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Wang S, Hong P, Adler PB, Allan E, Hautier Y, Schmid B, Spaak JW, Feng Y. Towards mechanistic integration of the causes and consequences of biodiversity. Trends Ecol Evol 2024:S0169-5347(24)00054-5. [PMID: 38503639 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2024.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Revised: 02/21/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024]
Abstract
The global biodiversity crisis has stimulated decades of research on three themes: species coexistence, biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships (BEF), and biodiversity-ecosystem functional stability relationships (BEFS). However, studies on these themes are largely independent, creating barriers to an integrative understanding of the causes and consequences of biodiversity. Here we review recent progress towards mechanistic integration of coexistence, BEF, and BEFS. Mechanisms underlying the three themes can be linked in various ways, potentially creating either positive or negative relationships between them. That said, we generally expect positive associations between coexistence and BEF, and between BEF and BEFS. Our synthesis represents an initial step towards integrating causes and consequences of biodiversity; future developments should include more mechanistic approaches and broader ecological contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaopeng Wang
- Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
| | - Pubin Hong
- Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Peter B Adler
- Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
| | - Eric Allan
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013 Bern, Switzerland; Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern, Mittelstrasse 43, Bern 3012, Switzerland
| | - Yann Hautier
- Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584, CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Bernhard Schmid
- Remote Sensing Laboratories, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jurg W Spaak
- Landscape ecology, RPTU Kaiserslautern Landau, 76829 Landau, Germany
| | - Yanhao Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China
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2
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Díaz-Sierra R, Rietkerk M, Verwijmeren M, Baudena M. Facilitation and competition deconstructed: a mechanistic modelling approach to the stress gradient hypothesis applied to drylands. Sci Rep 2024; 14:2205. [PMID: 38272965 PMCID: PMC10810957 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52447-z] [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: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Facilitative interactions among species are key in plant communities. While experimental tests support the Stress Gradient Hypothesis (SGH) as an association between facilitation and stress, whether the shape of net effects along stress gradients can be predicted is controversial, with no available mathematical modelling approaches. We proposed a novel test, using a modification of the R* model to study how negative and positive partial effects of plant interactions in drylands combine along two common stress gradients. We modelled different interactions: competition for water and light, amelioration of soil infiltration and/or grazing protection, obtaining that intensity and importance of facilitation did not generally increase along stress gradients, being dependent on the interaction type. While along the water stress gradient net interactions became more positive, reaching a maximum and then waning again, various outcomes were observed along the grazing gradient. Shape variety was mainly driven by the various shapes of the partial positive effects. Under resource stress, additive interaction effects can be expected, whereas when including grazing, the effects were non-additive. In the context of the SGH, deconstructing the effect of positive and negative interaction in a pairwise mechanistic models of drylands does not show a unique shape along stress gradients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rubén Díaz-Sierra
- Mathematical and Fluid Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED, 28040, Madrid, Spain.
- Section Environmental Sciences, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
- Centre for Complex Systems Studies, 4th Floor Minnaert Building, Leuvenlaan 4, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Max Rietkerk
- Section Environmental Sciences, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Mart Verwijmeren
- Section Environmental Sciences, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands
| | - Mara Baudena
- Section Environmental Sciences, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Centre for Complex Systems Studies, 4th Floor Minnaert Building, Leuvenlaan 4, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (CNR-ISAC), National Research Council of Italy, Corso Fiume 4, 10133, Torino, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133, Palermo, Italy
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3
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Xu Z, Jiang L, Ren H, Han X. Opposing responses of temporal stability of aboveground and belowground net primary productivity to water and nitrogen enrichment in a temperate grassland. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17071. [PMID: 38273548 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2023] [Revised: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Changes in water and nitrogen availability, as important elements of global environmental change, are known to affect the temporal stability of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP). However, evidences for their effects on the temporal stability of belowground net primary productivity (BNPP), and whether such effects are consistent between belowground and aboveground, are rather scarce. Here, we investigated the responses of temporal stability of both ANPP and BNPP to water and nitrogen addition based on a 9-year manipulative experiment in a temperate grassland in northern China. The results showed that the temporal stability of ANPP increased with water addition but decreased with nitrogen addition. By contrast, the temporal stability of BNPP decreased with water addition but increased with nitrogen enrichment. The temporal stability of ANPP was mainly determined by the soil moisture and inorganic nitrogen, which modulated species asynchrony, as well as by the stability of dominant species. On the other hand, the temporal stability of BNPP was mainly driven by the soil moisture and inorganic nitrogen that modulated ANPP of grasses, and by the direct effect of soil water availability. Our study provides the first evidence on the opposite responses of aboveground and belowground grassland temporal stability to increased water and nitrogen availability, highlighting the importance of considering both aboveground and belowground components of ecosystems for a more comprehensive understanding of their dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuwen Xu
- Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning, China
- Autonomous Region Collaborative Innovation Center for Integrated Management of Water Resources and Water Environment in the Inner Mongolia Reaches of the Yellow River, Hohhot, China
| | - Lin Jiang
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Haiyan Ren
- Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources, College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
| | - Xingguo Han
- College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei, China
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4
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Suonan J, Lu X, Li X, Hautier Y, Wang C. Nitrogen addition strengthens the stabilizing effect of biodiversity on productivity by increasing plant trait diversity and species asynchrony in the artificial grassland communities. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1301461. [PMID: 38053765 PMCID: PMC10694273 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1301461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
Background and aims Nitrogen (N) enrichment usually weakens the stabilizing effect of biodiversity on productivity. However, previous studies focused on plant species richness and thus largely ignored the potential contributions of plant functional traits to stability, even though evidence is increasing that functional traits are stronger predictors than species richness of ecosystem functions. Methods We conducted a common garden experiment manipulating plant species richness and N addition levels to quantify effects of N addition on relations between species richness and functional trait identity and diversity underpinning the 'fast-slow' economics spectrum and community stability. Results Nitrogen addition had a minor effect on community stability but increased the positive effects of species richness on community stability. Increasing community stability was found in the species-rich communities dominated by fast species due to substantially increasing temporal mean productivity relative to its standard deviation. Furthermore, enhancement in 'fast-slow' functional diversity in species-rich communities dominated by fast species under N addition increased species asynchrony, resulting in a robust biodiversity-stability relationship under N addition the artificial grassland communities. Conclusion The findings demonstrate mechanistic links between plant species richness, 'fast-slow' functional traits, and community stability under N addition, suggesting that dynamics of biodiversity-stability relations under global changes are the results of species-specific responses of 'fast-slow' traits on the plant economics spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji Suonan
- College of Life Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, China
| | - Xuwei Lu
- College of Life Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, China
| | - Xiaona Li
- Institute of Grassland, Flowers and Ecology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yann Hautier
- Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Chao Wang
- Institute of Grassland, Flowers and Ecology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
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5
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Wang J, Grimm NB, Lawler SP, Dong X. Changing climate and reorganized species interactions modify community responses to climate variability. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2218501120. [PMID: 37722049 PMCID: PMC10523507 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218501120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023] Open
Abstract
While an array of ecological mechanisms has been shown to stabilize natural community dynamics, how the effectiveness of these mechanisms-including both their direction (stabilizing vs. destabilizing) and strength-shifts under a changing climate remains unknown. Using a 35-y dataset (1985 to 2019) from a desert stream in central Arizona (USA), we found that as annual mean air temperature rose 1°C and annual mean precipitation reduced by 40% over the last two decades, macroinvertebrate communities experienced dramatic changes, from relatively stable states during the first 15 y of this study to wildly fluctuating states highly sensitive to climate variability in the last 10 y. Asynchronous species responses to climatic variability, the primary mechanism historically undergirding community stability, greatly weakened. The emerging climate regime-specifically, concurrent warming and prolonged multiyear drought-resulted in community-wide synchronous responses and reduced taxa richness. Diversity loss and new establishment of competitors reorganized species interactions. Unlike manipulative experiments that often suggest stabilizing roles of species interactions, we found that reorganized species interactions switched from stabilizing to destabilizing influences, further amplifying community fluctuations. Our study provides evidence of climate change-induced modifications of mechanisms underpinning long-term community stability, resulting in an overall destabilizing effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junna Wang
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA95616
| | - Nancy B. Grimm
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ85287
| | - Sharon P. Lawler
- Department of Entomology & Nematology, University of California, Davis, CA95616
| | - Xiaoli Dong
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA95616
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Xu Z, Liu H, Meng Y, Yin J, Ren H, Li MH, Yang S, Tang S, Jiang Y, Jiang L. Nitrogen addition and mowing alter drought resistance and recovery of grassland communities. SCIENCE CHINA. LIFE SCIENCES 2023:10.1007/s11427-022-2217-9. [PMID: 36964460 DOI: 10.1007/s11427-022-2217-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 03/26/2023]
Abstract
Nitrogen enrichment and land use are known to influence various ecosystems, but how these anthropogenic changes influence community and ecosystem responses to disturbance remains poorly understood. Here we investigated the effects of increased nitrogen input and mowing on the resistance and recovery of temperate semiarid grassland experiencing a three-year drought. Nitrogen addition increased grassland biomass recovery but decreased structural recovery after drought, whereas annual mowing increased grassland biomass recovery and structural recovery but reduced structural resistance to drought. The treatment effects on community biomass/structural resistance and recovery were largely modulated by the stability of the dominant species and asynchronous dynamics among species, and the community biomass resistance and recovery were also greatly driven by the stability of grasses. Community biomass resistance/recovery in response to drought was positively associated with its corresponding structural stability. Our study provides important experimental evidence that both nitrogen addition and mowing could substantially change grassland stability in both functional and structural aspects. Our findings emphasize the need to study changes across levels of ecological organization for a more complete understanding of ecosystem responses to disturbances under widespread environmental changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuwen Xu
- Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021, China.
