1
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Loron CC. A mathematical description of fossilization. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:231827. [PMID: 39021769 PMCID: PMC11251779 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Fossils constitute an inestimable archive of past life on the Earth. However, the stochastic processes driving decay and fossilization and overwhelmingly distorting this archive, are challenging to interpret. Consequently, concepts of exceptional or poor preservation are often subjective or arbitrarily defined. Here, we offer an alternative way to think about fossilization. We propose a mathematical description of decay and fossilization relying on the change in the relative frequency and characteristics of biogenic objects (e.g. atoms, functional groups, molecules, body parts and organisms) within an organism-fossil system. This description partitions taphonomic changes into three categories: gain, loss and alteration of state. Although the changes undergone by organisms through decay, preservation and alteration vary a lot for different organisms under different conditions, we provide a unified formalism which can be applied directly in the comparison of different assemblages, experiments and fossils. Our expression is closely related to George R. Price's famous equation for the change in evolutionary traits and can be adapted to the study of palaeontological systems and many others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corentin C. Loron
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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2
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Hogan KFE, Jones HP, Savage K, Burke AM, Guiden PW, Hosler SC, Rowland-Schaefer E, Barber NA. Functional consequences of animal community changes in managed grasslands: An application of the CAFE approach. Ecology 2024; 105:e4192. [PMID: 37878728 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023]
Abstract
In the midst of an ongoing biodiversity crisis, much research has focused on species losses and their impacts on ecosystem functioning. The functional consequences (ecosystem response) of shifts in communities are shaped not only by changes in species richness, but also by compositional shifts that result from species losses and gains. Species differ in their contribution to ecosystem functioning, so species identity underlies the consequences of species losses and gains on ecosystem functions. Such research is critical to better predict the impact of disturbances on communities and ecosystems. We used the "Community Assembly and the Functioning of Ecosystems" (CAFE) approach, a modification of the Price equation to understand the functional consequences and relative effects of richness and composition changes in small nonvolant mammal and dung beetle communities as a result of two common disturbances in North American prairie restorations, prescribed fire and the reintroduction of large grazing mammals. Previous research in this system has shown dung beetles are critically important decomposers, while small mammals modulate much energy in prairie food webs. We found that dung beetle communities were more responsive to bison reintroduction and prescribed fires than small nonvolant mammals. Dung beetle richness increased after bison reintroduction, with higher dung beetle community biomass resulting from changes in remaining species (context-dependent component) rather than species turnover (richness components); prescribed fire caused a minor increase in dung beetle biomass for the same reason. For small mammals, bison reintroduction reduced energy transfer through the loss of species, while prescribed fire had little impact on either small mammal richness or energy transfer. The CAFE approach demonstrates how bison reintroduction controls small nonvolant mammal communities by increasing prairie food web complexity, and increases dung beetle populations with possible benefits for soil health through dung mineralization and soil bioturbation. Prescribed fires, however, have little effect on small mammals and dung beetles, suggesting a resilience to fire. These findings illustrate the key role of re-establishing historical disturbance regimes when restoring endangered prairie ecosystems and their ecological function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharine F E Hogan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
| | - Holly P Jones
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
- Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, and Energy, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
| | - Kirstie Savage
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
| | - Angela M Burke
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
| | - Peter W Guiden
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
| | - Sheryl C Hosler
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Erin Rowland-Schaefer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
| | - Nicholas A Barber
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
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3
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Govaert L, Hendry AP, Fattahi F, Möst M. Quantifying interspecific and intraspecific diversity effects on ecosystem functioning. Ecology 2024; 105:e4199. [PMID: 37901985 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023]
Abstract
Rapid environmental changes result in massive biodiversity loss, with detrimental consequences for the functioning of ecosystems. Recent studies suggest that intraspecific diversity can contribute to ecosystem functioning to an extent comparable to contributions of interspecific diversity. Knowledge on the relative importance of these two sources of biodiversity is essential for predicting ecosystem consequences of biodiversity loss and will aid in the prioritization of conservation targets and implementation of management measures. However, our quantitative insights into how interspecific and intraspecific biodiversity loss affects ecosystem functioning and how the effects of these two sources of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functioning can be compared are still very limited. To facilitate such quantitative insights, we extend the interspecific Price partitioning method originally introduced by J. Fox in 2006, previously used to quantify species loss and gain effects on ecosystem functioning, to also account for the effects of intraspecific diversity loss and gain on ecosystem function. Using this extended version can yield the quantitative information required for answering research questions addressing correlations between interspecific and intraspecific diversity effects on ecosystem functioning, identifying interspecific and intraspecific groups with large effects, and assessing whether intraspecific diversity can compensate for losses in interspecific diversity. Applying this method to carefully designed experiments will provide additional insights into how biodiversity loss at different ecological levels contributes to and changes ecosystem functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynn Govaert
