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McFadden IR, Sendek A, Brosse M, Bach PM, Baity-Jesi M, Bolliger J, Bollmann K, Brockerhoff EG, Donati G, Gebert F, Ghosh S, Ho HC, Khaliq I, Lever JJ, Logar I, Moor H, Odermatt D, Pellissier L, de Queiroz LJ, Rixen C, Schuwirth N, Shipley JR, Twining CW, Vitasse Y, Vorburger C, Wong MKL, Zimmermann NE, Seehausen O, Gossner MM, Matthews B, Graham CH, Altermatt F, Narwani A. Linking human impacts to community processes in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:203-218. [PMID: 36560926 PMCID: PMC10107666 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2022] [Revised: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Human impacts such as habitat loss, climate change and biological invasions are radically altering biodiversity, with greater effects projected into the future. Evidence suggests human impacts may differ substantially between terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, but the reasons for these differences are poorly understood. We propose an integrative approach to explain these differences by linking impacts to four fundamental processes that structure communities: dispersal, speciation, species-level selection and ecological drift. Our goal is to provide process-based insights into why human impacts, and responses to impacts, may differ across ecosystem types using a mechanistic, eco-evolutionary comparative framework. To enable these insights, we review and synthesise (i) how the four processes influence diversity and dynamics in terrestrial versus freshwater communities, specifically whether the relative importance of each process differs among ecosystems, and (ii) the pathways by which human impacts can produce divergent responses across ecosystems, due to differences in the strength of processes among ecosystems we identify. Finally, we highlight research gaps and next steps, and discuss how this approach can provide new insights for conservation. By focusing on the processes that shape diversity in communities, we aim to mechanistically link human impacts to ongoing and future changes in ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian R McFadden
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Agnieszka Sendek
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Morgane Brosse
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Peter M Bach
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Marco Baity-Jesi
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Janine Bolliger
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Kurt Bollmann
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Eckehard G Brockerhoff
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Giulia Donati
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Friederike Gebert
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Shyamolina Ghosh
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Hsi-Cheng Ho
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Imran Khaliq
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - J Jelle Lever
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Ivana Logar
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Helen Moor
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Odermatt
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Loïc Pellissier
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Luiz Jardim de Queiroz
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.,Institute of Ecology & Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Christian Rixen
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Davos, Switzerland
| | - Nele Schuwirth
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - J Ryan Shipley
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland
| | - Cornelia W Twining
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland
| | - Yann Vitasse
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Christoph Vorburger
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland.,Institute of Integrative Biology, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Mark K L Wong
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Niklaus E Zimmermann
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Ole Seehausen
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.,Institute of Ecology & Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Martin M Gossner
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland.,Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Blake Matthews
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland
| | - Catherine H Graham
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Florian Altermatt
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland.,Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Anita Narwani
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
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2
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Herbivory and warming interact in opposing patterns of covariation between arctic shrub species at large and local scales. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2015158118. [PMID: 33526672 PMCID: PMC8017923 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2015158118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether climatic conditions or biotic interactions determine species abundances and distributions has been a persistent question in ecology. Furthermore, its answer has long been considered scale-dependent, with climate presumably constraining abundance and distributions at large scales and species interactions determining them at local scales. We conducted a 15-y field experiment to test more recent theory that predicts abiotic conditions and biotic interactions can shape patterns of species covariation at both large and local scales. Our results affirm this prediction, offering insights that will help improve predictions of species’ distributional responses to climate change. A major challenge in predicting species’ distributional responses to climate change involves resolving interactions between abiotic and biotic factors in structuring ecological communities. This challenge reflects the classical conceptualization of species’ regional distributions as simultaneously constrained by climatic conditions, while by necessity emerging from local biotic interactions. A ubiquitous pattern in nature illustrates this dichotomy: potentially competing species covary positively at large scales but negatively at local scales. Recent theory poses a resolution to this conundrum by predicting roles of both abiotic and biotic factors in covariation of species at both scales, but empirical tests have lagged such developments. We conducted a 15-y warming and herbivore-exclusion experiment to investigate drivers of opposing patterns of covariation between two codominant arctic shrub species at large and local scales. Climatic conditions and biotic exploitation mediated both positive covariation between these species at the landscape scale and negative covariation between them locally. Furthermore, covariation between the two species conferred resilience in ecosystem carbon uptake. This study thus lends empirical support to developing theoretical solutions to a long-standing ecological puzzle, while highlighting its relevance to understanding community compositional responses to climate change.
