss in turn affects agricultural production indirectly through a range of biodiversity-dependent ecosystem services. Land conversion thus results in a negative externality, mediated by changes in biodiversity. When the consequences of this externality are delayed in time, lack of internalization results in overshoot-and-collapse dynamics, which are undesirable from a sustainability perspective. Here, we emphasize the importance of forward-looking policies for the long-term sustainability of human-nature interactions. We show that the internalization of this externality through a land tax can result in several win-win effects in the long run. First, more biodiversity is preserved at equilibrium, which increases the carrying capacity and total well-being of the human population. Second, a taxation path that maximizes the discounted sum of human utilities prevents or greatly alleviates overshoot-and-collapse crises, thus increasing the sustainability of the system. In particular, this result holds in the case of imperfect information regarding the precise temporal dynamics of biodiversity loss, suggesting that the design of efficient land-use management policies is possible despite incomplete ecological data. This study highlights the need to internalize biodiversity-dependent externalities through economic incentives, especially under uncertainty regarding long-term ecological dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- A.-S. Lafuite
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS and Paul Sabatier University, Moulis, France
| | - G. Denise
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS and Paul Sabatier University, Moulis, France
| | - M. Loreau
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS and Paul Sabatier University, Moulis, France
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The relative effects of forest amount, forest configuration, and urban matrix quality on forest breeding birds. Sci Rep 2018; 8:17140. [PMID: 30459396 PMCID: PMC6244229 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-35276-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2018] [Accepted: 10/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Urbanization modifies landscape structure in three major ways that impact avian diversity in remnant habitat: habitat amount is reduced and habitat configuration and matrix quality are altered. The relative effects of these three components of landscape structure are relatively well-studied in agricultural landscapes, but little is known about the relative effect of urban matrix quality. We addressed this gap by investigating the relative effects of forest amount, forest configuration, and matrix quality, indicated by degree of urbanization and agriculture amount, on the diversity of three guilds of forest birds using data from 13,763 point counts from Pennsylvania, USA. Forest amount had the largest independent effect on forest bird diversity, followed by matrix quality, then forest configuration. In particular, urbanization had strong negative effects on the relative abundance and species evenness of all forest birds and the relative abundance of forest generalist birds. To our knowledge, these are the first results of the effect of urban matrix quality on forest bird relative abundance and species evenness independent of forest amount and forest configuration. Our results imply that conservation practitioners in human-modified landscapes prioritize maximizing forest amount, then reducing the effects of disturbances originating in the matrix, and then preserving large, spatially-dispersed forest patches to most effectively conserve forest birds.
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Nagaishi E, Takemoto K. Network resilience of mutualistic ecosystems and environmental changes: an empirical study. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2018; 5:180706. [PMID: 30839716 PMCID: PMC6170563 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2018] [Accepted: 08/23/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
It is theorized that a mutualistic ecosystem's resilience against perturbations (e.g. species extinction) is determined by a single macroscopic parameter (network resilience), calculable from the network. Given that such perturbations occur owing to environmental changes (e.g. climate change and human impact), it has been predicted that mutualistic ecosystems that exist despite extensive environmental changes exhibit higher network resilience; however, such a prediction has not been confirmed using real-world data. Thus, in this study, the effects of climate change velocity and human activities on mutualistic network resilience were investigated. A global dataset of plant-animal mutualistic networks was used, and spatial analysis was performed to examine the effects. Moreover, the potential confounding effects of network size, current climate and altitude were statistically controlled. It was demonstrated that mutualistic network resilience was globally influenced by warming velocity and human impact, in addition to current climate. Specifically, pollination network resilience increased in response to human impact, and seed-dispersal network resilience increased with warming velocity. The effect of environmental changes on network resilience for plants was remarkable. The results confirmed the prediction obtained based on the theory and imply that real-world mutualistic networks have a structure that increases ecosystem resilience against environmental changes. These findings will enhance the understanding of ecosystem resilience.