- Department of Evolutionary and Integrative Ecology, Leibniz Institute für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB), Berlin, Germany
| | - Andrew P Hendry
- Redpath Museum and Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | | | - Markus Möst
- Department of Ecology, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
- Research Department of Limnology, Universität Innsbruck, Mondsee, Austria
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4
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Lü XT, Reed SC, Hou SL, Yang GJ. Assessing community assembly controls over community-scale nutrient resorption responses to nitrogen deposition. Oecologia 2023:10.1007/s00442-023-05415-9. [PMID: 37454309 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05415-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/02/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
Nutrient resorption is a fundamental physiological process in plants, with important ecological controls over numerous ecosystem functions. However, the role of community assembly in driving responses of nutrient resorption to perturbation remains largely unknown. Following the Price equation framework and the Community Assembly and Ecosystem Function framework, we quantified the contribution of species loss, species gain, and shared species to the reduction of community-level nutrient resorption efficiency in response to multi-level nitrogen (N) addition in a temperate steppe, after continuous N addition for seven years. Reductions of both N and phosphorus (P) resorption efficiency (NRE and PRE, respectively) were positively correlated with N addition levels. The dissimilarities in species composition between N-enriched and control communities increased with N addition levels, and N-enriched plots showed substantial species losses and gains. Interestingly, the reduction of community-scale NRE and PRE mostly resulted from N-induced decreases in resorption efficiency for the shared species in the control and N-enriched communities. There were negative correlations between the contributions of species richness effect and species identity effect and between the number and identity of species gained for the changes in both NRE and PRE following N enrichment. By simultaneously considering N-induced changes in species composition and in species-level resorption, our work presents a more complete picture of how different community assembly processes contribute to N-induced changes in community-level resorption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Tao Lü
- Erguna Forest-Steppe Ecotone Research Station, CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Neutrality, Liaoning Province, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
| | - Sasha C Reed
- U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Moab, UT, USA
| | - Shuang-Li Hou
- Erguna Forest-Steppe Ecotone Research Station, CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Neutrality, Liaoning Province, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
| | - Guo-Jiao Yang
- Erguna Forest-Steppe Ecotone Research Station, CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Neutrality, Liaoning Province, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
- College of Ecology and Environment, Hainan University, Haikou, China
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5
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Phillips H, Cameron E, Eisenhauer N. Illuminating biodiversity changes in the ‘Black Box’. RESEARCH IDEAS AND OUTCOMES 2022. [DOI: 10.3897/rio.8.e87143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Soil is often described as a ‘black box’, as surprisingly little is known about the high levels of biodiversity that reside there. For aboveground organisms, we have good knowledge of the distribution of the species and how they might change under future human impacts. Yet despite the fact that soil organisms provide a wide variety of ecosystem functions, we have very limited knowledge of their distribution and how their diversity might change in the future. In order to create accurate and generalisable models of biodiversity, the underlying data need to be representative of the entire globe. Yet even with our recently compiled global earthworm dataset of over 11000 sites, there are gaps across large regions. These gaps are consistent across many other datasets of both above- and belowground diversity. In order to fill the gaps we propose a sampling network (SoilFaUNa), to create a comprehensive database of soil macrofauna diversity and soil functions (e.g. decomposition rates). Building on the existing dataset of earthworm diversity and early data from the SoilFaUNa project, we will investigate changes in earthworm diversity. From our current work, we know that both climate and land use are main drivers in predicting earthworm diversity, but both will change under future scenarios and may alter ecosystem functions. We will, using space-for-time substitution models, estimate how earthworm diversity and their functions might change in the future, modelling earthworm diversity as a function of climate, land use and soil properties and predicting based on future scenarios. Previous studies of aboveground diversity changes over time using time-series analysis have found no-net-loss in richness, but analyses have criticisms. We aim to use time-series data on earthworms to move this debate forward, by using data and statistical methods that would address the criticisms, whilst increasing our knowledge on this understudied soil group. Field experiments and micro-/mesocosm experiments have been used to investigate the link between a number of soil organisms and ecosystem functions under few environmental conditions. Meta-analyses, which can produce generalisable results can only answer questions for which there are data. Thus, we have been lacking on information on the link between the entire community of soil fauna and ecosystem functions and impact of changes to the soil fauna community across environmental contexts. Using data collected from the SoilFaUNa project, we will, for the first time, synthesise globally distributed specifically-sampled data to model how changes in the community composition of soil macrofauna (due to changes in land use, climate or soil properties) impact the ecosystem functions in the soil.