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332, USA.
- Autonomous Region Collaborative Innovation Center for Integrated Management of Water Resources and Water Environment in the Inner Mongolia Reaches of the Yellow River, Hohhot, 010018, China.
| | - Heyong Liu
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
- School of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, 071002, China
| | - Yani Meng
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
| | - Jinfei Yin
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
| | - Haiyan Ren
- Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources, College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, 010018, China
| | - Mai-He Li
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, CH-8903, Switzerland
- School of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, 071002, China
| | - Shan Yang
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
| | - Shiming Tang
- Key Laboratory for Model Innovation in Forage Production Efficiency, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot, 010010, China
| | - Yong Jiang
- Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
- School of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, 071002, China.
| | - Lin Jiang
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332, USA.
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7
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Okpara P, VanLaerhoven S. Density, Temperature, and Comingled Species Affect Fitness within Carrion Communities: Coexistence in Phormia regina and Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae). INSECTS 2023; 14:139. [PMID: 36835708 PMCID: PMC9965367 DOI: 10.3390/insects14020139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2023] [Revised: 01/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) interactions vary between competition and facilitation. Female blow flies engage in aggregated egg-laying, resulting in larval feeding masses differing in density and species composition. Numerous species are abundant within the same season, and some oviposit near or directly on eggs of other species, modifying their oviposition location choice depending on the presence or absence of other species. The ability to coexist on carrion, a temporary resource, was successfully attributed to resource, spatial, and temporal heterogeneity. Despite these broad categorizations, the specific mechanisms of coexistence within blow fly communities require further investigation. This study investigates variation in temperature and larval density as potential mechanisms of coexistence between two forensically important blow fly species: Lucilia sericata Meigen and Phormia regina Meigen (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Larval density, species ratio mix, and ambient temperature during development were manipulated in the presence of conspecifics and heterospecifics in the laboratory, and the fitness of each species was measured. In heterospecific treatments, the survival and body size of P. regina increased even at high ambient temperatures. In contrast, the survival of L. sericata remained unaffected by density or presence of heterospecifics, whereas body size increased in L. sericata-dominated heterospecific treatments depending on temperature and density. The negative effects of density were observed at high ambient temperatures, suggesting that density impacts are a function of ambient temperature. Overall, species coexistence was dependent on temperature, which mediated the outcome of species interactions.
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8
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Medeiros LP, Allesina S, Dakos V, Sugihara G, Saavedra S. Ranking species based on sensitivity to perturbations under non-equilibrium community dynamics. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:170-183. [PMID: 36318189 PMCID: PMC10092288 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Managing ecological communities requires fast detection of species that are sensitive to perturbations. Yet, the focus on recovery to equilibrium has prevented us from assessing species responses to perturbations when abundances fluctuate over time. Here, we introduce two data-driven approaches (expected sensitivity and eigenvector rankings) based on the time-varying Jacobian matrix to rank species over time according to their sensitivity to perturbations on abundances. Using several population dynamics models, we demonstrate that we can infer these rankings from time-series data to predict the order of species sensitivities. We find that the most sensitive species are not always the ones with the most rapidly changing or lowest abundance, which are typical criteria used to monitor populations. Finally, using two empirical time series, we show that sensitive species tend to be harder to forecast. Our results suggest that incorporating information on species interactions can improve how we manage communities out of equilibrium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas P Medeiros
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts, Cambridge, USA.,Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, California, Santa Cruz, USA
| | - Stefano Allesina
- Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, USA.,Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Illinois, Evanston, USA
| | - Vasilis Dakos
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - George Sugihara
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, California, La Jolla, USA
| | - Serguei Saavedra
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts, Cambridge, USA
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Biodiversity stabilizes plant communities through statistical-averaging effects rather than compensatory dynamics. Nat Commun 2022; 13:7804. [PMID: 36528635 PMCID: PMC9759569 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35514-9] [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: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem stability is a central goal of ecologists. Recent studies have concluded that biodiversity increases community temporal stability by increasing the asynchrony between the dynamics of different species. Theoretically, this enhancement can occur through either increased between-species compensatory dynamics, a fundamentally biological mechanism; or through an averaging effect, primarily a statistical mechanism. Yet it remains unclear which mechanism is dominant in explaining the diversity-stability relationship. We address this issue by mathematically decomposing asynchrony into components separately quantifying the compensatory and statistical-averaging effects. We applied the new decomposition approach to plant survey and experimental data from North American grasslands. We show that statistical averaging, rather than compensatory dynamics, was the principal mediator of biodiversity effects on community stability. Our simple decomposition approach helps integrate concepts of stability, asynchrony, statistical averaging, and compensatory dynamics, and suggests that statistical averaging, rather than compensatory dynamics, is the primary means by which biodiversity confers ecological stability.
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10
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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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11
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Xu Q, Yang X, Song J, Ru J, Xia J, Wang S, Wan S, Jiang L. Nitrogen enrichment alters multiple dimensions of grassland functional stability via changing compositional stability. Ecol Lett 2022; 25:2713-2725. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.14119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Qianna Xu
- School of Biological Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Georgia USA
| | - Xian Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology Sun Yat‐sen University Guangzhou P. R. China
| | - Jian Song
- School of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development Hebei University Baoding P. R. China
| | - Jingyi Ru
- School of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development Hebei University Baoding P. R. China
| | - Jianyang Xia
- Research Center for Global Change and Complex Ecosystems, State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences East China Normal University Shanghai China
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education Peking University Beijing P. R. China
| | - Shiqiang Wan
- School of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development Hebei University Baoding P. R. China
| | - Lin Jiang
- School of Biological Sciences Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Georgia USA
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12
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Canelas JV, Pereira HM. Impacts of land-use intensity on ecosystems stability. Ecol Modell 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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13
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Saeedian M, Pigani E, Maritan A, Suweis S, Azaele S. Effect of delay on the emergent stability patterns in generalized Lotka-Volterra ecological dynamics. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2022; 380:20210245. [PMID: 35599557 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2021.0245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the conditions of feasibility and stability in ecological systems is a major challenge in theoretical ecology. The seminal work of May in 1972 and recent developments based on the theory of random matrices have shown the existence of emergent universal patterns of both stability and feasibility in ecological dynamics. However, only a few studies have investigated the role of delay coupled with population dynamics in the emergence of feasible and stable states. In this work, we study the effects of delay on generalized Loka-Volterra population dynamics of several interacting species in closed ecological environments. First, we investigate the relation between feasibility and stability of the modelled ecological community in the absence of delay and find a simple analytical relation when intra-species interactions are dominant. We then show how, by increasing the time delay, there is a transition in the stability phases of the population dynamics: from an equilibrium state to a stable non-point attractor phase. We calculate analytically the critical delay of that transition and show that it is in excellent agreement with numerical simulations. Finally, following a similar approach to characterizing stability in empirical studies, we investigate the coefficient of variation, which quantifies the magnitude of population fluctuations. We show that in the oscillatory regime induced by the delay, the variability at community level decreases for increasing diversity. This article is part of the theme issue 'Emergent phenomena in complex physical and socio-technical systems: from cells to societies'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meghdad Saeedian
- Dipartimento di Fisica 'G. Galilei', Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran
| | - Emanuele Pigani
- Dipartimento di Fisica 'G. Galilei', Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy
| | - Amos Maritan
- Dipartimento di Fisica 'G. Galilei', Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Samir Suweis
- Dipartimento di Fisica 'G. Galilei', Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Sandro Azaele
- Dipartimento di Fisica 'G. Galilei', Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
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14
