scholarly journals Biotic interactions limit the geographic range of an annual plant: herbivory and phenology mediate fitness beyond a range margin

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Benning ◽  
Vincent M. Eckhart ◽  
Monica A. Geber ◽  
David A. Moeller
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Limits ◽  
Annual Plant ◽  
Lifetime Fitness ◽  
Steep Gradient ◽  
Clarkia Xantiana

AbstractSpecies’ range limits offer powerful opportunities to study environmental factors regulating distributions and probe the limits of adaptation. However, we rarely know what aspects of the environment are actually constraining range expansion, much less which traits are mediating the organisms’ response to these environmental gradients. Though most studies focus on climatic limits to species’ distributions, biotic interactions may be just as important. We used field experiments and simulations to estimate contributions of mammal herbivory to a range boundary in the annual plant Clarkia xantiana ssp. xantiana. A steep gradient of increasing probability of herbivory occurs across the boundary, and herbivory drives several-fold declines in lifetime fitness at and beyond the boundary. By including in our analyses data from a sister taxon with more rapid phenology, we show that delayed phenology drives C. xantiana ssp. xantiana’s susceptibility to herbivory and low fitness beyond its border.

scholarly journals Geographic range limits: achieving synthesis

2009 ◽  
Vol 276 (1661) ◽  
pp. 1395-1406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J Gaston
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Limits ◽  
Demographic Parameter ◽  
Single Population ◽  
Theoretical Evidence ◽  
Population Equation ◽  
Broad Overview

Understanding of the determinants of species' geographic range limits remains poorly integrated. In part, this is because of the diversity of perspectives on the issue, and because empirical studies have lagged substantially behind developments in theory. Here, I provide a broad overview, drawing together many of the disparate threads, considering, in turn, how influences on the terms of a simple single-population equation can determine range limits. There is theoretical and empirical evidence for systematic changes towards range limits under some circumstances in each of the demographic parameters. However, under other circumstances, no such changes may take place in particular parameters, or they may occur in a different direction, with limitation still occurring. This suggests that (i) little about range limitation can categorically be inferred from many empirical studies, which document change in only one demographic parameter, (ii) there is a need for studies that document variation in all of the parameters, and (iii) in agreement with theoretical evidence that range limits can be formed in the presence or absence of hard boundaries, environmental gradients or biotic interactions, there may be few general patterns as to the determinants of these limits, with most claimed generalities at least having many exceptions.

Population Genetics and the Evolution of Geographic Range Limits in an Annual Plant

2011 ◽  
Vol 178 (S1) ◽  
pp. S44-S57 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Moeller ◽  
Monica A. Geber ◽  
Peter Tiffin
Keyword(s):  
Population Genetics ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Limits ◽  
Annual Plant

Biotic Interactions Contribute to the Geographic Range Limit of an Annual Plant: Herbivory and Phenology Mediate Fitness beyond a Range Margin

2019 ◽  
Vol 193 (6) ◽  
pp. 786-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Benning ◽  
Vincent M. Eckhart ◽  
Monica A. Geber ◽  
David A. Moeller
Keyword(s):  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Annual Plant ◽  
Range Limit ◽  
Range Margin

scholarly journals Seasonal quantitative dynamics and ecology of pelagic rotifers in an acidified boreal lake

2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Svein Birger Wærvågen ◽  
Tom Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Seasonal Succession ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Resource Limitation ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Food Competition ◽  
Variance Partitioning ◽  
Boreal Lake ◽  
Rotifer Community

Lake Gjerstadvann is a dimictic, oligotrophic, slightly acidified boreal lake in southern Norway (northwest Europe). The planktonic rotifer community of this lake was studied quantitatively during one year in order to investigate the impacts of the local environment and biotic interactions on seasonal succession and habitat selection. Pure suspension feeders (mainly Keratella spp., Conochilus spp., and Kellicottia longispina) together with raptorial graspers or specialised feeders (mainly Polyarthra spp. and Collotheca spp.) dominated the rotifer community over prolonged periods, whereas carnivorous/omnivorous species (mainly Asplanchna priodonta) were extremely uncommon. Low bicarbonate buffering capacity resulted in a distinctive seasonal oscillating pH between 5.0 and 5.6, defining a special acid-transition lake category. The pH values were highest in the productive period during summer, and lowest during ice break-up coinciding with the peak reactive aluminium concentrations of 250-300 mg L-1. As in typical Norwegian boreal perch lakes, the most abundant cladoceran was Bosmina longispina due to perch predation on the genus Daphnia. Rotifer community structure was significantly related to temperature and oxygen (P=0.001 and P=0.022), illustrating the important effects of the seasonal cycle and vertical density stratification. The most significant competition indicator species were B. longispina and Eudiaptomus gracilis (both with P=0.001). A variance partitioning indicated that 14% of the total community composition variance could only be explained by biotic interactions, while 19% of the variance could be attributed to environmental gradients. Of the variance, 23% could not be resolved between biotic interactions and environmental gradients, while a residual of 44% was not explainable by any of the variables. Acid conditions alone cannot account for all the observed changes in the rotifer community of this lake with low humic content, since resource limitation and food competition are also important factors shaping rotifer population dynamics and the community structure.