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16
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Sherrill-Mix S, McCormick K, Lauder A, Bailey A, Zimmerman L, Li Y, Django JBN, Bertolani P, Colin C, Hart JA, Hart TB, Georgiev AV, Sanz CM, Morgan DB, Atencia R, Cox D, Muller MN, Sommer V, Piel AK, Stewart FA, Speede S, Roman J, Wu G, Taylor J, Bohm R, Rose HM, Carlson J, Mjungu D, Schmidt P, Gaughan C, Bushman JI, Schmidt E, Bittinger K, Collman RG, Hahn BH, Bushman FD. Allometry and Ecology of the Bilaterian Gut Microbiome. mBio 2018; 9:e00319-18. [PMID: 29588401 PMCID: PMC5874926 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00319-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2018] [Accepted: 02/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Classical ecology provides principles for construction and function of biological communities, but to what extent these apply to the animal-associated microbiota is just beginning to be assessed. Here, we investigated the influence of several well-known ecological principles on animal-associated microbiota by characterizing gut microbial specimens from bilaterally symmetrical animals (Bilateria) ranging from flies to whales. A rigorously vetted sample set containing 265 specimens from 64 species was assembled. Bacterial lineages were characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Previously published samples were also compared, allowing analysis of over 1,098 samples in total. A restricted number of bacterial phyla was found to account for the great majority of gut colonists. Gut microbial composition was associated with host phylogeny and diet. We identified numerous gut bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences that diverged deeply from previously studied taxa, identifying opportunities to discover new bacterial types. The number of bacterial lineages per gut sample was positively associated with animal mass, paralleling known species-area relationships from island biogeography and implicating body size as a determinant of community stability and niche complexity. Samples from larger animals harbored greater numbers of anaerobic communities, specifying a mechanism for generating more-complex microbial environments. Predictions for species/abundance relationships from models of neutral colonization did not match the data set, pointing to alternative mechanisms such as selection of specific colonists by environmental niche. Taken together, the data suggest that niche complexity increases with gut size and that niche selection forces dominate gut community construction.IMPORTANCE The intestinal microbiome of animals is essential for health, contributing to digestion of foods, proper immune development, inhibition of pathogen colonization, and catabolism of xenobiotic compounds. How these communities assemble and persist is just beginning to be investigated. Here we interrogated a set of gut samples from a wide range of animals to investigate the roles of selection and random processes in microbial community construction. We show that the numbers of bacterial species increased with the weight of host organisms, paralleling findings from studies of island biogeography. Communities in larger organisms tended to be more anaerobic, suggesting one mechanism for niche diversification. Nonselective processes enable specific predictions for community structure, but our samples did not match the predictions of the neutral model. Thus, these findings highlight the importance of niche selection in community construction and suggest mechanisms of niche diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Sherrill-Mix
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Kevin McCormick
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Abigail Lauder
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Aubrey Bailey
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Laurie Zimmerman
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Yingying Li
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Jean-Bosco N Django
- Department of Ecology and Management of Plant and Animal Resources, Faculty of Sciences, University of Kisangani, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo
| | - Paco Bertolani
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Christelle Colin
- Projet Primates France, Centre de Conservation pour Chimpanzés, Faranah, Republic of Guinea
| | - John A Hart
- Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation, Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
| | - Terese B Hart
- Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation, Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
| | - Alexander V Georgiev
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
| | - Crickette M Sanz
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - David B Morgan
- Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Rebeca Atencia
- Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center, Jane Goodall Institute, Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo
| | - Debby Cox
- Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center, Jane Goodall Institute, Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo
| | - Martin N Muller
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Volker Sommer
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alexander K Piel
- Department of Natural Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Fiona A Stewart
- Department of Natural Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Sheri Speede
- Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, IDA-Africa, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Joe Roman
- Gund Institute for Environment, Rubenstein School for Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
| | - Gary Wu
- Division of Gastroenterology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Josh Taylor
- Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane University Health Science Center, Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Rudolf Bohm
- Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane University Health Science Center, Covington, Louisiana, USA
| | - Heather M Rose
- Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - John Carlson
- Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service, Panama City, Florida, USA
| | - Deus Mjungu
- Gombe Stream Research Centre, The Jane Goodall Institute, Kigoma, Tanzania
| | - Paul Schmidt
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Celeste Gaughan
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Joyslin I Bushman
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Ella Schmidt
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Kyle Bittinger
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Ronald G Collman
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Beatrice H Hahn
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Frederic D Bushman
- Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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17
