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Bevilacqua S, Boero F, De Leo F, Guarnieri G, Mačić V, Benedetti-Cecchi L, Terlizzi A, Fraschetti S. β-diversity reveals ecological connectivity patterns underlying marine community recovery: Implications for conservation. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2023:e2867. [PMID: 37114630 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
As β-diversity can be seen as a proxy of ecological connections among species assemblages, modeling the decay of similarity in species composition at increasing distance may help elucidate spatial patterns of connectivity and local- to large-scale processes driving community assembly within a marine region. This, in turn, may provide invaluable information for setting ecologically coherent networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) in which protected communities are potentially interrelated and can mutually sustain against environmental perturbations. However, field studies investigating changes in β-diversity patterns at a range of spatial scales and in relation to disturbance are scant, limiting our understanding of how spatial ecological connections among marine communities may affect their recovery dynamics. We carried out a manipulative experiment simulating a strong physical disturbance on subtidal rocky reefs at several locations spanning >1000 km of coast in the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) and compared β-diversity patterns and decay of similarity with distance and time by current transport between undisturbed and experimentally disturbed macrobenthic assemblages to shed light on connectivity processes and scales involved in recovery. In contrast to the expectation that very local-scale processes, such as vegetative regrowth and larval supply from neighboring undisturbed assemblages, might be the major determinants of recovery in disturbed patches, we found that connectivity mediated by currents at larger spatial scales strongly contributed to shape community reassembly after disturbance. Across our study sites in the Adriatic Sea, β-diversity patterns suggested that additional protected sites that matched hotspots of propagule exchange could increase the complementarity and strengthen the ecological connectivity throughout the MPA network. More generally, conditional to habitat distribution and selection of sites of high conservation priority (e.g., biodiversity hotspots), setting network internode distance within 100-150 km, along with sizing no-take zones to cover at least 5 km of coast, would help enhance the potential connectivity of Mediterranean subtidal rocky reef assemblages from local to large scale. These results can help improve conservation planning to achieve the goals of promoting ecological connectivity within MPA networks and enhancing their effectiveness in protecting marine communities against rapidly increasing natural and anthropogenic disturbances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stanislao Bevilacqua
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
- Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Rome, Italy
| | - Ferdinando Boero
- Istituto per lo Studio degli Impatti Antropici e Sostenibilità in Ambiente Marino (CNR-IAS), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Genoa, Italy
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy
- Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
| | - Francesco De Leo
- Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri (CNR-IRET), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Lecce, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Guarnieri
- Agenzia Regionale per la Prevenzione e la Protezione dell'Ambiente, Bari, Italy
| | - Vesna Mačić
- Institute of Marine Biology, University of Montenegro, Kotor, Montenegro
| | - Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi
- Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Rome, Italy
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Antonio Terlizzi
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
- Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Rome, Italy
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy
| | - Simonetta Fraschetti
- Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Rome, Italy
- Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
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2
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Yeager ME, Gouhier TC, Hughes AR. Predicting the stability of multitrophic communities in a variable world. Ecology 2020; 101:e02992. [PMID: 31998970 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2992] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Identifying the factors that destabilize communities is critical for predicting and mitigating the ecological impacts of environmental change. Although theory has shown that local ecosystem size and regional dispersal can determine biodiversity, less is known about the direct and indirect effects of these factors on community stability. Here we show that multitrophic community instability of invertebrates and fishes in coastal ponds is negatively related to local pond size and positively related to distance to the ocean, a proxy for dispersal limitation. Importantly, the effects of pond size and distance on instability were direct rather than indirectly mediated by species richness. This suggests that the diversity-stability relationship is an epiphenomenon whose resolution is neither necessary nor sufficient to understand the stability of these multitrophic communities. Instead, well-established and easily measured local and regional factors historically linked to species richness can be used to predict multitrophic community stability in a variable world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mallarie E Yeager
