scholarly journals A process-based metacommunity framework linking local and regional scale community ecology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick L. Thompson ◽  
Laura Melissa Guzman ◽  
Luc De Meester ◽  
Zsófia Horváth ◽  
Robert Ptacnik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Model ◽  
Community Ecology ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Data Accessibility ◽  
Species Sorting ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Underlying Processes

AbstractThe metacommunity concept has the potential to integrate local and regional dynamics within a general community ecology framework. To this end, the concept must move beyond the discrete archetypes that have largely defined it (e.g. neutral vs. species sorting) and better incorporate local scale species interactions and coexistence mechanisms. Here, we present a fundamental reconception of the framework that explicitly links local coexistence theory to the spatial processes inherent to metacommunity theory, allowing for a continuous range of competitive community dynamics. These dynamics emerge from the three underlying processes that shape ecological communities: 1) density-independent responses to abiotic conditions, 2) density-dependent biotic interactions, and 3) dispersal. Stochasticity is incorporated in the demographic realization of each of these processes. We formalize this framework using a simulation model that explores a wide range of competitive metacommunity dynamics by varying the strength of the underlying processes. Using this model and framework, we show how existing theories, including the traditional metacommunity archetypes, are linked by this common set of processes. We then use the model to generate new hypotheses about how the three processes combine to interactively shape diversity, functioning, and stability within metacommunities.Statement of authorshipThis project was conceived at the sTURN working group, of which all authors are members. PLT developed the framework and model with input from all authors. PLT wrote the model code. PLT and LMG performed the simulations. PLT produced the figures and wrote the first draft with input from LMG and JMC. All authors provided feedback and edits on several versions of the manuscript.Data accessibilityAll code for running the simulation model and producing the figures is archived on Zenodo - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3833035.

scholarly journals Biotic rescaling reveals importance of species interactions for variation in biodiversity responses to climate change

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (37) ◽  
pp. 22858-22865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vigdis Vandvik ◽  
Olav Skarpaas ◽  
Kari Klanderud ◽  
Richard J. Telford ◽  
Aud H. Halbritter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Climate Gradients ◽  
Climate Change Responses ◽  
Local Extinctions ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Underlying Processes

Generality in understanding biodiversity responses to climate change has been hampered by substantial variation in the rates and even directions of response to a given change in climate. We propose that such context dependencies can be clarified by rescaling climate gradients in terms of the underlying biological processes, with biotic interactions as a particularly important process. We tested this rescaling approach in a replicated field experiment where entire montane grassland communities were transplanted in the direction of expected temperature and/or precipitation change. In line with earlier work, we found considerable variation across sites in community dynamics in response to climate change. However, these complex context dependencies could be substantially reduced or eliminated by rescaling climate drivers in terms of proxies of plant−plant interactions. Specifically, bryophytes limited colonization by new species into local communities, whereas the cover of those colonists, along with bryophytes, were the primary drivers of local extinctions. These specific interactions are relatively understudied, suggesting important directions for future work in similar systems. More generally, the success of our approach in explaining and simplifying landscape-level variation in climate change responses suggests that developing and testing proxies for relevant underlying processes could be a fruitful direction for building more general models of biodiversity response to climate change.

scholarly journals A Holling Functional Response Model for Mapping QTLs Governing Interspecific Interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Yu Zhang ◽  
Huiying Gong ◽  
Qing Fang ◽  
Xuli Zhu ◽  
Libo Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Response Model ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Dynamic Complexity ◽  
Genome Level

Genes play an important role in community ecology and evolution, but how to identify the genes that affect community dynamics at the whole genome level is very challenging. Here, we develop a Holling type II functional response model for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that govern interspecific interactions. The model, integrated with generalized Lotka-Volterra differential dynamic equations, shows a better capacity to reveal the dynamic complexity of inter-species interactions than classic competition models. By applying the new model to a published mapping data from a competition experiment of two microbial species, we identify a set of previously uncharacterized QTLs that are specifically responsible for microbial cooperation and competition. The model can not only characterize how these QTLs affect microbial interactions, but also address how change in ecological interactions activates the genetic effects of the QTLs. This model provides a quantitative means of predicting the genetic architecture that shapes the dynamic behavior of ecological communities.

scholarly journals Idea Paper: improving forecasts of community composition with lightweight biodiversity monitoring across ecological and anthropogenic disturbance gradients

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie M. Kass ◽  
Nao Takashina ◽  
Nicholas Friedman ◽  
Buntarou Kusumoto ◽  
Mary E. Blair
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Geographic Patterns ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Community Data ◽  
Passive Sensors ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Management And Conservation

Accurate and up-to-date biodiversity forecasts enable robust planning for environmental management and conservation of landscapes under a wide range of uses. Future predictions of the species composition of ecological communities complement more frequently reported species richness estimates to better characterize the different dimensions of biodiversity. The models that make community composition forecasts are calibrated with data on species’ geographic patterns for the present, which may not be good proxies for future patterns. The future establishment of novel communities represents data on species interactions unaccounted for by these models. However, detecting them in a systematic way presents challenges due to the lack of monitoring data for landscapes with high environmental turnover, where such communities are likely to establish. Here, we propose lightweight monitoring over both ecological and anthropogenic disturbance gradients using passive sensors (i.e., those that operate continuously without much human input) to detect novel communities with the aim of updating models that make community composition forecasts. Monitoring over these two gradients should maximize detection of novel communities and improve understanding of relationships between community composition and environmental change. Further, barriers regarding cost and effort are reduced by using relatively few sensors requiring minimal upkeep. Ongoing updates to community composition forecasts based on novel community data and better understanding of the associated uncertainty should improve future decision-making for both resource management and conservation efforts.