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Morelli F, Benedetti Y, Møller AP, Liang W, Carrascal LM. Cuckoos host range is associated positively with distribution range and negatively with evolutionary uniqueness. J Anim Ecol 2018; 87:765-773. [PMID: 29355941 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2017] [Accepted: 12/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) score is a measure of phylogenetic isolation that quantifies the evolutionary uniqueness of a species. Here, we compared the ED score of parasitic and non-parasitic cuckoo species world-wide, to understand whether parental care or parasitism represents the largest amount of phylogenetic uniqueness. Next, we focused only on 46 cuckoo species characterized by brood parasitism with a known number of host species, and we explored the associations among ED score, number of host species and breeding range size for these species. We assessed these associations using phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) models, taking into account the phylogenetic signal. Parasitic cuckoo species were not more unique in terms of ED than non-parasitic species. However, we found a significant negative association between the evolutionary uniqueness and host range and a positive correlation between the number of host species and range size of parasitic cuckoos, probably suggesting a passive sampling of hosts by parasitic species as the breeding range broadens. The findings of this study showed that more generalist brood parasites occupied very different positions in a phylogenetic tree, suggesting that they have evolved independently within the Cuculiformes order. Finally, we demonstrated that specialist cuckoo species also represent the most evolutionarily unique species in the order of Cuculiformes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Morelli
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Yanina Benedetti
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Anders Pape Møller
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay Cedex, France
| | - Wei Liang
- College of Life Sciences, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, China
| | - Luis M Carrascal
- Department of Biogeography and Global Change, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
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18
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Medeiros-Sousa AR, Fernandes A, Ceretti-Junior W, Wilke ABB, Marrelli MT. Mosquitoes in urban green spaces: using an island biogeographic approach to identify drivers of species richness and composition. Sci Rep 2017; 7:17826. [PMID: 29259304 PMCID: PMC5736758 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18208-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2017] [Accepted: 12/07/2017] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Mosquitoes are well known for their epidemiological importance as vectors of a wide range of human pathogens. Despite the many studies on medically important species, little is known about the diversity patterns of these insects in urban green spaces, which serve as shelter and refuge for many native and invasive species. Here, we investigate drivers of mosquito richness and composition in nine urban parks in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Using the equilibrium theory of island biogeography, we tested predictive models for species richness and composition and performed nestedness analysis. We also investigated whether species loss tends to benefit vector mosquitoes. In the period 2011 to 2013, a total of 37,972 mosquitoes belonging to 73 species and 14 genera were collected. Our results suggest there is a species-area relationship, an increase in species similarity as richness is lost and a nested species composition pattern. Seven of the eight most commonly found species are considered vectors of human pathogens, suggesting a possible link between species loss and increased risk of pathogen transmission. Our data highlight the need for studies that seek to understand how species loss may affect the risk of infectious diseases in urban areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antônio Ralph Medeiros-Sousa
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, São Paulo University, Avenida Doutor Arnaldo 715, CEP 01246-904, São Paulo, Brazil.
| | - Aristides Fernandes
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, São Paulo University, Avenida Doutor Arnaldo 715, CEP 01246-904, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Walter Ceretti-Junior
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, São Paulo University, Avenida Doutor Arnaldo 715, CEP 01246-904, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - André Barreto Bruno Wilke
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, São Paulo University, Avenida Doutor Arnaldo 715, CEP 01246-904, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Mauro Toledo Marrelli
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, São Paulo University, Avenida Doutor Arnaldo 715, CEP 01246-904, São Paulo, Brazil
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19
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Lafuite AS, de Mazancourt C, Loreau M. Delayed behavioural shifts undermine the sustainability of social-ecological systems. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:20171192. [PMID: 29187624 PMCID: PMC5740268 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2017] [Accepted: 10/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural habitat destruction and fragmentation generate a time-delayed loss of species and associated ecosystem services. As social-ecological systems (SESs) depend on a range of ecosystem services, lagged ecological dynamics may affect their long-term sustainability. Here, we investigate the role of consumption changes for sustainability, under a time-delayed ecological feedback on agricultural production. We use a stylized model that couples the dynamics of biodiversity, technology, human demography and compliance with a social norm prescribing sustainable consumption. Compliance with the sustainable norm reduces both the consumption footprint and the vulnerability of SESs to transient overshoot-and-collapse population crises. We show that the timing and interaction between social, demographic and ecological feedbacks govern the transient and long-term dynamics of the system. A sufficient level of social pressure (e.g. disapproval) applied on the unsustainable consumers leads to the stable coexistence of unsustainable and sustainable or mixed equilibria, where both defectors and conformers coexist. Under bistability conditions, increasing extinction debts reduces the resilience of the system, thus favouring abrupt regime shifts towards unsustainable pathways. Given recent evidence of large extinction debts, such results call for farsightedness and a better understanding of time delays when studying the sustainability of coupled SESs.
