scholarly journals Parallel assemblage structures in Mediterranean marine amphipods revealed by beta diversity partitioning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Bellisario ◽  
Federica Camisa ◽  
Chiara Abbattista ◽  
Roberta Cimmaruta
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Diversity Partitioning ◽  
Distance Information

AbstractRelying on a purely taxonomic view of diversity may ignore the fact that ecological communities can be constituted of species having both distinct evolutionary histories and functional characteristics. Thus, considering how the multiple facets of diversity vary along environmental and geographic gradients may provide insights into the role of historic processes and current environmental changes in determining the divergence or convergence of lineages and functions, ultimately influencing the way species assemble across space. However, analyses can be somehow flawed by the choice of traits being analysed, as they should capture the whole functional variability of species in order to assess the relationship between phylogenetic and functional diversity along a gradient. When continuous measures of functional diversity based on a variety of different traits are absent, the use of functional traits known to show strong phylogenetic signal can help elucidating such relationship. By using distributional, traits and taxonomic-distance information, we explored how the taxon, functional and phylogenetic community composition (co)vary along spatial and environmental gradients in seagrass amphipod metacommunity within the Mediterranean Sea. We used beta diversity partitioning and null models to determine the role of deterministic and stochastic processes on the replacement and the net loss/gain of species, lineages and highly conserved β-niche traits. We showed that dispersal-based processes are the main determinants of the high taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity, while niche-based processes explain the low functional dissimilarity among assemblages. Moreover, phylogenetic and functional beta diversity showed contrasting patterns when controlling for the underlying taxonomic composition, with the former being not significantly different and the latter significantly lower than expected. Our results suggest the key role of historical and biogeographic processes in determining the present-day patterns of community assembly and species turnover, providing also evidence for parallel assemblage structures in Mediterranean seagrass amphipods.

scholarly journals Beta Diversity Partitioning and Drivers of Variations in Fish Assemblages in a Headwater Stream: Lijiang River, China

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liangliang Huang ◽  
Jian Huang ◽  
Zhiqiang Wu ◽  
Yuanmin Mo ◽  
Qi Zou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Headwater Streams ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Diversity Partitioning ◽  
Spatial Variables ◽  
Lijiang River ◽  
Abiotic Variables ◽  
Hydrological Variables

Beta diversity partitioning has currently received much attention in research of fish assemblages. However, the main drivers, especially the contribution of spatial and hydrological variables for species composition and beta diversity of fish assemblages are less well studied. To link species composition to multiple abiotic variables (i.e., local environmental variables, hydrological variables, and spatial variables), the relative roles of abiotic variables in shaping fish species composition and beta diversity (i.e., overall turnover, replacement, and nestedness) were investigated in the upstream Lijiang River. Species composition showed significant correlations with environmental, hydrological, and spatial variables, and variation partitioning revealed that the local environmental and spatial variables outperformed hydrological variables, and especially abiotic variables explained a substantial part of the variation in the fish composition (43.2%). The overall species turnover was driven mostly by replacement (87.9% and 93.7% for Sørensen and Jaccard indices, respectively) rather than nestedness. Mantel tests indicated that the overall species turnover (ßSOR and ßJAC) and replacement (ßSIM and ßJTU) were significantly related to hydrological, environmental, and spatial heterogeneity, whereas nestedness (ßSNE or ßJNE) was insignificantly correlated with abiotic variables (P > 0.05). Moreover, the pure effect of spatial variables on overall species turnover (ßSOR and ßJAC) and replacement (ßSIM and ßJTU), and the pure effect of hydrological variables on replacement (ßSIM and ßJTU), were not important (P > 0.05). Our findings demonstrated the relative importance of interactions among environmental, hydrological, and spatial variables in structuring fish assemblages in headwater streams; these fish assemblages tend to be compositionally distinct, rather than nested derivatives of one another. Our results, therefore, indicate that maintaining natural flow dynamics and habitat continuity are of vital importance for conservation of fish assemblages and diversity in headwater streams.

scholarly journals Ecotones: Marginal or central areas of transition?

