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Moor H, Bergamini A, Vorburger C, Holderegger R, Bühler C, Bircher N, Schmidt BR. Building pondscapes for amphibian metapopulations. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2024:e14165. [PMID: 38711380 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
The success of ponds constructed to restore ecological infrastructure for pond-breeding amphibians and benefit aquatic biodiversity depends on where and how they are built. We studied effects of pond and landscape characteristics, including connectivity, on metapopulation dynamics of 12 amphibian species in Switzerland. To understand the determinants of long-term occupancy (here summarized as incidence), environmental effects on both colonization and persistence should be considered. We fitted dynamic occupancy models to 20 years of monitoring data on a pond construction program to quantify effects of pond and landscape characteristics and different connectivity metrics on colonization and persistence probabilities in constructed ponds. Connectivity to existing populations explained dynamics better than structural connectivity metrics, and simple metrics (distance to the nearest neighbor population, population density) were useful surrogates for dispersal kernel-weighted metrics commonly used in metapopulation theory. Population connectivity mediated the persistence of conservation target species in new ponds, suggesting source-sink dynamics in newly established populations. Population density captured this effect well and could be used by practitioners for site selection. Ponds created where there were 2-4 occupied ponds within a radius of ∼0.5 km had >3.5 times higher incidence of target species (median) than isolated ponds. Species had individual preferences regarding pond characteristics, but breeding sites with larger (≥100 m2) total water surface area, that temporarily dried, and that were in surroundings with maximally 50% forest benefitted multiple target species. Pond diversity will foster amphibian diversity at the landscape scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- 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
| | - Ariel Bergamini
- 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
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rolf Holderegger
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | - Nicolas Bircher
- Sektion Natur and Landschaft, Kanton Aargau, Aarau, Switzerland
| | - Benedikt R Schmidt
- info fauna karch, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
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2
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Junker JR, Cross WF, Hood JM, Benstead JP, Huryn AD, Nelson D, Ólafsson JS, Gíslason GM. Environmental warming increases the importance of high-turnover energy channels in stream food webs. Ecology 2024:e4314. [PMID: 38710667 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Revised: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
Warming temperatures are altering communities and trophic networks across Earth's ecosystems. While the overall influence of warming on food webs is often context-dependent, increasing temperatures are predicted to change communities in two fundamental ways: (1) by reducing average body size and (2) by increasing individual metabolic rates. These warming-induced changes have the potential to influence the distribution of food web fluxes, food web stability, and the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic ecological processes shaping community assembly. Here, we quantified patterns and the relative distribution of organic matter fluxes through stream food webs spanning a broad natural temperature gradient (5-27°C). We then related these patterns to species and community trait distributions of mean body size and population biomass turnover (P:B) within and across streams. We predicted that (1) communities in warmer streams would exhibit smaller body size and higher P:B and (2) organic matter fluxes within warmer communities would increasingly skew toward smaller, higher P:B populations. Across the temperature gradient, warmer communities were characterized by smaller body size (~9% per °C) and higher P:B (~7% faster turnover per °C) populations on average. Additionally, organic matter fluxes within warmer streams were increasingly skewed toward higher P:B populations, demonstrating that warming can restructure organic matter fluxes in both an absolute and relative sense. With warming, the relative distribution of organic matter fluxes was decreasingly likely to arise through the random sorting of species, suggesting stronger selection for traits driving high turnover with increasing temperature. Our study suggests that a warming world will favor energy fluxes through "smaller and faster" populations, and that these changes may be more predictable than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- James R Junker
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - Wyatt F Cross
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - James M Hood
- The Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
- Translational Data Analytics Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Jonathan P Benstead
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Alexander D Huryn
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
| | - Daniel Nelson
- National Aquatic Monitoring Center, Department of Watershed Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
| | - Jón S Ólafsson
- Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, Hafnarfjördur, Iceland
| | - Gísli M Gíslason
- University of Iceland, Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, Reykjavík, Iceland
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3
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Ali M, Rice CA, Byrne AW, Paré PE, Beauvais W. Modelling dynamics between free-living amoebae and bacteria. Environ Microbiol 2024; 26:e16623. [PMID: 38715450 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024]
Abstract
Free-living amoebae (FLA) serve as hosts for a variety of endosymbionts, which are microorganisms that reside and multiply within the FLA. Some of these endosymbionts pose a pathogenic threat to humans, animals, or both. The symbiotic relationship with FLA not only offers these microorganisms protection but also enhances their survival outside their hosts and assists in their dispersal across diverse habitats, thereby escalating disease transmission. This review is intended to offer an exhaustive overview of the existing mathematical models that have been applied to understand the dynamics of FLA, especially concerning their interactions with bacteria. An extensive literature review was conducted across Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus databases to identify mathematical models that describe the dynamics of interactions between FLA and bacteria, as published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The literature search revealed several FLA-bacteria model systems, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pasteurella multocida, and Legionella spp. Although the published mathematical models account for significant system dynamics such as predator-prey relationships and non-linear growth rates, they generally overlook spatial and temporal heterogeneity in environmental conditions, such as temperature, and population diversity. Future mathematical models will need to incorporate these factors to enhance our understanding of FLA-bacteria dynamics and to provide valuable insights for future risk assessment and disease control measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marwa Ali
- Comparative Pathobiology Department, Purdue Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
| | - Christopher A Rice
- Comparative Pathobiology Department, Purdue Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
- Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery (PIDD), Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
- Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D), Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
- Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering (RHCE), Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
| | - Andrew W Byrne
- One Health Scientific Support Unit, National Disease Control Centre, Agriculture House, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Philip E Paré
- Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
| | - Wendy Beauvais
- Comparative Pathobiology Department, Purdue Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
- Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D), Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
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4
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Arroyo-Esquivel J, Klausmeier CA, Litchman E. Using neural ordinary differential equations to predict complex ecological dynamics from population density data. J R Soc Interface 2024; 21:20230604. [PMID: 38745459 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2023.0604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Simple models have been used to describe ecological processes for over a century. However, the complexity of ecological systems makes simple models subject to modelling bias due to simplifying assumptions or unaccounted factors, limiting their predictive power. Neural ordinary differential equations (NODEs) have surged as a machine-learning algorithm that preserves the dynamic nature of the data (Chen et al. 2018 Adv. Neural Inf. Process. Syst.). Although preserving the dynamics in the data is an advantage, the question of how NODEs perform as a forecasting tool of ecological communities is unanswered. Here, we explore this question using simulated time series of competing species in a time-varying environment. We find that NODEs provide more precise forecasts than autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models. We also find that untuned NODEs have a similar forecasting accuracy to untuned long-short term memory neural networks and both are outperformed in accuracy and precision by empirical dynamical modelling . However, we also find NODEs generally outperform all other methods when evaluating with the interval score, which evaluates precision and accuracy in terms of prediction intervals rather than pointwise accuracy. We also discuss ways to improve the forecasting performance of NODEs. The power of a forecasting tool such as NODEs is that it can provide insights into population dynamics and should thus broaden the approaches to studying time series of ecological communities.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Christopher A Klausmeier
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science , Stanford, CA, USA
- W. K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University , Hickory Corners, MI, USA
- Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Elena Litchman
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science , Stanford, CA, USA
- W. K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University , Hickory Corners, MI, USA
- Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, USA
- Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI, USA
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5
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Fung T, Pande J, Shnerb NM, O'Dwyer JP, Chisholm RA. Processes governing species richness in communities exposed to temporal environmental stochasticity: A review and synthesis of modelling approaches. Math Biosci 2024; 369:109131. [PMID: 38113973 DOI: 10.1016/j.mbs.2023.109131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Research into the processes governing species richness has often assumed that the environment is fixed, whereas realistic environments are often characterised by random fluctuations over time. This temporal environmental stochasticity (TES) changes the demographic rates of species populations, with cascading effects on community dynamics and species richness. Theoretical and applied studies have used process-based mathematical models to determine how TES affects species richness, but under a variety of frameworks. Here, we critically review such studies to synthesise their findings and draw general conclusions. We first provide a broad mathematical framework encompassing the different ways in which TES has been modelled. We then review studies that have analysed models with TES under the assumption of negligible interspecific interactions, such that a community is conceptualised as the sum of independent species populations. These analyses have highlighted how TES can reduce species richness by increasing the frequency at which a species becomes rare and therefore prone to extinction. Next, we review studies that have relaxed the assumption of negligible interspecific interactions. To simplify the corresponding models and make them analytically tractable, such studies have used mean-field theory to derive fixed parameters representing the typical strength of interspecific interactions under TES. The resulting analyses have highlighted community-level effects that determine how TES affects species richness, for species that compete for a common limiting resource. With short temporal correlations of environmental conditions, a non-linear averaging effect of interspecific competition strength over time gives an increase in species richness. In contrast, with long temporal correlations of environmental conditions, strong selection favouring the fittest species between changes in environmental conditions results in a decrease in species richness. We compare such results with those from invasion analysis, which examines invasion growth rates (IGRs) instead of species richness directly. Qualitative differences sometimes arise because the IGR is the expected growth rate of a species when it is rare, which does not capture the variation around this mean or the probability of the species becoming rare. Our review elucidates key processes that have been found to mediate the negative and positive effects of TES on species richness, and by doing so highlights key areas for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tak Fung
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117558, Singapore.