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Affiliation(s)
- A-S Lafuite
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS and Paul Sabatier University, Moulis, France
| | - C de Mazancourt
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS and Paul Sabatier University, Moulis, France
| | - M Loreau
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS and Paul Sabatier University, Moulis, France
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20
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Fuller L, Fuentes-Montemayor E, Watts K, Macgregor NA, Bitenc K, Park KJ. Local-scale attributes determine the suitability of woodland creation sites for Diptera. J Appl Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Fuller
- Biological and Environmental Sciences; University of Stirling; Stirling UK
| | | | - Kevin Watts
- Biological and Environmental Sciences; University of Stirling; Stirling UK
- Forest Research; Alice Holt Lodge; Farnham UK
| | - Nicholas A. Macgregor
- Natural England; Nobel House; London UK
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE); School of Anthropology and Conservation; University of Kent; Canterbury Kent UK
| | - Katja Bitenc
- Biological and Environmental Sciences; University of Stirling; Stirling UK
| | - Kirsty J. Park
- Biological and Environmental Sciences; University of Stirling; Stirling UK
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21
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Neufeld CJ, Starko S, Burns KC. Disturbance and diversity in a continental archipelago: a mechanistic framework linking area, height, and exposure. Ecosphere 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J. Neufeld
- Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre; 100 Pachena Road Bamfield British Columbia V0R 1B0 Canada
- Quest University Canada; 3200 University Boulevard Squamish British Columbia V8B 0N8 Canada
| | - Samuel Starko
- Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre; 100 Pachena Road Bamfield British Columbia V0R 1B0 Canada
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre; University of British Columbia; Vancouver British Columbia V6T 1Z4 Canada
| | - Kevin C. Burns
- Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre; 100 Pachena Road Bamfield British Columbia V0R 1B0 Canada
- School of Biological Sciences; Victoria University of Wellington; P.O. Box 600 Wellington New Zealand
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22
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Lafuite AS, Loreau M. Time-delayed biodiversity feedbacks and the sustainability of social-ecological systems. Ecol Modell 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.02.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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23
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Takemoto K, Kajihara K. Human Impacts and Climate Change Influence Nestedness and Modularity in Food-Web and Mutualistic Networks. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0157929. [PMID: 27322185 PMCID: PMC4913940 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2016] [Accepted: 06/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Theoretical studies have indicated that nestedness and modularity—non-random structural patterns of ecological networks—influence the stability of ecosystems against perturbations; as such, climate change and human activity, as well as other sources of environmental perturbations, affect the nestedness and modularity of ecological networks. However, the effects of climate change and human activities on ecological networks are poorly understood. Here, we used a spatial analysis approach to examine the effects of climate change and human activities on the structural patterns of food webs and mutualistic networks, and found that ecological network structure is globally affected by climate change and human impacts, in addition to current climate. In pollination networks, for instance, nestedness increased and modularity decreased in response to increased human impacts. Modularity in seed-dispersal networks decreased with temperature change (i.e., warming), whereas food web nestedness increased and modularity declined in response to global warming. Although our findings are preliminary owing to data-analysis limitations, they enhance our understanding of the effects of environmental change on ecological communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuhiro Takemoto
- Department of Bioscience and Bioinformatics, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Iizuka Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Kosuke Kajihara
- Department of Bioscience and Bioinformatics, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Iizuka Fukuoka, Japan
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24
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25
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Travassos-De-Britto B, Rocha PLBD. Habitat amount, habitat heterogeneity, and their effects on arthropod species diversity. ECOSCIENCE 2015. [DOI: 10.2980/20-3-3606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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26