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Govaert L, Pantel JH, De Meester L. Quantifying eco‐evolutionary contributions to trait divergence in spatially structured systems. ECOL MONOGR 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lynn Govaert
- Leibniz Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB) Berlin Germany
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven, Ch. Deberiotstraat 32, B‐3000 Leuven Belgium
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190 Zürich Switzerland
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, Überlandstrasse 133 Dübendorf Switzerland
| | - Jelena H. Pantel
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven, Ch. Deberiotstraat 32, B‐3000 Leuven Belgium
- Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Science The American University of Paris, 6 rue du Colonel Combes Paris France
- Ecological Modelling, Faculty of Biology University of Duisburg‐Essen, Universitätsstraße 5 Essen Germany
| | - Luc De Meester
- Leibniz Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB) Berlin Germany
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven, Ch. Deberiotstraat 32, B‐3000 Leuven Belgium
- Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany
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7
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Basile M. Rare species disproportionally contribute to functional diversity in managed forests. Sci Rep 2022; 12:5897. [PMID: 35393488 PMCID: PMC8989941 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09624-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional diversity is linked with critical ecosystem functions, yet its relationship with numerical diversity, e.g. species richness, is not fully understood. The mechanisms linking changes of species richness, e.g. random and non-random species losses and gains, with changes of functional diversity become more relevant in the face of rapid environmental changes. In particular, non-random species changes including rare species may affect functional diversity, and the overall ecosystem function, disproportionately compared to random species changes including common species. In this study, I investigated how changes in numerical diversity of bird assemblages are related to functional diversity, and how the environment, and in particular forest management, influences such a relationship. I collected bird count data in the extensively-managed forest landscape of the Black Forest (Germany), at 82 sampling sites over three years. Data included species richness and abundance per site, and functional traits related to diet and habitat type for each species to compute functional diversity. By partitioning numerical diversity changes into five components using Price Equations, I calculated the contribution of random and non-random species losses and gains, and the abundance of common species, to functional diversity. Then I modelled these contributions as a function of several environmental variables describing broad forest conditions, and including forest management intensity. I found that, beside the major contribution of random species losses to functional diversity, non-random species losses also play a role, indicating that rare species that contribute more to functional diversity are often lost earlier than common species. The overall contribution to functional diversity of species losses is larger than that of species gains, pointing toward an ongoing simplification of the forest bird assemblage. Among all Price components, random species gains were influenced by management intensity, while other components were not influenced by any management variable. This highlight that potential conservation actions may not be effective in halting ecosystem functioning decline, as species gains do not result in increased functional diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Basile
- Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacher Str. 4, 79106, Freiburg, Germany. .,Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland. .,Swiss Ornithological Institute, Seerose 1, 6204, Sempach, Switzerland.
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8
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Harrison T, Winfree R, Genung M. Price equations for understanding the response of ecosystem function to community change. Am Nat 2022; 200:181-192. [DOI: 10.1086/720284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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9
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Species richness and identity both determine the biomass of global reef fish communities. Nat Commun 2021; 12:6875. [PMID: 34824244 PMCID: PMC8616921 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27212-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2020] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Changing biodiversity alters ecosystem functioning in nature, but the degree to which this relationship depends on the taxonomic identities rather than the number of species remains untested at broad scales. Here, we partition the effects of declining species richness and changing community composition on fish community biomass across >3000 coral and rocky reef sites globally. We find that high biodiversity is 5.7x more important in maximizing biomass than the remaining influence of other ecological and environmental factors. Differences in fish community biomass across space are equally driven by both reductions in the total number of species and the disproportionate loss of larger-than-average species, which is exacerbated at sites impacted by humans. Our results confirm that sustaining biomass and associated ecosystem functions requires protecting diversity, most importantly of multiple large-bodied species in areas subject to strong human influences. Species identity and richness both contribute biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. Here the authors apply a decomposition approach inspired by the Price equation to a global dataset of reef fish community biomass, finding that increased richness and community compositions favouring large-bodied species enhance biomass.