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Barraquand F, Picoche C, Aluome C, Carassou L, Feigné C. Looking for compensation at multiple scales in a wetland bird community. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8876. [PMID: 35784078 PMCID: PMC9163198 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 11/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Compensatory dynamics, during which community composition shifts despite a near‐constant total community size, are usually rare: Synchronous dynamics prevail in natural communities. This is a puzzle for ecologists, because of the key role of compensation in explaining the relation between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, most studies so far have considered compensation in either plants or planktonic organisms, so that evidence for the generality of such synchrony is limited. Here, we extend analyses of community‐level synchrony to wetland birds. We analyze a 35‐year monthly survey of a community where we suspected that compensation might occur due to potential competition and changes in water levels, favoring birds with different habitat preferences. We perform both year‐to‐year analyses by season, using a compensation/synchrony index, and multiscale analyses using a wavelet‐based measure, which allows for both scale‐ and time‐dependence. We analyze synchrony both within and between guilds, with guilds defined either as tightknit phylogenetic groups or as larger functional groups. We find that abundance and biomass compensation are rare, likely due to the synchronizing influence of climate (and other drivers) on birds, even after considering several temporal scales of covariation (during either cold or warm seasons, above or below the annual scale). Negative covariation in abundance at the guild or community level did only appear at the scale of a few months or several years. We also found that synchrony varies with taxonomic and functional scale: The rare cases where compensation appeared consistently in year‐to‐year analyses were between rather than within functional groups. Our results suggest that abundance compensation may have more potential to emerge between broad functional groups rather than between species, and at relatively long temporal scales (multiple years for vertebrates), above that of the dominant synchronizing driver.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric Barraquand
- Institute of Mathematics of Bordeaux University of Bordeaux and CNRS Talence France
- Integrative and Theoretical Ecology LabEx COTE University of Bordeaux Pessac France
| | - Coralie Picoche
- Institute of Mathematics of Bordeaux University of Bordeaux and CNRS Talence France
- Integrative and Theoretical Ecology LabEx COTE University of Bordeaux Pessac France
| | - Christelle Aluome
- Integrative and Theoretical Ecology LabEx COTE University of Bordeaux Pessac France
- ISPA Bordeaux Sciences Agro & INRAE Villenave d'Ornon France
| | - Laure Carassou
- Integrative and Theoretical Ecology LabEx COTE University of Bordeaux Pessac France
- EABX INRAE Cestas France
| | - Claude Feigné
- Teich Ornithological Reserve PNR Landes Gascogne Le Teich France
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15
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Promislow D, Anderson RM, Scheffer M, Crespi B, DeGregori J, Harris K, Horowitz BN, Levine ME, Riolo MA, Schneider DS, Spencer SL, Valenzano DR, Hochberg ME. Resilience integrates concepts in aging research. iScience 2022; 25:104199. [PMID: 35494229 PMCID: PMC9044173 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Aging research is unparalleled in the breadth of disciplines it encompasses, from evolutionary studies examining the forces that shape aging to molecular studies uncovering the underlying mechanisms of age-related functional decline. Despite a common focus to advance our understanding of aging, these disciplines have proceeded along distinct paths with little cross-talk. We propose that the concept of resilience can bridge this gap. Resilience describes the ability of a system to respond to perturbations by returning to its original state. Although resilience has been applied in a few individual disciplines in aging research such as frailty and cognitive decline, it has not been explored as a unifying conceptual framework that is able to connect distinct research fields. We argue that because a resilience-based framework can cross broad physiological levels and time scales it can provide the missing links that connect these diverse disciplines. The resulting framework will facilitate predictive modeling and validation and influence targets and directions in research on the biology of aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Promislow
- Department of Lab Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Corresponding author
| | - Rozalyn M. Anderson
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53726, USA
- GRECC, William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, WI 53705, USA
- Corresponding author
| | - Marten Scheffer
- Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
- Corresponding author
| | - Bernard Crespi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - James DeGregori
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Kelley Harris
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | | | - Morgan E. Levine
- Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06524, USA
| | | | - David S. Schneider
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Sabrina L. Spencer
- Department of Biochemistry and BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
| | - Dario Riccardo Valenzano
- Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany
- CECAD, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Michael E. Hochberg
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
- ISEM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, 34095 France
- Corresponding author
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16
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Dallas TA, Kramer AM. Temporal variability in population and community dynamics. Ecology 2021; 103:e03577. [PMID: 34714929 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3577] [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: 02/11/2021] [Revised: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Populations and communities fluctuate in their overall numbers through time, and the magnitude of fluctuations in individual species may scale to communities. However, the composite variability at the community scale is expected to be tempered by opposing fluctuations in individual populations, a phenomenon often called the portfolio effect. Understanding population variability, how it scales to community variability, and the spatial scaling in this variability are pressing needs given shifting environmental conditions and community composition. We explore evidence for portfolio effects using null community simulations and a large collection of empirical community time series from the BioTIME database. Additionally, we explore the relative roles of habitat type and geographic location on population and community temporal variability. We find strong portfolio effects in our theoretical community model, but weak effects in empirical data, suggesting a role for shared environmental responses, interspecific competition, or a litany of other factors. Furthermore, we observe a clear latitudinal signal - and differences among habitat types - in population and community variability. Together, this highlights the need to develop realistic models of community dynamics, and hints at spatial, and underlying environmental, gradients in variability in both population and community dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tad A Dallas
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, 29208, USA
| | - Andrew M Kramer
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, 33620, USA
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17
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Loreau M, Barbier M, Filotas E, Gravel D, Isbell F, Miller SJ, Montoya JM, Wang S, Aussenac R, Germain R, Thompson PL, Gonzalez A, Dee LE. Biodiversity as insurance: from concept to measurement and application. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 96:2333-2354. [PMID: 34080283 PMCID: PMC8519139 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Revised: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Biological insurance theory predicts that, in a variable environment, aggregate ecosystem properties will vary less in more diverse communities because declines in the performance or abundance of some species or phenotypes will be offset, at least partly, by smoother declines or increases in others. During the past two decades, ecology has accumulated strong evidence for the stabilising effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning. As biological insurance is reaching the stage of a mature theory, it is critical to revisit and clarify its conceptual foundations to guide future developments, applications and measurements. In this review, we first clarify the connections between the insurance and portfolio concepts that have been used in ecology and the economic concepts that inspired them. Doing so points to gaps and mismatches between ecology and economics that could be filled profitably by new theoretical developments and new management applications. Second, we discuss some fundamental issues in biological insurance theory that have remained unnoticed so far and that emerge from some of its recent applications. In particular, we draw a clear distinction between the two effects embedded in biological insurance theory, i.e. the effects of biodiversity on the mean and variability of ecosystem properties. This distinction allows explicit consideration of trade-offs between the mean and stability of ecosystem processes and services. We also review applications of biological insurance theory in ecosystem management. Finally, we provide a synthetic conceptual framework that unifies the various approaches across disciplines, and we suggest new ways in which biological insurance theory could be extended to address new issues in ecology and ecosystem management. Exciting future challenges include linking the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning and stability, incorporating multiple functions and feedbacks, developing new approaches to partition biodiversity effects across scales, extending biological insurance theory to complex interaction networks, and developing new applications to biodiversity and ecosystem management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel Loreau
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS2 route du CNRSMoulis09200France
| | - Matthieu Barbier
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS2 route du CNRSMoulis09200France
| | - Elise Filotas
- Center for Forest ResearchUniversité du Québec (TELUQ)5800 Saint‐DenisMontrealQCH2S 3L5Canada
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Département de BiologieUniversité de Sherbrooke2500 Boulevard de l'UniversitéSherbrookeQCJ1K 2R1Canada
| | - Forest Isbell
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and BehaviorUniversity of Minnesota1479 Gortner AveSt. PaulMN55108U.S.A.
| | - Steve J. Miller
- Environmental Studies ProgramUniversity of Colorado, Boulder4001 Discovery DriveBoulderCO80303U.S.A.
| | - Jose M. Montoya
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS2 route du CNRSMoulis09200France
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of EducationPeking UniversityBeijing100871China
| | - Raphaël Aussenac
- Université Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, LESSEMSt‐Martin‐d'HèresF‐38402France
| | - Rachel Germain
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of ZoologyUniversity of British Columbia6270 University Blvd.VancouverBCV6T 1Z4Canada
| | - Patrick L. Thompson
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of ZoologyUniversity of British Columbia6270 University Blvd.VancouverBCV6T 1Z4Canada
| | - Andrew Gonzalez
- Department of BiologyMcGill University1205 Dr. Penfield AvenueMontrealQCH3A 1B1Canada
| | - Laura E. Dee
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado, Boulder1900 Pleasant St.BoulderCO80303U.S.A.