| | - Jayant Pande
- Department of Physical and Natural Sciences, FLAME University, Pune, Maharashtra 412115, India
| | - Nadav M Shnerb
- Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel
| | - James P O'Dwyer
- Department of Plant Biology, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois, 505, South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, United States
| | - Ryan A Chisholm
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117558, Singapore
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6
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Banerjee M, Srivastava S, Rai SN, States JC. Chronic arsenic exposure induces malignant transformation of human HaCaT cells through both deterministic and stochastic changes in transcriptome expression. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2024; 484:116865. [PMID: 38373578 PMCID: PMC10994602 DOI: 10.1016/j.taap.2024.116865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Revised: 02/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024]
Abstract
Biological processes are inherently stochastic, i.e., are partially driven by hard to predict random probabilistic processes. Carcinogenesis is driven both by stochastic and deterministic (predictable non-random) changes. However, very few studies systematically examine the contribution of stochastic events leading to cancer development. In differential gene expression studies, the established data analysis paradigms incentivize expression changes that are uniformly different across the experimental versus control groups, introducing preferential inclusion of deterministic changes at the expense of stochastic processes that might also play a crucial role in the process of carcinogenesis. In this study, we applied simple computational techniques to quantify: (i) The impact of chronic arsenic (iAs) exposure as well as passaging time on stochastic gene expression and (ii) Which genes were expressed deterministically and which were expressed stochastically at each of the three stages of cancer development. Using biological coefficient of variation as an empirical measure of stochasticity we demonstrate that chronic iAs exposure consistently suppressed passaging related stochastic gene expression at multiple time points tested, selecting for a homogenous cell population that undergo transformation. Employing multiple balanced removal of outlier data, we show that chronic iAs exposure induced deterministic and stochastic changes in the expression of unique set of genes, that populate largely unique biological pathways. Together, our data unequivocally demonstrate that both deterministic and stochastic changes in transcriptome-wide expression are critical in driving biological processes, pathways and networks towards clonal selection, carcinogenesis, and tumor heterogeneity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayukh Banerjee
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Louisville, 505, S. Hancock Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA; Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences, University of Louisville, 505, S. Hancock Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA
| | - Sudhir Srivastava
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, University of Louisville, 505, S. Hancock Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA
| | - Shesh N Rai
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, University of Louisville, 505, S. Hancock Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA; Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Facility, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville, 505, S. Hancock Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA; Biostatistics and Informatics Facility Core, Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences, University of Louisville, 505, S. Hancock Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA
| | - J Christopher States
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Louisville, 505, S. Hancock Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA; Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences, University of Louisville, 505, S. Hancock Street, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.
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7
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Von Eggers JM, Wisnoski NI, Calder JW, Capo E, Groff DV, Krist AC, Shuman B. Environmental filtering governs consistent vertical zonation in sedimentary microbial communities across disconnected mountain lakes. Environ Microbiol 2024; 26:e16607. [PMID: 38477387 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
Subsurface microorganisms make up the majority of Earth's microbial biomass, but ecological processes governing surface communities may not explain community patterns at depth because of burial. Depth constrains dispersal and energy availability, and when combined with geographic isolation across landscapes, may influence community assembly. We sequenced the 16S rRNA gene of bacteria and archaea from 48 sediment cores across 36 lakes in four disconnected mountain ranges in Wyoming, USA and used null models to infer assembly processes across depth, spatial isolation, and varying environments. Although we expected strong dispersal limitations across these isolated settings, community composition was primarily shaped by environmental selection. Communities consistently shifted from domination by organisms that degrade organic matter at the surface to methanogenic, low-energy adapted taxa in deeper zones. Stochastic processes-like dispersal limitation-contributed to differences among lakes, but because these effects weakened with depth, selection processes ultimately governed subsurface microbial biogeography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan M Von Eggers
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
- Program in Ecology and Evolution, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
| | - Nathan I Wisnoski
- Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA
| | - John W Calder
- Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
| | - Eric Capo
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Dulcinea V Groff
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
| | - Amy C Krist
- Program in Ecology and Evolution, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
- Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
| | - Bryan Shuman
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
- Program in Ecology and Evolution, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
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Pan VS, Wetzel WC. Neutrality in plant-herbivore interactions. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232687. [PMID: 38378151 PMCID: PMC10878797 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the distribution of herbivore damage among leaves and individual plants is a central goal of plant-herbivore biology. Commonly observed unequal patterns of herbivore damage have conventionally been attributed to the heterogeneity in plant quality or herbivore behaviour or distribution. Meanwhile, the potential role of stochastic processes in structuring plant-herbivore interactions has been overlooked. Here, we show that based on simple first principle expectations from metabolic theory, random sampling of different sizes of herbivores from a regional pool is sufficient to explain patterns of variation in herbivore damage. This is despite making the neutral assumption that herbivory is caused by randomly feeding herbivores on identical and passive plants. We then compared its predictions against 765 datasets of herbivory on 496 species across 116° of latitude from the Herbivory Variability Network. Using only one free parameter, the estimated attack rate, our neutral model approximates the observed frequency distribution of herbivore damage among plants and especially among leaves very well. Our results suggest that neutral stochastic processes play a large and underappreciated role in natural variation in herbivory and may explain the low predictability of herbivory patterns. We argue that such prominence warrants its consideration as a powerful force in plant-herbivore interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent S. Pan
- Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, Easting Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, Easting Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- W. K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI 49060, USA
| | - William C. Wetzel
- Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, Easting Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, Easting Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- W. K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI 49060, USA
- Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
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9
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Kalirad A, Sommer RJ. The role of plasticity and stochasticity in coexistence. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14370. [PMID: 38348631 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Revised: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2024]
Abstract
Species coexistence in ecological communities is a central feature of biodiversity. Different concepts, i.e., contemporary niche theory, modern coexistence theory, and the unified neutral theory, have identified many building blocks of such ecological assemblies. However, other factors, such as phenotypic plasticity and stochastic inter-individual variation, have received little attention, in particular in animals. For example, how resource polyphenisms resulting in predator-prey interactions affect coexistence is currently unknown. Here, we present an integrative theoretical-experimental framework using the nematode plasticity model Pristionchus pacificus with its well-studied mouth-form dimorphism resulting in cannibalism. We develop an individual-based model that relies upon synthetic data based on our empirical measurements of fecundity and polyphenism to preserve demographic heterogeneity. We demonstrate how the interplay between plasticity and individual stochasticity result in all-or-nothing outcomes at the local level. Coexistence is made possible when spatial structure is introduced.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ata Kalirad
- Department for Integrative Evolutionary Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Ralf J Sommer
- Department for Integrative Evolutionary Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Smith AN, Barton AD. Effects of dispersal and temperature variability on phytoplankton realized temperature niches. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e10882. [PMID: 38327689 PMCID: PMC10847892 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Revised: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Phytoplankton species exhibit fundamental temperature niches that drive observed species distributions linked to realized temperature niches. A recent analysis of field observations of Prochlorococcus showed that for all ecotypes, the realized niche was, on average, colder and wider than the fundamental niche. Using a simple trait-based metacommunity model that resolves fundamental temperature niches for a range of competing phytoplankton, we ask how dispersal and local temperature variability influence species distributions and diversity, and whether these processes help explain the observed discrepancies between fundamental and realized niches for Prochlorococcus. We find that, independently, both dispersal and temperature variability increase realized temperature niche widths and local diversity. The combined effects result in high diversity and realized temperature niches that are consistently wider than fundamental temperature niches. These results have broad implications for understanding the drivers of phytoplankton biogeography as well as for refining species distribution models used to project how climate change impacts phytoplankton distributions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alaina N. Smith
- Scripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California San DiegoLa JollaCaliforniaUSA
| | - Andrew D. Barton
- Scripps Institution of OceanographyUniversity of California San DiegoLa JollaCaliforniaUSA
- Department of Ecology, Behavior and EvolutionUniversity of California San DiegoLa JollaCaliforniaUSA
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11
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Sisk-Hackworth L, Brown J, Sau L, Levine AA, Tam LYI, Ramesh A, Shah RS, Kelley-Thackray ET, Wang S, Nguyen A, Kelley ST, Thackray VG. Genetic hypogonadal mouse model reveals niche-specific influence of reproductive axis and sex on intestinal microbial communities. Biol Sex Differ 2023; 14:79. [PMID: 37932822 PMCID: PMC10626657 DOI: 10.1186/s13293-023-00564-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The gut microbiome has been linked to many diseases with sex bias including autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and reproductive disorders. While numerous studies report sex differences in fecal microbial communities, the role of the reproductive axis in this differentiation is unclear and it is unknown how sex differentiation affects microbial diversity in specific regions of the small and large intestine. METHODS We used a genetic hypogonadal mouse model that does not produce sex steroids or go through puberty to investigate how sex and the reproductive axis impact bacterial diversity within the intestine. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we analyzed alpha and beta diversity and taxonomic composition of fecal and intestinal communities from the lumen and mucosa of the duodenum, ileum, and cecum from adult female (n = 20) and male (n = 20) wild-type mice and female (n = 17) and male (n = 20) hypogonadal mice. RESULTS Both sex and reproductive axis inactivation altered bacterial composition in an intestinal section and niche-specific manner. Hypogonadism was significantly associated with bacteria from the Bacteroidaceae, Eggerthellaceae, Muribaculaceae, and Rikenellaceae families, which have genes for bile acid metabolism and mucin degradation. Microbial balances between males and females and between hypogonadal and wild-type mice were also intestinal section-specific. In addition, we identified 3 bacterial genera (Escherichia Shigella, Lachnoclostridium, and Eggerthellaceae genus) with higher abundance in wild-type female mice throughout the intestinal tract compared to both wild-type male and hypogonadal female mice, indicating that activation of the reproductive axis leads to female-specific differentiation of the gut microbiome. Our results also implicated factors independent of the reproductive axis (i.e., sex chromosomes) in shaping sex differences in intestinal communities. Additionally, our detailed profile of intestinal communities showed that fecal samples do not reflect bacterial diversity in the small intestine. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that sex differences in the gut microbiome are intestinal niche-specific and that sampling feces or the large intestine may miss significant sex effects in the small intestine. These results strongly support the need to consider both sex and reproductive status when studying the gut microbiome and while developing microbial-based therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Sisk-Hackworth
- University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Jada Brown
- University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Lillian Sau
- University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Reeya S Shah
- University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | - Sophia Wang
- University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Anita Nguyen
- University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
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12
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Mayfield MM, Lau JA, Tobias JA, Ives AR, Strauss SY. What Can Evolutionary History Tell Us about the Functioning of Ecological Communities? The ASN Presidential Debate. Am Nat 2023; 202:587-603. [PMID: 37963115 DOI: 10.1086/726336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
AbstractIn January 2018, Sharon Strauss, then president of the American Society of Naturalists, organized a debate on the following topic: does evolutionary history inform the current functioning of ecological communities? The debaters-Ives, Lau, Mayfield, and Tobias-presented pro and con arguments, caricatured in standard debating format. Numerous examples show that both recent microevolutionary and longer-term macroevolutionary history are important to the ecological functioning of communities. On the other hand, many other examples illustrate that the evolutionary history of communities or community members does not influence ecological function, or at least not very much. This article aims to provide a provocative discussion of the consistent and conflicting patterns that emerge in the study of contemporary and historical evolutionary influences on community function, as well as to identify questions for further study. It is intended as a thought-provoking exercise to explore this complex field, specifically addressing (1) key assumptions and how they can lead us astray and (2) issues that need additional study. The debaters all agree that evolutionary history can inform us about at least some aspects of community function. The underlying question at the root of the debate, however, is how the fields of ecology and evolution can most profitably collaborate to provide a deeper and broader understanding of ecological communities.