Revising geographic distributions of eastern Pacific moray eels

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine E Dale ◽  
Arturo Ramírez-Valdez ◽  
John E McCosker ◽  
Milton S Love
Keyword(s):  
Local Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Eastern Pacific ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Geographic Range Size ◽  
Biogeographic Provinces ◽  
Established Population ◽  
New Occurrences

Under the influence of climate stressors, species distributions of fishes in the eastern Pacific are shifting, with many species moving poleward. Moray eels (family Muraenidae) are ecologically important predators inhabiting coastal reefs. Due to their cryptic nature and lack of commercial importance, the species distributions of muraenids in the tropical and subtropical eastern Pacific are poorly understood. Here, we document the geographic range size of 33 muraenid species in the eastern Pacific and also report a shift in the established population range of Muraena argus based on recent trapping efforts. We found that 17 species demonstrated shifts in geographic range size, including sampled-range expansions and new occurrences at offshore islands. Eleven species were observed in new biogeographic provinces, primarily in the northward direction to the San Diegan province. Trapping data and local knowledge gathered from fishing cooperatives suggest that M. argus has established populations at least 300 km further north than previously reported. Both the yearly number of reported observations and geographic extent of sampling have increased over time, but the number of recorded extensions has not. These results highlight the importance of compiling data from diverse sources (including museum records, local ecological knowledge, and the non-English scientific literature) as well as the continued value of biodiversity surveys in the eastern Pacific.

scholarly journals How to assess species richness along single environmental gradients? Implications of potential versus realized species distributions

2015 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 120-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M.W.J. van Goethem ◽  
Mark A.J. Huijbregts ◽  
G.W. Wieger Wamelink ◽  
Aafke M. Schipper
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Potential Versus ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Species Distributions

scholarly journals Distinguishing the signatures of local environmental filtering and regional trait range limits in the study of trait-environment relationships

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Denelle ◽  
Cyrille Violle ◽  
François Munoz
Keyword(s):  
Community Assembly ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Boundary Effect ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Environmental Filtering ◽  
Range Limits ◽  
Species Pool ◽  
Statistical Tool ◽  
Leaf Trait ◽  
Trait Convergence

AbstractUnderstanding the imprint of environmental filtering on community assembly along environmental gradients is a key objective of trait-gradient analyses. Depending on local constraints, this filtering generally entails that species departing from an optimum trait value have lower abundances in the community. The Community-Weighted Mean (CWM) and Variance (CWV) of trait values are then expected to depict the optimum and intensity of filtering, respectively. However, the trait distribution within the regional species pool and its limits can also affect local CWM and CWV values apart from the effect of environmental filtering. The regional trait range limits are more likely to be reached in communities at the extremes of environmental gradients. Analogous to the mid-domain effect in biogeography, decreasing CWV values in extreme environments can then represent the influence of regional trait range limits rather than stronger filtering in the local environment. We name this effect the “Trait-Gradient Boundary Effect” (TGBE). First, we use a community assembly framework to build simulated communities along a gradient from a species pool and environmental filtering with either constant or varying intensity while accounting for immigration processes. We demonstrate the significant influence of TGBE, in parallel to environmental filtering, on CWM and CWV at the extremes of the environmental gradient. We provide a statistical tool based on Approximate Bayesian Computation to decipher the respective influence of local environmental filtering and regional trait range limits. Second, as a case study, we reanalyze the functional composition of alpine plant communities distributed along a gradient of snow cover duration. We show that leaf trait convergence found in communities at the extremes of the gradient reflect an influence of trait range limits rather than stronger environmental filtering. These findings challenge correlative trait-environment relationships and call for more explicitly identifying the mechanisms responsible of trait convergence/divergence along environmental gradients.

scholarly journals The geographic scaling of biotic interactions

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel B Araújo ◽  
Alejandro Rozenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Scale Dependence ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Species Ranges ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
Resource Interactions ◽  
Occurrence Patterns ◽  
Consumer Resource

A central tenet of ecology and biogeography is that the broad outlines of species ranges are determined by climate, whereas the effects of biotic interactions are manifested at local scales. While the first proposition is supported by ample evidence, the second is still a matter of controversy. To address this question, we develop a mathematical model that predicts the spatial overlap, i.e., co-occurrence, between pairs of species subject to all possible types of interactions. We then identify the scale in which predicted range overlaps are lost. We found that co-occurrence arising from positive interactions, such as mutualism (+/+) and commensalism (+/0), are manifested across scales of resolution. Negative interactions, such as competition (-/-) and amensalism (-/0), generate checkerboard-type co-occurrence patterns that are discernible at finer resolutions. Scale dependence in consumer-resource interactions (+/-) depends on the strength of positive dependencies between species. Our results challenge the widely held view that climate alone is sufficient to characterize species distributions at broad scales, but also demonstrate that the spatial signature of competition is unlikely to be discernible beyond local and regional scales.

Geographic range in Chthamalus along the west coast of North America

2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.P. Wares ◽  
A.E. Castañeda
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Cryptic Species ◽  
Genetic Markers ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
The West ◽  
Barnacle Species ◽  
Range Overlap

Identification of the range boundaries and microgeographic distribution of cryptic species is greatly facilitated by the use of genetic markers. Here we characterize the geographic range overlap between two cryptic species, Chthamalus fissus and C. dalli, and show that as with other barnacle species, their distribution and abundance is probably dictated more by microhabitat characteristics and the presence of conspecifics than broader environmental gradients. We also show that C. dalli appears to be panmictic across the studied range.

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