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3
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Brooks AJ, Lancaster J, Downes BJ, Wolfenden B. Just add water: rapid assembly of new communities in previously dry riverbeds, and limited long-distance effects on existing communities. Oecologia 2020; 194:709-722. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-020-04799-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
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4
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Halliday FW, Heckman RW, Wilfahrt PA, Mitchell CE. Eutrophication, biodiversity loss, and species invasions modify the relationship between host and parasite richness during host community assembly. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2020; 26:4854-4867. [PMID: 32427383 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2019] [Revised: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Host and parasite richness are generally positively correlated, but the stability of this relationship in response to global change remains poorly understood. Rapidly changing biotic and abiotic conditions can alter host community assembly, which in turn, can alter parasite transmission. Consequently, if the relationship between host and parasite richness is sensitive to parasite transmission, then changes in host composition under various global change scenarios could strengthen or weaken the relationship between host and parasite richness. To test the hypothesis that host community assembly can alter the relationship between host and parasite richness in response to global change, we experimentally crossed host diversity (biodiversity loss) and resource supply to hosts (eutrophication), then allowed communities to assemble. As previously shown, initial host diversity and resource supply determined the trajectory of host community assembly, altering post-assembly host species richness, richness-independent host phylogenetic diversity, and colonization by exotic host species. Overall, host richness predicted parasite richness, and as predicted, this effect was moderated by exotic abundance-communities dominated by exotic species exhibited a stronger positive relationship between post-assembly host and parasite richness. Ultimately, these results suggest that, by modulating parasite transmission, community assembly can modify the relationship between host and parasite richness. These results thus provide a novel mechanism to explain how global environmental change can generate contingencies in a fundamental ecological relationship-the positive relationship between host and parasite richness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fletcher W Halliday
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Robert W Heckman
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Peter A Wilfahrt
- Environment, Ecology and Energy Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Disturbance Ecology, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Charles E Mitchell
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Environment, Ecology and Energy Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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5
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Shifts in the importance of the species pool and environmental controls of epiphytic bryophyte richness across multiple scales. Oecologia 2018; 186:805-816. [PMID: 29349719 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-4066-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2016] [Accepted: 01/10/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Species richness is influenced by a nested set of environmental factors, but how do these factors interact across several scales? Our main aim is to disentangle the relative importance of environmental filters and the species pool on the richness of epiphytic bryophytes across spatial scales. To do so, we sampled epiphytic bryophytes in 43 oak forests across the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. As predictors we used climate, descriptors of forest structure and micro-environment. We applied structural equation modeling to relate these variables with richness and cover at three scales: locality (forest), stand (three stands per forest), and sample (a quadrate in a tree). We assumed top-down relationships, so that large-scale variables influenced lower scale variables, and in which cover directly influenced richness. Richness at the next larger scale (locality to stand and stand to sample) is considered a surrogate of the species pool and included as a predictor of richness at the next smaller scale. Environmental variables explain locality richness, but as we decrease the spatial scale, its importance decreases and the dependence on species pool increases. In addition, we found unexpected bottom-up relationships (between micro-scale environment to locality richness). Our results point to the scale dependence of niche vs. neutral processes: niche processes are important at the locality (forest) scale, while neutral processes are significant at the small (sample) scale. We propose a modified conceptualization of the factors influencing biodiversity at different spatial scales by adding links across different scales (between micro-environment and locality-scale richness in our study).
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6
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Zeppilli D, Pusceddu A, Trincardi F, Danovaro R. Seafloor heterogeneity influences the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships in the deep sea. Sci Rep 2016; 6:26352. [PMID: 27211908 PMCID: PMC4876447 DOI: 10.1038/srep26352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2015] [Accepted: 04/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Theoretical ecology predicts that heterogeneous habitats allow more species to co-exist in a given area. In the deep sea, biodiversity is positively linked with ecosystem functioning, suggesting that deep-seabed heterogeneity could influence ecosystem functions and the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF). To shed light on the BEF relationships in a heterogeneous deep seabed, we investigated variations in meiofaunal biodiversity, biomass and ecosystem efficiency within and among different seabed morphologies (e.g., furrows, erosional troughs, sediment waves and other depositional structures, landslide scars and deposits) in a narrow geo-morphologically articulated sector of the Adriatic Sea. We show that distinct seafloor morphologies are characterized by highly diverse nematode assemblages, whereas areas sharing similar seabed morphologies host similar nematode assemblages. BEF relationships are consistently positive across the entire region, but different seabed morphologies are characterised by different slope coefficients of the relationship. Our results suggest that seafloor heterogeneity, allowing diversified assemblages across different habitats, increases diversity and influence ecosystem processes at the regional scale, and BEF relationships at smaller spatial scales. We conclude that high-resolution seabed mapping and a detailed analysis of the species distribution at the habitat scale are crucial for improving management of goods and services delivered by deep-sea ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Zeppilli