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Warren BH, Simberloff D, Ricklefs RE, Aguilée R, Condamine FL, Gravel D, Morlon H, Mouquet N, Rosindell J, Casquet J, Conti E, Cornuault J, Fernández-Palacios JM, Hengl T, Norder SJ, Rijsdijk KF, Sanmartín I, Strasberg D, Triantis KA, Valente LM, Whittaker RJ, Gillespie RG, Emerson BC, Thébaud C. Islands as model systems in ecology and evolution: prospects fifty years after MacArthur-Wilson. Ecol Lett 2015; 18:200-17. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 279] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2014] [Revised: 07/01/2014] [Accepted: 11/10/2014] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ben H. Warren
- Institute of Systematic Botany; University of Zurich; Zollikerstrasse 107 8008 Zurich Switzerland
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; University of Tennessee; Knoxville TN 37996 USA
- UMR PVBMT; Université de La Réunion-CIRAD; 7 chemin de l'IRAT Ligne Paradis 97410 Saint Pierre Réunion France
| | - Daniel Simberloff
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; University of Tennessee; Knoxville TN 37996 USA
| | - Robert E. Ricklefs
- Department of Biology; University of Missouri at St. Louis; 8001 Natural Bridge Road St. Louis MO 63121 USA
| | - Robin Aguilée
- Laboratoire Evolution & Diversité Biologique; UMR 5174 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier-ENFA; 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9 France
| | - Fabien L. Condamine
- CNRS; UMR 7641 Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées (Ecole Polytechnique); Route de Saclay 91128 Palaiseau France
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Département de Biologie; Université du Québec à Rimouski 300; Allée des Ursulines; Rimouski QC G5L 3A1 Canada
| | - Hélène Morlon
- Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure (IBENS); UMR CNRS 8197; 46 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris France
| | - Nicolas Mouquet
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution; UMR 5554; CNRS; Univ. Montpellier 2; CC 065 Place Eugène Bataillon 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 France
| | - James Rosindell
- Department of Life Sciences; Imperial College London; Silwood Park Campus Ascot Berkshire SL5 7PY UK
| | - Juliane Casquet
- Laboratoire Evolution & Diversité Biologique; UMR 5174 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier-ENFA; 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9 France
| | - Elena Conti
- Institute of Systematic Botany; University of Zurich; Zollikerstrasse 107 8008 Zurich Switzerland
| | - Josselin Cornuault
- Laboratoire Evolution & Diversité Biologique; UMR 5174 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier-ENFA; 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9 France
| | - José María Fernández-Palacios
- Island Ecology and Biogeography Group; Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias (IUETSPC); Universidad de La Laguna; Tenerife Canary Islands Spain
| | - Tomislav Hengl
- ISRIC-World Soil Information; 6700 AJ Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Sietze J. Norder
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics; Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies; University of Amsterdam; Science Park 904 1098XH Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Kenneth F. Rijsdijk
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics; Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies; University of Amsterdam; Science Park 904 1098XH Amsterdam The Netherlands
| | - Isabel Sanmartín
- Real Jardín Botánico; RJB-CSIC; Plaza de Murillo 2 28014 Madrid Spain
| | - Dominique Strasberg
- UMR PVBMT; Université de La Réunion-CIRAD; 7 chemin de l'IRAT Ligne Paradis 97410 Saint Pierre Réunion France
| | - Kostas A. Triantis
- Department of Ecology and Taxonomy; Faculty of Biology; National and Kapodistrian University; Athens 15784 Greece
- Oxford University Centre for the Environment; South Parks Road Oxford OX1 3QY UK
| | - Luis M. Valente
- Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology; Institute of Biochemistry and Biology; University of Potsdam; Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25 14476 Potsdam Germany
| | - Robert J. Whittaker
- Oxford University Centre for the Environment; South Parks Road Oxford OX1 3QY UK
| | - Rosemary G. Gillespie
- Division of Organisms and Environment; University of California; Berkeley CA 94720 USA
| | - Brent C. Emerson
- Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group; Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA-CSIC); C/Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez 3 La Laguna 38206 Tenerife Canary Islands Spain
| | - Christophe Thébaud
- Laboratoire Evolution & Diversité Biologique; UMR 5174 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier-ENFA; 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9 France
- CESAB / FRB; Domaine du Petit Arbois; Av Louis Philibert Aix-en-Provence 13100 France
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27
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Thompson CJ, Lee TE, McCarthy MA. Species distributions and area relationships. J Theor Biol 2014; 363:129-33. [PMID: 25150460 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2014.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2013] [Revised: 08/04/2014] [Accepted: 08/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The well-known species-area relationship is one of many scaling laws, or allometries, in ecology and biology that have received much attention over the years. We present a new derivation of this relationship based on Yule׳s theory of evolution of species. Using definitions of mutation rates, our analysis yields species-area exponents that are in close agreement with previously observed values.