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Hallett LM, Aoyama L, Barabás G, Gilbert B, Larios L, Shackelford N, Werner CM, Godoy O, Ladouceur ER, Lucero JE, Weiss-Lehman CP, Chase JM, Chu C, Harpole WS, Mayfield MM, Faist AM, Shoemaker LG. Restoration ecology through the lens of coexistence theory. Trends Ecol Evol 2023; 38:1085-1096. [PMID: 37468343 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
Advances in restoration ecology are needed to guide ecological restoration in a variable and changing world. Coexistence theory provides a framework for how variability in environmental conditions and species interactions affects species success. Here, we conceptually link coexistence theory and restoration ecology. First, including low-density growth rates (LDGRs), a classic metric of coexistence, can improve abundance-based restoration goals, because abundances are sensitive to initial treatments and ongoing variability. Second, growth-rate partitioning, developed to identify coexistence mechanisms, can improve restoration practice by informing site selection and indicating necessary interventions (e.g., site amelioration or competitor removal). Finally, coexistence methods can improve restoration assessment, because initial growth rates indicate trajectories, average growth rates measure success, and growth partitioning highlights interventions needed in future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M Hallett
- Department of Biology and Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
| | - Lina Aoyama
- Department of Biology and Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - György Barabás
- Division of Ecological and Environmental Modeling (ECOMOD), Dept. IFM, Linköping University, SE-58183 Linköping, Sweden; Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Benjamin Gilbert
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3B2, Canada
| | - Loralee Larios
- Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Nancy Shackelford
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
| | - Chhaya M Werner
- University of Wyoming, Botany Department, Laramie, WY 82071, USA; Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Sustainability, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR 97520, USA
| | - Oscar Godoy
- Departamento de Biología, Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Universidad de Cádiz, E-11510 Puerto Real, Spain
| | - Emma R Ladouceur
- Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Physiological Diversity, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Puschstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jacob E Lucero
- Department of Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
| | | | - Jonathan M Chase
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Puschstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Chengjin Chu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - W Stanley Harpole
- Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Physiological Diversity, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Puschstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, am Kirchtor 1, 06108 Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Margaret M Mayfield
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Akasha M Faist
- Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA; Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
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14
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Krichel L, Kirk D, Pencer C, Hönig M, Wadhawan K, Krkošek M. Short-term temperature fluctuations increase disease in a Daphnia-parasite infectious disease system. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002260. [PMID: 37683040 PMCID: PMC10491407 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Climate change has profound effects on infectious disease dynamics, yet the impacts of increased short-term temperature fluctuations on disease spread remain poorly understood. We empirically tested the theoretical prediction that short-term thermal fluctuations suppress endemic infection prevalence at the pathogen's thermal optimum. This prediction follows from a mechanistic disease transmission model analyzed using stochastic simulations of the model parameterized with thermal performance curves (TPCs) from metabolic scaling theory and using nonlinear averaging, which predicts ecological outcomes consistent with Jensen's inequality (i.e., reduced performance around concave-down portions of a thermal response curve). Experimental observations of replicated epidemics of the microparasite Ordospora colligata in Daphnia magna populations indicate that temperature variability had the opposite effect of our theoretical predictions and instead increase endemic infection prevalence. This positive effect of temperature variability is qualitatively consistent with a published hypothesis that parasites may acclimate more rapidly to fluctuating temperatures than their hosts; however, incorporating hypothetical effects of delayed host acclimation into the mechanistic transmission model did not fully account for the observed pattern. The experimental data indicate that shifts in the distribution of infection burden underlie the positive effect of temperature fluctuations on endemic prevalence. The increase in disease risk associated with climate fluctuations may therefore result from disease processes interacting across scales, particularly within-host dynamics, that are not captured by combining standard transmission models with metabolic scaling theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leila Krichel
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Devin Kirk
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America
| | - Clara Pencer
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Madison Hönig
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
| | - Kiran Wadhawan
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Martin Krkošek
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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15
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Fronhofer EA, Corenblit D, Deshpande JN, Govaert L, Huneman P, Viard F, Jarne P, Puijalon S. Eco-evolution from deep time to contemporary dynamics: The role of timescales and rate modulators. Ecol Lett 2023; 26 Suppl 1:S91-S108. [PMID: 37840024 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Eco-evolutionary dynamics, or eco-evolution for short, are often thought to involve rapid demography (ecology) and equally rapid heritable phenotypic changes (evolution) leading to novel, emergent system behaviours. We argue that this focus on contemporary dynamics is too narrow: Eco-evolution should be extended, first, beyond pure demography to include all environmental dimensions and, second, to include slow eco-evolution which unfolds over thousands or millions of years. This extension allows us to conceptualise biological systems as occupying a two-dimensional time space along axes that capture the speed of ecology and evolution. Using Hutchinson's analogy: Time is the 'theatre' in which ecology and evolution are two interacting 'players'. Eco-evolutionary systems are therefore dynamic: We identify modulators of ecological and evolutionary rates, like temperature or sensitivity to mutation, which can change the speed of ecology and evolution, and hence impact eco-evolution. Environmental change may synchronise the speed of ecology and evolution via these rate modulators, increasing the occurrence of eco-evolution and emergent system behaviours. This represents substantial challenges for prediction, especially in the context of global change. Our perspective attempts to integrate ecology and evolution across disciplines, from gene-regulatory networks to geomorphology and across timescales, from today to deep time.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dov Corenblit
- GEOLAB, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Laboratoire écologie fonctionnelle et environnement, Université Paul Sabatier, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | | | - Lynn Govaert
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Philippe Huneman
- Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques (CNRS/Université Paris I Sorbonne), Paris, France
| | - Frédérique Viard
- ISEM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, France
| | - Philippe Jarne
- CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - IRD - EPHE, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Sara Puijalon
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, Villeurbanne, France
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Spaak JW, Adler PB, Ellner SP. Mechanistic Models of Trophic Interactions: Opportunities for Species Richness and Challenges for Modern Coexistence Theory. Am Nat 2023; 202:E1-E16. [PMID: 37384764 DOI: 10.1086/724660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2023]
Abstract
AbstractMany potential mechanisms promote species coexistence, but we know little about their relative importance. To compare multiple mechanisms, we modeled a two-trophic planktonic food web based on mechanistic species interactions and empirically measured species traits. We simulated thousands of possible communities under realistic and altered interaction strengths to assess the relative importance of three potential drivers of phytoplankton and zooplankton species richness: resource-mediated coexistence mechanisms, predator-prey interactions, and trait trade-offs. Next, we computed niche and fitness differences of competing zooplankton to obtain a deeper understanding of how these mechanisms determine species richness. We found that predator-prey interactions were the most important driver of phytoplankton and zooplankton species richness and that large zooplankton fitness differences were associated with low species richness, but zooplankton niche differences were not associated with species richness. However, for many communities we could not apply modern coexistence theory to compute niche and fitness differences of zooplankton because of conceptual issues with the invasion growth rates arising from trophic interactions. We therefore need to expand modern coexistence theory to fully investigate multitrophic-level communities.
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17
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DeSiervo MH, Sullivan LL, Kahan LM, Seabloom EW, Shoemaker LG. Disturbance alters transience but nutrients determine equilibria during grassland succession with multiple global change drivers. Ecol Lett 2023. [PMID: 37125464 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14229] [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: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Disturbance and environmental change may cause communities to converge on a steady state, diverge towards multiple alternative states or remain in long-term transience. Yet, empirical investigations of successional trajectories are rare, especially in systems experiencing multiple concurrent anthropogenic drivers of change. We examined succession in old field grassland communities subjected to disturbance and nitrogen fertilization using data from a long-term (22-year) experiment. Regardless of initial disturbance, after a decade communities converged on steady states largely determined by resource availability, where species turnover declined as communities approached dynamic equilibria. Species favoured by the disturbance were those that eventually came to dominate the highly fertilized plots. Furthermore, disturbance made successional pathways more direct revealing an important interaction effect between nutrients and disturbance as drivers of community change. Our results underscore the dynamical nature of grassland and old field succession, demonstrating how community properties such as β $$ \beta $$ diversity change through transient and equilibrium states.
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18
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Blonder BW, Gaüzère P, Iversen LL, Ke P, Petry WK, Ray CA, Salguero‐Gómez R, Sharpless W, Violle C. Predicting and controlling ecological communities via trait and environment mediated parameterizations of dynamical models. OIKOS 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.09415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Wong Blonder
- Dept of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, Univ. of California Berkeley CA USA
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State Univ. Tempe AZ USA
| | - Pierre Gaüzère
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State Univ. Tempe AZ USA
| | | | - Po‐Ju Ke
- Dept of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton Univ. Princeton NJ USA
- Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan Univ. Taipei Taiwan
| | - William K. Petry
- Dept of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton Univ. Princeton NJ USA
- Dept of Plant & Microbial Biology, North Carolina State Univ. Raleigh NC USA
| | - Courtenay A. Ray
- Dept of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, Univ. of California Berkeley CA USA
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State Univ. Tempe AZ USA
| | - Roberto Salguero‐Gómez
- Dept of Zoology, Univ. of Oxford Oxford UK
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research Rostock Germany
- Center of Excellence in Environmental Decisions, Univ. of Queensland Brisbane Australia
| | - William Sharpless
- Dept of Bioengineering, Univ. of California Berkeley Berkeley CA USA
| | - Cyrille Violle
- CEFE ‐ Univ Montpellier ‐ CNRS – EPHE – IRD Montpellier France
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19
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Deterministic Assembly Processes Strengthen the Effects of β-Diversity on Community Biomass of Marine Bacterioplankton. mSystems 2023; 8:e0097022. [PMID: 36511690 PMCID: PMC9948717 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00970-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The presence of more species in the community of a sampling site (α diversity) typically increases ecosystem functions via nonrandom processes like resource partitioning. When considering multiple communities, we hypothesize that higher compositional difference (β diversity) increases overall functions of these communities. Further, we hypothesize that the β diversity effect is more positive when β diversity is increased by nonrandom assembly processes. To test these hypotheses, we collected bacterioplankton along a transect of 6 sampling sites in the southern East China Sea in 14 cruises. For any pairs of the 6 sites within a cruise, we calculated the Bray-Curtis index to represent β diversity and summed bacterial biomass as a proxy to indicate the overall function of the two communities. We then calculated deviation of observed mean pairwise phylogenetic similarities among species in two communities from random to represent the influences of nonrandom processes. The bacterial β diversity was found to positively affect the summed bacterial biomass; however, the effect varied among cruises. Cross-cruise comparison indicated that the β diversity effect increased with the nonrandom processes selecting for phylogenetically dissimilar species. This study extends biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research to the scale of multiple sites and enriches the framework by considering community assembly processes. IMPORTANCE The implications of our analyses are twofold. First, we emphasize the importance of studying β diversity. We expanded the current biodiversity-ecosystem functioning framework from single to multiple sampling sites and investigated the influences of species compositional differences among sites on the overall functioning of these sites. Since natural ecological communities never exist alone, our analyses allow us to more holistically perceive the role of biodiversity in natural ecosystems. Second, we took community assembly processes into account to attain a more mechanistic understanding of the impacts of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning.
