scholarly journals Functional diversity and habitat preferences of native grassland plants and ground‐dwelling invertebrates in private gardens along an urbanization gradient

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitte Braschler ◽  
José D. Gilgado ◽  
Hans‐Peter Rusterholz ◽  
Sascha Buchholz ◽  
Valerie Zwahlen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Urbanization Gradient ◽  
Native Grassland ◽  
Grassland Plants

scholarly journals Impact of urbanization on functional diversity in macromycete communities along an urban ecosystem in Southwest Mexico

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12191
Author(s):  
Marko Gómez-Hernández ◽  
Emily Avendaño-Villegas ◽  
María Toledo-Garibaldi ◽  
Etelvina Gándara
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Niche Space ◽  
Urbanization Gradient ◽  
Urbanization Level ◽  
Functional Value ◽  
Functional Richness ◽  
Available Resources

Macromycetes are a group of fungi characterized by the production of fruit bodies and are highly relevant in most terrestrial ecosystems as pathogens, mutualists, and organic matter decomposers. Habitat transformation can drastically alter macromycete communities and diminish the contribution of these organisms to ecosystem functioning; however, knowledge on the effect of urbanization on macrofungal communities is scarce. Diversity metrics based on functional traits of macromycete species have shown to be valuable tools to predict how species contribute to ecosystem functionality since traits determine the performance of species in ecosystems. The aim of this study was to assess patterns of species richness, functional diversity, and composition of macrofungi in an urban ecosystem in Southwest Mexico, and to identify microclimatic, environmental, and urban factors related to these patterns in order to infer the effect of urbanization on macromycete communities. We selected four oak forests along an urbanization gradient and established a permanent sampling area of 0.1 ha at each site. Macromycete sampling was carried out every week from June to October 2017. The indices used to measure functional diversity were functional richness (FRic), functional divergence (FDig), and functional evenness (FEve). The metric used to assess variation of macrofungal ecological function along the study area was the functional value. We recorded a total of 134 macromycete species and 223 individuals. Our results indicated a decline of species richness with increased urbanization level related mainly to microclimatic variables, and a high turnover of species composition among study sites, which appears to be related to microclimatic and urbanization variables. FRic decreased with urbanization level, indicating that some of the available resources in the niche space within the most urbanized sites are not being utilized. FDig increased with urbanization, which suggests a high degree of niche differentiation among macromycete species within communities in urbanized areas. FEve did not show notable differences along the urbanization gradient, indicating few variations in the distribution of abundances within the occupied sections of the niche space. Similarly, the functional value was markedly higher in the less urbanized site, suggesting greater performance of functional guilds in that area. Our findings suggest that urbanization has led to a loss of macromycete species and a decrease in functional diversity, causing some sections of the niche space to be hardly occupied and available resources to be under-utilized, which could, to a certain extent, affect ecosystem functioning and stability.

Low allelopathic potential of an invasive forage grass on native grassland plants: a cause for encouragement?

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian J. Renne ◽  
Bianca G. Rios ◽  
Jeffrey S. Fehmi ◽  
Benjamin F. Tracy
Keyword(s):  
Forage Grass ◽  
Allelopathic Potential ◽  
Native Grassland ◽  
Grassland Plants

Functional diversity and seasonal activity of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) on native grasslands in southern Alberta, Canada

2013 ◽  
Vol 146 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Kadiri ◽  
J.-P. Lumaret ◽  
K.D. Floate
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Seasonal Activity ◽  
European Origin ◽  
Core Species ◽  
Native Grasslands ◽  
Native Grassland ◽  
Southern Alberta

AbstractTo characterise their functional diversity and seasonal activity, dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) were collected with baited pitfall traps at three sites for three years on a native grassland in southern Alberta, Canada. The total collection of 125 820 beetles comprised 12 species of which eight were of European origin. For each combination of site and year, assemblages were dominated by two or three core species of European origin that represented 70–95% of total beetles and more than 75% of total biomass, but only 10–30% of species richness. Core species consistently includedOnthophagus nuchicornis(Linnaeus) and occasionallyChilothorax distinctus(Müller) andColobopterus erraticus(Linnaeus). Coexistence of these core species appears to be facilitated by differences in their size, seasonal activity, and life history traits.

scholarly journals Patterns of species diversity and functional diversity of breeding birds in Hangzhou across an urbanization gradient