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Affiliation(s)
- C J Thompson
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - T E Lee
- School of Botany, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia; Biomathematics Unit, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
| | - M A McCarthy
- School of Botany, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
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28
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Hu YH, Kitching RL, Lan GY, Zhang JL, Sha LQ, Cao M. Size-class effect contributes to tree species assembly through influencing dispersal in tropical forests. PLoS One 2014; 9:e108450. [PMID: 25251538 PMCID: PMC4177404 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2014] [Accepted: 08/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We have investigated the processes of community assembly using size classes of trees. Specifically our work examined (1) whether point process models incorporating an effect of size-class produce more realistic summary outcomes than do models without this effect; (2) which of three selected models incorporating, respectively environmental effects, dispersal and the joint-effect of both of these, is most useful in explaining species-area relationships (SARs) and point dispersion patterns. For this evaluation we used tree species data from the 50-ha forest dynamics plot in Barro Colorado Island, Panama and the comparable 20 ha plot at Bubeng, Southwest China. Our results demonstrated that incorporating an size-class effect dramatically improved the SAR estimation at both the plots when the dispersal only model was used. The joint effect model produced similar improvement but only for the 50-ha plot in Panama. The point patterns results were not improved by incorporation of size-class effects using any of the three models. Our results indicate that dispersal is likely to be a key process determining both SARs and point patterns. The environment-only model and joint-effects model were effective at the species level and the community level, respectively. We conclude that it is critical to use multiple summary characteristics when modelling spatial patterns at the species and community levels if a comprehensive understanding of the ecological processes that shape species' distributions is sought; without this results may have inherent biases. By influencing dispersal, the effect of size-class contributes to species assembly and enhances our understanding of species coexistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue-Hua Hu
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China
| | - Roger L. Kitching
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China
- Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith School of the Environment, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
| | - Guo-Yu Lan
- Rubber Research Institute, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Danzhou, Hainan, China
| | - Jiao-Lin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China
| | - Li-Qing Sha
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China
| | - Min Cao
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China
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29
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Climatic seasonality may affect ecological network structure: food webs and mutualistic networks. Biosystems 2014; 121:29-37. [PMID: 24907523 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2014.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2014] [Revised: 05/30/2014] [Accepted: 06/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Ecological networks exhibit non-random structural patterns, such as modularity and nestedness, which determine ecosystem stability with species diversity and connectance. Such structure-stability relationships are well known. However, another important perspective is less well understood: the relationship between the environment and structure. Inspired by theoretical studies that suggest that network structure can change due to environmental variability, we collected data on a number of empirical food webs and mutualistic networks and evaluated the effect of climatic seasonality on ecological network structure. As expected, we found that climatic seasonality affects ecological network structure. In particular, an increase in modularity due to climatic seasonality was observed in food webs; however, it is debatable whether this occurs in mutualistic networks. Interestingly, the type of climatic seasonality that affects network structure differs with ecosystem type. Rainfall and temperature seasonality influence freshwater food webs and mutualistic networks, respectively; food webs are smaller, and more modular, with increasing rainfall seasonality. Mutualistic networks exhibit a higher diversity (particularly of animals) with increasing temperature seasonality. These results confirm the theoretical prediction that the stability increases with greater perturbation. Although these results are still debatable because of several limitations in the data analysis, they may enhance our understanding of environment-structure relationships.
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30
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A few good reasons why species-area relationships do not work for parasites. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2014; 2014:271680. [PMID: 24895561 PMCID: PMC4034449 DOI: 10.1155/2014/271680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2014] [Accepted: 04/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Several studies failed to find strong relationships between the biological and ecological features of a host and the number of parasite species it harbours. In particular, host body size and geographical range are generally only weak predictors of parasite species richness, especially when host phylogeny and sampling effort are taken into account. These results, however, have been recently challenged by a meta-analytic study that suggested a prominent role of host body size and range extent in determining parasite species richness (species-area relationships). Here we argue that, in general, results from meta-analyses should not discourage researchers from investigating the reasons for the lack of clear patterns, thus proposing a few tentative explanations to the fact that species-area relationships are infrequent or at least difficult to be detected in most host-parasite systems. The peculiar structure of host-parasite networks, the enemy release hypothesis, the possible discrepancy between host and parasite ranges, and the evolutionary tendency of parasites towards specialization may explain why the observed patterns often do not fit those predicted by species-area relationships.
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31
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Kitzes J, Harte J. Beyond the species-area relationship: improving macroecological extinction estimates. Methods Ecol Evol 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.12130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Justin Kitzes