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18
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McLeod AM, Leroux SJ. Incongruent drivers of network, species and interaction persistence in food webs. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anne M. McLeod
- Dept of Biology, Memorial Univ. of Newfoundland St John's NL Canada
| | - Shawn J. Leroux
- Dept of Biology, Memorial Univ. of Newfoundland St John's NL Canada
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19
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Krumbeck Y, Yang Q, Constable GWA, Rogers T. Fluctuation spectra of large random dynamical systems reveal hidden structure in ecological networks. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3625. [PMID: 34131115 PMCID: PMC8206210 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23757-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the relationship between complexity and stability in large dynamical systems-such as ecosystems-remains a key open question in complexity theory which has inspired a rich body of work developed over more than fifty years. The vast majority of this theory addresses asymptotic linear stability around equilibrium points, but the idea of 'stability' in fact has other uses in the empirical ecological literature. The important notion of 'temporal stability' describes the character of fluctuations in population dynamics, driven by intrinsic or extrinsic noise. Here we apply tools from random matrix theory to the problem of temporal stability, deriving analytical predictions for the fluctuation spectra of complex ecological networks. We show that different network structures leave distinct signatures in the spectrum of fluctuations, and demonstrate the application of our theory to the analysis of ecological time-series data of plankton abundances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yvonne Krumbeck
- Centre for Networks and Collective Behaviour, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Qian Yang
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, PR China
| | | | - Tim Rogers
- Centre for Networks and Collective Behaviour, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
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20
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Functional trait effects on ecosystem stability: assembling the jigsaw puzzle. Trends Ecol Evol 2021; 36:822-836. [PMID: 34088543 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2020] [Revised: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Under global change, how biological diversity and ecosystem services are maintained in time is a fundamental question. Ecologists have long argued about multiple mechanisms by which local biodiversity might control the temporal stability of ecosystem properties. Accumulating theories and empirical evidence suggest that, together with different population and community parameters, these mechanisms largely operate through differences in functional traits among organisms. We review potential trait-stability mechanisms together with underlying tests and associated metrics. We identify various trait-based components, each accounting for different stability mechanisms, that contribute to buffering, or propagating, the effect of environmental fluctuations on ecosystem functioning. This comprehensive picture, obtained by combining different puzzle pieces of trait-stability effects, will guide future empirical and modeling investigations.
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21
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Hood GR, Blankinship D, Doellman MM, Feder JL. Temporal resource partitioning mitigates interspecific competition and promotes coexistence among insect parasites. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 96:1969-1988. [PMID: 34041840 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Revised: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
A key to understanding life's great diversity is discerning how competing organisms divide limiting resources to coexist in diverse communities. While temporal resource partitioning has long been hypothesized to reduce the negative effects of interspecific competition, empirical evidence suggests that time may not often be an axis along which animal species routinely subdivide resources. Here, we present evidence to the contrary in the world's most biodiverse group of animals: insect parasites (parasitoids). Specifically, we conducted a meta-analysis of 64 studies from 41 publications to determine if temporal resource partitioning via variation in the timing of a key life-history trait, egg deposition (oviposition), mitigates interspecific competition between species pairs sharing the same insect host. When competing species were manipulated to oviposit at (or near) the same time in or on a single host in the laboratory, competition was common, and one species was typically inherently superior (i.e. survived to adulthood a greater proportion of the time). In most cases, however, the inferior competitor could gain a survivorship advantage by ovipositing earlier (or in a smaller number of cases later) into shared hosts. Moreover, this positive (or in a few cases negative) priority advantage gained by the inferior competitor increased as the interval between oviposition times became greater. The results from manipulative experiments were also correlated with patterns of life-history timing and demography in nature: the more inherently competitively inferior a species was in the laboratory, the greater the interval between oviposition times of taxa in co-occurring populations. Additionally, the larger the interval between oviposition times of competing taxa, the more abundant the inferior species was in populations where competitors were known to coexist. Overall, our findings suggest that temporal resource partitioning via variation in oviposition timing may help to facilitate species coexistence and structures diverse insect communities by altering demographic measures of species success. We argue that the lack of evidence for a more prominent role of temporal resource partitioning in promoting species coexistence may reflect taxonomic differences, with a bias towards larger-sized animals. For smaller species like parasitic insects that are specialized to attack one or a group of closely related hosts, have short adult lifespans and discrete generation times, compete directly for limited resources in small, closed arenas and have life histories constrained by host phenology, temporal resource subdivision via variation in life history may play a critical role in allowing species to coexist by alleviating the negative effects of interspecific competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Glen Ray Hood
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Sciences Center, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, U.S.A.,Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, 5047 Gullen Mall, Detroit, MI, 48202, U.S.A
| | - Devin Blankinship
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Sciences Center, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, U.S.A
| | - Meredith M Doellman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Sciences Center, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, U.S.A
| | - Jeffrey L Feder
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Sciences Center, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, U.S.A
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22
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Xu Q, Yang X, Yan Y, Wang S, Loreau M, Jiang L. Consistently positive effect of species diversity on ecosystem, but not population, temporal stability. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:2256-2266. [PMID: 34002439 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2020] [Revised: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Despite much recent progress, our understanding of diversity-stability relationships across different study systems remains incomplete. In particular, recent theory clarified that within-species population stability and among-species asynchronous population dynamics combine to determine ecosystem temporal stability, but their relative importance in modulating diversity-ecosystem temporal stability relationships in different ecosystems remains unclear. We addressed this issue with a meta-analysis of empirical studies of ecosystem and population temporal stability in relation to species diversity across a range of taxa and ecosystems. We show that ecosystem temporal stability tended to increase with species diversity, regardless of study systems. Increasing diversity promoted asynchrony, which, in turn, contributed to increased ecosystem stability. The positive diversity-ecosystem stability relationship persisted even after accounting for the influences of environmental covariates (e.g., precipitation and nutrient input). By contrast, species diversity tended to reduce population temporal stability in terrestrial systems but increase population temporal stability in aquatic systems, suggesting that asynchronous dynamics among species are essential for stabilizing diverse terrestrial ecosystems. We conclude that there is compelling empirical evidence for a general positive relationship between species diversity and ecosystem-level temporal stability, but the contrasting diversity-population temporal stability relationships between terrestrial and aquatic systems call for more investigations into their underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qianna Xu
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Xian Yang
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.,State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ying Yan
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Michel Loreau
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS, Moulis, France
| | - Lin Jiang
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
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23
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Wang S, Isbell F, Deng W, Hong P, Dee LE, Thompson P, Loreau M. How complementarity and selection affect the relationship between ecosystem functioning and stability. Ecology 2021; 102:e03347. [PMID: 33742438 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Revised: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The biotic mechanisms underlying ecosystem functioning and stability have been extensively-but separately-explored in the literature, making it difficult to understand the relationship between functioning and stability. In this study, we used community models to examine how complementarity and selection, the two major biodiversity mechanisms known to enhance ecosystem biomass production, affect ecosystem stability. Our analytic and simulation results show that although complementarity promotes stability, selection impairs it. The negative effects of selection on stability operate through weakening portfolio effects and selecting species that have high productivity but low tolerance to perturbations ("risk-prone" species). In contrast, complementarity enhances stability by increasing portfolio effects and reducing the relative abundance of risk-prone species. Consequently, ecosystem functioning and stability exhibit either a synergy, if complementarity effects prevail, or trade-off, if selection effects prevail. Across species richness levels, ecosystem functioning and stability tend to be positively related, but negative relationships can occur when selection co-varies with richness. Our findings provide novel insights for understanding the functioning-stability relationship, with potential implications for both ecological research and ecosystem management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Forest Isbell
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
| | - Wanlu Deng
- Center for Statistical Science, Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Pubin Hong
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Laura E Dee
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309, USA
| | - Patrick Thompson
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Michel Loreau
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
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24
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Synchrony matters more than species richness in plant community stability at a global scale. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:24345-24351. [PMID: 32900958 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1920405117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The stability of ecological communities is critical for the stable provisioning of ecosystem services, such as food and forage production, carbon sequestration, and soil fertility. Greater biodiversity is expected to enhance stability across years by decreasing synchrony among species, but the drivers of stability in nature remain poorly resolved. Our analysis of time series from 79 datasets across the world showed that stability was associated more strongly with the degree of synchrony among dominant species than with species richness. The relatively weak influence of species richness is consistent with theory predicting that the effect of richness on stability weakens when synchrony is higher than expected under random fluctuations, which was the case in most communities. Land management, nutrient addition, and climate change treatments had relatively weak and varying effects on stability, modifying how species richness, synchrony, and stability interact. Our results demonstrate the prevalence of biotic drivers on ecosystem stability, with the potential for environmental drivers to alter the intricate relationship among richness, synchrony, and stability.