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
- IFREMER, Centre Brest, REM/EEP/LEP, Institut Carnot Ifremer-EDROME, ZI de la pointe du diable, CS10070, F-29280 Plouzané, France
| | - Antonio Pusceddu
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Via Fiorelli 1, 09126 Cagliari, Italy
| | | | - Roberto Danovaro
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121, Naples, Italy
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7
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8
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Abstract
Mussel beds and rockweed stands (fucoid algae) have been shown to be ilternative states on rocky intertidal shores in New England, and here the hypothesis that variation in recruitment provides opportunity for the development of alternative community states was tested. Disturbance by ice scour opens patches for development of alternative states, and in winter 1996-1997, 60 experimental clearings of differing sizes were established on Swan's Island, Maine, USA. Half of the plots were re-cleared during the winter of 2010-2011. Recruitment data for barnacles, mussels, and fucoid algae collected from 1997 to 2012 were used to (1) test for persistence of scale-dependent thresholds, (2) estimate the magnitudes and sources of variation, (3) fit a surface of alternative states as defined by the cusp catastrophe, and (4) test if 1997 recruitment would predict 2010-2011 recruitment in re-scraped plots (i.e., a test of divergence, which is expected in systems with alternative states). For barnacles and mussels, recruitment varied enormously year to year and among sites, but showed consistent patterns over the long-term with respect to clearing size. Average recruitment prior to re-clearing was a good predictor of recruitment afterwards. In contrast, over 50% of the variance in fucoid recruitment was unexplained with weak effects among years and locations. Past fucoid recruitment was a poor predictor of subsequent recruitment. The cusp analysis indicated that fucoid recruitment defines the alternative states. Fucoid recruitment was largely unpredictable and suggests long-term, small-scale priority effects drive the development of alternative states. These observations strongly reinforce the notion that long-term and well- replicated experiments are necessary to develop robust tests of ecological theory.
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9
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Abstract
Global patterns of biodiversity reflect both regional and local processes, but the relative importance of local ecological limits to species coexistence, as influenced by the physical environment, in contrast to regional processes including species production, dispersal, and extinction, is poorly understood. Failure to distinguish regional influences from local effects has been due, in part, to sampling limitations at small scales, environmental heterogeneity within local or regional samples, and incomplete geographic sampling of species. Here, we use a global dataset comprising 47 forest plots to demonstrate significant region effects on diversity, beyond the influence of local climate, which together explain more than 92% of the global variation in local forest tree species richness. Significant region effects imply that large-scale processes shaping the regional diversity of forest trees exert influence down to the local scale, where they interact with local processes to determine the number of coexisting species.
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10
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Valanko S, Heino J, Westerbom M, Viitasalo M, Norkko A. Complex metacommunity structure for benthic invertebrates in a low-diversity coastal system. Ecol Evol 2015; 5:5203-5215. [PMID: 30151124 PMCID: PMC6102509 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2014] [Revised: 09/01/2015] [Accepted: 09/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The majority of studies in metacommunity ecology have focused on systems other than marine benthic ecosystems, thereby providing an impetus to broaden the focus of metacommunity research to comprise marine systems. These systems are more open than many other systems and may thus exhibit relatively less discrete patterns in community structure across space. Metacommunity structure of soft-sediment benthic invertebrates was examined using a fine-grained (285 sites) data set collected during one summer across a large spatial extent (1700 km2). We applied the elements of metacommunity structure (EMS) approach, allowing multiple hypothesis of variation in community structure to be tested. We demonstrated several patterns associated with environmental variation and associated processes that could simultaneously assemble species to occur at the sites. A quasi-Clementsian pattern was observed frequently, suggesting interdependent ecological relationships among species or similar response to an underlying environmental gradient across sites. A quasi-nested clumped species loss pattern was also observed, which suggests nested habitat specialization. Species richness declined with depth (from 0.5 to 44.8 m). We argue that sensitive species may survive in shallower water, which are more stable with regard to oxygen conditions and present greater habitat complexity, in contrast to deeper waters, which may experience periodic disturbance due to hypoxia. Future studies should better integrate disturbance in terms of temporal dynamics and dispersal rates in the EMS approach. We highlight that shallow water sites may act as sources of recruitment to deeper water sites that are relatively more prone to periodic disturbances due to hypoxia. However, these shallow sites are not currently monitored and should be better prioritized in future conservation strategies in marine systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Valanko
- International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)DK‐1553Copenhagen VDenmark
- Tvärminne Zoological StationUniversity of HelsinkiFI‐10900HankoFinland
- BiodiversityNatural Environment CentreFinnish Environment Institute (SYKE)P.O. Box 413FI‐90014OuluFinland
| | - Jani Heino
- BiodiversityNatural Environment CentreFinnish Environment Institute (SYKE)P.O. Box 413FI‐90014OuluFinland
| | - Mats Westerbom
- Tvärminne Zoological StationUniversity of HelsinkiFI‐10900HankoFinland
- MetsähallitusNatural Heritage ServicesP.O. Box 94FI‐01301VantaaFinland
| | - Markku Viitasalo
- Marine Research CentreFinnish Environment Institute (SYKE)FI‐00251HelsinkiFinland