- Energy and Resources Group; University of California; 310 Barrows Hall Berkeley CA 94720-3050 USA
| | - John Harte
- Energy and Resources Group; University of California; 310 Barrows Hall Berkeley CA 94720-3050 USA
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32
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Zimmerman EK, Cardinale BJ. Is the relationship between algal diversity and biomass in North American lakes consistent with biodiversity experiments? OIKOS 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2013.00777.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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33
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Sæther BE, Engen S, Grøtan V. Species diversity and community similarity in fluctuating environments: parametric approaches using species abundance distributions. J Anim Ecol 2013; 82:721-38. [PMID: 23578202 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2012] [Accepted: 02/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Here we review recent advances in characterizing pattern of variation in community structure in space and time based on parametric approaches utilizing the full distribution of abundances of species rather than some summary indices. Assessment of biodiversity based on the structure of rank-abundance plots or simple species diversity indices, which describe properties of the sample of individuals, may reveal limited information about the underlying species abundance distribution of the community because the number of individuals counted are dependent on the sampling intensity. For instance, assuming Poisson sampling and an underlying lognormal species abundance distribution implies that observed abundances (counts) are a sample from a Poisson lognormal distribution. A convenient property of this distribution is that the estimate of σ(2) can be used as an inverse measure of species diversity in a community as well as the number of unobserved species can be estimated approximately without bias for unknown sampling intensities. If two communities can be described by a bivariate lognormal species abundance model, then the correlation between the log abundances of species in the two communities is an index of similarity that can be estimated without knowledge of sampling intensities using the bivariate Poisson lognormal distribution. This method is even applicable as an approximation when the abundance distribution deviates from the lognormal. An analysis of the interrelationship between the parameters of the lognormal species abundance distribution in communities of species from a wide variety of taxa shows that the canonical hypothesis of Preston in general, for a given number of species, gives far too large variances in the distribution of log abundances. A general feature in community dynamics is that a large component of the variance in the species abundance distribution is caused by heterogeneity among species in the population dynamics as well as environmental noise. This pattern is in contrast to the assumptions of the neutral theory of community dynamics. The choice of species abundance distribution should be a consequence of specific assumptions about the dynamics of the species. We suggest that such specific assumptions for the choice of species abundance model will facilitate more robust comparisons of changes in community structure in time and space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernt-Erik Sæther
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Realfagbygget NO 7491, Trondheim, Norway
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Guimarães J, Pereira P, Chambel L, Tenreiro R. Assessment of filamentous fungal diversity using classic and molecular approaches: case study – Mediterranean ecosystem. FUNGAL ECOL 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2011.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Scheiner SM, Chiarucci A, Fox GA, Helmus MR, McGlinn DJ, Willig MR. The underpinnings of the relationship of species richness with space and time. ECOL MONOGR 2011. [DOI: 10.1890/10-1426.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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36
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Mäkelä T, Annila A. Natural patterns of energy dispersal. Phys Life Rev 2010; 7:477-98. [DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2010.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2010] [Accepted: 10/08/2010] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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Matias MG, Underwood AJ, Hochuli DF, Coleman RA. Independent effects of patch size and structural complexity on diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates. Ecology 2010; 91:1908-15. [PMID: 20715609 DOI: 10.1890/09-1083.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Miguel G Matias
- Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities, Marine Ecology Laboratories A11, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
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Marshall AR, Jørgensbye HIO, Rovero F, Platts PJ, White PCL, Lovett JC. The species-area relationship and confounding variables in a threatened monkey community. Am J Primatol 2010; 72:325-36. [PMID: 20039329 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
This study investigates the species-area relationship (SAR) for forest monkeys in a biodiversity hotspot. The Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania are well-suited to investigate the SAR, with seven monkey species in a range of fragment sizes (0.06-526 km(2)). We test the relationship between species richness and forest fragment size, relative to human and environmental factors. We distinguish resident and transitory species because the latter have an "effective patch size" beyond the area of forest. Forest area was the strongest (log-linear) predictor of species richness. However, forest area, elevation range and annual moisture index were intercorrelated. Previous knowledge of the relationship between elevation and tree communities suggests that the SAR is largely a result of habitat heterogeneity. Isolation by farmland (matrix habitat) also had a significant negative effect on species richness, probably exacerbated by hunting in small forests. The effect of area and isolation was less for transitory species. The human influence on species' presence/absence was negatively related to the extent of occurrence. Weaker relationships with temperature and precipitation suggest underlying climatic influences, and give some support for the influence of productivity. A reduced area relationship for smaller forests suggests that fragment sizes below 12-40 km(2) may not be reliable for determining SAR in forest monkeys. Further practical implications are for management to encourage connectivity, and for future SAR research to consider residency, matrix classification and moisture besides precipitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew R Marshall
- Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, United Kingdom.