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10
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Hattich GSI, Listmann L, Govaert L, Pansch C, Reusch TBH, Matthiessen B. Experimentally decomposing phytoplankton community change into ecological and evolutionary contributions. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Giannina S. I. Hattich
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Experimental Ecology‐Foodwebs Kiel Germany
- Environmental and Marine Biology Åbo Akademi University Åbo Finland
| | - Luisa Listmann
- Marine Evolutionary Ecology GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Kiel Germany
- Institut für Marine Ökosystem‐ und Fischereiwissenschaften University of Hamburg Hamburg Germany
| | - Lynn Govaert
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zürich Switzerland
- Department of Aquatic Ecology Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology Dübendorf Switzerland
- URPP Global Change and Biodiversity University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland
- Leibniz Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB) Berlin Germany
| | - Christian Pansch
- Environmental and Marine Biology Åbo Akademi University Åbo Finland
| | - Thorsten B. H. Reusch
- Marine Evolutionary Ecology GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Kiel Germany
| | - Birte Matthiessen
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Experimental Ecology‐Foodwebs Kiel Germany
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11
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Ulrich W, Zaplata MK, Gotelli NJ. Reconsidering the Price equation: a new partitioning based on species abundances and trait expression. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Werner Ulrich
- Dept of Ecology and Biogeography, Nicolaus Copernicus Univ. in Torun Toruń Poland
| | - Markus Klemens Zaplata
- Faculty Environment and Natural Sciences, Brandenburg Univ. of Technology Cottbus‐Senftenberg Cottbus Germany
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12
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Navarro‐Cano JA, Goberna M, Verdú M. Facilitation enhances ecosystem function with non‐random species gains. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jose A. Navarro‐Cano
- Depto de Medio Ambiente y Agronomía, Centro Nacional Inst. de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, INIA‐CSIC Madrid Spain
| | - Marta Goberna
- Depto de Medio Ambiente y Agronomía, Centro Nacional Inst. de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, INIA‐CSIC Madrid Spain
| | - Miguel Verdú
- Depto de Ecología Vegetal, Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CSIC‐UVEG‐GV), Moncada Valencia Spain
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13
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Rewcastle KE, Henning JA, Read QD, Irwin RE, Sanders NJ, Classen AT. Plant removal across an elevational gradient marginally reduces rates, substantially reduces variation in mineralization. Ecology 2021; 103:e03546. [PMID: 34618916 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The loss of aboveground plant diversity alters belowground ecosystem function; yet, the mechanisms underpinning this relationship and the degree to which plant community structure and climate mediate the effects of plant species loss remain unclear. Here, we explored how plant species loss through experimental removal shaped belowground function in ecosystems characterized by different climatic regimes and edaphic properties. We measured plant community composition as well as potential carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) mineralization and microbial extracellular enzyme activity in soils collected from four unique plant removal experiments located along an elevational gradient in Colorado, USA. We found that, regardless of the identity of the removed species or the climate at each site, plant removal decreased the absolute variation in potential N mineralization rates and marginally reduced the magnitude of N mineralization rates. While plant species removal also marginally reduced C mineralization rates, C mineralization, unlike N mineralization, displayed sensitivity to the climatic and edaphic differences among sites, where C mineralization was greatest at the high elevation site that receives the most precipitation annually and contains the largest soil total C pool. Plant removal had little impact on soil enzyme activity. Removal effects were not contingent on the amount of biomass removed annually, and shifts in mineralization rates occurred despite only marginal shifts in plant community structure following plant species removal. Our results present a surprisingly simple and consistent pattern of belowground response to the loss of dominant plant species across an elevational gradient with different climatic and edaphic properties, suggesting a common response of belowground ecosystem function to plant species loss regardless of which plant species are lost or the broader climatic context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenna E Rewcastle
- Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, 81 Carrigan Dr., Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA.,Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, 210 Colchester Ave., Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA.,Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, P.O. Box 519, Crested Butte, Colorado, 81224, USA
| | - Jeremiah A Henning
- Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, P.O. Box 519, Crested Butte, Colorado, 81224, USA.,Department of Biology, University of South Alabama, 5871 USA Dr. N, Mobile, Alabama, 36688, USA
| | - Quentin D Read
- Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, P.O. Box 519, Crested Butte, Colorado, 81224, USA.,National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), 1 Park Pl., Annapolis, Maryland, 21401, USA
| | - Rebecca E Irwin
- Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, P.O. Box 519, Crested Butte, Colorado, 81224, USA.,Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7617, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695, USA
| | - Nathan J Sanders
- Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, P.O. Box 519, Crested Butte, Colorado, 81224, USA.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Ave., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA
| | - Aimée T Classen
- Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, P.O. Box 519, Crested Butte, Colorado, 81224, USA.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Ave., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA
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14
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Species richness is more important for ecosystem functioning than species turnover along an elevational gradient. Nat Ecol Evol 2021; 5:1582-1593. [PMID: 34545216 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01550-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Many experiments have shown that biodiversity enhances ecosystem functioning. However, we have little understanding of how environmental heterogeneity shapes the effect of diversity on ecosystem functioning and to what extent this diversity effect is mediated by variation in species richness or species turnover. This knowledge is crucial to scaling up the results of experiments from local to regional scales. Here we quantify the diversity effect and its components-that is, the contributions of variation in species richness and species turnover-for 22 ecosystem functions of microorganisms, plants and animals across 13 major ecosystem types on Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Environmental heterogeneity across ecosystem types on average increased the diversity effect from explaining 49% to 72% of the variation in ecosystem functions. In contrast to our expectation, the diversity effect was more strongly mediated by variation in species richness than by species turnover. Our findings reveal that environmental heterogeneity strengthens the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and that species richness is a stronger driver of ecosystem functioning than species turnover. Based on a broad range of taxa and ecosystem functions in a non-experimental system, these results are in line with predictions from biodiversity experiments and emphasize that conserving biodiversity is essential for maintaining ecosystem functioning.