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20
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Paniw M, García-Callejas D, Lloret F, Bassar RD, Travis J, Godoy O. Pathways to global-change effects on biodiversity: new opportunities for dynamically forecasting demography and species interactions. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20221494. [PMID: 36809806 PMCID: PMC9943645 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/23/2023] Open
Abstract
In structured populations, persistence under environmental change may be particularly threatened when abiotic factors simultaneously negatively affect survival and reproduction of several life cycle stages, as opposed to a single stage. Such effects can then be exacerbated when species interactions generate reciprocal feedbacks between the demographic rates of the different species. Despite the importance of such demographic feedbacks, forecasts that account for them are limited as individual-based data on interacting species are perceived to be essential for such mechanistic forecasting-but are rarely available. Here, we first review the current shortcomings in assessing demographic feedbacks in population and community dynamics. We then present an overview of advances in statistical tools that provide an opportunity to leverage population-level data on abundances of multiple species to infer stage-specific demography. Lastly, we showcase a state-of-the-art Bayesian method to infer and project stage-specific survival and reproduction for several interacting species in a Mediterranean shrub community. This case study shows that climate change threatens populations most strongly by changing the interaction effects of conspecific and heterospecific neighbours on both juvenile and adult survival. Thus, the repurposing of multi-species abundance data for mechanistic forecasting can substantially improve our understanding of emerging threats on biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Paniw
- Department of Conservation Biology and Global Change, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Seville, 41001 Spain.,Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
| | - David García-Callejas
- Department of Integrative Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Seville, 41001 Spain.,Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Departamento de Biología, Universidad de Cádiz, Campus Río San Pedro, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
| | - Francisco Lloret
- Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193, Spain.,Department Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Universitat Autònoma Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193, Spain
| | - Ronald D Bassar
- Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
| | - Joseph Travis
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - Oscar Godoy
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Departamento de Biología, Universidad de Cádiz, Campus Río San Pedro, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
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21
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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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22
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DeLong JP, Cressler CE. Stochasticity directs adaptive evolution toward nonequilibrium evolutionary attractors. Ecology 2023; 104:e3873. [PMID: 36116067 PMCID: PMC10078373 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Stochastic processes such as genetic drift may hinder adaptation, but the effect of such stochasticity on evolution via its effect on ecological dynamics is poorly understood. Here we evaluate patterns of adaptation in a population subject to variation in demographic stochasticity. We show that stochasticity can alter population dynamics and lead to evolutionary outcomes that are not predicted by classic eco-evolutionary modeling approaches. We also show, however, that these outcomes are governed by nonequilibrium evolutionary attractors-these are maxima in lifetime reproductive success when stochasticity keeps the ecological system away from the deterministic equilibrium. These NEEAs alter the path of evolution but are not visible through the equilibrium lens that underlies much evolutionary theory. Our results reveal that considering population processes during transient periods can greatly improve our understanding of the path and pace of evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- John P DeLong
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
| | - Clayton E Cressler
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
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23
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Eckert EM, Galafassi S, Bastidas Navarro M, Di Cesare A, Corno G. Increased similarity of aquatic bacterial communities of different origin after antibiotic disturbance. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2023; 316:120568. [PMID: 36351482 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Revised: 09/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Stochastic or deterministic processes control the bacterial community assembly in waters and their understanding is a fundamental question to correctly manage aquatic environments exposed to the release of antibiotics from anthropogenic sources. It has been suggested that microdiversity (i.e. the rare biosphere) convers freshwater communities with stability, meaning that previously rare taxa bloom when the community is disturbed. Since there might be a seed bank of similar, but not abundant, bacterial taxa in different waters, we tested whether a disturbance by an antibiotic cocktail would increase similarity in bacterial communities from different freshwater systems (a wastewater effluent and two lakes). In a continuous culture set-up in chemostats, we show that disturbance with antibiotics causes communities from different environments to become more similar. Once the antibiotic pressure is released the communities tend to become more dissimilar again. This shows that there is a similar shift in community composition even in waters from very different origins when they are disturbed by antibiotics, even at low concentrations. Antibiotics impact the bacterial communities at the cell and the community level, independently by the original degree of anthropogenic stress they are adapted to, altering the original phenotypes, genotypes, and the relations between bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ester M Eckert
- National Research Council of Italy, Water Research Institute, (CNR-IRSA), L.go Tonolli 50, 28922, Verbania, Italy
| | - Silvia Galafassi
- National Research Council of Italy, Water Research Institute, (CNR-IRSA), L.go Tonolli 50, 28922, Verbania, Italy
| | - Marcela Bastidas Navarro
- Laboratorio de Limnología, INIBIOMA, CONICET-Universidad Nacional Del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina
| | - Andrea Di Cesare
- National Research Council of Italy, Water Research Institute, (CNR-IRSA), L.go Tonolli 50, 28922, Verbania, Italy
| | - Gianluca Corno
- National Research Council of Italy, Water Research Institute, (CNR-IRSA), L.go Tonolli 50, 28922, Verbania, Italy.
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24
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Mason NWH, Kirk NA, Price RJ, Law R, Bowman R, Sprague RI. Science for social licence to arrest an ecosystem-transforming invasion. Biol Invasions 2023; 25:873-888. [PMID: 36439632 PMCID: PMC9676737 DOI: 10.1007/s10530-022-02953-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The primary role for scientific information in addressing complex environmental problems, such as biological invasions, is generally assumed to be as a guide for management decisions. However, scientific information often plays a minor role in decision-making, with practitioners instead relying on professional experience and local knowledge. We explore alternative pathways by which scientific information could help reduce the spread and impacts of invasive species. Our study centred on attempts to understand the main motivations and constraints of three local governance bodies responsible for the management of invasive (wilding) conifer species in the southern South Island of New Zealand in achieving strategic and operational goals. We used a combination of workshop discussions, questionnaire responses and visits to field sites to elicit feedback from study participants. We applied a mixed inductive-deductive thematic analysis approach to derive themes from the feedback received. The three main themes identified were: (1) impacts of wilding conifers and goals for wilding conifer control, (2) barriers to achieving medium- and long-term goals, and (3) science needed to support wilding conifer control. Participants identified reversal and prevention of both instrumental (e.g. reduced water availability for agriculture) and intrinsic (e.g. loss of biodiversity and landscape values) impacts of wilding conifer invasions as primary motivators behind wilding conifer control. Barriers to achieving goals were overwhelmingly social, relating either to unwillingness of landowners to participate or poorly designed regulatory frameworks. Consequently, science needs related primarily to gaining social licence to remove wilding conifers from private land and for more appropriate regulations. Scientific information provided via spread and impacts forecasting models was viewed as a key source of scientific information in gaining social licence. International experience suggests that invasive species control programmes often face significant external social barriers. Thus, for many biological invasions, the primary role of science might be to achieve social licence and regulatory support for the long-term goals of invasive species control programmes and the management interventions required to achieve those goals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Richard Law
- Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, Palmerston North, New Zealand
| | - Richard Bowman
- New Zealand Wilding Conifer Group, 200 Tuam St, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch, 8011 New Zealand
| | - Rowan I. Sprague
- New Zealand Wilding Conifer Group, 200 Tuam St, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch, 8011 New Zealand
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25
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Schreiber SJ, Levine JM, Godoy O, Kraft NJB, Hart SP. Does deterministic coexistence theory matter in a finite world? Ecology 2023; 104:e3838. [PMID: 36168209 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Revised: 03/12/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Contemporary studies of species coexistence are underpinned by deterministic models that assume that competing species have continuous (i.e., noninteger) densities, live in infinitely large landscapes, and coexist over infinite time horizons. By contrast, in nature, species are composed of discrete individuals subject to demographic stochasticity and occur in habitats of finite size where extinctions occur in finite time. One consequence of these discrepancies is that metrics of species' coexistence derived from deterministic theory may be unreliable predictors of the duration of species coexistence in nature. These coexistence metrics include invasion growth rates and niche and fitness differences, which are now commonly applied in theoretical and empirical studies of species coexistence. In this study, we tested the efficacy of deterministic coexistence metrics on the duration of species coexistence in a finite world. We introduce new theoretical and computational methods to estimate coexistence times in stochastic counterparts of classic deterministic models of competition. Importantly, we parameterized this model using experimental field data for 90 pairwise combinations of 18 species of annual plants, allowing us to derive biologically informed estimates of coexistence times for a natural system. Strikingly, we found that for species expected to deterministically coexist, community sizes containing only 10 individuals had predicted coexistence times of more than 1000 years. We also found that invasion growth rates explained 60% of the variation in intrinsic coexistence times, reinforcing their general usefulness in studies of coexistence. However, only by integrating information on both invasion growth rates and species' equilibrium population sizes could most (>99%) of the variation in species coexistence times be explained. This integration was achieved with demographically uncoupled single-species models solely determined by the invasion growth rates and equilibrium population sizes. Moreover, because of a complex relationship between niche overlap/fitness differences and equilibrium population sizes, increasing niche overlap and increasing fitness differences did not always result in decreasing coexistence times, as deterministic theory would predict. Nevertheless, our results tend to support the informed use of deterministic theory for understanding the duration of species' coexistence while highlighting the need to incorporate information on species' equilibrium population sizes in addition to invasion growth rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian J Schreiber
