Plant–pollinator interactions affect colonization efficiency: abundance of blue-purple flowers is correlated with species richness of bumblebees in the Arctic

AbstractThe diversity of the Canadian insect fauna decreases and its composition (at all taxonomic levels) changes as climates become progressively more harsh toward the north. This climatic trend dominates patterns of diversity, but many other factors interact to produce the observed patterns. In the arctic, species richness is greatest in the west. Farther south, overall species richness is greatest in the west (especially British Columbia), associated with coastal and cordilleran habitats, and to a somewhat smaller degree in the southeast (especially Ontario), associated with deciduous forests and particularly with transitional forests which occupy a large area of southeastern Canada. However, certain taxa are better represented in the west or in the east, depending on present-day habitats and on historical factors. These conclusions, based chiefly on a sample of taxa of different types, are possible only because basic systematic work has been carried out to distinguish and map the species. Preliminary data on numerical patterns, such as the numbers of species relative to different potential resources such as host plants in different zones, tend to suggest that the occurrence of species in the north may depend so heavily on climatic factors that potential resources are not fully exploited and the effects of interspecific interactions on diversity are reduced.

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Species richness and distribution of chondrichthyan fishes in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas

Biodiversity ◽

10.1080/14888386.2012.706198 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 57-66 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

A. Lynghammar ◽

J.S. Christiansen ◽

C.W. Mecklenburg ◽

O.V. Karamushko ◽

P.R. Møller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

The Arctic ◽

The Arctic Ocean

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What is the most efficient and effective method for long-term monitoring of alpine tundra vegetation?

Arctic Science ◽

10.1139/as-2015-0020 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 127-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Steven D. Mamet ◽

Nathan Young ◽

Kwok P. Chun ◽

Jill F. Johnstone

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Relative Abundance ◽

Rare Species ◽

Alpine Tundra ◽

The Arctic ◽

Vegetation Monitoring ◽

Tundra Vegetation ◽

Long Term Monitoring ◽

Term Monitoring

Nondestructive estimations of plant community characteristics are essential to vegetation monitoring programs. However, there is no universally accepted method for this purpose in the Arctic, partly because not all programs share the same logistical constraints and monitoring goals. Our aim was to determine the most efficient and effective method for long-term monitoring of alpine tundra vegetation. To achieve this, we established 12 vegetation-monitoring plots on a south-facing slope in the alpine tundra of southern Yukon Territory, Canada. Four observers assessed these plots for vascular plant species abundance employing three methods: visual cover (VC) and subplot frequency (SF) estimation and modified point-intercept (PI) (includes rare species present but not intersected by a pin). SF performed best in terms of time required per plot and sensitivity to variations in species richness. All methods were similarly poor at estimating relative abundance for rare species, but PI and VC were substantially better at high abundances. Differences among methods were larger than among observers. Our results suggest that SF is best when the monitoring focus is on rare species or species richness across extensive areas. However, when the focus is on monitoring changes in relative abundance of common species, VC or PI should be preferred.

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Meter scale variation in shrub dominance and soil moisture structure Arctic arthropod communities

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.2224 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e2224 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Rikke Reisner Hansen ◽

Oskar Liset Pryds Hansen ◽

Joseph J. Bowden ◽

Urs A. Treier ◽

Signe Normand ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Soil Moisture ◽

