Intraspecific trait variability and community assembly in hawkmoths (Lepidoptera:Sphingidae) across an elevational gradient in the eastern Himalayas, India

AbstractRecent progress in functional ecology has advanced our understanding of the role of intraspecific (ITV) and interspecific (STV) trait variation in community assembly across environmental gradients. Studies on plant communities have generally found STV as the main driver of community trait variation, whereas ITV plays an important role in determining species co-existence and community assembly. However, similar studies of faunal taxa, especially invertebrates, are very few in number.We investigated variation of hawkmoth (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) traits along an environmental gradient spanning 2600 m in the eastern Himalayas and its role in community assembly, using the morpho-functional traits of body mass (BM), wing loading (WL) and wing aspect ratio (AR).We employ the recently proposed T-statistics to test for non-random assembly of hawkmoth communities and the relative importance of the two opposing forces for trait divergence (internal filters) and convergence (external filters).Community-wide trait-overlap decreased for all three traits with increasing environmental distance, suggesting the presence of elevation specific optimum morphology (i.e. functional response traits). Community weighted mean of BM and AR increased with elevation. Overall, the variation was dominated by species turnover but ITV accounted for 25%, 23% and <1% variability of BM, WL and AR, respectively. T-statistics, which incorporates ITV, revealed that elevational communities had a non-random trait distribution, and that community assembly was dominated by internal filtering throughout the gradient.This study was carried out using easily measurable morpho-traits obtained from calibrated field images of a large number (3301) of individuals. That these also happened to be important environmental response traits resulted in a significant signal in the metrics that we investigated. Such studies of abundant and hyperdiverse invertebrate groups across large environmental gradients should considerably improve our understanding of community assembly processes.

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Intraspecific trait variability of a typical tree species of riverine forests in southern Brazil

Flora ◽

10.1016/j.flora.2021.151806 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 279 ◽

pp. 151806

Author(s):

Edilvane Inês Zonta ◽

Guilherme Krahl de Vargas ◽

João André Jarenkow

Keyword(s):

Tree Species ◽

Southern Brazil ◽

Riverine Forests ◽

Intraspecific Trait Variability ◽

Trait Variability

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Phylogenetic and Functional Traits Verify the Combined Effect of Deterministic and Stochastic Processes in the Community Assembly of Temperate Forests along an Elevational Gradient

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12050591 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 591

Author(s):

Wensong Zhou ◽

Yuxin Zhang ◽

Shuang Zhang ◽

Basil N. Yakimov ◽

Keming Ma

Keyword(s):

Stochastic Processes ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Community Assembly ◽

Woody Plants ◽

Elevational Gradient ◽

Combined Effect ◽

Abiotic Environment ◽

Spatial Factors ◽

Assembly Mechanism ◽

Deterministic Processes

Explaining community assembly mechanisms along elevational gradients dominated by deterministic processes or stochastic processes is a pressing challenge. Many studies suggest that phylogenetic and functional diversity are significant indicators of the process. In this study, we analyzed the structure and beta diversity of phylogenetic and functional traits along an elevational gradient and discussed the effects of environmental and spatial factors. We found that the phylogenetic and functional traits showed inconsistent changes, and their variations were closely related to the abiotic environment. The results suggested that the community assembly of woody plants was obviously affected by the combined effect of deterministic processes and the stochastic hypothesis (primarily by the latter). Phylogenetic and functional traits had a certain relationship but changed according to different rules. These results enhance our understanding of the assembly mechanism of forest communities by considering both phylogenetic and functional traits.

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Diversity of parental environments increases phenotypic variation in Arabidopsis populations more than genetic diversity but similarly affects productivity

Annals of Botany ◽

10.1093/aob/mcaa100 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Javier Puy ◽

Carlos P Carmona ◽

Hana Dvořáková ◽

Vít Latzel ◽

Francesco de Bello

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

Phenotypic Variation ◽

Ecosystem Functioning ◽

Phenotypic Variability ◽

Population Type ◽

Diversity Effect ◽

Environmental Fluctuations ◽

Intraspecific Trait Variability ◽

Trait Variability

Abstract Background and Aims The observed positive diversity effect on ecosystem functioning has rarely been assessed in terms of intraspecific trait variability within populations. Intraspecific phenotypic variability could stem both from underlying genetic diversity and from plasticity in response to environmental cues. The latter might derive from modifications to a plant’s epigenome and potentially last multiple generations in response to previous environmental conditions. We experimentally disentangled the role of genetic diversity and diversity of parental environments on population productivity, resistance against environmental fluctuations and intraspecific phenotypic variation. Methods A glasshouse experiment was conducted in which different types of Arabidopsis thaliana populations were established: one population type with differing levels of genetic diversity and another type, genetically identical, but with varying diversity levels of the parental environments (parents grown in the same or different environments). The latter population type was further combined, or not, with experimental demethylation to reduce the potential epigenetic diversity produced by the diversity of parental environments. Furthermore, all populations were each grown under different environmental conditions (control, fertilization and waterlogging). Mortality, productivity and trait variability were measured in each population. Key Results Parental environments triggered phenotypic modifications in the offspring, which translated into more functionally diverse populations when offspring from parents grown under different conditions were brought together in mixtures. In general, neither the increase in genetic diversity nor the increase in diversity of parental environments had a remarkable effect on productivity or resistance to environmental fluctuations. However, when the epigenetic variation was reduced via demethylation, mixtures were less productive than monocultures (i.e. negative net diversity effect), caused by the reduction of phenotypic differences between different parental origins. Conclusions A diversity of environmental parental origins within a population could ameliorate the negative effect of competition between coexisting individuals by increasing intraspecific phenotypic variation. A diversity of parental environments could thus have comparable effects to genetic diversity. Disentangling the effect of genetic diversity and that of parental environments appears to be an important step in understanding the effect of intraspecific trait variability on coexistence and ecosystem functioning.

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