- Department of Evolution and Ecology and Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Jonathan M Levine
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
| | - Oscar Godoy
- Departamento de Biología, Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain
| | - Nathan J B Kraft
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Simon P Hart
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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26
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Schneeweiss A, Juvigny-Khenafou NPD, Osakpolor S, Scharmüller A, Scheu S, Schreiner VC, Ashauer R, Escher BI, Leese F, Schäfer RB. Three perspectives on the prediction of chemical effects in ecosystems. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:21-40. [PMID: 36131639 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The increasing production, use and emission of synthetic chemicals into the environment represents a major driver of global change. The large number of synthetic chemicals, limited knowledge on exposure patterns and effects in organisms and their interaction with other global change drivers hamper the prediction of effects in ecosystems. However, recent advances in biomolecular and computational methods are promising to improve our capacity for prediction. We delineate three idealised perspectives for the prediction of chemical effects: the suborganismal, organismal and ecological perspective, which are currently largely separated. Each of the outlined perspectives includes essential and complementary theories and tools for prediction but captures only part of the phenomenon of chemical effects. Links between the perspectives may foster predictive modelling of chemical effects in ecosystems and extrapolation between species. A major challenge for the linkage is the lack of data sets simultaneously covering different levels of biological organisation (here referred to as biological levels) as well as varying temporal and spatial scales. Synthesising the three perspectives, some central aspects and associated types of data seem particularly necessary to improve prediction. First, suborganism- and organism-level responses to chemicals need to be recorded and tested for relationships with chemical groups and organism traits. Second, metrics that are measurable at many biological levels, such as energy, need to be scrutinised for their potential to integrate across levels. Third, experimental data on the simultaneous response over multiple biological levels and spatiotemporal scales are required. These could be collected in nested and interconnected micro- and mesocosm experiments. Lastly, prioritisation of processes involved in the prediction framework needs to find a balance between simplification and capturing the essential complexity of a system. For example, in some cases, eco-evolutionary dynamics and interactions may need stronger consideration. Prediction needs to move from a static to a real-world eco-evolutionary view.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anke Schneeweiss
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | | | - Stephen Osakpolor
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Andreas Scharmüller
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
- Institut Terre et Environnement de Strasbourg (ITES), UMR 7063, CNRS-Université de Strasbourg-ENGEES, Strasbourg, France
| | - Sebastian Scheu
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Verena C Schreiner
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
| | - Roman Ashauer
- Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Basel, Switzerland
- Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK
| | - Beate I Escher
- Department of Cell Toxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
- Environmental Toxicology, Center for Applied Geoscience, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Florian Leese
- Aquatic Ecosystem Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Ralf B Schäfer
- Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany
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27
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Mühlbauer LK, Harpole WS, Clark AT. Differences in initial abundances reveal divergent dynamic structures in Gause's predator-prey experiments. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9638. [PMID: 36545367 PMCID: PMC9760897 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 10/25/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Improved understanding of complex dynamics has revealed insights across many facets of ecology, and has enabled improved forecasts and management of future ecosystem states. However, an enduring challenge in forecasting complex dynamics remains the differentiation between complexity and stochasticity, that is, to determine whether declines in predictability are caused by stochasticity, nonlinearity, or chaos. Here, we show how to quantify the relative contributions of these factors to prediction error using Georgii Gause's iconic predator-prey microcosm experiments, which, critically, include experimental replicates that differ from one another only in initial abundances. We show that these differences in initial abundances interact with stochasticity, nonlinearity, and chaos in unique ways, allowing us to identify the impacts of these factors on prediction error. Our results suggest that jointly analyzing replicate time series across multiple, distinct starting points may be necessary for understanding and predicting the wide range of potential dynamic types in complex ecological systems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - William Stanley Harpole
- Department of Physiological DiversityHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ)LeipzigGermany,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐LeipzigLeipzigGermany,Institute of BiologyMartin Luther UniversityHalleGermany
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28
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Jewell MD, Bell G. A basic community dynamics experiment: Disentangling deterministic and stochastic processes in structuring ecological communities. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9568. [PMID: 36479026 PMCID: PMC9720002 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2022] [Revised: 10/25/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Community dynamics are governed by two opposed processes: species sorting, which produces deterministic dynamics leading to an equilibrium state, and ecological drift, which produces stochastic dynamics. Despite a great deal of theoretical and empirical work aiming to demonstrate the predominance of one or the other of these processes, the importance of drift in structuring communities and maintaining species diversity remains contested. Here, we present the results of a basic community dynamics experiment using floating aquatic plants, designed to measure the relative contributions of species sorting and ecological drift to community change over about a dozen generations. We found that species sorting became overwhelmingly dominant as the experiment progressed, and directed communities toward a stable equilibrium state maintained by negative frequency-dependent selection. The dynamics of any particular species depended on how far its initial frequency was from its equilibrium frequency, however, and consequently the balance of sorting and drift varied among species.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Graham Bell
- Department of BiologyMcGill UniversityMontrealQuebecCanada,Redpath MuseumMcGill UniversityMontrealQuebecCanada
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29
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Clark AT, Mühlbauer LK, Hillebrand H, Karakoç C. Measuring stability in ecological systems without static equilibria. Ecosphere 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Helmut Hillebrand
- Institute for Chemistry and Biology of Marine Environments Carl‐von‐Ossietzky University Oldenburg Wilhelmshaven Germany
- Helmholtz‐Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg Oldenburg Germany
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz‐Centre for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven Germany
| | - Canan Karakoç
- Department of Biology Indiana University Bloomington Indiana USA
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30
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Rubin JE, Earn DJD, Greenwood PE, Parsons TL, Abbott KC. Irregular population cycles driven by environmental stochasticity and saddle crawlbys. OIKOS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.09290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - David J. D. Earn
- Dept of Mathematics & Statistics, McMaster Univ. Hamilton ON Canada
| | | | - Todd L. Parsons
- Laboratoire de Probabilités, Statistique et Modélisation (UMR 8001), CNRS&Sorbonne Univ. Paris France
| | - Karen C. Abbott
- Dept of Biology, Case Western Reserve Univ. Cleveland OH USA
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31
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Ran Y, Wu S, Chen C, Sun X, Huang P, Ma M, Yi X. Shift from soil chemical to physical filters in assembling riparian floristic communities along a flooding stress gradient. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 844:157116. [PMID: 35787904 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Understanding community assembly is a key issue in recognizing community succession and guiding the restoration of degraded ecosystems. Based on the stress-dominance hypothesis (SDH), along a gradient of increasing environmental stress, the relative importance of environmental filtering is supposed to be dominant but species interaction could be a minor process in assembling communities. However, this hypothesized model of the assembly-rule shift was equivocally supported by various studies. In this study, by examining riparian plant communities with the zonation distribution of species composition along a markedly contrast flooding-stress gradient, a general aim was to clarify whether assembly rules of the communities would be also sorted into the zonation pattern as expected by the SDH. Another aim was to identify how edaphic factors associate with the assembly processes. Firstly, we found that even under the distinct stress gradient, community assembly was not stratified into different rules as the SDH expected, but environmental filtering appeared as a dominant assembly process across the stress gradient. Secondly, although filtering holds as a dominant assembly rule, environmental filters were found different along the gradient. By disentangling the filters of edaphic attributes, we found that the filters significantly shifted from soil physical properties to chemical nutrients governing the filtering process along the gradient. This result revealed that, across the contrast gradient, the environmental deterministic process on assembly is so strong that the other assembly processes became weaker. By synthesizing our results, the SDH may not be applied even under the context of a contrast stress gradient, which suggests that environmental context may be a key in testing and applying the SDH. Finally, in guiding riparian restoration under strong stress, we suggest that soil physical structure rather than chemical nutrients shall be given a priority for consideration in rebuilding the degraded riparian communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiguo Ran
- Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Shengjun Wu
- Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China
| | - Chundi Chen
- College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Xiaoxiang Sun
- Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Ping Huang
- Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China
| | - Maohua Ma
- Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China.
| | - Xuemei Yi
- Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China.