Community Structure ◽

Indicator Species ◽

The Arctic ◽

Arthropod Community ◽

Vegetation Height ◽

Habitat Variation ◽

Shrub Dominance ◽

Scale Variation

The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. This impacts Arctic species both directly, through increased temperatures, and indirectly, through structural changes in their habitats. Species are expected to exhibit idiosyncratic responses to structural change, which calls for detailed investigations at the species and community level. Here, we investigate how arthropod assemblages of spiders and beetles respond to variation in habitat structure at small spatial scales. We sampled transitions in shrub dominance and soil moisture between three different habitats (fen, dwarf shrub heath, and tall shrub tundra) at three different sites along a fjord gradient in southwest Greenland, using yellow pitfall cups. We identified 2,547 individuals belonging to 47 species. We used species richness estimation, indicator species analysis and latent variable modeling to examine differences in arthropod community structure in response to habitat variation at local (within site) and regional scales (between sites). We estimated species responses to the environment by fitting species-specific generalized linear models with environmental covariates. Species assemblages were segregated at the habitat and site level. Each habitat hosted significant indicator species, and species richness and diversity were significantly lower in fen habitats. Assemblage patterns were significantly linked to changes in soil moisture and vegetation height, as well as geographic location. We show that meter-scale variation among habitats affects arthropod community structure, supporting the notion that the Arctic tundra is a heterogeneous environment. To gain sufficient insight into temporal biodiversity change, we require studies of species distributions detailing species habitat preferences.

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Harnessing the Power of Metabarcoding in the Ecological Interpretation of Plant—Pollinator DNA Data: Strategies and Consequences of Filtering Approaches

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13090437 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 437

Author(s):

Nicola Tommasi ◽

Andrea Ferrari ◽

Massimo Labra ◽

Andrea Galimberti ◽

Paolo Biella

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Conservative Approach ◽

Pollen Assemblage ◽

Future Studies ◽

Molecular Features ◽

Dna Metabarcoding ◽

Plant Pollinator ◽

Very High ◽

Do So

Although DNA metabarcoding of pollen mixtures has been increasingly used in the field of pollination biology, methodological and interpretation issues arise due to its high sensitivity. Filtering or maintaining false positives, contaminants, and rare taxa or molecular features could lead to different ecological results. Here, we reviewed how this choice has been addressed in 43 studies featuring pollen DNA metabarcoding, which highlighted a very high heterogeneity of filtering methods. We assessed how these strategies shaped pollen assemblage composition, species richness, and interaction networks. To do so, we compared four processing methods: unfiltering, filtering with a proportional 1% of sample reads, a fixed threshold of 100 reads, and the ROC approach (Receiver Operator Characteristic). The results indicated that filtering impacted species composition and reduced species richness, with ROC emerging as a conservative approach. Moreover, in contrast to unfiltered networks, filtering decreased network Connectance and Entropy, and it increased Modularity and Connectivity, indicating that using cut-off thresholds better describes interactions. Overall, unfiltering might compromise reliable ecological interpretations, unless a study targets rare species. We discuss the suitability of each filtering type,plead for justifying filtering strategies on biological or methodological bases and for developing shared approaches to make future studies more comparable.

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Richness–abundance relationships for zooplankton in ballast water: temperate versus Arctic comparisons

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fsu020 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 71 (7) ◽

pp. 1876-1884 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Farrah T. Chan ◽

Elizabeta Briski ◽

Sarah A. Bailey ◽

Hugh J. MacIsaac

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Great Lakes ◽

Ballast Water ◽

The Arctic ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

Large Species ◽

Total Abundance ◽

Water Age ◽

Two Parameters ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Species richness and abundance are two commonly measured parameters used to characterize invasion risk associated with transport vectors, especially those capable of transferring large species assemblages. Understanding the relationship between these two variables can further improve our ability to predict future invasions by identifying conditions where high-risk (i.e. species-rich or high abundance or both) and low-risk (i.e. species-poor and low abundance) introduction events are expected. While ballast water is one of the best characterized transport vectors of aquatic non-indigenous species, very few studies have assessed its magnitude at high latitudes. We assessed the arrival potential of zooplankton via ballast water in the Canadian Arctic by examining species richness, total abundance, and the relationship between the two parameters for zooplankton in ships from Europe destined for the Arctic, in comparison with the same parameters for ships bound for Atlantic Canada and the Great Lakes. In addition, we examined whether species richness and/or total abundance were influenced by temperature change and/or ballast water age for each shipping route. We found that species richness and total abundance for Arctic and Great Lakes ships were significantly lower than those for Atlantic ships. Differences in species richness and total abundance for ships utilizing different shipping routes were mostly related to ballast water age. A significant species richness–total abundance relationship for Arctic and Great Lakes ships suggests that these parameters decreased proportionately as ballast water aged. In contrast, the absence of such a relationship for Atlantic ships suggests that decreases in total abundance were accompanied by little to no reduction in species richness. Collectively, our results indicate that the arrival potential of zooplankton in ballast water of Arctic ships may be lower than or similar to that of Atlantic and Great Lakes ships, respectively.