| | - Alf Norkko
- Tvärminne Zoological StationUniversity of HelsinkiFI‐10900HankoFinland
- Marine Research CentreFinnish Environment Institute (SYKE)FI‐00251HelsinkiFinland
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11
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Affiliation(s)
- Janne Soininen
- Dept of Geosciences and Geography; Univ. of Helsinki; PO Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki Finland
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12
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Metacommunity versus biogeography: a case study of two groups of neotropical vegetation-dwelling arthropods. PLoS One 2014; 9:e115137. [PMID: 25549332 PMCID: PMC4280172 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2012] [Accepted: 11/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Biogeography and metacommunity ecology provide two different perspectives on species diversity. Both are spatial in nature but their spatial scales do not necessarily match. With recent boom of metacommunity studies, we see an increasing need for clear discrimination of spatial scales relevant for both perspectives. This discrimination is a necessary prerequisite for improved understanding of ecological phenomena across scales. Here we provide a case study to illustrate some spatial scale-dependent concepts in recent metacommunity studies and identify potential pitfalls. We presented here the diversity patterns of Neotropical lepidopterans and spiders viewed both from metacommunity and biogeographical perspectives. Specifically, we investigated how the relative importance of niche- and dispersal-based processes for community assembly change at two spatial scales: metacommunity scale, i.e. within a locality, and biogeographical scale, i.e. among localities widely scattered along a macroclimatic gradient. As expected, niche-based processes dominated the community assembly at metacommunity scale, while dispersal-based processes played a major role at biogeographical scale for both taxonomical groups. However, we also observed small but significant spatial effects at metacommunity scale and environmental effects at biogeographical scale. We also observed differences in diversity patterns between the two taxonomical groups corresponding to differences in their dispersal modes. Our results thus support the idea of continuity of processes interactively shaping diversity patterns across scales and emphasize the necessity of integration of metacommunity and biogeographical perspectives.
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13
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Szava-Kovats RC, Ronk A, Pärtel M. Pattern without bias: local-regional richness relationship revisited. Ecology 2013; 94:1986-92. [PMID: 24279270 DOI: 10.1890/13-0244.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
For decades, ecologists have been testing for species saturation by using regression analysis to determine the relationship between local and regional species richness. The cumulative result of scores of studies and meta-analyses has led to a general consensus that evidence of species saturation is relatively uncommon. However, the bias induced on the regression by the arbitrary choice of local and regional area has threatened to undermine this consensus and has even led to the proposal to abandon the regression method entirely. Nonetheless, the use of regression analysis to determine local-regional richness relationships continues. We performed a meta-analysis of almost 100 data sets using a log-ratio-based regression model that is free of the scale-induced bias inherent in more commonly used models. This reanalysis contradicts the general consensus: saturated relationships are at least as common as unsaturated patterns. However, a discouragingly large proportion of studies produce no discernable patterns at all. An explanation for such a plethora of species saturation patterns poses a challenge to our understanding of the processes that govern community assembly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert C Szava-Kovats
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia, Lai 40, Tartu 51005, Estonia.
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14
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Gonçalves-Souza T, Romero GQ, Cottenie K. A critical analysis of the ubiquity of linear local-regional richness relationships. OIKOS 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2013.00305.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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15
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Kimbro DL, Cheng BS, Grosholz ED. Biotic resistance in marine environments. Ecol Lett 2013; 16:821-33. [PMID: 23521769 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2012] [Revised: 10/16/2012] [Accepted: 02/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Biological invasions depend in part on the resistance of native communities. Meta-analyses of terrestrial experiments demonstrate that native primary producers and herbivores generally resist invasions of primary producers, and that resistance through competition strengthens with native producer diversity. To test the generality of these findings, we conducted a meta-analysis of marine experiments. We found that native marine producers generally failed to resist producer invasions through competition unless the native community was diverse, and this diversity effect was weaker in marine than in terrestrial systems. In contrast, native consumers equally resisted invasive producers in both ecosystems. Most marine experiments, however, tested invasive consumers and these invasions were resisted more strongly than were producer invasions. Given these differences between ecosystems and between marine trophic levels, we used a model-selection approach to assess if factors other than the resistance mechanism (i.e. competition vs. consumption) are more important for predicting marine biotic resistance. These results suggest that understanding marine biotic resistance depends on latitude, habitat and invader taxon, in addition to distinguishing between competition with and consumption by native species. By examining biotic resistance within and across ecosystems, our work provides a more complete understanding of the factors that underlie biological invasions.
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Affiliation(s)
- David L Kimbro
- Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, MA 01908, USA.
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16
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Witman JD. Are regional effects on local diversity more important in marine than in terrestrial communities? OIKOS 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.21043.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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17
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