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15
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Bloom EH, Northfield TD, Crowder DW. A novel application of the Price equation reveals that landscape diversity promotes the response of bees to regionally rare plant species. Ecol Lett 2019; 22:2103-2110. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.13406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2019] [Accepted: 09/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elias H. Bloom
- Department of Entomology Washington State University Pullman WA 99164 USA
- Department of Entomology Michigan State University East Lansing MI 48824 USA
| | - Tobin D. Northfield
- Department of Entomology Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center Washington State University Wenatchee WA 98801 USA
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Studies College of Science and Engineering James Cook University Cairns QLD 4870 Australia
| | - David W. Crowder
- Department of Entomology Washington State University Pullman WA 99164 USA
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16
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Hodapp D, Borer ET, Harpole WS, Lind EM, Seabloom EW, Adler PB, Alberti J, Arnillas CA, Bakker JD, Biederman L, Cadotte M, Cleland EE, Collins S, Fay PA, Firn J, Hagenah N, Hautier Y, Iribarne O, Knops JMH, McCulley RL, MacDougall A, Moore JL, Morgan JW, Mortensen B, La Pierre KJ, Risch AC, Schütz M, Peri P, Stevens CJ, Wright J, Hillebrand H. Spatial heterogeneity in species composition constrains plant community responses to herbivory and fertilisation. Ecol Lett 2018; 21:1364-1371. [PMID: 29952114 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2018] [Revised: 03/30/2018] [Accepted: 05/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Environmental change can result in substantial shifts in community composition. The associated immigration and extinction events are likely constrained by the spatial distribution of species. Still, studies on environmental change typically quantify biotic responses at single spatial (time series within a single plot) or temporal (spatial beta diversity at single time points) scales, ignoring their potential interdependence. Here, we use data from a global network of grassland experiments to determine how turnover responses to two major forms of environmental change - fertilisation and herbivore loss - are affected by species pool size and spatial compositional heterogeneity. Fertilisation led to higher rates of local extinction, whereas turnover in herbivore exclusion plots was driven by species replacement. Overall, sites with more spatially heterogeneous composition showed significantly higher rates of annual turnover, independent of species pool size and treatment. Taking into account spatial biodiversity aspects will therefore improve our understanding of consequences of global and anthropogenic change on community dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorothee Hodapp
- Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB), Ammerländer Heerstr. 231, 26129, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Elizabeth T Borer
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Ave, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - W Stanley Harpole
- Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.,Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Eric M Lind
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Ave, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - Eric W Seabloom
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Ave, St Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - Peter B Adler
- Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5230 Old Main, Logan, UT, 84322, USA
| | - Juan Alberti
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC; UNMDP-CONICET), CC 1260, B7600WAG, Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - Carlos A Arnillas
- Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, ON, M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Jonathan D Bakker
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Box 354115, Seattle, WA, 98195-4115, USA
| | - Lori Biederman
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, 251 Bessey Hall, Ames, IA, 50011, USA
| | - Marc Cadotte
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto-Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON, M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Elsa E Cleland
- Ecology Behavior & Evolution Section, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92103, USA
| | - Scott Collins
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA
| | - Philip A Fay
- USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil, and Water Lab, 808 E. Blackland Road, Temple, TX, 76502, USA
| | - Jennifer Firn
- Queensland University of Technology (QUT), School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Science and Engineering Faculty, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia
| | - Nicole Hagenah
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Yann Hautier
- Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Oscar Iribarne
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Box 354115, Seattle, WA, 98195-4115, USA
| | - Johannes M H Knops
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA
| | - Rebecca L McCulley
- Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546-0091, USA
| | - Andrew MacDougall
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Joslin L Moore
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton Campus, VIC, 3800, Australia
| | - John W Morgan
- Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3083, Victoria, Australia
| | - Brent Mortensen
- Department of Biology, Benedictine College, 1020 North 2nd Street, Atchison, KS, 66002, USA
| | - Kimberly J La Pierre
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Road, Edgewater, MD, 21307, USA
| | - Anita C Risch
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zuercherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Martin Schütz
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zuercherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Pablo Peri
- Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Water, Southern Patagonia National University-INTA-CONICET, CC 332 (CP 9400), Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina
| | - Carly J Stevens
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Justin Wright
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - Helmut Hillebrand
- Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB), Ammerländer Heerstr. 231, 26129, Oldenburg, Germany.,Plankton Ecology Lab, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Schleusenstr. 1, 26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany