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32
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Investigating the effect of pesticides on Daphnia population dynamics by inferring structure and parameters of a stochastic model. Ecol Modell 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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33
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Aoyama L, Shoemaker LG, Gilbert B, Collinge SK, Faist AM, Shackelford N, Temperton VM, Barabás G, Larios L, Ladouceur E, Godoy O, Bowler C, Hallett LM. Application of modern coexistence theory to rare plant restoration provides early indication of restoration trajectories. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 32:e2649. [PMID: 35560687 PMCID: PMC9787931 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Revised: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Restoration ecology commonly seeks to re-establish species of interest in degraded habitats. Despite a rich understanding of how succession influences re-establishment, there are several outstanding questions that remain unaddressed: are short-term abundances sufficient to determine long-term re-establishment success, and what factors contribute to unpredictable restorations outcomes? In other words, when restoration fails, is it because the restored habitat is substandard, because of strong competition with invasive species, or alternatively due to changing environmental conditions that would equally impact established populations? Here, we re-purpose tools developed from modern coexistence theory to address these questions, and apply them to an effort to restore the endangered Contra Costa goldfields (Lasthenia conjugens) in constructed ("restored") California vernal pools. Using 16 years of data, we construct a population model of L. conjugens, a species of conservation concern due primarily to habitat loss and invasion of exotic grasses. We show that initial, short-term appearances of restoration success from population abundances is misleading, as year-to-year fluctuations cause long-term population growth rates to fall below zero. The failure of constructed pools is driven by lower maximum growth rates compared with reference ("natural") pools, coupled with a stronger negative sensitivity to annual fluctuations in abiotic conditions that yield decreased maximum growth rates. Nonetheless, our modeling shows that fluctuations in competition (mainly with exotic grasses) benefit L. conjugens through periods of competitive release, especially in constructed pools of intermediate pool depth. We therefore show how reductions in invasives and seed addition in pools of particular depths could change the outcome of restoration for L. conjugens. By applying a largely theoretical framework to the urgent goal of ecological restoration, our study provides a blueprint for predicting restoration success, and identifies future actions to reverse species loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lina Aoyama
- Biology DepartmentUniversity of OregonEugeneOregonUSA
- Environmental Studies ProgramUniversity of OregonEugeneOregonUSA
| | | | - Benjamin Gilbert
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of TorontoTorontoOntarioCanada
| | | | - Akasha M. Faist
- Department of Animal and Range SciencesNew Mexico State UniversityLas CrucesNew MexicoUSA
| | - Nancy Shackelford
- School of Environmental StudiesUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBritish ColumbiaCanada
- Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
| | | | - György Barabás
- Division of Theoretical Biology, Department of IFMLinköping UniversityLinköpingSweden
- MTA‐ELTE Theoretical Biology and Evolutionary Ecology Research GroupBudapestHungary
| | - Loralee Larios
- Department of Botany and Plant SciencesUniversity of California RiversideRiversideCaliforniaUSA
| | - Emma Ladouceur
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Leipzig‐Halle‐JenaLeipzigGermany
- Department of Physiological DiversityHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research –UFZLeipzigGermany
| | - Oscar Godoy
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Dpto de BiologíaPuerto RealSpain
| | - Catherine Bowler
- School of Biological Sciences University of QueenslandBrisbaneQueenslandAustralia
| | - Lauren M. Hallett
- Biology DepartmentUniversity of OregonEugeneOregonUSA
- Environmental Studies ProgramUniversity of OregonEugeneOregonUSA
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34
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Debray R, Socolar Y, Kaulbach G, Guzman A, Hernandez CA, Curley R, Dhond A, Bowles T, Koskella B. Water stress and disruption of mycorrhizas induce parallel shifts in phyllosphere microbiome composition. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 234:2018-2031. [PMID: 34668201 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Water and nutrient acquisition are key drivers of plant health and ecosystem function. These factors impact plant physiology directly as well as indirectly through soil- and root-associated microbial responses, but how they in turn affect aboveground plant-microbe interactions are not known. Through experimental manipulations in the field and growth chamber, we examine the interacting effects of water stress, soil fertility, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on bacterial and fungal communities of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) phyllosphere. Both water stress and mycorrhizal disruption reduced leaf bacterial richness, homogenized bacterial community composition among plants, and reduced the relative abundance of dominant fungal taxa. We observed striking parallelism in the individual microbial taxa in the phyllosphere affected by irrigation and mycorrhizal associations. Our results show that soil conditions and belowground interactions can shape aboveground microbial communities, with important potential implications for plant health and sustainable agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reena Debray
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Yvonne Socolar
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Griffin Kaulbach
- Department of Environmental Studies, Haverford College, Haverford, PA, 19041, USA
| | - Aidee Guzman
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Catherine A Hernandez
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Rose Curley
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Alexander Dhond
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Timothy Bowles
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Britt Koskella
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
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35
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Bowler CH, Weiss-Lehman C, Towers IR, Mayfield MM, Shoemaker LG. Accounting for demographic uncertainty increases predictions for species coexistence: A case study with annual plants. Ecol Lett 2022; 25:1618-1628. [PMID: 35633300 PMCID: PMC9328198 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Revised: 03/02/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Natural systems contain more complexity than is accounted for in models of modern coexistence theory. Coexistence modelling often disregards variation arising from stochasticity in biological processes, heterogeneity among individuals and plasticity in trait values. However, these unaccounted‐for sources of uncertainty are likely to be ecologically important and have the potential to impact estimates of coexistence. We applied a Bayesian modelling framework to data from an annual plant community in Western Australia to propagate uncertainty in coexistence outcomes using the invasion criterion and ratio of niche to fitness differences. We found accounting for this uncertainty altered predictions of coexistence versus competitive exclusion for 3 out of 14 species pairs and yielded a probability of priority effects for an additional species pair. The propagation of uncertainty arising from sources of biological complexity improves our ability to predict coexistence more accurately in natural systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine H Bowler
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | | | - Isaac R Towers
- School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Margaret M Mayfield
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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36
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Solbu EB, van der Veen B, Herfindal I, Hovstad KA. Analyzing dynamic species abundance distributions using generalized linear mixed models. Ecology 2022; 103:e3742. [PMID: 35560064 PMCID: PMC9541646 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Revised: 03/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms of ecological community dynamics and how they could be affected by environmental changes is important. Population dynamic models have well known ecological parameters that describe key characteristics of species such as the effect of environmental noise and demographic variance on the dynamics, the long‐term growth rate, and strength of density regulation. These parameters are also central for detecting and understanding changes in communities of species; however, incorporating such vital parameters into models of community dynamics is challenging. In this paper, we demonstrate how generalized linear mixed models specified as intercept‐only models with different random effects can be used to fit dynamic species abundance distributions. Each random effect has an ecologically meaningful interpretation either describing general and species‐specific responses to environmental stochasticity in time or space, or variation in growth rate and carrying capacity among species. We use simulations to show that the accuracy of the estimation depends on the strength of density regulation in discrete population dynamics. The estimation of different covariance and population dynamic parameters, with corresponding statistical uncertainties, is demonstrated for case studies of fish and bat communities. We find that species heterogeneity is the main factor of spatial and temporal community similarity for both case studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Blystad Solbu
- Department of Landscape and Biodiversity, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Bert van der Veen
- Department of Landscape and Biodiversity, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Trondheim, Norway.,Department of Mathematics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.,Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Ivar Herfindal
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Knut Anders Hovstad
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.,Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre, Trondheim, Norway
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37
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Abstract
The population ecology of microbial communities is still poorly understood and their notorious instability makes them impossible to control. Much of the instability is caused by the stochastic assembly of microorganisms, especially in highly diverse microbiomes where structural and hence functional changes occur rapidly due to the short generation time of their members. Usually, to maintain organismic proportions in communities, their niches are deterministically reinforced, but stochasticity strongly counteracts this. Based on metacommunity theory, a looped mass transfer was developed that uses the rescue effect to stabilize communities. This study fills a long-standing gap and enables continuous and proportionally equal growth of community members using an unprecedented operational design that addresses an acute need in the healthcare and biotechnology industries. Building and changing a microbiome at will and maintaining it over hundreds of generations has so far proven challenging. Despite best efforts, complex microbiomes appear to be susceptible to large stochastic fluctuations. Current capabilities to assemble and control stable complex microbiomes are limited. Here, we propose a looped mass transfer design that stabilizes microbiomes over long periods of time. Five local microbiomes were continuously grown in parallel for over 114 generations and connected by a loop to a regional pool. Mass transfer rates were altered and microbiome dynamics were monitored using quantitative high-throughput flow cytometry and taxonomic sequencing of whole communities and sorted subcommunities. Increased mass transfer rates reduced local and temporal variation in microbiome assembly, did not affect functions, and overcame stochasticity, with all microbiomes exhibiting high constancy and increasing resistance. Mass transfer synchronized the structures of the five local microbiomes and nestedness of certain cell types was eminent. Mass transfer increased cell number and thus decreased net growth rates μ′. Subsets of cells that did not show net growth μ′SCx were rescued by the regional pool R and thus remained part of the microbiome. The loop in mass transfer ensured the survival of cells that would otherwise go extinct, even if they did not grow in all local microbiomes or grew more slowly than the actual dilution rate D would allow. The rescue effect, known from metacommunity theory, was the main stabilizing mechanism leading to synchrony and survival of subcommunities, despite differences in cell physiological properties, including growth rates.
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38
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The Leaf Microbiome of Arabidopsis Displays Reproducible Dynamics and Patterns throughout the Growing Season. mBio 2022; 13:e0282521. [PMID: 35420486 PMCID: PMC9239250 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02825-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Leaves are primarily responsible for the plant’s photosynthetic activity. Thus, changes in the leaf microbiota, which includes deleterious and beneficial microbes, can have far-reaching effects on plant fitness and productivity. Identifying the processes and microorganisms that drive these changes over a plant’s lifetime is, therefore, crucial. In this study, we analyzed the temporal dynamics in the leaf microbiome of Arabidopsis thaliana, integrating changes in both composition and microbe-microbe interactions via the study of microbial networks. Field-grown Arabidopsis were used to monitor leaf bacterial, fungal and oomycete communities throughout the plant’s natural growing season (extending from November to March) over three consecutive years. Our results revealed the existence of conserved temporal patterns, with microbial communities and networks going through a stabilization phase of decreased diversity and variability at the beginning of the plant’s growing season. Despite a high turnover in these communities, we identified 19 “core” taxa persisting on Arabidopsis leaves across time and plant generations. With the hypothesis these microbes could be playing key roles in the structuring of leaf microbial communities, we conducted a time-informed microbial network analysis which showed core taxa are not necessarily highly connected network “hubs,” and “hubs” alternate with time. Our study shows that leaf microbial communities exhibit reproducible dynamics and patterns, suggesting the potential of using our understanding of temporal trajectories in microbial community composition to design experiments aimed at driving these communities toward desired states.