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25
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McGregor VL, Fulton EA, Dunn MR. Addressing initialisation uncertainty for end-to-end ecosystem models: application to the Chatham Rise Atlantis model. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9254. [PMID: 32551197 PMCID: PMC7292022 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 05/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecosystem models require the specification of initial conditions, and these initial conditions have some level of uncertainty. It is important to allow for uncertainty when presenting model results, because it reduces the risk of errant or non-representative results. It is crucial that model results are presented as an envelope of what is likely, rather than presenting only one instance. We perturbed the initial conditions of the Chatham Rise Atlantis model and analysed the effect of this uncertainty on the model’s dynamics by comparing the model outputs resulting from many initial condition perturbations. At the species group level, we found some species groups were more sensitive than others, with lower trophic level species groups generally more sensitive to perturbations of the initial conditions. We recommend testing for robust system dynamics by assessing the consistency of ecosystem indicators in response to fishing pressure under perturbed initial conditions. In any set of scenarios explored using complex end-to-end ecosystem models, we recommend that associated uncertainty analysis be included with perturbations of the initial conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vidette L McGregor
- Fisheries, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand
| | | | - Matthew R Dunn
- Fisheries, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand
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26
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Aubree F, David P, Jarne P, Loreau M, Mouquet N, Calcagno V. How community adaptation affects biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. Ecol Lett 2020; 23:1263-1275. [PMID: 32476239 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2019] [Revised: 01/06/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Evidence is growing that evolutionary dynamics can impact biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships. However the nature of such impacts remains poorly understood. Here we use a modelling approach to compare random communities, with no trait evolutionary fine-tuning, and co-adapted communities, where traits have co-evolved, in terms of emerging biodiversity-productivity, biodiversity-stability and biodiversity-invasion relationships. Community adaptation impacted most BEF relationships, sometimes inverting the slope of the relationship compared to random communities. Biodiversity-productivity relationships were generally less positive among co-adapted communities, with reduced contribution of sampling effects. The effect of community-adaptation, though modest regarding invasion resistance, was striking regarding invasion tolerance: co-adapted communities could remain very tolerant to invasions even at high diversity. BEF relationships are thus contingent on the history of ecosystems and their degree of community adaptation. Short-term experiments and observations following recent changes may not be safely extrapolated into the future, once eco-evolutionary feedbacks have taken place.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flora Aubree
- Université Côte d'Azur, INRAE, CNRS, ISA, 06900, Sophia Antipolis, France
| | - Patrice David
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier - IRD - EPHE, 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Philippe Jarne
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier - IRD - EPHE, 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Michel Loreau
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling, Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS and Paul Sabatier University, Moulis, 09200, France
| | - Nicolas Mouquet
- MARBEC, CNRS-IFREMER-IRD-University of Montpellier, Montpellier, 34095, France
| | - Vincent Calcagno
- Université Côte d'Azur, INRAE, CNRS, ISA, 06900, Sophia Antipolis, France
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27
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Catano CP, Fristoe TS, LaManna JA, Myers JA. Local species diversity, β-diversity and climate influence the regional stability of bird biomass across North America. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20192520. [PMID: 32126951 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Biodiversity often stabilizes aggregate ecosystem properties (e.g. biomass) at small spatial scales. However, the importance of species diversity within communities and variation in species composition among communities (β-diversity) for stability at larger scales remains unclear. Using a continental-scale analysis of 1657 North American breeding-bird communities spanning 20-years and 35 ecoregions, we show local species diversity and β-diversity influence two components of regional stability: local stability (stability of bird biomass within sites) and spatial asynchrony (asynchronous fluctuations in biomass among sites). We found spatial asynchrony explained three times more variation in regional stability of bird biomass than did local stability. This result contrasts with studies at smaller spatial scales-typically plant metacommunities under 1 ha-that find local stability to be more important than spatial asynchrony. Moreover, spatial asynchrony of bird biomass increased with bird β-diversity and climate heterogeneity (temperature and precipitation), while local stability increased with species diversity. Our study reveals new insights into the scale-dependent processes regulating ecosystem stability, providing evidence that both local biodiversity loss and homogenization can destabilize ecosystem processes at biogeographic scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher P Catano
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Trevor S Fristoe
- Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Joseph A LaManna
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA
| | - Jonathan A Myers
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA
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28
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Lu HZ, Brooker R, Song L, Liu WY, Sack L, Zhang JL, Yu FH. When facilitation meets clonal integration in forest canopies. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2020; 225:135-142. [PMID: 31571219 DOI: 10.1111/nph.16228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 09/13/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Few studies have explored how - within the same system - clonality and positive plant-plant interactions might interact to regulate plant community composition. Canopy-dwelling epiphytes in species-rich forests provide an ideal system for studying this because many epiphytic vascular plants undertake clonal growth and because vascular epiphytes colonize canopy habitats after the formation of nonvascular epiphyte (i.e. bryophyte and lichen) mats. We investigated how clonal integration of seven dominant vascular epiphytes influenced inter-specific interactions between vascular epiphytes and nonvascular epiphytes in a subtropical montane moist forest in southwest China. Both clonal integration and environmental buffering from nonvascular epiphytes increased survival and growth of vascular epiphytes. The benefits of clonal integration for vascular epiphytes were higher when nonvascular epiphytes were removed. Similarly, facilitation from nonvascular epiphytes played a more important role when clonal integration of vascular epiphytes was eliminated. Overall, clonal integration had greater benefits than inter-specific facilitation. This study provides novel evidence for interactive effects of clonality and facilitation between vascular and nonvascular species, and has implications for our understanding of a wide range of ecosystems where both high levels of clonality and facilitation are expected to occur.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua-Zheng Lu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, 666303, China
- Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna, 666303, China
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Rob Brooker
- The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH, UK
| | - Liang Song
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, 666303, China
- Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna, 666303, China
| | - Wen-Yao Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, 666303, China
- Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna, 666303, China
| | - Lawren Sack
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Jiao-Lin Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, 666303, China
- Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna, 666303, China
| | - Fei-Hai Yu
- Institute of Wetland Ecology & Clone Ecology, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Taizhou University, Taizhou, 318000, China
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Greenwell MP, Brereton T, Day JC, Roy DB, Oliver TH. Predicting resilience of ecosystem functioning from co-varying species' responses to environmental change. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:11775-11790. [PMID: 31695887 PMCID: PMC6822053 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2019] [Revised: 07/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding how environmental change affects ecosystem function delivery is of primary importance for fundamental and applied ecology. Current approaches focus on single environmental driver effects on communities, mediated by individual response traits. Data limitations present constraints in scaling up this approach to predict the impacts of multivariate environmental change on ecosystem functioning. We present a more holistic approach to determine ecosystem function resilience, using long-term monitoring data to analyze the aggregate impact of multiple historic environmental drivers on species' population dynamics. By assessing covariation in population dynamics between pairs of species, we identify which species respond most synchronously to environmental change and allocate species into "response guilds." We then use "production functions" combining trait data to estimate the relative roles of species to ecosystem functions. We quantify the correlation between response guilds and production functions, assessing the resilience of ecosystem functioning to environmental change, with asynchronous dynamics of species in the same functional guild expected to lead to more stable ecosystem functioning. Testing this method using data for butterflies collected over four decades in the United Kingdom, we find three ecosystem functions (resource provisioning, wildflower pollination, and aesthetic cultural value) appear relatively robust, with functionally important species dispersed across response guilds, suggesting more stable ecosystem functioning. Additionally, by relating genetic distances to response guilds we assess the heritability of responses to environmental change. Our results suggest it may be feasible to infer population responses of butterflies to environmental change based on phylogeny-a useful insight for conservation management of rare species with limited population monitoring data. Our approach holds promise for overcoming the impasse in predicting the responses of ecosystem functions to environmental change. Quantifying co-varying species' responses to multivariate environmental change should enable us to significantly advance our predictions of ecosystem function resilience and enable proactive ecosystem management.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - John C. Day
- NERC Centre for Ecology & HydrologyWallingfordUK
| | - David B. Roy
- NERC Centre for Ecology & HydrologyWallingfordUK
| | - Tom H. Oliver
- School of Biological SciencesUniversity of ReadingReadingUK
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30
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Mayer-Pinto M, Dafforn KA, Johnston EL. A Decision Framework for Coastal Infrastructure to Optimize Biotic Resistance and Resilience in a Changing Climate. Bioscience 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biz092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Coastal ecosystems are under growing pressure from human activities such as pollution and climate change. Although the rapidly growing numbers of humans living in coastal areas is a large part of the problem, there is great opportunity to improve the resistance and resilience of biotic communities via creative changes to the engineering design of built infrastructure. Here, we apply ecological theories to create a framework for adaptive building in marine systems that can be applied by managers worldwide. We explain how climate effects could be mitigated across different spatial scales with both physical and biological interventions. This requires an approach based on ecological theory that incorporates our understanding of how systems withstand (resistance) or recover (resilience) from impacts and takes into account future local and global environmental conditions. By translating ecological theory into practical application, we propose a framework for the choice and design of coastal infrastructure that can underpin effective, forward-looking conservation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana Mayer-Pinto
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| | - Katherine A Dafforn
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW, 2109, Australia
| | - Emma L Johnston
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
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31
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Ferris C, Best A. The effect of temporal fluctuations on the evolution of host tolerance to parasitism. Theor Popul Biol 2019; 130:182-190. [PMID: 31415775 DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2019.07.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2018] [Revised: 05/29/2019] [Accepted: 07/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
There are many mechanisms that hosts can evolve to defend against parasites, two of which are resistance and tolerance. These defences often have different evolutionary behaviours, and it is important to consider how each individual mechanism may respond to changes in environment. In particular, host defence through tolerance is predicted to be unlikely to lead to variation, despite many observations of diversity in both animal and plant systems. Hence understanding the drivers of diversity in host defence and parasite virulence is vital for predicting future evolutionary changes in infectious disease dynamics. It has been suggested that heterogeneous environments might generally promote diversity, but the effect of temporal fluctuations has received little attention theoretically or empirically, and there has been no examination of how temporal fluctuations affects the evolution of host tolerance. In this study, we use a mathematical model to investigate the evolution of host tolerance in a temporally fluctuating environment. We show that investment in tolerance increases in more variable environments, giving qualitatively different evolutionary behaviours when compared to resistance. Once seasonality is introduced evolutionary branching though tolerance can occur and create diversity within the population, although potentially only temporarily. This branching behaviour arises due to the emergence of a negative feedback with the maximum infected density on a cycle, which is strongest when the infected population is large. This work reinforces the qualitative differences between tolerance and resistance evolution, but also provides theoretical evidence for the theory that heterogeneous environments promote host-parasite diversity, hence constant environment assumptions may omit important evolutionary outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Ferris
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S3 7RH, UK.