2006 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salit Kark ◽  
Berndt J. van Rensburg
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspots ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Marginal Populations ◽  
Multiple Spatial Scales ◽  
Scientific Attention

Areas of environmental transition, where ecological communities coincide, are sometimes termed ecotones. These regions often correspond with sharp environmental gradients. Ecotones occur at multiple spatial scales, ranging from transitions between biomes to local small-scale transitions. In recent years ecotones have received increasing scientific attention after being neglected for years, as studies historically often focused on distinct communities. However, it is still debatable whether these transitional regions are speciation and biodiversity hotspots that deserve special conservation interest or are actually areas that hold marginal populations that depend on other parts of the range for the maintenance of their biodiversity and therefore should not deserve primary investment. This paper discusses some of the recent advancements in our understanding of the role of ecotones in ecology, evolution, and conservation.

scholarly journals Functional diversity: a key aspect in the provision of ecosystem services

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
JESÚS BALLESTEROS CORREA ◽  
JAIRO PÉREZ TORRES
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Relationship

 Functional diversity is one of the crucial aspects of the functioning of ecosystems and the provision of ecosystem services. In this review paper, we analyze how biodiversity contributes to human well-being through the provision of goods and ecosystem services, and related aspects of ecological processes and their relationship with the functional diversity of ecosystems are presented. It aims to explain in a simple way, the concepts related to functional diversity, the importance of the functional groups and the role of functional traits of the species as a key element in the responses of organisms to environmental changes. Understanding the relationship between ecosystem processes, functional diversity of species and providing ecosystem services, allow better management of natural ecosystems and their biodiversity, enabling conservation and sustainable use of different types of services provided by ecosystems.

Maritime Cultural Landscapes in the New York Bight

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-106
Author(s):  
Daria Merwin ◽  
Victor D. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Cape Cod ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
New York Bight ◽  
York Bight ◽  
Maritime Cultural Landscapes

The study of prehistoric maritime cultural landscapes, in the broadest sense, seeks to explore the relationship between people and the water. If we are to reconstruct the nature of this relationship over time along the Atlantic coast of North America, we must account for environmental changes, particularly sea level rise and related shifts in ecological communities and habitats on the shore and at sea. This chapter surveys the coastal archaeology of the New York Bight (the bend in the Atlantic coast between southern New Jersey and Cape Cod) over the course of the Holocene, drawing data from terrestrial, coastal plain, and now submerged sites to examine topics such as the role of coastal environments in human settlement, evidence for seafaring and fishing technology, and the origins and consequences of adopting maritime cultural adaptations.

Ecological boundaries in estuaries: macrobenthic β-diversity in the Río de la Plata system (34–36°S)

2007 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Giberto ◽  
C.S. Bremec ◽  
A. Cortelezzi ◽  
A. Rodrigues Capitulo ◽  
A. Brazeiro
Keyword(s):  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Benthic Communities ◽  
Rio De La Plata ◽  
Río De La Plata ◽  
La Plata ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Ecological Boundaries ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

In this study, we analyse spatial patterns of macrobenthic communities of the Río de la Plata system, and assess the species turnover or beta diversity and its relationship with environmental gradients. Macrobenthic samples and physico-chemical parameters were collected from 20 sampling sites along a transect of 560 km, including the freshwater (FW), estuarine (ES) and marine (MA) sectors. Three main assemblages corresponding to the above mentioned sectors were defined with multivariate analysis (cluster, MDS). In total 134 taxa were recorded, 81 in MA, 33 in FW and 38 in ES, represented mainly by polychaete, mollusc and crustacean species. Depth, salinity and %clay showed the strongest correlation with the observed faunal patterns (ρw=0.62; BIO-ENV analysis). Beta diversity varied between dominant taxonomic groups and was positively correlated with changes in salinity. The high variability in the composition of assemblages was reflected in beta diversity, reaching its highest values at the boundaries between the defined sectors. This study suggests that beta diversity represents a useful tool to define ecological boundaries for benthic communities in the Río de la Plata.

scholarly journals Variations of Secondary Metabolites among Natural Populations of Sub-Antarctic Ranunculus Species Suggest Functional Redundancy and Versatility

Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastien Labarrere ◽  
Andreas Prinzing ◽  
Thomas Dorey ◽  
Emeline Chesneau ◽  
Françoise Hennion
Keyword(s):  
High Performance Liquid Chromatography ◽  
Liquid Chromatography ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
The Relationship

Plants produce a high diversity of metabolites which help them sustain environmental stresses and are involved in local adaptation. However, shaped by both the genome and the environment, the patterns of variation of the metabolome in nature are difficult to decipher. Few studies have explored the relative parts of geographical region versus environment or phenotype in metabolomic variability within species and none have discussed a possible effect of the region on the correlations between metabolites and environments or phenotypes. In three sub-Antarctic Ranunculus species, we examined the role of region in metabolite differences and in the relationship between individual compounds and environmental conditions or phenotypic traits. Populations of three Ranunculus species were sampled across similar environmental gradients in two distinct geographical regions in îles Kerguelen. Two metabolite classes were studied, amines (quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence spectrophotometry) and flavonols (quantified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry). Depending on regions, the same environment or the same trait may be related to different metabolites, suggesting metabolite redundancy within species. In several cases, a given metabolite showed different or even opposite relations with the same environmental condition or the same trait across the two regions, suggesting metabolite versatility within species. Our results suggest that metabolites may be functionally redundant and versatile within species, both in their response to environments and in their relation with the phenotype. These findings open new perspectives for understanding evolutionary responses of plants to environmental changes.

scholarly journals Linking global turnover of species and environments

2008 ◽  
Vol 105 (46) ◽  
pp. 17836-17841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren B. Buckley ◽  
Walter Jetz
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Geographic Ranges ◽  
Geographic Patterns ◽  
Spatial Turnover ◽  
Explicit Analysis

Patterns of species turnover are central to the geography of biodiversity and resulting challenges for conservation, but at broad scales remain relatively little understood. Here, we take a first spatially-explicitly and global perspective to link the spatial turnover of species and environments. We compare how major groups of vertebrate ectotherms (amphibians) and endotherms (birds) respond to spatial environmental gradients. We find that high levels of species turnover occur regardless of environmental turnover rates, but environmental turnover provides a lower bound for species turnover. This lower bound increases more steeply with environmental turnover in tropical realms. While bird and amphibian turnover rates are correlated, the rate of amphibian turnover is four times steeper than bird rates. This is the same factor by which average geographic ranges of birds are larger than those of amphibians. Narrow-ranged birds exhibit rapid rates of species turnover similar to those for amphibians, while wide-ranged birds largely drive the aggregate patterns of avian turnover. We confirm a strong influence of the environment on species turnover that is mediated by range sizes and regional history. In contrast to geographic patterns of species richness, we find that the turnover in one group (amphibians) is a much better predictor for the turnover in another (birds) than is environment. This result confirms the role of amphibian sensitivity to environmental conditions for patterns of turnover and supports their value as a surrogate group. This spatially-explicit analysis of environmental turnover provides understanding for conservation planning in changing environments.

scholarly journals Exploring Multiple Aspects of Taxonomic and Functional Diversity in Microphytobenthic Communities: Effects of Environmental Gradients and Temporal Changes

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anette Teittinen ◽  
Leena Virta
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
The Face ◽  
Functional Dispersion ◽  
Pool System ◽  
Microbial Groups

Biodiversity has traditionally been quantified using taxonomic information but the importance of also considering its functional characteristics has recently gained an increasing attention among microorganisms. However, studies exploring multiple aspects of taxonomic and functional diversity and their temporal variations are scarce for diatoms, which is one of the most important microbial groups in aquatic ecosystems. Here, our aim was to examine the taxonomic and functional alpha and beta diversities of diatoms in a coastal rock pool system characterized by a naturally high environmental heterogeneity. We also investigated the temporal differences in the diversity patterns and drivers. The relationship between the species richness and functional dispersion was temporally coherent, such that species-poor communities tended to be functionally clustered. The trend between the species richness and taxonomic uniqueness of community composition was temporally inconsistent, changing from negative to non-significant over time. Conductivity or distance to the sea or both were key determinants of species richness, functional dispersion, and uniqueness of community composition. The increase of community dissimilarity with an increasing environmental distance was stronger for the taxonomic than the functional composition. Our results suggest that even minor decreases in the species richness may result in a lowered functional diversity and decreased ecosystem functioning. Species-poor ecosystems may, however, have unique species compositions and high contributions to regional biodiversity. Despite changing the species compositions along the environmental gradients, communities may remain to have a high functional similarity and robustness in the face of environmental changes. Our results highlight the advantage of considering multiple biodiversity metrics and incorporating a temporal component for a deeper understanding of the effects of environmental changes on microbial biodiversity.