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39
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Guzman LM, Thompson PL, Viana DS, Vanschoenwinkel B, Horváth Z, Ptacnik R, Jeliazkov A, Gascón S, Lemmens P, Anton‐Pardo M, Langenheder S, De Meester L, Chase JM. Accounting for temporal change in multiple biodiversity patterns improves the inference of metacommunity processes. Ecology 2022; 103:e3683. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Melissa Guzman
- Marine and Environmental Biology Section at the Department of Biological Sciences University of Southern California United States of America
- Department of Zoology & Biodiversity Research Centre University of British Columbia Canada
- Department of Biological Sciences Simon Fraser University Canada
| | - Patrick L. Thompson
- Department of Zoology & Biodiversity Research Centre University of British Columbia Canada
| | - Duarte S. Viana
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig
- Leipzig University, Ritterstraße 26 Leipzig Germany
| | - Bram Vanschoenwinkel
- Department of Biology Vrije Universiteit Brussel Belgium
- Centre for Environmental Management University of the Free State South Africa
| | - Zsófia Horváth
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven Leuven Belgium
- WasserCluster Lunz ‐ Biologische Station, Lunz am See Austria
- Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research Budapest Hungary
| | - Robert Ptacnik
- WasserCluster Lunz ‐ Biologische Station, Lunz am See Austria
| | - Alienor Jeliazkov
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig
- Department of Computer Sciences Martin Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg
- University of Paris‐Saclay, INRAE, HYCAR Antony France
| | - Stéphanie Gascón
- University of Girona, GRECO, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Girona, Spain
| | - Pieter Lemmens
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven Leuven Belgium
| | - Maria Anton‐Pardo
- University of Girona, GRECO, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Girona, Spain
| | - Silke Langenheder
- Department of Ecology and Genetics/Limnology Uppsala University Uppsala Sweden
| | - Luc De Meester
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven Leuven Belgium
- Leibniz Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB), Berlin Germany
- Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
| | - Jonathan M. Chase
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig
- Department of Computer Sciences Martin Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg
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40
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Shoemaker LG, Hallett LM, Zhao L, Reuman DC, Wang S, Cottingham KL, Hobbs RJ, Castorani MCN, Downing AL, Dudney JC, Fey SB, Gherardi LA, Lany N, Portales-Reyes C, Rypel AL, Sheppard LW, Walter JA, Suding KN. The long and the short of it: Mechanisms of synchronous and compensatory dynamics across temporal scales. Ecology 2022; 103:e3650. [PMID: 35112356 PMCID: PMC9285558 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Synchronous dynamics (fluctuations that occur in unison) are universal phenomena with widespread implications for ecological stability. Synchronous dynamics can amplify the destabilizing effect of environmental variability on ecosystem functions such as productivity, whereas the inverse, compensatory dynamics, can stabilize function. Here we combine simulation and empirical analyses to elucidate mechanisms that underlie patterns of synchronous versus compensatory dynamics. In both simulated and empirical communities, we show that synchronous and compensatory dynamics are not mutually exclusive but instead can vary by timescale. Our simulations identify multiple mechanisms that can generate timescale‐specific patterns, including different environmental drivers, diverse life histories, dispersal, and non‐stationary dynamics. We find that traditional metrics for quantifying synchronous dynamics are often biased toward long‐term drivers and may miss the importance of short‐term drivers. Our findings indicate key mechanisms to consider when assessing synchronous versus compensatory dynamics and our approach provides a pathway for disentangling these dynamics in natural systems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lauren M Hallett
- Environmental Studies Program and Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
| | - Lei Zhao
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Organic Farming, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Daniel C Reuman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Kansas Biological Survey, University of Kansas, Higuchi Hall, 2101 Constant Ave, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Kathryn L Cottingham
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Richard J Hobbs
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Max C N Castorani
- Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
| | - Amy L Downing
- Department of Zoology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, USA
| | - Joan C Dudney
- Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis, Davis, California, United States.,Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Samuel B Fey
- Department of Biology, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Laureano A Gherardi
- Global Drylands Center and School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Nina Lany
- Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | - Cristina Portales-Reyes
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Andrew L Rypel
- Department of Fish, Wildlife & Conservation Biology, and Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Lawrence W Sheppard
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Kansas Biological Survey, University of Kansas, Higuchi Hall, 2101 Constant Ave, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Jonathan A Walter
- Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.,Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, Montclair, New Jersey, United States
| | - Katharine N Suding
- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
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41
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Chappelle G, Hastings A, Rasmussen M. Occupancy times for time-dependent stage-structured models. J Math Biol 2022; 84:16. [PMID: 35112240 PMCID: PMC8810466 DOI: 10.1007/s00285-022-01713-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
During their lifetimes, individuals in populations pass through different states, and the notion of an occupancy time describes the amount of time an individual spends in a given set of states. Questions related to this idea were studied in a recent paper by Roth and Caswell for cases where the environmental conditions are constant. However, it is truly important to consider the case where environments are changing randomly or in directional way through time, so the transition probabilities between different states change over time, motivating the use of time-dependent stage-structured models. Using absorbing inhomogenous Markov chains and the discrete-time McKendrick–von Foerster equation, we derive explicit formulas for the occupancy time, its expectation, and its higher-order moments for stage-structured models with time-dependent transition rates. The results provide insights into the dynamics of long lived plant or animal populations where individuals transition in both directions between reproductive and non reproductive stages. We apply our approach to study a specific time-dependent model of the Southern Fulmar, and obtain insights into how the number of breeding attempts depends on external conditions that vary through time.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Chappelle
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, 180 Queen's Gate, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
| | - Alan Hastings
- Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA.,Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Martin Rasmussen
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, 180 Queen's Gate, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
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42
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Weiss-Lehman CP, Werner CM, Bowler CH, Hallett LM, Mayfield MM, Godoy O, Aoyama L, Barabás G, Chu C, Ladouceur E, Larios L, Shoemaker LG. Disentangling key species interactions in diverse and heterogeneous communities: A Bayesian sparse modelling approach. Ecol Lett 2022; 25:1263-1276. [PMID: 35106910 PMCID: PMC9543015 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Modelling species interactions in diverse communities traditionally requires a prohibitively large number of species‐interaction coefficients, especially when considering environmental dependence of parameters. We implemented Bayesian variable selection via sparsity‐inducing priors on non‐linear species abundance models to determine which species interactions should be retained and which can be represented as an average heterospecific interaction term, reducing the number of model parameters. We evaluated model performance using simulated communities, computing out‐of‐sample predictive accuracy and parameter recovery across different input sample sizes. We applied our method to a diverse empirical community, allowing us to disentangle the direct role of environmental gradients on species’ intrinsic growth rates from indirect effects via competitive interactions. We also identified a few neighbouring species from the diverse community that had non‐generic interactions with our focal species. This sparse modelling approach facilitates exploration of species interactions in diverse communities while maintaining a manageable number of parameters.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Chhaya M Werner
- Botany Department, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
| | - Catherine H Bowler
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Lauren M Hallett
- Biology Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.,Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
| | - Margaret M Mayfield
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Oscar Godoy
- Departamento de Biología, Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain
| | - Lina Aoyama
- Biology Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.,Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
| | - György Barabás
- Division of Theoretical Biology, Department of IFM, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Chengjin Chu
- Department of Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Emma Ladouceur
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Leipzig-Halle-Jena, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research -UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Loralee Larios
- Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California, USA
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43
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Wisnoski NI, Shoemaker LG. Seed banks alter metacommunity diversity: The interactive effects of competition, dispersal and dormancy. Ecol Lett 2021; 25:740-753. [PMID: 34965013 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Dispersal and dormancy are two common strategies allowing for species persistence and the maintenance of biodiversity in variable environments. However, theory and empirical tests of spatial diversity patterns tend to examine either mechanism in isolation. Here, we developed a stochastic, spatially explicit metacommunity model incorporating seed banks with varying germination and survival rates. We found that dormancy and dispersal had interactive, nonlinear effects on the maintenance and distribution of metacommunity diversity. Seed banks promoted local diversity when seed survival was high and maintained regional diversity through interactions with dispersal. The benefits of seed banks for regional diversity were largest when dispersal was high or intermediate, depending on whether local competition was equal or stabilising. Our study shows that classic predictions for how dispersal affects metacommunity diversity can be strongly influenced by dormancy. Together, these results emphasise the need to consider both temporal and spatial processes when predicting multi-scale patterns of diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan I Wisnoski
- Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
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44
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Civantos-Gómez I, García-Algarra J, García-Callejas D, Galeano J, Godoy O, Bartomeus I. Fine scale prediction of ecological community composition using a two-step sequential Machine Learning ensemble. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1008906. [PMID: 34871304 PMCID: PMC8675934 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Prediction is one of the last frontiers in ecology. Indeed, predicting fine-scale species composition in natural systems is a complex challenge as multiple abiotic and biotic processes operate simultaneously to determine local species abundances. On the one hand, species intrinsic performance and their tolerance limits to different abiotic pressures modulate species abundances. On the other hand, there is growing recognition that species interactions play an equally important role in limiting or promoting such abundances within ecological communities. Here, we present a joint effort between ecologists and data scientists to use data-driven models to predict species abundances using reasonably easy to obtain data. We propose a sequential data-driven modeling approach that in a first step predicts the potential species abundances based on abiotic variables, and in a second step uses these predictions to model the realized abundances once accounting for species competition. Using a curated data set over five years we predict fine-scale species abundances in a highly diverse annual plant community. Our models show a remarkable spatial predictive accuracy using only easy-to-measure variables in the field, yet such predictive power is lost when temporal dynamics are taken into account. This result suggests that predicting future abundances requires longer time series analysis to capture enough variability. In addition, we show that these data-driven models can also suggest how to improve mechanistic models by adding missing variables that affect species performance such as particular soil conditions (e.g. carbonate availability in our case). Robust models for predicting fine-scale species composition informed by the mechanistic understanding of the underlying abiotic and biotic processes can be a pivotal tool for conservation, especially given the human-induced rapid environmental changes we are experiencing. This objective can be achieved by promoting the knowledge gained with classic modelling approaches in ecology and recently developed data-driven models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Icíar Civantos-Gómez
- Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Madrid, Spain
- Complex Systems Group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - David García-Callejas
- Departamento de Biología, Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain
- Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain
| | - Javier Galeano
- Complex Systems Group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Oscar Godoy
- Departamento de Biología, Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain
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45