- Marine and Environmental Science, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts, 01908, USA
| | - Tarik C Gouhier
- Marine and Environmental Science, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts, 01908, USA
| | - A Randall Hughes
- Marine and Environmental Science, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts, 01908, USA
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3
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Salois SL, Gouhier TC, Menge BA. The multifactorial effects of dispersal on biodiversity in environmentally forced metacommunities. Ecosphere 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah L. Salois
- Marine Science Center; Northeastern University; 430 Nahant Road Nahant Massachusetts 01908 USA
| | - Tarik C. Gouhier
- Marine Science Center; Northeastern University; 430 Nahant Road Nahant Massachusetts 01908 USA
| | - Bruce A. Menge
- Department of Integrative Biology; Oregon State University; 3029 Cordley Hall Corvallis Oregon 97331 USA
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4
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Regular patterns link individual behavior to population persistence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:7747-7749. [PMID: 28696324 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1709063114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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Zamborain‐Mason J, Russ GR, Abesamis RA, Bucol AA, Connolly SR. Network theory and metapopulation persistence: incorporating node self‐connections. Ecol Lett 2017; 20:815-831. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2017] [Revised: 04/06/2017] [Accepted: 04/21/2017] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Garry R. Russ
- College of Science and Engineering James Cook University Townsville Qld. Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies James Cook University Townsville Qld. Australia
| | - Rene A. Abesamis
- College of Science and Engineering James Cook University Townsville Qld. Australia
| | - Abner A. Bucol
- Silliman University – Angelo King Centre for Research and Environmental Management Negros Oriental Philippines
| | - Sean R. Connolly
- College of Science and Engineering James Cook University Townsville Qld. Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies James Cook University Townsville Qld. Australia
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Abstract
Metacommunity theory has provided many insights into the general problem of local versus regional control of species diversity and relative abundance. The metacommunity framework has been extended from competitive interactions to whole food webs that can be described as spatial networks of interaction networks. Trophic metacommunity theory greatly contributed to resolving the community complexity-stability debate by predicting its dependence on the regional spatial context. The meta-ecosystem framework has since been suggested as a useful simplification of complex ecosystems to apply this spatial context to spatial flows of both individuals and matter. Reviewing the recent literature on metacommunity and meta-ecosystem theories suggests the importance of unifying theories of interaction strength into a meta-ecosystem framework that captures how the strength of spatial, species, and ecosystem fluxes are distributed across location and trophic levels. Such integration predicts important feedback between local and regional processes that drive the assembly of species, the stability of community, and the emergence of ecosystem functions, from limited spatial fluxes of individuals and (in)organic matter. These predictions are often mediated by the maintenance of environmental or endogenous fluctuations from local to regional scales that create important challenges and opportunities for the validation of metacommunity and meta-ecosystem theories and their application to conservation.
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Looking for hotspots of marine metacommunity connectivity: a methodological framework. Sci Rep 2016; 6:23705. [PMID: 27029563 PMCID: PMC4814777 DOI: 10.1038/srep23705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2015] [Accepted: 03/10/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Seascape connectivity critically affects the spatiotemporal dynamics of marine metacommunities. Understanding how connectivity patterns emerge from physically and biologically-mediated interactions is therefore crucial to conserve marine ecosystem functions and biodiversity. Here, we develop a set of biophysical models to explore connectivity in assemblages of species belonging to a typical Mediterranean community (Posidonia oceanica meadows) and characterized by different dispersing traits. We propose a novel methodological framework to synthesize species-specific results into a set of community connectivity metrics and show that spatiotemporal variation in magnitude and direction of the connections, as well as interspecific differences in dispersing traits, are key factors structuring community connectivity. We eventually demonstrate how these metrics can be used to characterize the functional role of each marine area in determining patterns of community connectivity at the basin level and to support marine conservation planning.