| | - Alex Best
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S3 7RH, UK
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32
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Tucker CM, Aze T, Cadotte MW, Cantalapiedra JL, Chisholm C, Díaz S, Grenyer R, Huang D, Mazel F, Pearse WD, Pennell MW, Winter M, Mooers AO. Assessing the utility of conserving evolutionary history. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2019; 94:1740-1760. [PMID: 31149769 PMCID: PMC6852562 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Revised: 05/02/2019] [Accepted: 05/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
It is often claimed that conserving evolutionary history is more efficient than species‐based approaches for capturing the attributes of biodiversity that benefit people. This claim underpins academic analyses and recommendations about the distribution and prioritization of species and areas for conservation, but evolutionary history is rarely considered in practical conservation activities. One impediment to implementation is that arguments related to the human‐centric benefits of evolutionary history are often vague and the underlying mechanisms poorly explored. Herein we identify the arguments linking the prioritization of evolutionary history with benefits to people, and for each we explicate the purported mechanism, and evaluate its theoretical and empirical support. We find that, even after 25 years of academic research, the strength of evidence linking evolutionary history to human benefits is still fragile. Most – but not all – arguments rely on the assumption that evolutionary history is a useful surrogate for phenotypic diversity. This surrogacy relationship in turn underlies additional arguments, particularly that, by capturing more phenotypic diversity, evolutionary history will preserve greater ecosystem functioning, capture more of the natural variety that humans prefer, and allow the maintenance of future benefits to humans. A surrogate relationship between evolutionary history and phenotypic diversity appears reasonable given theoretical and empirical results, but the strength of this relationship varies greatly. To the extent that evolutionary history captures unmeasured phenotypic diversity, maximizing the representation of evolutionary history should capture variation in species characteristics that are otherwise unknown, supporting some of the existing arguments. However, there is great variation in the strength and availability of evidence for benefits associated with protecting phenotypic diversity. There are many studies finding positive biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships, but little work exists on the maintenance of future benefits or the degree to which humans prefer sets of species with high phenotypic diversity or evolutionary history. Although several arguments link the protection of evolutionary history directly with the reduction of extinction rates, and with the production of relatively greater future biodiversity via increased adaptation or diversification, there are few direct tests. Several of these putative benefits have mismatches between the relevant spatial scales for conservation actions and the spatial scales at which benefits to humans are realized. It will be important for future work to fill in some of these gaps through direct tests of the arguments we define here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline M Tucker
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Coker Hall, CB #3280 120 South Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280, U.S.A.,Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (UMR 5175), CNRS, 34090 Montpellier, France
| | - Tracy Aze
- School of Earth and Environment, Maths/Earth and Environment Building, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, U.K
| | - Marc W Cadotte
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON, M1C 1A4, Canada.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada
| | - Juan L Cantalapiedra
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions und Biodiversitätsforschung, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany.,Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
| | - Chelsea Chisholm
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Quartier UNIL-Sorge Batiment Biophore CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sandra Díaz
- Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas and Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Casilla de Correo 495, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Richard Grenyer
- School of Geography and the Environment, South Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, U.K
| | - Danwei Huang
- Department of Biological Sciences and Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, 117558, Singapore
| | - Florent Mazel
- Department of Biological Sciences, 8888 University Drive, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.,Department of Botany, 2329 West Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.,Biodiversity Research Centre, 2212 Main Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - William D Pearse
- Department of Biology & Ecology Center, 5205 Old Main Hill, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322, U.S.A
| | - Matthew W Pennell
- Biodiversity Research Centre, 2212 Main Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.,Department of Zoology, South Parks Road, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Marten Winter
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Deutscher Platz 5E, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arne O Mooers
- Department of Biological Sciences, 8888 University Drive, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada
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33
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Klink R, Lepš J, Vermeulen R, Bello F. Functional differences stabilize beetle communities by weakening interspecific temporal synchrony. Ecology 2019; 100:e02748. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Revised: 02/14/2019] [Accepted: 04/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Roel Klink
- Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences Dukelská 135 Třeboň 37982 Czech Republic
- German Institute for Integrative Biodiversity Research iDiv Halle/Jena/Leipzig University of Leipzig Deutscher Platz 5e Leizpig 04103 Germany
- WBBS Foundation Kanaaldijk 36 Loon 9409 TV The Netherlands
| | - Jan Lepš
- Department of Botany University of South Bohemia Na Zlaté Stoce 1 České Budějovice 370 05 Czech Republic
- Institute of Entomology Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 České Budějovice 370 05 Czech Republic
| | | | - Francesco Bello
- Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences Dukelská 135 Třeboň 37982 Czech Republic
- Department of Botany University of South Bohemia Na Zlaté Stoce 1 České Budějovice 370 05 Czech Republic
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34
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Zelnik YR, Arnoldi J, Loreau M. The three regimes of spatial recovery. Ecology 2019; 100:e02586. [PMID: 30556129 PMCID: PMC6375383 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2018] [Revised: 11/08/2018] [Accepted: 11/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
An enduring challenge for ecology is identifying the drivers of ecosystem and population stability. In a spatially explicit context, key features to consider are landscape spatial structure, local interactions, and dispersal. Substantial work has been done on each of these features as a driver of stability, but little is known on the interplay between them. Missing has been a more integrative approach, able to map and identify different dynamical regimes, predicting a system's response to perturbations. Here we first consider a simple scenario, i.e., the recovery of a homogeneous metapopulation from a single localized pulse disturbance. The analysis of this scenario reveals three fundamental recovery regimes: Isolated Regime when dispersal is not significant, Rescue Regime when dispersal mediates recovery, and Mixing Regime when perturbations spread throughout the system. Despite its simplicity, our approach leads to remarkably general predictions. These include the qualitatively different outcomes of various scenarios of habitat fragmentation, the surprising benefits of local extinctions on population persistence at the transition between regimes, and the productivity shifts of metacommunities in a changing environment. This study thus provides context to known results and insight into future directions of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuval R. Zelnik
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and ModellingTheoretical and Experimental Ecology StationCNRS and Paul Sabatier University09200MoulisFrance
| | | | - Michel Loreau
- Centre for Biodiversity Theory and ModellingTheoretical and Experimental Ecology StationCNRS and Paul Sabatier University09200MoulisFrance
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35
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Yang Q, Fowler MS, Jackson AL, Donohue I. The predictability of ecological stability in a noisy world. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:251-259. [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0794-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
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36
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García Y, Clara Castellanos M, Pausas JG. Differential pollinator response underlies plant reproductive resilience after fires. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2018; 122:961-971. [PMID: 29982299 PMCID: PMC6266102 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcy122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2018] [Accepted: 06/07/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Assessing the resilience of plant-animal interactions is critical to understanding how plant communities respond to habitat disturbances. Most ecosystems experience some level of natural disturbance (e.g. wildfires) to which many organisms are adapted. Wildfires have structured biotic communities for millennia; however, the effects of fire on interactions such as pollination have only recently received attention. A few studies have shown that generalist plants can buffer the impact of fires by pollinator replacement, suggesting that the resilience to disturbance could depend on the level of specialization of the interactions. Here, we hypothesize that (1) fires could impose negative effects on plants with specialized pollination systems, and (2) in large wildfires, these negative effects will be stronger with increasing distance inside the burnt area because pollinators will need more time to recolonize. METHODS These questions were tested in the specialized pollination system of a widespread Mediterranean palm, Chamaerops humilis. The post-fire pollination resilience was assessed in replicated wildfires representing three post-fire ages by measuring the abundance of beetle pollinators and by estimating fruit set (i.e. the proportion of flowers setting fruits) in burnt and unburnt areas. To test for distance effects, plants were sampled along transects inside the burnt area. KEY RESULTS Despite a marked post-fire decline in the specialist pollinator, exacerbated by the distance from the fire's edge, the palm's fruit set was barely affected. The temporary replacement by a sap beetle at burnt sites - an effective pollinator that had not been previously recognized - provided post-fire reproductive resilience. CONCLUSIONS Differential pollinator responses to disturbance can ensure plant success even in plants with only two functionally similar pollinators. This highlights the importance of pollinator replacement and dynamics for the resilience of interactions and ultimately of plant reproduction in disturbance-prone ecosystems.