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GEN3SIS: An engine for simulating eco-evolutionary processes in the context of plate tectonics and deep-time climate variations

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20627 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Oskar Hagen ◽

Renske E. Onstein ◽

Benjamin Flück ◽

Fabian Fopp ◽

Florian Hartig ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plate Tectonics ◽

The Arctic ◽

Climate Variations ◽

Deep Time ◽

Cold Adapted ◽

Mountain Ranges ◽

Earth History ◽

Himalayan Mountain ◽

Warming World

Explaining the origin of large-scale biodiversity gradients has been a key aspiration of early naturalists such as Wegener, Darwin and Humboldt; who looked at natural processes in an integrated way. Early on, these naturalists acknowledged the role of plate tectonics and climate variations in shaping modern day biodiversity patterns.&#160;As science advanced, the complexity of ecological, evolutionary, geological and climatological processes became evident while research became increasingly fragmented across different disciplines. Nevertheless, recent development in mechanistic modeling approaches now enable bringing disciplines back together, opening a new interdisciplinary scientific pathway.Here, we present GEN3SIS, the GENeral Engine for Eco-Evolutionary SImulationS. It is the first spatially explicit eco-evolutionary model that incorporates deep-time Earth history, including plate tectonics, as well as climate variations in a modular way. The modular design allows exploring the consequences of user-defined biological processes that act across &#8220;real world&#8221; spatio-temporal landscapes. Emerging from the model are specie&#8217;s ranges, alpha and beta diversity patterns, ecological traits as well as phylogenies. Subsequently, these patterns can be compared to empirical data. Furthermore, GEN3SIS allows assessing paleoclimatic and paleogeographic hypotheses by using different Earth history scenarios and comparing simulation outputs with empirical biological data.As a case study, we explore the cold-adapted plant biodiversity dynamics throughout the Earth&#8217;s Cenozoic history, based on a deep-time tectonic and climate reconstruction. The Cenozoic India-Asia collision formed the Himalayan mountain range. In this highly elevated region, the first cold niches of the Cenozoic appeared, demanding adaptation from the local living flora. We hindcast diversification of cold-adapted species with GEN3SIS, for which we use a topo-climatic reconstruction for the last 55 Myr. The model predicts the emergence of current cold-species richness patterns. Moreover, simulations indicate that cold-adapted flora emerged in the Oligocene, first in the Himalayas, followed by a spread to the Arctic. This agrees with observed low species richness and high nestedness of Arctic assemblages compared to those of the Himalayan mountain ranges. Under ongoing climate change a major loss of cold-adapted plant diversity is expected by the end of the century, particularly in lower latitude mountain ranges. Hindcasting and forecasting dynamics of cold-adapted lineages highlights the transient fate of cold organisms in a warming world.GEN3SIS is made available as an R package, which allows customizing (i) the simulated landscape including environmental variables and (ii) all the processes interacting under different spatial and temporal scales. Consequently, GEN3SIS fosters collaborations between different natural disciplines and therefore contributes to an interdisciplinary understanding of the processes that shaped Earth&#8217;s history.