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Spiecker B, Gouhier TC, Guichard F. Reciprocal feedbacks between spatial subsidies and reserve networks in coral reef meta-ecosystems. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 26:264-278. [PMID: 27039524 DOI: 10.1890/15-0478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Top-down processes such as predation and herbivory have been shown to control the dynamics of communities across a range of ecosystems by generating trophic cascades. However, theory is only beginning to describe how these local trophic processes interact with spatial subsidies in the form of material (nutrient, detritus) transport and organismal dispersal to (1) shape the structure of interconnected (meta-) ecosystems and (2) determine their optimal management via reserve networks. Here, we develop a meta-ecosystem model to understand how the reciprocal feedbacks between spatial subsidies and reserve networks modulate the importance of top-down control in a simple herbivorous fish-macroalgae-coral system. We show that in large and isolated reserve networks where connectivity between protected and unprotected areas is limited, spatial subsidies remain largely confined to reserves. This retention of spatial subsidies promotes the top-down control of corals and macroalgae by herbivores inside reserves but reduces it outside reserves. Conversely, in small and aggregated reserves where connectivity between protected and unprotected areas is high, the spillover of spatial subsidies causes a reduction in top-down control of corals and macroalgae by herbivores inside reserves and an increase in the strength of top-down control outside reserves. In addition, we demonstrate that there is a trade-off between local and regional conservation objectives when designing reserve networks: small and aggregated reserves based on the extent of dispersal maximize the abundance of corals and herbivores regionally, whereas large and isolated reserves always maximize the abundance of corals within reserves, regardless of the extent of dispersal. The existence of such "conservation traps," which arise from the fulfillment of population-level objectives within local reserves at the cost of community-level objectives at regional scales, suggests the importance of adopting a more holistic strategy to manage complex and interconnected ecosystems.
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Baskett ML, Barnett LA. The Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Marine Reserves. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS 2015. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-112414-054424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Here we review the population, community, and evolutionary consequences of marine reserves. Responses at each level depend on the tendency of fisheries to target larger body sizes and the tendency for greater reserve protection with less movement within and across populations. The primary population response to reserves is survival to greater ages and sizes plus increases in the population size for harvested species, with greater response to reserves that are large relative to species' movement rates. The primary community response to reserves is an increase in total biomass and diversity, with the potential for trophic cascades and altered spatial patterning of metacommunities. The primary evolutionary response to reserves is increased genetic diversity, with the theoretical potential for protection against fisheries-induced evolution and selection for reduced movement. The potential for the combined outcome of these responses to buffer marine populations and communities against temporal environmental heterogeneity has preliminary theoretical and empirical support.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marissa L. Baskett
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, California 95616-5270
| | - Lewis A.K. Barnett
- Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Oceans, under contract to Fisheries Resource Assessment and Monitoring Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle, Washington 98110
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
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10
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Jonsson PR, Nilsson Jacobi M, Moksnes P. How to select networks of marine protected areas for multiple species with different dispersal strategies. DIVERS DISTRIB 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Per R. Jonsson
- Department of Marine Sciences – Tjärnö University of Gothenburg SE‐452 96 Strömstad Sweden
| | - Martin Nilsson Jacobi
- Complex Systems Group Department of Energy and Environment Chalmers University of Technology SE‐412 96 Gothenburg Sweden
| | - Per‐Olav Moksnes
- Department of Marine Sciences University of Gothenburg Box 462 SE‐405 30 Gothenburg Sweden
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Le Corre N, Johnson LE, Smith GK, Guichard F. Patterns and scales of connectivity: temporal stability and variation within a marine metapopulation. Ecology 2015; 96:2245-56. [DOI: 10.1890/14-2126.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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12
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Menge BA, Gouhier TC, Hacker SD, Chan F, Nielsen KJ. Are meta-ecosystems organized hierarchically? A model and test in rocky intertidal habitats. ECOL MONOGR 2015. [DOI: 10.1890/14-0113.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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13