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17
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Bannar-Martin KH, Kremer CT, Ernest SKM, Leibold MA, Auge H, Chase J, Declerck SAJ, Eisenhauer N, Harpole S, Hillebrand H, Isbell F, Koffel T, Larsen S, Narwani A, Petermann JS, Roscher C, Cabral JS, Supp SR. Integrating community assembly and biodiversity to better understand ecosystem function: the Community Assembly and the Functioning of Ecosystems (CAFE) approach. Ecol Lett 2017; 21:167-180. [PMID: 29280282 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2017] [Revised: 08/01/2017] [Accepted: 11/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
The research of a generation of ecologists was catalysed by the recognition that the number and identity of species in communities influences the functioning of ecosystems. The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) is most often examined by controlling species richness and randomising community composition. In natural systems, biodiversity changes are often part of a bigger community assembly dynamic. Therefore, focusing on community assembly and the functioning of ecosystems (CAFE), by integrating both species richness and composition through species gains, losses and changes in abundance, will better reveal how community changes affect ecosystem function. We synthesise the BEF and CAFE perspectives using an ecological application of the Price equation, which partitions the contributions of richness and composition to function. Using empirical examples, we show how the CAFE approach reveals important contributions of composition to function. These examples show how changes in species richness and composition driven by environmental perturbations can work in concert or antagonistically to influence ecosystem function. Considering how communities change in an integrative fashion, rather than focusing on one axis of community structure at a time, will improve our ability to anticipate and predict changes in ecosystem function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine H Bannar-Martin
- Quantitative Assessment Methods Section, Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Nanaimo, BC, Canada
| | - Colin T Kremer
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - S K Morgan Ernest
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Mathew A Leibold
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Harald Auge
- Department of Community Ecology, UFZ, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jonathan Chase
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Computer Sciences, Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany
| | | | - Nico Eisenhauer
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Stanley Harpole
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.,Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Helmut Hillebrand
- Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.,Helmholtz-Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, University of Oldenburg [HIFMB], Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Forest Isbell
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Saint Paul, MN, USA
| | | | - Stefano Larsen
- Synthesis Center of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Leipzig, Germany.,University of Trento, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, Trento, Italy
| | - Anita Narwani
- Eawag, Aquatic Ecology Department, Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Jana S Petermann
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Christiane Roscher
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Physiological Diversity, UFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Juliano Sarmento Cabral
- Synthesis Center of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity, Ecosystem Modeling, Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology (CCTB), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Sarah R Supp
- School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA
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18
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Spaak JW, Baert JM, Baird DJ, Eisenhauer N, Maltby L, Pomati F, Radchuk V, Rohr JR, Van den Brink PJ, De Laender F. Shifts of community composition and population density substantially affect ecosystem function despite invariant richness. Ecol Lett 2017; 20:1315-1324. [PMID: 28921860 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2017] [Revised: 04/27/2017] [Accepted: 07/20/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
There has been considerable focus on the impacts of environmental change on ecosystem function arising from changes in species richness. However, environmental change may affect ecosystem function without affecting richness, most notably by affecting population densities and community composition. Using a theoretical model, we find that, despite invariant richness, (1) small environmental effects may already lead to a collapse of function; (2) competitive strength may be a less important determinant of ecosystem function change than the selectivity of the environmental change driver and (3) effects on ecosystem function increase when effects on composition are larger. We also present a complementary statistical analysis of 13 data sets of phytoplankton and periphyton communities exposed to chemical stressors and show that effects on primary production under invariant richness ranged from -75% to +10%. We conclude that environmental protection goals relying on measures of richness could underestimate ecological impacts of environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jurg W Spaak
- Research Unit in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium.,Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Jan M Baert
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.,Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Donald J Baird
- Department of Biology, Environment & Climate Change Canada @ Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada
| | - Nico Eisenhauer
- Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany
| | - Lorraine Maltby
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Francesco Pomati
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Viktoriia Radchuk
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jason R Rohr
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Paul J Van den Brink
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands.,Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Frederik De Laender
- Research Unit in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
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19