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Abstract
All life requires the capacity to recover from challenges that are as inevitable as they are unpredictable. Understanding this resilience is essential for managing the health of humans and their livestock. It has long been difficult to quantify resilience directly, forcing practitioners to rely on indirect static indicators of health. However, measurements from wearable electronics and other sources now allow us to analyze the dynamics of physiology and behavior with unsurpassed resolution. The resulting flood of data coincides with the emergence of novel analytical tools for estimating resilience from the pattern of microrecoveries observed in natural time series. Such dynamic indicators of resilience may be used to monitor the risk of systemic failure across systems ranging from organs to entire organisms. These tools invite a fundamental rethinking of our approach to the adaptive management of health and resilience.
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38
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Houlahan JE, Currie DJ, Cottenie K, Cumming GS, Findlay CS, Fuhlendorf SD, Legendre P, Muldavin EH, Noble D, Russell R, Stevens RD, Willis TJ, Wondzell SM. Negative relationships between species richness and temporal variability are common but weak in natural systems. Ecology 2018; 99:2592-2604. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2017] [Revised: 08/29/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- J. E. Houlahan
- Biology Department University of New Brunswick at Saint John P.O. Box 5050 Saint John New Brunswick E2L 4L5 Canada
| | - D. J. Currie
- Ottawa Carleton Institute of Biology University Ottawa Ottawa Ontario K1N 6N5 Canada
| | - K. Cottenie
- Department of Integrative Biology University of Guelph Guelph Ontario N1G 2W1 Canada
| | - G. S. Cumming
- Department of Integrative Biology University of Guelph Guelph Ontario N1G 2W1 Canada
| | - C. S. Findlay
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies James Cook University Townsville Queensland 4811 Australia
| | - S. D. Fuhlendorf
- Department of Plant and Soil Science Oklahoma State University 368 AGH Stillwater Oklahoma 74078 USA
| | - P. Legendre
- Département de sciences biologiques Université de Montréal C.P. 6128, succursale Centre‐ville Montréal Quebec H3C 3J7 Canada
| | - E. H. Muldavin
- Biology Department University of New Mexico Albuquerque New Mexico 87131 USA
| | - D. Noble
- The National Centre for Ornithology The Nunnery British Trust for Ornithology Thetford Norfolk IP24 2PU United Kingdom
| | - R. Russell
- The Sandhill Institute for Complexity and Sustainability Grand Forks British Columbia V0H 1H0 Canada
| | - R. D. Stevens
- Department of Natural Resources Management Texas Tech University 007D Goddard Hall Lubbock Texas 79409 USA
| | - T. J. Willis
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy University of Southern Maine 309 Bailey Hall Portland Maine 04104 USA
| | - S. M. Wondzell
- Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest Research Station 3200 SW Jefferson Way Corvallis Oregon 97331 USA
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39
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Barraquand F, Picoche C, Maurer D, Carassou L, Auby I. Coastal phytoplankton community dynamics and coexistence driven by intragroup density-dependence, light and hydrodynamics. OIKOS 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.05361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- F. Barraquand
- Univ. of Bordeaux, Integrative and Theoretical Ecology, LabEx COTE; Bât. B2 - Allée Geoffroy St-Hilaire FR-33615 Pessac France
- CNRS, Inst. of Mathematics of Bordeaux; Talence France
| | - C. Picoche
- Univ. of Bordeaux, Integrative and Theoretical Ecology, LabEx COTE; Bât. B2 - Allée Geoffroy St-Hilaire FR-33615 Pessac France
| | - D. Maurer
- Ifremer, LER Arcachon, Quai du Commandant Silhouette; Arcachon France
| | - L. Carassou
- Univ. of Bordeaux, Integrative and Theoretical Ecology, LabEx COTE; Bât. B2 - Allée Geoffroy St-Hilaire FR-33615 Pessac France
- Irstea, Aquatic ecosystems and global changes Unit (UR EABX); Cestas France
| | - I. Auby
- Ifremer, LER Arcachon, Quai du Commandant Silhouette; Arcachon France
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40
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Brown BL, Downing AL, Leibold MA. Compensatory dynamics stabilize aggregate community properties in response to multiple types of perturbations. Ecology 2018; 97:2021-2033. [PMID: 27859207 DOI: 10.1890/15-1951.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2015] [Revised: 12/18/2015] [Accepted: 03/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Compensatory dynamics are an important suite of mechanisms that can stabilize community and ecosystem attributes in systems subject to environmental fluctuations. However, few experimental investigations of compensatory dynamics have addressed these mechanisms in systems of real-world complexity, and existing evidence relies heavily on correlative analyses, retrospective examination, and experiments in simple systems. We investigated the potential for compensatory dynamics to stabilize plankton communities in plankton mesocosm systems of real-world complexity. We employed four types of perturbations including two types of nutrient pulses, shading, and acidification. To quantify how communities responded to these perturbations, we used a measure of community-wide synchrony combined with spectral analysis that allowed us to assess timescale-specific community dynamics, for example, whether dynamics were synchronous at some timescales but compensatory at others. The 150-d experiment produced 32-point time series of all zooplankton taxa in the mesocosms. We then used those time series to evaluate total zooplankton biomass as an aggregate property and to evaluate community dynamics. For three of our four perturbation types, total zooplankton biomass was significantly less variable in systems with environmental variation than in constant environments. For the same three perturbation types, community-wide synchrony was much lower in fluctuating environments than in the constant environment, particularly at longer timescales (periods ≈ 60 d). Additionally, there were strong negative correlations between population temporal variances and the level of community-wide synchrony. Taken together, these results strongly imply that compensatory interactions between species stabilized total biomass in response to perturbations. Diversity did not differ significantly across either treatments or perturbation types, thus ruling out several classes of mechanisms driven by changes in diversity. We also used several pieces of secondary evidence to evaluate the particular mechanism behind compensatory responses since a wide variety of mechanisms are hypothesized to produce compensatory dynamics. We concluded that fluctuation dependent endogenous cycles that occur as a consequence of consumer-resource interactions in competitive communities were the most likely explanation for the compensatory dynamics observed in our experiment. As with our previous work, scale-dependent dynamics were also a key to understanding compensatory dynamics in these experimental communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryan L Brown
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061, USA
| | - Amy L Downing
- Department of Zoology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, 43015, USA
| | - Mathew A Leibold
- Integrative Biology, University of Texas, 1 University Station C0930, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA
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Staudacher K, Rennstam Rubbmark O, Birkhofer K, Malsher G, Sint D, Jonsson M, Traugott M. Habitat heterogeneity induces rapid changes in the feeding behaviour of generalist arthropod predators. Funct Ecol 2018; 32:809-819. [PMID: 29657351 PMCID: PMC5887929 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2017] [Accepted: 11/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The "habitat heterogeneity hypothesis" predicts positive effects of structural complexity on species coexistence. Increasing habitat heterogeneity can change the diversity (number of species, abundances) and the functional roles of communities. The latter, however, is not well understood as species and individuals may respond very differently and dynamically to a changing environment.Here, we experimentally test how habitat heterogeneity affects generalist arthropod predators, including epigaeic spiders, carabid and staphylinid beetles, under natural conditions by assessing their diversity and directly measuring their trophic interactions (which provide a proxy for their functional roles). The experiment was conducted in spring barley fields in Southern Sweden where habitat heterogeneity was manipulated by increasing within-field plant diversity.Increased habitat heterogeneity triggered rapid changes in the feeding behaviour of generalist predators characterized by lower trophic specialization at both network (H2', degree of interaction specialization in the entire network) and species level (d', degree of interaction specialization at the species level). We presume that this is because spatial separation resulted in relaxed competition and allowed an increased overlap in resources used among predator species. Predators collected from heterogenous habitats also showed greater individual-level dietary variability which might be ascribed to relaxed intraspecific competition.Our results provide conclusive evidence that habitat heterogeneity can induce rapid behavioural responses independent of changes in diversity, potentially promoting the stability of ecosystem functions. A plain language summary is available for this article.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karin Staudacher
- Mountain Agriculture Research UnitInstitute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | - Oskar Rennstam Rubbmark
- Mountain Agriculture Research UnitInstitute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | - Klaus Birkhofer
- Department of Biology Lund University Lund Sweden.,Chair of Ecology Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus Germany
| | - Gerard Malsher
- Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Daniela Sint
- Mountain Agriculture Research UnitInstitute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | - Mattias Jonsson
- Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Michael Traugott
- Mountain Agriculture Research UnitInstitute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
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42
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Feng W, Bailey RM. Unifying relationships between complexity and stability in mutualistic ecological communities. J Theor Biol 2017; 439:100-126. [PMID: 29203123 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.11.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2017] [Revised: 11/21/2017] [Accepted: 11/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Conserving ecosystem function and associated services requires deep understanding of the underlying basis of system stability. While the study of ecological dynamics is a mature and diverse field, the lack of a general model that predicts a broad range of theoretical and empirical observations has allowed unresolved contradictions to persist. Here we provide a general model of mutualistic ecological interactions between two groups and show for the first time how the conditions for bi-stability, the nature of critical transitions, and identifiable leading indicators in time-series can be derived from the basic parameters describing the underlying ecological interactions. Strong mutualism and nonlinearity in handling-time are found to be necessary conditions for the occurrence of critical transitions. We use the model to resolve open questions concerning the effects of heterogeneity in inter-species interactions on both resilience and abundance, and discuss these in terms of potential trade-offs in real systems. This framework provides a basis for rich investigations of ecological system dynamics, and may be generalizable across many ecological contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenfeng Feng
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan 454003, China; School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, UK
| | - Richard M Bailey
- School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, UK.
