scholarly journals Divergent assembly trajectories: a comparison of the plant and soil microbiome with plant communities in a glacier forefield

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert R. Junker ◽  
Xie He ◽  
Jan-Christoph Otto ◽  
Victoria Ruiz-Hernandez ◽  
Maximilian Hanusch
Keyword(s):  
Community Assembly ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Soil Microbiome ◽  
Glacier Forefield ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Community Types ◽  
Dispersal Abilities ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi ◽  
Species Specific

Community assembly is a result of dispersal, abiotic and biotic characteristics of the habitat as well as stochasticity. A direct comparison between the assembly of microbial and macrobial organisms is hampered by the sampling of these communities in different studies, at different sites, or on different scales. In a glacier forefield in the Austrian Alps, we recorded the soil and plant microbiome (bacteria and fungi) and plants that occurred in the same landscape and in close proximity in the same plots. We tested five predictions deduced from assembly processes and revealed deviating patterns of assembly in these community types. In short, microbes appeared to be less dispersal limited than plants, soil microbes and plants strongly responded to abiotic factors whereas the leaf microbiome was plant species-specific and well buffered from environmental conditions. The observed differences in community assembly processes may be attributed to the organisms dispersal abilities, the exposure of the habitats to airborne propagules, and habitat characteristics. The finding that assembly is conditional to the characteristics of the organisms, the habitat, and the spatial scale under consideration is thus central for our understanding about the establishment and the maintenance of biodiversity.

scholarly journals Fungi are more dispersal-limited than bacteria among flowers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Vannette ◽  
Griffin Hall ◽  
Ivan Munkres
Keyword(s):  
Community Assembly ◽  
Dispersal Ability ◽  
Numerical Abundance ◽  
Flower Traits ◽  
Biodiversity Maintenance ◽  
Dispersal Abilities ◽  
Dispersal Routes ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi ◽  
Plant Pollinator

AbstractDispersal, particularly variation in dispersal ability among taxa, affects community assembly in individual communities and biodiversity maintenance within metacommunities. Although fungi and bacteria frequently coexist, their relative dispersal abilities are poorly understood. Here, we compare the incidence and abundance of culturable flower-inhabiting bacteria and fungi among individual flowers. Using collections that span two coflowering communities across two years, we assess viable bacterial and fungal incidence and abundance within individual flower samples, and examine patterns across plant species that differ in flower traits. Our results demonstrate that bacteria can be detected in more flowers and in greater numerical abundance than fungi, particularly in flowers with more exposed corollas. For fungi, however, flowers with long corollas were equally likely as exposed flowers to contain cells, and hosted higher numbers of fungal cells, primarily yeasts. Across all flowers, bacteria and fungal incidence was positively related, but within flowers containing microbes, bacterial and fungal incidence was negatively related, suggesting shared dispersal routes but competition among microbes within flowers. The difference in dispersal abilities of bacteria and fungi identified here may have broad relevance for community assembly of microbes and plant-pollinator interactions.

scholarly journals Optimizing Safe Approaches to Manage Plant-Parasitic Nematodes

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1911
Author(s):  
Mahfouz M. M. Abd-Elgawad
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yields ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Soil Microbiome ◽  
Parasitic Nematodes ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Plant Parasitic Nematodes ◽  
Safe Alternative ◽  
Microbial Groups ◽  
Plant Parasitic

Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) infect and cause substantial yield losses of many foods, feed, and fiber crops. Increasing concern over chemical nematicides has increased interest in safe alternative methods to minimize these losses. This review focuses on the use and potential of current methods such as biologicals, botanicals, non-host crops, and related rotations, as well as modern techniques against PPNs in sustainable agroecosystems. To evaluate their potential for control, this review offers overviews of their interactions with other biotic and abiotic factors from the standpoint of PPN management. The positive or negative roles of specific production practices are assessed in the context of integrated pest management. Examples are given to reinforce PPN control and increase crop yields via dual-purpose, sequential, and co-application of agricultural inputs. The involved PPN control mechanisms were reviewed with suggestions to optimize their gains. Using the biologicals would preferably be backed by agricultural conservation practices to face issues related to their reliability, inconsistency, and slow activity against PPNs. These practices may comprise offering supplementary resources, such as adequate organic matter, enhancing their habitat quality via specific soil amendments, and reducing or avoiding negative influences of pesticides. Soil microbiome and planted genotypes should be manipulated in specific nematode-suppressive soils to conserve native biologicals that serve to control PPNs. Culture-dependent techniques may be expanded to use promising microbial groups of the suppressive soils to recycle in their host populations. Other modern techniques for PPN control are discussed to maximize their efficient use.

scholarly journals Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) density and environmental gradients at their biogeographical range edge

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin G. Wessling ◽  
Paula Dieguez ◽  
Manuel Llana ◽  
Liliana Pacheco ◽  
Jill D. Pruetz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Habitat Heterogeneity ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Verus ◽  
Range Limit ◽  
Range Edge ◽  
Food Species ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

