1
|
Passy SI, Larson CA, Mruzek JL, Budnick WR, Leboucher T. A new perspective on the spatial, environmental, and metacommunity controls of local biodiversity. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 926:171618. [PMID: 38467253 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171618] [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: 11/06/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Influential ecological research in the 1980s, elucidating that local biodiversity (LB) is a function of local ecological factors and the size of the regional species pool (γ-diversity), has prompted numerous investigations on the local and regional origins of LB. These investigations, however, have been mostly limited to single scales and target groups and centered exclusively on γ-diversity. Here we developed a unified framework including scale, environmental factors (heterogeneity and ambient levels), and metacommunity properties (intraspecific spatial aggregation, regional evenness, and γ-diversity) as hierarchical predictors of LB. We tested this framework with variance partitioning and structural equation modeling using subcontinental data on stream diatoms, insects, and fish as well as local physicochemistry, climate, and land use. Pure aggregation + regional evenness outperformed pure γ-diversity in explaining LB across groups. The covariance of the environment with aggregation + regional evenness rather than with γ-diversity generally explained a much greater proportion of the variance in diatom and insect LB, especially at smaller scales. Thus, disregarding aggregation and regional evenness, as commonly done, may lead to gross underestimation of the pure metacommunity effects and the indirect environmental effects on LB. We examined the shape of the local-regional species richness relationship, which has been widely used to infer local vs. regional effects on LB. We showed that this shape has an ecological basis, but its interpretation is not straightforward. Therefore, we advocate that the variance partitioning analysis under the proposed framework is adopted instead. In diatoms, metacommunity properties had the greatest total effects on LB, while in insects and fish, it was the environment, suggesting that larger organisms are more strongly controlled by the environment. Broader use of our framework may lead to novel biogeographical insights into the drivers of LB and improved projections of its trends along current and future environmental gradients.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sophia I Passy
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA.
| | - Chad A Larson
- Washington State Department of Ecology, Environmental Assessment Program, Lacey, WA, USA.
| | - Joseph L Mruzek
- Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
| | - William R Budnick
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
| | - Thibault Leboucher
- Laboratory for Continental Environments, National Scientific Research Center, University of Lorraine, Metz, France.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Keppeler FW, Junker JR, Shaw MJ, Alford SB, Engel AS, Hooper‐Bùi LM, Jensen OP, Lamb K, López‐Duarte PC, Martin CW, McDonald AM, Olin JA, Paterson AT, Polito MJ, Rabalais NN, Roberts BJ, Rossi RE, Swenson EM. Can biodiversity of preexisting and created salt marshes match across scales? An assessment from microbes to predators. Ecosphere 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Friedrich W. Keppeler
- Center for Limnology University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison Wisconsin USA
- Núcleo de Ecologia Aquática e Pesca da Amazônia Federal University of Pará Belém Pará Brazil
| | - James R. Junker
- Great Lakes Research Center Michigan Technological University Houghton Michigan USA
| | - Margaret J. Shaw
- Center for Limnology University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison Wisconsin USA
| | - Scott B. Alford
- Nature Coast Biological Station University of Florida Cedar Key Florida USA
| | - Annette S. Engel
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences The University of Tennessee–Knoxville Knoxville Tennessee USA
| | - Linda M. Hooper‐Bùi
- Department of Environmental Sciences Louisiana State University Baton Rouge Louisiana USA
| | - Olaf P. Jensen
- Center for Limnology University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison Wisconsin USA
| | - Katelyn Lamb
- Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences Louisiana State University Baton Rouge Louisiana USA
| | - Paola C. López‐Duarte
- Department of Biological Sciences University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte North Carolina USA
| | - Charles W. Martin
- Nature Coast Biological Station University of Florida Cedar Key Florida USA
| | - Ashley M. McDonald
- Nature Coast Biological Station University of Florida Cedar Key Florida USA
| | - Jill A. Olin
- Great Lakes Research Center Michigan Technological University Houghton Michigan USA
| | - Audrey T. Paterson
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences The University of Tennessee–Knoxville Knoxville Tennessee USA
| | - Michael J. Polito
- Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences Louisiana State University Baton Rouge Louisiana USA
| | - Nancy N. Rabalais
- Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences Louisiana State University Baton Rouge Louisiana USA
| | | | - Ryann E. Rossi
- Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium Chauvin Louisiana USA
- St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bays Estuary Program Florida State University Panama City Panama City Florida USA
| | - Erick M. Swenson
- Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences Louisiana State University Baton Rouge Louisiana USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Engel T, Blowes SA, McGlinn DJ, Gotelli NJ, McGill BJ, Chase JM. How does variation in total and relative abundance contribute to gradients of species diversity? Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9196. [PMID: 35991281 PMCID: PMC9382643 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Patterns of biodiversity provide insights into the processes that shape biological communities around the world. Variation in species diversity along biogeographical or ecological gradients, such as latitude or precipitation, can be attributed to variation in different components of biodiversity: changes in the total abundance (i.e., more-individual effects) and changes in the regional species abundance distribution (SAD). Rarefaction curves can provide a tool to partition these sources of variation on diversity, but first must be converted to a common unit of measurement. Here, we partition species diversity gradients into components of the SAD and abundance using the effective number of species (ENS) transformation of the individual-based rarefaction curve. Because the ENS curve is unconstrained by sample size, it can act as a standardized unit of measurement when comparing effect sizes among different components of biodiversity change. We illustrate the utility of the approach using two data sets spanning latitudinal diversity gradients in trees and marine reef fish and find contrasting results. Whereas the diversity gradient of fish was mostly associated with variation in abundance (86%), the tree diversity gradient was mostly associated with variation in the SAD (59%). These results suggest that local fish diversity may be limited by energy through the more-individuals effect, while species pool effects are the larger determinant of tree diversity. We suggest that the framework of the ENS-curve has the potential to quantify the underlying factors influencing most aspects of diversity change.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Thore Engel
- Institute of Computer Science Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Leipzig Germany
| | - Shane A Blowes
- Institute of Computer Science Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Leipzig Germany
| | - Daniel J McGlinn
- Department of Biology College of Charleston Charleston South Carolina USA
| | | | - Brian J McGill
- School of Biology and Ecology, and Senator George J. Mitchell Center of Sustainability Solutions University of Maine Orono Maine USA
| | - Jonathan M Chase
- Institute of Computer Science Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Halle (Saale) Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Leipzig Germany
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Sundaram M, Steiner E, Gordon DM. Rainfall, neighbors, and foraging: The dynamics of a population of red harvester ant colonies 1988‐2019. ECOL MONOGR 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Erik Steiner
- Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis Stanford University Stanford CA
| | | |
Collapse
|
5
|
McGlinn DJ, Engel T, Blowes SA, Gotelli NJ, Knight TM, McGill BJ, Sanders NJ, Chase JM. A multiscale framework for disentangling the roles of evenness, density, and aggregation on diversity gradients. Ecology 2020; 102:e03233. [PMID: 33098569 PMCID: PMC7900956 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2019] [Revised: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Disentangling the drivers of diversity gradients can be challenging. The Measurement of Biodiversity (MoB) framework decomposes scale‐dependent changes in species diversity into three components of community structure: species abundance distribution (SAD), total community abundance, and within‐species spatial aggregation. Here we extend MoB from categorical treatment comparisons to quantify variation along continuous geographic or environmental gradients. Our approach requires sites along a gradient, each consisting of georeferenced plots of abundance‐based species composition data. We demonstrate our method using a case study of ants sampled along an elevational gradient of 28 sites in a mixed deciduous forest of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. MoB analysis revealed that decreases in ant species richness along the elevational gradient were associated with decreasing evenness and total number of species, which counteracted the modest increase in richness associated with decreasing spatial aggregation along the gradient. Total community abundance had a negligible effect on richness at all but the finest spatial grains, SAD effects increased in importance with sampling effort, and the aggregation effect had the strongest effect at coarser spatial grains. These results do not support the more‐individuals hypothesis, but they are consistent with a hypothesis of stronger environmental filtering at coarser spatial grains. Our extension of MoB has the potential to elucidate how components of community structure contribute to changes in diversity along environmental gradients and should be useful for a variety of assemblage‐level data collected along gradients.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J McGlinn
- Department of Biology, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, 29424, USA
| | - Thore Engel
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.,Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
| | - Shane A Blowes
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.,Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
| | - Nicholas J Gotelli
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA
| | - Tiffany M Knight
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.,Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany.,Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
| | - Brian J McGill
- School of Biology and Ecology, and Senator George J. Mitchell Center of Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, 04469, USA
| | - Nathan J Sanders
- Environmental Program, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA
| | - Jonathan M Chase
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.,Institute of Computer Science, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), 06120, Germany
| |
Collapse
|