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Genung MA, Fox J, Williams NM, Kremen C, Ascher J, Gibbs J, Winfree R. The relative importance of pollinator abundance and species richness for the temporal variance of pollination services. Ecology 2017; 98:1807-1816. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2016] [Revised: 02/28/2017] [Accepted: 03/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark A. Genung
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources; Rutgers University; New Brunswick New Jersey 08901 USA
| | - Jeremy Fox
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Calgary; Calgary Alberta T2N 1N4 Canada
| | - Neal M. Williams
- Department of Entomology and Nematology; University of California; Davis California 95616 USA
| | - Claire Kremen
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management; University of California; Berkeley California 94720 USA
| | - John Ascher
- Department of Biological Science; National University of Singapore; Singapore 117543 Singapore
| | - Jason Gibbs
- Department of Entomology; University of Manitoba; Winnipeg Manitoba R3T 2N2 Canada
| | - Rachael Winfree
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources; Rutgers University; New Brunswick New Jersey 08901 USA
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20
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Webster NS, Reusch TBH. Microbial contributions to the persistence of coral reefs. ISME JOURNAL 2017; 11:2167-2174. [PMID: 28509908 PMCID: PMC5607359 DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2017.66] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2016] [Revised: 03/13/2017] [Accepted: 04/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
On contemplating the adaptive capacity of reef organisms to a rapidly changing environment, the microbiome offers significant and greatly unrecognised potential. Microbial symbionts contribute to the physiology, development, immunity and behaviour of their hosts, and can respond very rapidly to changing environmental conditions, providing a powerful mechanism for acclimatisation and also possibly rapid evolution of coral reef holobionts. Environmentally acquired fluctuations in the microbiome can have significant functional consequences for the holobiont phenotype upon which selection can act. Environmentally induced changes in microbial abundance may be analogous to host gene duplication, symbiont switching / shuffling as a result of environmental change can either remove or introduce raw genetic material into the holobiont; and horizontal gene transfer can facilitate rapid evolution within microbial strains. Vertical transmission of symbionts is a key feature of many reef holobionts and this would enable environmentally acquired microbial traits to be faithfully passed to future generations, ultimately facilitating microbiome-mediated transgenerational acclimatisation (MMTA) and potentially even adaptation of reef species in a rapidly changing climate. In this commentary, we highlight the capacity and mechanisms for MMTA in reef species, propose a modified Price equation as a framework for assessing MMTA and recommend future areas of research to better understand how microorganisms contribute to the transgenerational acclimatisation of reef organisms, which is essential if we are to reliably predict the consequences of global change for reef ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole S Webster
- Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.,Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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21
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Teurlincx S, Velthuis M, Seroka D, Govaert L, van Donk E, Van de Waal DB, Declerck SAJ. Species sorting and stoichiometric plasticity control community C:P ratio of first-order aquatic consumers. Ecol Lett 2017; 20:751-760. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2016] [Revised: 12/26/2016] [Accepted: 03/23/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Sven Teurlincx
- Department of Aquatic Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); PO Box 50 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Mandy Velthuis
- Department of Aquatic Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); PO Box 50 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Dominika Seroka
- Department of Aquatic Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); PO Box 50 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands
- Department of Hydrobiology; Faculty of Biology; Adam Mickiewicz University; Umultowska 89; 61 - 614 Poznań Poland
| | - Lynn Govaert
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; Charles Deberiotstraat 32; PO box 2439 3000 Leuven Belgium
| | - Ellen van Donk
- Department of Aquatic Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); PO Box 50 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands
- Institute of Environmental Biology; Department of Biology; Utrecht University; PO Box 800.84 3508 TB Utrecht The Netherlands
| | - Dedmer B. Van de Waal
- Department of Aquatic Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); PO Box 50 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Steven A. J. Declerck
- Department of Aquatic Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); PO Box 50 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands
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22
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De Laender F, Rohr JR, Ashauer R, Baird DJ, Berger U, Eisenhauer N, Grimm V, Hommen U, Maltby L, Meliàn CJ, Pomati F, Roessink I, Radchuk V, Van den Brink PJ. Reintroducing Environmental Change Drivers in Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Research. Trends Ecol Evol 2016; 31:905-915. [PMID: 27742415 PMCID: PMC5118049 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2016.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2016] [Revised: 09/18/2016] [Accepted: 09/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
For the past 20 years, research on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (B-EF) has only implicitly considered the underlying role of environmental change. We illustrate that explicitly reintroducing environmental change drivers in B-EF research is needed to predict the functioning of ecosystems facing changes in biodiversity. Next we show how this reintroduction improves experimental control over community composition and structure, which helps to provide mechanistic insight on how multiple aspects of biodiversity relate to function and how biodiversity and function relate in food webs. We also highlight challenges for the proposed reintroduction and suggest analyses and experiments to better understand how random biodiversity changes, as studied by classic approaches in B-EF research, contribute to the shifts in function that follow environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederik De Laender