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Shen G, Yu M, Hu XS, Mi X, Ren H, Sun IF, Ma K. Species-area relationships explained by the joint effects of dispersal limitation and habitat heterogeneity. Ecology 2010; 90:3033-41. [PMID: 19967859 DOI: 10.1890/08-1646.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 118] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Species-area relationships (SARs) characterize the spatial distribution of species diversity in community ecology, but the biological mechanisms underlying the SARs have not been fully explored. Here, we examined the roles of dispersal limitation and habitat heterogeneity in shaping SARs in two large-scale forest plots. One is a 24-ha subtropical forest in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve, China. The other is a 50-ha tropical rain forest in Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Spatial point pattern models were applied to investigate the contributions of dispersal and habitat heterogeneity and their interactions to the formation of the SARs in the two sites. The results showed that, although dispersal and habitat heterogeneity each could significantly contribute to the SARs, each alone was insufficient to explain the SARs. Their joint effects sufficiently explained the real SARs, suggesting that heterogeneous habitat and dispersal limitation are two predominant mechanisms for maintaining the spatial distributions of the species in these two forests. These results add to our understanding of the ecological processes underlying the spatial variation of SARs in natural forest communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guochun Shen
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
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40
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Levin PS, Kaplan I, Grober-Dunsmore R, Chittaro PM, Oyamada S, Andrews K, Mangel M. A framework for assessing the biodiversity and fishery aspects of marine reserves. J Appl Ecol 2009. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01667.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Würtz P, Annila A. Roots of diversity relations. JOURNAL OF BIOPHYSICS (HINDAWI PUBLISHING CORPORATION : ONLINE) 2008; 2008:654672. [PMID: 20130809 PMCID: PMC2814133 DOI: 10.1155/2008/654672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2008] [Revised: 06/24/2008] [Accepted: 08/28/2008] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The species-area relationship is one of the central generalizations in ecology; however, its origin has remained a puzzle. Since ecosystems are understood as energy transduction systems, the regularities in species richness are considered to result from ubiquitous imperatives in energy transduction. From a thermodynamic point of view, organisms are transduction mechanisms that distribute an influx of energy down along the steepest gradients to the ecosystem's diverse repositories of chemical energy, that is, populations of species. Transduction machineries, that is, ecosystems assembled from numerous species, may emerge and evolve toward high efficiency on large areas that hold more matter than small ones. This results in the well-known logistic-like relationship between the area and the number of species. The species-area relationship is understood, in terms of thermodynamics, to be the skewed cumulative curve of chemical energy distribution that is commonly known as the species-abundance relationship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Würtz
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Arto Annila
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
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LEES DAVIDC, KREMEN CLAIRE, ANDRIAMAMPIANINA LANTO. A null model for species richness gradients: bounded range overlap of butterflies and other rainforest endemics in Madagascar. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1999.tb01945.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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45
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Newmark WD. Species-area relationship and its determinants for mammals in western North American national parks. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1986.tb01750.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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46
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McGarvey DJ, Hughes RM. Longitudinal Zonation of Pacific Northwest (U.S.A.) Fish Assemblages and the Species-Discharge Relationship. COPEIA 2008. [DOI: 10.1643/ce-07-020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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47
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O'Connell T, Bolger T. Stability, ephemerality and dispersal ability: microarthropod assemblages on fungal sporophores. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1997.tb01617.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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48
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Abstract
Elevational gradients hold enormous potential for understanding general properties of biodiversity. Like latitudinal gradients, the hypotheses for diversity patterns can be grouped into historical explanations, climatic drivers, and spatial hypotheses. The spatial hypotheses include the species-area effect and spatial constraint (mid-domain effect null models). I test these two spatial hypotheses using regional diversity patterns for mammals (non-volant small mammals and bats) along 34 elevational gradients spanning 24.4 degrees S-40.4 degrees N latitude. There was high variability in the fit to the species-area hypothesis and the mid-domain effect. Both hypotheses can be eliminated as primary drivers of elevational diversity. Area and spatial constraint both represent sources of error rather than mechanisms underlying these mammalian diversity patterns. Similar results are expected for other vertebrate taxa, plants, and invertebrates since they show comparable distributions of elevational diversity patterns to mammalian patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christy M McCain
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California Santa Barbara, 735 State Street, Suite 300, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA.
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Testing scale variance in species–area and abundance–area relationships in a local assemblage: an example from a subtropical boulder shore. POPUL ECOL 2007. [DOI: 10.1007/s10144-007-0045-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Abstract
How many species in a given taxon should be found in a delimited area in a specified place in the world? Some recent literature suggests that the answer to this question depends strongly on the geographical, evolutionary, and ecological context. For example, current theory suggests that species accumulate as a function of area differently on continents and islands. Species richness-climate relationships have been examined separately on continents and on islands. This study tests the hypotheses that (1) the functional relationship between richness and climate is the same on continents and islands; (2) the species-area slope depends on distance-based isolation; (3) species-area relationships differ among land bridge islands, oceanic islands, and continents; (4) richness differs among biogeographic regions independently of climate and isolation. We related bird species numbers in a worldwide sample of 240 continental parcels and 346 islands to several environmental variables. We found that breeding bird richness varies similarly on islands and on continents as a function of mean annual temperature, an area x precipitation interaction, and the distance separating insular samples from the nearest continent (R2 = 0.86). Most studies to date have postulated that the slope of the species-area relationship depends upon isolation. In contrast, we found no such interaction. A richness-environment relationship derived using Old World sites accurately predicts patterns of richness in the New World and vice versa (R2 = 0.85). Our results suggest that most of the global variation in richness is not strongly context-specific; rather, it reflects a small number of general environmental constraints operating on both continents and islands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Attila Kalmar
- Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology, University of Ottawa, 30 Marie Curie Priv., Ottawa, Ontario KIN 6N5 Canada
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