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Diversity Variation of Silica-Scaled Chrysophytes Related to Differences in Physicochemical Variables in Estuaries of Rivers in an Arctic Watershed

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132413768 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (24) ◽

pp. 13768

Author(s):

Anna Bessudova ◽

Viktor Gabyshev ◽

Alena Firsova ◽

Olga Gabysheva ◽

Yurij Bukin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Global Climate ◽

Sampling Site ◽

Aquatic Organisms ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Ion Concentration ◽

The Arctic ◽

Current Status ◽

Scaled Chrysophytes

The present study examined the taxonomic diversity of silica-scaled chrysophytes in the estuaries of the Arctic watershed of Yakutia in the context of global climate change, as these aquatic organisms are highly sensitive to environmental changes. Previously, 41 species of silica-scaled chrysophytes were recorded in the waters of Yakutia. In the present study, we supplemented this list with 55 species. We observed a high species richness (82 taxa) of silica-scaled chrysophytes in the study area. Of these, eight species were recorded in the waters of Russia for the first time. At present, the study area represents the northernmost habitat for most species observed during the study. The diversity of silica-scaled chrysophytes in Arctic rivers is comparable to or even greater than the diversity of chrysophycean flora at the middle latitudes. Most of these chrysophytes are represented by polyzonal and ubiquitous species. During 2008–2010, we noted increased relative numbers of boreal species in northern waters compared with data obtained during the previous 30 years. Overall, the species richness of silica-scaled chrysophytes in the studied rivers increased with increase in water transparency, temperature, and magnesium ion concentration, but decreased with increase in surfactant concentration. The origin of samples from a certain river; distance of the sampling site from the estuary; water temperature, transparency, and colour; and concentration of carbon dioxide, magnesium ions, total iron, surfactants, and oil products affect the species composition of silica-scaled chrysophytes in the study area. Our findings are fundamental to evaluate the current status of Arctic aquatic microflora and its further monitoring in the context of anthropogenic and climatic impacts.

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Endemicity and Community Composition of Marine Species along the NW Pacific and Adjacent Arctic Ocean

Biodiversity Information Science and Standards ◽

10.3897/biss.3.36750 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hanieh Saeedi ◽

Marianna Simoes ◽

Angelika Brandt

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Pacific Ocean ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

Shallow Water ◽

Community Composition ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Sampling Bias ◽

The Arctic ◽

Philippine Sea ◽

The Arctic Ocean

The Northwestern (NW) Pacific Ocean lies in one of the most productive, speciose, and diverse regions of the World Ocean, and includes several shallow-water oceanic islands and deep-sea basins of varying depth, hydrology, and degree of isolation. The adjacent Arctic Ocean areas include the northern Bering and southern Chukchi Seas of the Arctic Ocean with short food chains and shallow depths characterizing high productivity areas. Despite its magnitude and relevance, characterization of species diversity and community composition patterns in the NW Pacific Ocean remains poorly explored and largely unknown. Here we attempt to discover how geographic boundaries and depth shape current community assemblages and delimit species distribution ranges and richness using open access data. We also show how endemicity and community composition vary between tropical and temperate NW Pacific and the adjacent Arctic Ocean considering sampling bias. The Eastern Philippine Sea was the hotspot of species richness in the NW Pacific and its adjacent Arctic Ocean even when accounting for sampling bias. The lowest species richness was observed in Papau. Despite high species richness in the Eastern Philippine Sea, the Yellow Sea and Gulf of Tonkin had the highest endemicity rates (ca. 60%) among all other ecoregions. Endemicity ranged 20–40% across 19 ecoregions. Chordata, Arthropoda, and Mollusca contributed more than 50% to the total community composition in the NW Pacific where as Arthropoda, Annelida, and Mollusca were the dominant taxa shaping ca. 82% of the Arctic Ocean community. Pelagic species richness was higher than the benthic one in both shallow-water and deep-sea regions of the NW Pacific Ocean. However, in the shallow and deep Arctic Ocean, most of the taxa were benthic excluding the deep Kara Sea where pelagic deep-sea species dominated the whole community. Two significantly distinctive clusters (North and South clusters) were classified based on species richness similarity analysis in this area including ecoregions of the (1) Arctic Ocean and North NW Pacific, and (2) Mid to South NW Pacific.

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