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43
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Wang J, Knops JMH, Brassil CE, Mu C. Increased productivity in wet years drives a decline in ecosystem stability with nitrogen additions in arid grasslands. Ecology 2017; 98:1779-1786. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2016] [Revised: 02/17/2017] [Accepted: 04/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Junfeng Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education; Institute of Grassland Sciences; Northeast Normal University; Changchun 130024 China
- School of Biological Sciences; University of Nebraska; Lincoln Nebraska 68588-0118 USA
| | - Johannes M. H. Knops
- School of Biological Sciences; University of Nebraska; Lincoln Nebraska 68588-0118 USA
| | - Chad E. Brassil
- School of Biological Sciences; University of Nebraska; Lincoln Nebraska 68588-0118 USA
| | - Chunsheng Mu
- Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education; Institute of Grassland Sciences; Northeast Normal University; Changchun 130024 China
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44
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Mason NWH, Palmer DJ, Romera A, Waugh D, Mudge PL. Combining field experiments and predictive models to assess potential for increased plant diversity to climate-proof intensive agriculture. Ecol Evol 2017; 7:4907-4918. [PMID: 28690818 PMCID: PMC5496536 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2016] [Revised: 03/26/2017] [Accepted: 04/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Agricultural production systems face increasing threats from more frequent and extreme weather fluctuations associated with global climate change. While there is mounting evidence that increased plant community diversity can reduce the variability of ecosystem functions (such as primary productivity) in the face of environmental fluctuation, there has been little work testing whether this is true for intensively managed agricultural systems. Using statistical modeling techniques to fit environment–productivity relationships offers an efficient means of leveraging hard‐won experimental data to compare the potential variability of different mixtures across a wide range of environmental contexts. We used data from two multiyear field experiments to fit climate–soil–productivity models for two pasture mixtures under intensive grazing—one composed of two drought‐sensitive species (standard), and an eight‐species mixture including several drought‐resistant species (complex). We then used these models to undertake a scoping study estimating the mean and coefficient of variation (CV) of annual productivity for long‐term climate data covering all New Zealand on soils with low, medium, or high water‐holding capacity. Our results suggest that the complex mixture is likely to have consistently lower CV in productivity, irrespective of soil type or climate regime. Predicted differences in mean annual productivity between mixtures were strongly influenced by soil type and were closely linked to mean annual soil water availability across all soil types. Differences in the CV of productivity were only strongly related to interannual variance in water availability for the lowest water‐holding capacity soil. Our results show that there is considerable scope for mixtures including drought‐tolerant species to enhance certainty in intensive pastoral systems. This provides justification for investing resources in a large‐scale distributed experiment involving many sites under different environmental contexts to confirm these findings.
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45
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Newbery DM, Lingenfelder M. Progression and stability analysis of rain forest tree growth under environmental stochasticity. Ecosphere 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- David M. Newbery
- Institute of Plant Sciences; University of Bern; Altenbergrain 21 3013 Bern Switzerland
| | - Marcus Lingenfelder
- Institute of Plant Sciences; University of Bern; Altenbergrain 21 3013 Bern Switzerland
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46
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Noto AE, Shurin JB. Mean conditions predict salt marsh plant community diversity and stability better than environmental variability. OIKOS 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.04056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Akana E. Noto
- Section of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, Univ. of California, San Diego; 9500 Gilman Drive, no. 0116 La Jolla CA 92093 USA
| | - Jonathan B. Shurin
- Section of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, Univ. of California, San Diego; 9500 Gilman Drive, no. 0116 La Jolla CA 92093 USA
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47
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Narwani A, Lashaway AR, Hietala DC, Savage PE, Cardinale BJ. Power of Plankton: Effects of Algal Biodiversity on Biocrude Production and Stability. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2016; 50:13142-13150. [PMID: 27934263 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b03256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Algae-derived biocrude oil is a possible renewable energy alternative to fossil fuel based crude oil. Outdoor cultivation in raceway ponds is estimated to provide a better return on energy invested than closed photobioreactor systems. However, in these open systems, algal crops are subjected to environmental variation in temperature and irradiance, as well as biotic invasions which can cause costly crop instabilities. In this paper, we used an experimental approach to investigate the ability of species richness to maximize and stabilize biocrude production in the face of weekly temperature fluctuations between 17 and 27 °C, relative to a constant-temperature control. We hypothesized that species richness would lead to higher mean biocrude production and greater stability of biocrude production over time in the variable temperature environment. Counter to our hypothesis, species richness tended to cause a decline in mean biocrude production, regardless of environmental temperature variation. However, biodiversity did have stabilizing effects on biocrude production over time in the variable temperature environment and not in the constant temperature environment. Altogether, our results suggest that when the most productive and stable monoculture is unknown, inoculating raceway ponds with a diverse mixture of algae will tend to ensure stable harvests over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita Narwani
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) , BU-G11 Überlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Aubrey R Lashaway
- School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan , 1556 Dana Building, 440 Church Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1041, United States
| | - David C Hietala
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan , 3074 H.H. Dow Building, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Phillip E Savage
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan , 3074 H.H. Dow Building, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University , 160 Fenske Lab, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States
| | - Bradley J Cardinale
- School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan , 1556 Dana Building, 440 Church Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1041, United States
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48
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Romanuk TN, Kolasa J. Environmental variability alters the relationship between richness and variability of community abundances in aquatic rock pool microcosms. ECOSCIENCE 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/11956860.2002.11682690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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49
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Romanuk TN, Kolasa J. Population variability is lower in diverse rock pools when the obscuring effects of local processes are removed. ECOSCIENCE 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/11956860.2004.11682855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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50
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Steiner CF, Stockwell RD, Tadros M, Shaman L, Patel K, Khraizat L. Impacts of dispersal on rapid adaptation and dynamic stability of Daphnia in fluctuating environments. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:20152426. [PMID: 26984620 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Prior ecological research has shown that spatial processes can enhance the temporal stability of populations in fluctuating environments. Less explored is the effect of dispersal on rapid adaptation and its concomitant impact on population dynamics. For asexually reproducing populations, theory predicts that dispersal in fluctuating environments can facilitate asynchrony among clones and enhance stability by reducing temporal variability of total population abundance. This effect is predicted when clones exhibit heritable variation in environmental optima and when fluctuations occur asynchronously among patches. We tested this in the field using artificial ponds and metapopulations composed of a diverse assemblage of Daphnia pulex clones. We directly manipulated dispersal presence/absence and environmental fluctuations in the form of nutrient pulses. Consistent with predictions, dispersal enhanced temporal asynchrony among clones in the presence of nutrient pulses; this in turn stabilized population dynamics. This effect only emerged when patches experienced spatially asynchronous nutrient pulses (dispersal had no effect when patches were synchronously pulsed). Clonal asynchrony was driven by strong positive selection for a single clone that exhibited a performance advantage under conditions of low resource availability. Our work highlights the importance of dispersal as a driver of eco-evolutionary dynamics and population stability in variable environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher F Steiner
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Biological Sciences Building, 5047 Gullen Mall, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
| | - Richard D Stockwell
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Biological Sciences Building, 5047 Gullen Mall, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
| | - Monica Tadros
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Biological Sciences Building, 5047 Gullen Mall, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
| | - Laith Shaman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Biological Sciences Building, 5047 Gullen Mall, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
| | - Komal Patel
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Biological Sciences Building, 5047 Gullen Mall, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
| | - Laila Khraizat
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Biological Sciences Building, 5047 Gullen Mall, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
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