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Crausbay SD, Sofaer HR, Cravens AE, Chaffin BC, Clifford KR, Gross JE, Knapp CN, Lawrence DJ, Magness DR, Miller-Rushing AJ, Schuurman GW, Stevens-Rumann CS. A Science Agenda to Inform Natural Resource Management Decisions in an Era of Ecological Transformation. Bioscience 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biab102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Earth is experiencing widespread ecological transformation in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems that is attributable to directional environmental changes, especially intensifying climate change. To better steward ecosystems facing unprecedented and lasting change, a new management paradigm is forming, supported by a decision-oriented framework that presents three distinct management choices: resist, accept, or direct the ecological trajectory. To make these choices strategically, managers seek to understand the nature of the transformation that could occur if change is accepted while identifying opportunities to intervene to resist or direct change. In this article, we seek to inspire a research agenda for transformation science that is focused on ecological and social science and based on five central questions that align with the resist–accept–direct (RAD) framework. Development of transformation science is needed to apply the RAD framework and support natural resource management and conservation on our rapidly changing planet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shelley D Crausbay
- Conservation Science Partners, Fort Collins, Colorado, and is a consortium partner for the US Geological Survey's North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, Boulder, Colorado, United States
| | - Helen R Sofaer
- US Geological Survey Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i, United States
| | - Amanda E Cravens
- US Geological Survey's Social and Economic Analysis Branch, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
| | | | - Katherine R Clifford
- US Geological Survey's Social and Economic Analysis Branch, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
| | - John E Gross
- US National Park Service Climate Change Response Program, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
| | | | - David J Lawrence
- US National Park Service Climate Change Response Program, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
| | - Dawn R Magness
- US Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Soldotna, Alaska, United States
| | | | - Gregor W Schuurman
- US National Park Service Climate Change Response Program, in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
| | - Camille S Stevens-Rumann
- Forest and Rangeland Stewardship Department and assistant director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
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46
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Davison CW, Rahbek C, Morueta-Holme N. Land-use change and biodiversity: Challenges for assembling evidence on the greatest threat to nature. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:5414-5429. [PMID: 34392585 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Revised: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Land-use change is considered the greatest threat to nature, having caused worldwide declines in the abundance, diversity, and health of species and ecosystems. Despite increasing research on this global change driver, there are still challenges to forming an effective synthesis. The estimated impact of land-use change on biodiversity can depend on location, research methods, and taxonomic focus, with recent global meta-analyses reaching disparate conclusions. Here, we critically appraise this research body and our ability to reach a reliable consensus. We employ named entity recognition to analyze more than 4000 abstracts, alongside full reading of 100 randomly selected papers. We highlight the broad range of study designs and methodologies used; the most common being local space-for-time comparisons that classify land use in situ. Species metrics including abundance, distribution, and diversity were measured more frequently than complex responses such as demography, vital rates, and behavior. We identified taxonomic biases, with vertebrates well represented while detritivores were largely missing. Omitting this group may hinder our understanding of how land-use change affects ecosystem feedback. Research was heavily biased toward temperate forested biomes in North America and Europe, with warmer regions being acutely underrepresented despite offering potential insights into the future effects of land-use change under novel climates. Various land-use histories were covered, although more research in understudied regions including Africa and the Middle East is required to capture regional differences in the form of current and historical land-use practices. Failure to address these challenges will impede our global understanding of land-use change impacts on biodiversity, limit the reliability of future projections and have repercussions for the conservation of threatened species. Beyond identifying literature biases, we highlight the research priorities and data gaps that need urgent attention and offer perspectives on how to move forward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles W Davison
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Carsten Rahbek
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Center for Global Mountain Biodiversity, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Institute of Ecology, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK
- Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Naia Morueta-Holme
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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47
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Eastwood N, Stubbings WA, Abou-Elwafa Abdallah MA, Durance I, Paavola J, Dallimer M, Pantel JH, Johnson S, Zhou J, Hosking JS, Brown JB, Ullah S, Krause S, Hannah DM, Crawford SE, Widmann M, Orsini L. The Time Machine framework: monitoring and prediction of biodiversity loss. Trends Ecol Evol 2021; 37:138-146. [PMID: 34772522 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Revised: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Transdisciplinary solutions are needed to achieve the sustainability of ecosystem services for future generations. We propose a framework to identify the causes of ecosystem function loss and to forecast the future of ecosystem services under different climate and pollution scenarios. The framework (i) applies an artificial intelligence (AI) time-series analysis to identify relationships among environmental change, biodiversity dynamics and ecosystem functions; (ii) validates relationships between loss of biodiversity and environmental change in fabricated ecosystems; and (iii) forecasts the likely future of ecosystem services and their socioeconomic impact under different pollution and climate scenarios. We illustrate the framework by applying it to watersheds, and provide system-level approaches that enable natural capital restoration by associating multidecadal biodiversity changes to chemical pollution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niamh Eastwood
- Environmental Genomics Group, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - William A Stubbings
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | | | - Isabelle Durance
- School of Biosciences and Water Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK
| | - Jouni Paavola
- Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Martin Dallimer
- Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Jelena H Pantel
- Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Science, The American University of Paris, 6 rue du Colonel Combes, 75007 Paris, France
| | - Samuel Johnson
- School of Mathematics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK; The Alan Turing Institute, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK
| | - Jiarui Zhou
- Environmental Genomics Group, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - J Scott Hosking
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK; The Alan Turing Institute, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK
| | - James B Brown
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
| | - Sami Ullah
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK; Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Stephan Krause
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - David M Hannah
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Sarah E Crawford
- Institute of Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Department of Evolutionary Ecology and Environmental Toxicology, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60438, Germany
| | - Martin Widmann
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Luisa Orsini
- Environmental Genomics Group, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK; The Alan Turing Institute, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, UK.
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Leibold MA, Rudolph FJ, Blanchet FG, De Meester L, Gravel D, Hartig F, Peres‐Neto P, Shoemaker L, Chase JM. The internal structure of metacommunities. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - F. Guillaume Blanchet
- Dépt de Biologie, Univ. de Sherbrooke, Boulevard Univ. Sherbrooke QC Canada
- Dépt de Mathématiques, Univ. de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke QC Canada
| | - Luc De Meester
- Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, Univ. of Leuven Leuven Belgium
- Leibniz Inst. für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB) Berlin Germany
- Inst. of Biology, Freie Univ. Berlin Berlin Germany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Inst. of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Dépt de Biologie, Univ. de Sherbrooke, Boulevard Univ. Sherbrooke QC Canada
| | - Florian Hartig
- Theoretical Ecology, Univ. of Regensburg Regensburg Germany
| | | | | | - Jonathan M. Chase
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena Leipzig, Dept of Computer Sciences, Martin Luther Univ. Halle‐Wittenberg Halle Germany
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Käber Y, Meyer P, Stillhard J, De Lombaerde E, Zell J, Stadelmann G, Bugmann H, Bigler C. Tree recruitment is determined by stand structure and shade tolerance with uncertain role of climate and water relations. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:12182-12203. [PMID: 34522370 PMCID: PMC8427579 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Revised: 07/17/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Tree regeneration is a key process for long-term forest dynamics, determining changes in species composition and shaping successional trajectories. While tree regeneration is a highly stochastic process, tree regeneration studies often cover narrow environmental gradients only, focusing on specific forest types or species in distinct regions. Thus, the larger-scale effects of temperature, water availability, and stand structure on tree regeneration are poorly understood.We investigated these effects in respect of tree recruitment (in-growth) along wide environmental gradients using forest inventory data from Flanders (Belgium), northwestern Germany, and Switzerland covering more than 40 tree species. We employed generalized linear mixed models to capture the abundance of tree recruitment in response to basal area, stem density, shade casting ability of a forest stand as well as site-specific degree-day sum (temperature), water balance, and plant-available water holding capacity. We grouped tree species to facilitate comparisons between species with different levels of tolerance to shade and drought.Basal area and shade casting ability of the overstory had generally a negative impact on tree recruitment, but the effects differed between levels of shade tolerance of tree recruitment in all study regions. Recruitment rates of very shade-tolerant species were positively affected by shade casting ability. Stem density and summer warmth (degree-day sum) had similar effects on all tree species and successional strategies. Water-related variables revealed a high degree of uncertainty and did not allow for general conclusions. All variables had similar effects independent of the varying diameter thresholds for tree recruitment in the different data sets.Synthesis: Shade tolerance and stand structure are the main drivers of tree recruitment along wide environmental gradients in temperate forests. Higher temperature generally increases tree recruitment rates, but the role of water relations and drought tolerance remains uncertain for tree recruitment on cross-regional scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yannek Käber
- Forest EcologyDepartment of Environmental Systems ScienceInstitute of Terrestrial EcosystemsETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Peter Meyer
- Department Forest Nature ConservationNorthwest German Forest Research InstituteMündenGermany
| | - Jonas Stillhard
- Forest Resources and ManagementSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Emiel De Lombaerde
- Forest & Nature LabDepartment of EnvironmentFaculty of Bioscience EngineeringGhent UniversityGhentBelgium
| | - Jürgen Zell
- Forest Resources and ManagementSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Golo Stadelmann
- Forest Resources and ManagementSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Harald Bugmann
- Forest EcologyDepartment of Environmental Systems ScienceInstitute of Terrestrial EcosystemsETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Christof Bigler
- Forest EcologyDepartment of Environmental Systems ScienceInstitute of Terrestrial EcosystemsETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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Li B, Wang Y, Tan W, Saintilan N, Lei G, Wen L. Land cover alteration shifts ecological assembly processes in floodplain lakes: Consequences for fish community dynamics. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 782:146724. [PMID: 33848859 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Revised: 03/14/2021] [Accepted: 03/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Habitat degradation is expected to alter community structure and consequently, ecosystem functions including the maintenance of biodiversity. Understanding the underlying abiotic and biotic assembly mechanisms controlling temporal and spatial community structure and patterns is a central issue in biodiversity conservation. In this study, using monthly time series of fish abundance data collected over a three-year period, we compared the temporal community dynamics in natural habitats and poplar plantations in one of the largest river-lake floodplain ecosystems in China, the Dongting Lake. We found a prevailing strong positive species covariance, i.e. species abundance changes in the same way, in all communities that was significantly negatively impacted by higher water nutrient levels. In contrast to species covariance, community stability, which was measured by the average of aggregated abundance divided by temporal standard deviation, was significantly higher in poplar plantations than in natural habitats. The positive species covariance, which was consistent for both wet and dry years and among habitat types, had significantly negative effects on community stability. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the ecological stochasticity (i.e. community assembly processes generating diversity patterns that are indistinguishable from random chance) was significantly higher in natural sites than in poplar plantations, suggesting that deterministic processes might control the community composition (richness and abundance) at the modified habitat through reducing species synchrony and positive species covariance observed in the natural habitats, leading to significantly lower temporal β-diversity. When combined, our results suggest that habitat modification created environmental conditions for the development of stable fish community in the highly dynamic floodplains, leading to niche-based community with lower temporal β-diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Li
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Yuyu Wang
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Wenzhuo Tan
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Neil Saintilan
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia
| | - Guangchun Lei
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
| | - Li Wen
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Science Division, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Sydney 2124, Australia.
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