ABSTRACTIdentifying ecological gradients at the range edge of a species is an essential step in revealing the underlying mechanisms and constraints that limit the species’ geographic range. We aimed to describe the patterns of variation in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) density and habitat characteristics perpendicular to the northern edge of their range and to investigate potential environmental mechanisms underlying chimpanzee distribution in a savanna-mosaic habitat. We estimated chimpanzee densities at six sites forming a 126 km latitudinal gradient at the biogeographical range edge of the western chimpanzee in the savanna-mosaic habitats of southeastern Senegal. To accompany these data, we used systematically placed vegetation plots to characterize the habitats at each site for habitat heterogeneity, tree density and size, floral assemblages, among other variables. We found that both biotic and abiotic factors are potential determinants of the chimpanzee range limit in this ecoregion. Specifically, chimpanzee-occupied landscapes at the limit had smaller available floral assemblages, less habitat heterogeneity, and contained fewer closed canopy habitats in which chimpanzees could seek refuge from high temperatures than landscapes farther from the range limit. This pattern was accompanied by a decline in chimpanzee density with increasing proximity to the range limit. Our results provide several indications of the potential limits of food species diversity, thermal refuge, and water availability to the chimpanzee niche and the implications of these limits for chimpanzee biogeography, especially in the face of climate change predictions, as well as to species distributional modeling more generally.

Kelimpahan Kodok Jam Pasir Leptophryne borbonica di Sepanjang Aliran Sungai Cisuren, Bodogol, Taman Nasional Gunung Gede Pangrango

Jurnal BIOMA ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Dhany Ardiansyah ◽  
Arini Karunia ◽  
Talita Auliandina ◽  
Dien Anugerah Putri ◽  
Mohamad Isnin Noer
Keyword(s):  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Chemical Characteristics ◽  
Physical Factors ◽  
Weak Correlation ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Natural Factors ◽  
Abundance And Distribution ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
Number Of Individuals

There is high spatial variation in physical and chemical characteristics both within and between streams, some of which has been linked to natural factors. Stream characteristics affect many biological and physical processes. Leptophryne borbonica is stream-dependent toad that spend their life completely in or around stream. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of habitat characteristics on abundance of Leptophryne borbonica in Bodogol, Sukabumi, West Java. Survey was conducted to obtain data on 27 until 29 June 2013 along Cisuren stream of Bodogol. Parameters that used in this study were conductivity, temperature, humidity, and salinity. The findings showed that all physical factors of stream have weak correlation with the abundance of Leptophryne borbonica. Abiotic factors that forming an ecosystem could affect the abundance and distribution of a amphibians species, because amphibians are sensitive to environmental change. Our result suggested that chemical characteristics along this stream were within the range of fundamental niche of Leptophryne borbonica. However, the slightly different in the number of individuals obtained among plots indicated that there were other factors that may be at play.

Selective piglet feeders improve age-related bait specificity and uptake rate in overabundant Eurasian wild boar populations

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Ballesteros ◽  
Ricardo Carrasco-García ◽  
Joaquín Vicente ◽  
Jesús Carrasco ◽  
Angelo Lasagna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wild Boar ◽  
Oral Delivery ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Wild Pigs ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Reservoir Species ◽  
Delivery Technique ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Species Specific

The Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a reservoir for pathogens that affect both humans and domestic animals. The control of these diseases requires the development of strategies such as oral vaccination of the reservoir species. The aim of the present study was to determine the species-specific visitation and removal rates of cereal-based baits under field conditions in an overabundant wild boar population. Two different field trials were conducted at a hunting estate. In one trial, baits were placed at track stations set up either randomly in the undeveloped portions of the estate or close to permanent wild boar feeding places. In the second trial, baits were placed in feeders that were selective for use by wild boar piglets. Both trials were conducted in summer 2007 and repeated in spring 2008. No evidence of attractant effect by the bait was found when comparing baited against control stations. A close proximity to the feeders was associated with an increased probability of being visited by wild boar, and piglet feeders were shown to be highly selective for young wild boar. Baits disappeared faster in summer than in spring (i.e. ~70% consumption after the first day in selective feeders in summer, and 40% in spring). Therefore, a combination of a summer season and selective feeders was found to be a potentially reliable bait-deployment strategy for wild boar juveniles under Mediterranean conditions. These results support the use of selective feeders for oral delivery of baits to 2–4-month-old wild boar piglets, which is the preferred age for vaccination. Our delivery technique based on selective piglet feeders also has potential for other uses in the Eurasian wild boar and wild pigs under different management conditions.

scholarly journals Antagonistic effects of intraspecific cooperation and interspecific competition on thermal performance

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsiang-Yu Tsai ◽  
Dustin R Rubenstein ◽  
Bo-Fei Chen ◽  
Mark Liu ◽  
Shih-Fan Chan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Niche Width ◽  
Burying Beetle ◽  
Thermal Niche ◽  
Thermal Performance Curve ◽  
Performance Curves ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The Relationship