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Rivest EB, Gouhier TC. Complex environmental forcing across the biogeographical range of coral populations. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0121742. [PMID: 25799322 PMCID: PMC4370630 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2014] [Accepted: 02/15/2015] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Although there is a substantial body of work on how temperature shapes coastal marine ecosystems, the spatiotemporal variability of seawater pH and corresponding in situ biological responses remain largely unknown across biogeographic ranges of tropical coral species. Environmental variability is important to characterize because it can amplify or dampen the biological consequences of global change, depending on the functional relationship between mean temperature or pH and organismal traits. Here, we characterize the spatiotemporal variability of pH, temperature, and salinity at fringing reefs in Moorea, French Polynesia and Nanwan Bay, Taiwan using advanced time series analysis, including wavelet analysis, and infer their potential impact on the persistence and stability of coral populations. Our results demonstrate that both the mean and variance of pH and temperature differed significantly between sites in Moorea and Taiwan. Seawater temperature at the Moorea site passed the local bleaching threshold several times within the ~45 day deployment while aragonite saturation state at the Taiwan site was often below commonly observed levels for coral reefs. Our results showcase how a better understanding of the differences in environmental conditions between sites can (1) provide an important frame of reference for designing laboratory experiments to study the effects of environmental variability, (2) identify the proximity of current environmental conditions to predicted biological thresholds for the coral reef, and (3) help predict when the temporal variability and mean of environmental conditions will interact synergistically or antagonistically to alter the abundance and stability of marine populations experiencing climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily B. Rivest
- Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California Davis, Bodega Bay, California, United States of America
| | - Tarik C. Gouhier
- Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts, United States of America
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14
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Guichard F, Gouhier TC. Non-equilibrium spatial dynamics of ecosystems. Math Biosci 2014; 255:1-10. [PMID: 24984261 DOI: 10.1016/j.mbs.2014.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2012] [Revised: 06/16/2014] [Accepted: 06/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Ecological systems show tremendous variability across temporal and spatial scales. It is this variability that ecologists try to predict and that managers attempt to harness in order to mitigate risk. However, the foundations of ecological science and its mainstream agenda focus on equilibrium dynamics to describe the balance of nature. Despite a rich body of literature on non-equilibrium ecological dynamics, we lack a well-developed set of predictions that can relate the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of natural systems to their underlying ecological processes. We argue that ecology needs to expand its current toolbox for the study of non-equilibrium ecosystems in order to both understand and manage their spatiotemporal variability. We review current approaches and outstanding questions related to the study of spatial dynamics and its application to natural ecosystems, including the design of reserves networks. We close by emphasizing the importance of ecosystem function as a key component of a non-equilibrium ecological theory, and of spatial synchrony as a central phenomenon for its inference in natural systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederic Guichard
- Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1B1, Canada.
| | - Tarik C Gouhier
- Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, 430 Nahant Road, Nahant, MA 01908, USA.
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15
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Ruokolainen L. Spatio-temporal environmental correlation and population variability in simple metacommunities. PLoS One 2013; 8:e72325. [PMID: 24023615 PMCID: PMC3758301 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2013] [Accepted: 07/09/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural populations experience environmental conditions that vary across space and over time. This variation is often correlated between localities depending on the geographical separation between them, and different species can respond to local environmental fluctuations similarly or differently, depending on their adaptation. How this emerging structure in environmental correlation (between-patches and between-species) affects spatial community dynamics is an open question. This paper aims at a general understanding of the interactions between the environmental correlation structure and population dynamics in spatial networks of local communities (metacommunities), by studying simple two-patch, two-species systems. Three different pairs of interspecific interactions are considered: competition, consumer-resource interaction, and host-parasitoid interaction. While the results paint a relatively complex picture of the effect of environmental correlation, the interaction between environmental forcing, dispersal, and local interactions can be understood via two mechanisms. While increasing between-patch environmental correlation couples immigration and local densities (destabilising effect), the coupling between local populations under increased between-species environmental correlation can either amplify or dampen population fluctuations, depending on the patterns in density dependence. This work provides a unifying framework for modelling stochastic metacommunities, and forms a foundation for a better understanding of population responses to environmental fluctuations in natural systems.
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