scholarly journals Intraspecific variation shapes community-level behavioural responses to urbanisation in spiders: from traits to function

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Dahirel ◽  
Jasper Dierick ◽  
Maarten De Cock ◽  
Bonte Dries
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Community Level ◽  
List Type ◽  
Trait Variation ◽  
Behavioural Responses ◽  
Intraspecific Trait Variation

SummaryApproaches based on functional traits have proven especially valuable to understand how communities respond to environmental gradients. Until recently, they have, however, often ignored the potential consequences of intraspecific trait variation (ITV). This position becomes potentially more problematic when studying animals and behavioural traits, as behaviours can be altered very flexibly at the individual level to track environmental changes.Urban areas are an extreme example of human-changed environments, exposing organisms to multiple, strong, yet relatively standardized, selection pressures. Adaptive behavioural responses are thought to play a major role in animals’ success or failure in these new environments. The consequences of such behavioural changes for ecosystem processes remain understudied.Using 62 sites of varying urbanisation level, we investigated how species turnover and ITV influenced community-level behavioural responses to urbanisation, using orb web spiders and their webs as models of foraging behaviour.ITV explained around 30% of the total trait variation observed among communities. Spiders altered their web-building behaviour in cities in ways that increase the capture efficiency of webs. These traits shifts were partly mediated by species turnover, but ITV increased their magnitude. The importance of ITV varied depending on traits and on the spatial scale at which urbanisation was considered. Available prey biomass decreased with urbanisation; the corresponding decrease in prey interception by spiders was less important when ITV in web traits was accounted for.By facilitating trait-environment matching despite urbanisation, ITV thus helps communities to buffer the effects of environmental changes on ecosystem functioning. Despite being often neglected from community-level analyses, our results highlight the importance of accounting for intraspecific trait variation to fully understand trait responses to (human-induced) environmental changes and their impact on ecosystem functioning.

scholarly journals Diversity of Ostrya carpinifolia Forests in Ravine Habitats of Serbia (S-E Europe)

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Dimitrije Sekulić ◽  
Branko Karadžić ◽  
Nevena Kuzmanović ◽  
Snežana Jarić ◽  
Miroslava Mitrović ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Endemic Species ◽  
Beta Diversity ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Alpha Diversity ◽  
Moisture Gradient ◽  
Ostrya Carpinifolia ◽  
Quaternary Glaciations ◽  
High Diversity

We investigated vegetation in ravine habitats of Serbia, in order to classify hop hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia Scop.) forests in syntaxonomic terms, assess the effects of environmental factors on their floristic differentiation, and detect the biodiversity components of the analyzed communities. Both K-means clustering and Bayesian classification revealed five ecologically interpretable groups of forests that belong to the alliances Ostryo carpinifoliae-Fagion sylvaticae, Ostryo carpinifoliae-Tilion platyphylli, Fraxino orni-Ostryion carpinifoliae, Pseudofumario albae-Ostryion carpinifoliae, and Achilleo ageratifoliae-Ostryion carpinifoliae. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated that these alliances are clearly differentiated along a combined light–moisture gradient (from shade and mesic to sunny and xeric variants). The alpha diversity increases from xeric to mesic alliances. A lower alpha diversity in xeric forests may be explained by the stress conditions that prevent mesic species from colonizing the saxatile habitats. Extremely high—almost the greatest possible—values of both the species turnover and beta diversity were detected in all variants of the analyzed forests. Such high diversity may be the result of the strong environmental gradients in ravine habitats. The investigated forests represent an important pool of rare, paleo-endemic species that survived Quaternary glaciations in ravine refugia.

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