- Research Unit in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Namur, Belgium
| | - Jason R. Rohr
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, USA
| | | | - Donald J. Baird
- Environment Canada, Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick, Canada
| | - Uta Berger
- Institute of Forest Growth and Computer Sciences, Technische Universitaet Dresden (TU Dresden), Germany
| | - Nico Eisenhauer
- Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany
| | - Volker Grimm
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Ecological Modelling, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Germany
| | - Udo Hommen
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (Fraunhofer IME), Germany
| | - Lorraine Maltby
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, UK
| | - Carlos J. Meliàn
- Center for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland
| | - Francesco Pomati
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Ivo Roessink
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research centre, the Netherlands
| | - Viktoriia Radchuk
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Germany
| | - Paul J. Van den Brink
- Alterra, Wageningen University and Research centre, the Netherlands
- Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
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23
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Govaert L, Pantel JH, De Meester L. Eco-evolutionary partitioning metrics: assessing the importance of ecological and evolutionary contributions to population and community change. Ecol Lett 2016; 19:839-53. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2016] [Revised: 04/28/2016] [Accepted: 05/15/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lynn Govaert
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; KU Leuven, Ch. Deberiotstraat 32 B-3000 Leuven Belgium
| | - Jelena H. Pantel
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; KU Leuven, Ch. Deberiotstraat 32 B-3000 Leuven Belgium
- Centre d'Ecologie fonctionelle et Evolutive; UMR 5175 CNRS Université de Montpellier EPHE; Campus CNRS; 1919 route de Mende 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5 France
| | - Luc De Meester
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; KU Leuven, Ch. Deberiotstraat 32 B-3000 Leuven Belgium
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24
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Winfree R, Fox JW, Williams NM, Reilly JR, Cariveau DP. Abundance of common species, not species richness, drives delivery of a real-world ecosystem service. Ecol Lett 2015; 18:626-35. [PMID: 25959973 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 265] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2014] [Revised: 10/24/2014] [Accepted: 01/30/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments have established that species richness and composition are both important determinants of ecosystem function in an experimental context. Determining whether this result holds for real-world ecosystem services has remained elusive, however, largely due to the lack of analytical methods appropriate for large-scale, associational data. Here, we use a novel analytical approach, the Price equation, to partition the contribution to ecosystem services made by species richness, composition and abundance in four large-scale data sets on crop pollination by native bees. We found that abundance fluctuations of dominant species drove ecosystem service delivery, whereas richness changes were relatively unimportant because they primarily involved rare species that contributed little to function. Thus, the mechanism behind our results was the skewed species-abundance distribution. Our finding that a few common species, not species richness, drive ecosystem service delivery could have broad generality given the ubiquity of skewed species-abundance distributions in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael Winfree
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Jeremy W Fox
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Neal M Williams
- Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
| | - James R Reilly
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Daniel P Cariveau
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
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25
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Abstract
The most unique feature of Earth is the existence of life, and the most extraordinary feature of life is its diversity. Approximately 9 million types of plants, animals, protists and fungi inhabit the Earth. So, too, do 7 billion people. Two decades ago, at the first Earth Summit, the vast majority of the world's nations declared that human actions were dismantling the Earth's ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate. This observation led to the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper.
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26
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Abstract
The Price equation partitions total evolutionary change into two components. The first component provides an abstract expression of natural selection. The second component subsumes all other evolutionary processes, including changes during transmission. The natural selection component is often used in applications. Those applications attract widespread interest for their simplicity of expression and ease of interpretation. Those same applications attract widespread criticism by dropping the second component of evolutionary change and by leaving unspecified the detailed assumptions needed for a complete study of dynamics. Controversies over approximation and dynamics have nothing to do with the Price equation itself, which is simply a mathematical equivalence relation for total evolutionary change expressed in an alternative form. Disagreements about approach have to do with the tension between the relative valuation of abstract versus concrete analyses. The Price equation's greatest value has been on the abstract side, particularly the invariance relations that illuminate the understanding of natural selection. Those abstract insights lay the foundation for applications in terms of kin selection, information theory interpretations of natural selection and partitions of causes by path analysis. I discuss recent critiques of the Price equation by Nowak and van Veelen.
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Affiliation(s)
- S A Frank
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
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