Chinese Birds ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Li ◽  
Ping Ding ◽  
Kenneth Feeley ◽  
Jingcheng Zhang ◽  
Pingping Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Breeding Birds ◽  
Urbanization Gradient

scholarly journals Habitat differences filter functional diversity of low dispersive microscopic animals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Martínez ◽  
Guillermo García-Gómez ◽  
Álvaro García-Herrero ◽  
Nuria Sánchez ◽  
Fernando Pardos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Functional Space ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
List Type ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Habitat Differences

AbstractWhereas the study of patterns of distribution of microscopic animals has long been dominated by the ubiquity paradigm, we are starting to appreciate that microscopic animals are not as widespread as previously thought and that habitat preferences may have a strong role in structuring their patterns of occurrence. However, we still ignore to what extent and through which mechanisms the environment selects for specific communities or traits in microscopic animals. This gap is partly due to the lack of data on the relevant traits of many species, and partly because measuring environmental variables at an appropriate resolution may be problematic.We here overcome both issues by analysing the functional space of marine mite communities living in a sea-grass (Posidonia oceanica) meadow across two habitats: the leaves and the matte. The strictly benthic lifestyle and the conserved morphology of mites allow for unambiguous characterization of their functional traits, while the discrete nature of the two habitats alleviates the uncertainty in their ecological characterization.Our results show that habitat filters the distribution of certain traits favouring a higher diversity, dispersion, and evenness of functional traits in the matte than in the leaves. We further observed temporal variations in the functional diversity of communities, potentially following the seasonal renovation and decay of seagrass leaves. However, in spite of the stark ecological differences between the two habitats and across seasons, the filtering effect is partial and affects mostly relative species abundances.We conclude that in other microscopic organisms, habitat filtering might appear even more subtle especially if they are capable of long distance dispersal or occur in ecological systems where environmental variables vary continuously or fluctuate through time. Our study therefore emphasises the need of moving from a merely taxonomical toward a functional view of ecological studies of microscopic organisms if we want to achieve a mechanistic understanding of their habitat and distribution patterns.Data availability statementRaw data and R script to generate the analyses will be deposited in a public repository upon acceptance.

Complexity and composition of pasture swards affect plant productivity and soil organisms

2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. McElroy ◽  
Y. A. Papadopoulos ◽  
M. S. Adl
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Plant Productivity ◽  
Close Correlation ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Soil Organisms ◽  
Grassland Plants ◽  
Soil Ecosystem Services

McElroy, M. S., Papadopoulos, Y. A. and Adl, M. S. 2012. Complexity and composition of pasture swards affect plant productivity and soil organisms. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 687–697. The relationships between ecosystem diversity, productivity, and stability is a central theme in current ecological research; the links between above-ground and below-ground ecosystems, as well as their effects on ecosystem services, are becoming more understood. While plant communities differ in primary productivity, and in the communities of soil organisms they support, it is unclear whether these differences are attributable mainly to plant community diversity or to the dominant plant species. This study evaluated the effect of these two factors on plant productivity, and abundance of soil microorganisms and functional diversity, in an establishing pasture using sward complexity (plant species present) and sward composition (identity of species) as treatments in a design using the step-wise addition of grass species. While sward complexity affected plant productivity, showing higher productivity in plots of higher diversity, abundance and functional diversity of soil organism groups were generally not consistently affected by sward complexity or composition. Sward composition did influence soil community composition; there was a close correlation between microbial catabolic activity and sward composition. This study shows that grassland plants have a limited effect on the size and diversity of soil communities while they are being established. This result may have consequences for soil ecosystem services.

Macrotylus (Alloeonycha) xantii Günther, 2018, (Hemiptera: Miridae, Phylinae) new to Portugal, with a description of the female

2019 ◽  
Vol 155 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-69
Author(s):  
Stuart Foster
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Single Male ◽  
Male Specimen ◽  
Sandy Substrate

The plant bug Macrotylus (Alloeonycha) xantii Günther, 2018, is reported as new to Portugal from the Algarve. This species was described from a single male specimen captured on dry grass in a calcareous area of Andalusia, Spain. The female was previously unknown, so the presence of both sexes in reasonable numbers on sparsely vegetated sandy substrate in Portugal extends its known range and habitat preferences, and has enabled the female to be described.

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