Understanding how climate-mediated biotic interactions shape thermal niche width is critical in an era of global change. Yet, most previous work on thermal niches has ignored detailed mechanistic information about the relationship between temperature and organismal performance, which can be described by a thermal performance curve. Here, we develop a model that predicts the width of thermal performance curves will be narrower in the presence of interspecific competitors, causing a species’ optimal breeding temperature to diverge from that of its competitor. We test this prediction in the Asian burying beetle Nicrophorus nepalensis, confirming that the divergence in actual and optimal breeding temperatures is the result of competition with their primary competitor, blowflies. However, we further show that intraspecific cooperation enables beetles to outcompete blowflies by recovering their optimal breeding temperature. Ultimately, linking abiotic factors and biotic interactions on niche width will be critical for understanding species-specific responses to climate change.

scholarly journals Super-Small Predators in Soils: Who Are They and What Do They Do?

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Geisen
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Soil Microbiome ◽  
Soil Organisms ◽  
Earth’S Climate ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi

There are millions of species living in soils. Most of this biodiversity is made up of bacteria and fungi, tiny organisms that make up what is called the soil microbiome. The size and composition of the soil microbiome is mainly controlled by two groups of predators: protists and nematodes. Protists are tiny single-celled organisms, while nematodes are tiny worms and the most numerous animals on Earth. Protists and nematodes together weight more than all the other animals on Earth! Protists and nematodes keep the soil microbiome in balance, which helps plants to grow and keeps soils functioning properly. Without protist and nematode soil predators, the functions and services provided by soils would change so much that it could even affect the Earth’s climate. So, let us not forget the importance of these tiny soil organisms!

scholarly journals Using weapons instead of perfume – chemical association strategies of the myrmecophilous bug Scolopostethus pacificus (Rhyparochromidae)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Brückner
Keyword(s):  
Host Feeding ◽  
Chemical Profiling ◽  
Molecular Approaches ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Feeding Trials ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Chemical Association ◽  
Chemical Code

AbstractA vast diversity of parasites associate with ants. Living in and around ant nests these organisms must overcome ant colony defenses. As ant defensive behavior is mainly mediated by species-specific cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) or alarm pheromones, ant-associated parasites can either crack their hosts chemical communication code by modifying their own CHC-profiles or use pro-active strategies like chemical weaponry for distraction and repellency. While the chemical nature of ant-parasite interactions has been intensively studied for highly host specific parasites, the chemical-deceptive strategies of the rather rare ant-resembling Heteropterans are unknown. To gain insight into this system, I studied the bug Scolopostethus pacificus (Barber 1918) which can be found near the nests of the ecologically dominant and aggressive velvety tree ant (Liometopum occidentale, Emery 1895). Using behavioral, chemical and molecular approaches I disentangled the relationship of S. pasificus and its host ant. Chemical profiling of the bug and the ant revealed that the bug does not make use of CHC insignificance or mimicry, but instead uses a cocktail of volatile compounds released from its metathoracic glands that likely moderates encounters with its aggressive host. Feeding trials with armed and artificially disarmed bugs revealed a defensive function of the gland exudates. Targeted molecular gut barcoding showed that S. pasificus does not feed on L. occidentale. These results suggest that chemical weaponry, rather than a chemical code-cracking CHC matching or chemical insignificance, enables S. pasificus to get along with and live in close proximity to its host ant.

scholarly journals Maximum entropy models elucidate the contribution of metabolic traits to patterns of community assembly

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Bertram ◽  
Erica A Newman ◽  
Roderick Dewar
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Maximum Entropy ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Species Identity ◽  
Metabolic Traits ◽  
Abundance Patterns ◽  
Species Specific

Aim: Maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models promise a novel approach for understanding community assembly and species abundance patterns. One of these models, the "Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology" (METE) reproduces many observed species abundance patterns, but is based on an aggregated representation of community structure that does not resolve species identity or explicitly represent species-specific functional traits. In this paper, METE is compared to "Very Entropic Growth" (VEG), a MaxEnt model with a less aggregated representation of community structure that represents species (more correctly, functional types) in terms of their per capita metabolic rates. We examine the contribution of metabolic traits to the patterns of community assembly predicted by VEG and, through aggregation, compare the results with METE predictions in order to gain insight into the biological factors underlying observed patterns of community assembly. Innovation: We formally compare two MaxEnt-based community models, METE and VEG, that differ as to whether or not they represent species-specific functional traits. We empirically test and compare the metabolic predictions of both models, thereby elucidating the role of metabolic traits in patterns of community assembly. Main Conclusions: Our analysis reveals that a key determinant of community metabolic patterns is the "density of species" distribution, defined as the intrinsic number of species with metabolic rates in a given range that are available to a community prior to filtering by environmental constraints. Our analysis suggests that appropriate choice of of the density of species in VEG may lead to more realistic predictions than METE, for which this distribution is not defined, and thus opens up new ways to understanding the link between functional traits and patterns of community assembly.

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