scholarly journals Scale Expansion of Community Investigations and Integration of the Effects of Abiotic and Biotic Processes on Maintenance of Species Diversity

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Zhenhong Wang ◽  
Ming Zhang ◽  
Junfeng Yu ◽  
Ruicong Jiang ◽  
Xiaolu Yin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Community Ecology ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Successional Stage ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
Local Site ◽  
Pool Level ◽  
Scale Expansion

Information on the maintenance of diversity patterns from regional to local scales is dispersed among academic fields due to the local focus of community ecology. To better understand these patterns, the study of ecological communities needs to be expanded to larger scales and the various processes affecting them need to be integrated using a suitable quantitative method. We determined a range of communities on a flora-subregional scale in Yunnan province, China (383210.02 km2). A series of species pools were delimited from the regional to plot scales. Plant diversity was evaluated and abiotic and biotic processes identified at each pool level. The species pool effect was calculated using an innovative model, and the contribution of these processes to the maintenance of plant species diversity was determined and integrated: climate had the greatest effect at the flora-subregional scale, with historical and evolutionary processes contributing ∼11%; climate and human disturbance had the greatest effect at the local site pool scale; competition exclusion and stress limitation explained strong filtering at the successional stage pool scale; biotic processes contributed more on the local community scale than on the regional scale. Scale expansion combined with the filtering model approach solves the local problem in community ecology.

scholarly journals Analyzing ecological networks of species interactions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Delmas ◽  
Mathilde Besson ◽  
Marie-Hélène Brice ◽  
Laura A. Burkle ◽  
Giulio V. Dalla Riva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Ecology ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Ecological Networks ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Good Practices ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
General Overview

Networks provide one of the best representations for ecological communities, composed of many species with sometimes complex connections between them. Yet the methodological literature allowing one to analyze and extract meaning from ecological networks is dense, fragmented, and unwelcoming. We provide a general overview to the field of using networks in community ecology, outlining both the intent of the different measures, their assumptions, and the contexts in which they can be used. When methodologically justified, we suggest good practices to use in the analysis of ecological networks. We anchor this synopsis with examples from empirical studies, and conclude by highlighting what identified as needed future developments in the field.

scholarly journals Can constraint closure provide a generalized understanding of community dynamics in ecosystems?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Peck ◽  
Andrew Heiss
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Formation ◽  
Simulation Model ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Evolutionary Constraints ◽  
Computer Simulation Model ◽  
Ecosystem Stability ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Evolutionary Forces

AbstractSince the inception of the discipline, understanding causal complexity in ecological communities has been a challenge. Here we draw insights from recent work on constraint closure that suggests ways of grappling with ecological complexity that yield generalizable theoretical insights. Using a set of evolutionary constraints on species flow through ecological communities, which include: selection, species drift, dispersal, and speciation, combined with multispecies interactions such as mutualistic interactions, and abiotic constraints, we demonstrate how constraint closure allows communities to emerge as semi-autonomous structures. Here we develop an agent-based model to explore how evolutionary constraints provide stability to ecological communities. The model is written in Netlogo, an agent based-modeling system, with advanced tools for manipulating spatially structured models and tools for tracking pattern formation. We articulate ways that ecological pattern formation, viewed through the lens of constraint closure, informs questions about stability and turnover in community ecology. The role of the chosen constraints was clear from the simulation results. It took the shape of both inducing stability and creating conditions for a more dynamic community with increases in species turnover through time. Key ecological and evolutionary variables showed overall stability in the landscape structure when plotted against the number of constraints, suggesting that these evolutionary forces act as constraints to the flow of species in such a way that constraint closure is achieved effecting semi-autonomy.Author SummaryEcosystems are among the most complex structures studied. They comprise elements that seem both stable and contingent. The stability of these systems depends on interactions among their evolutionary history, including the accidents of organisms moving through the landscape and microhabitats of the earth, and the biotic and abiotic conditions in which they occur. When ecosystems are stable, how is that achieved? Here we look at ecosystem stability through a computer simulation model that suggests that it may depend on what constrains the system and how those constraints are structured. Specifically, if the constraints found in an ecological community form a closed loop, that allows particular kinds of feedback may give structure to the ecosystem processes for a period of time. In this simulation model, we look at how evolutionary forces act in such a way these closed constraint loops may form. This may explain some kinds of ecosystem stability. This work will also be valuable to ecological theorists in understanding general ideas of stability in such systems.

scholarly journals An invasive herbivore structures plant competitive dynamics

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 20170374
Author(s):  
Lydia Wong ◽  
Tess Nahanni Grainger ◽  
Denon Start ◽  
Benjamin Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Aphid Species ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Species Invasions

Species interactions are central to our understanding of ecological communities, but may change rapidly with the introduction of invasive species. Invasive species can alter species interactions and community dynamics directly by having larger detrimental effects on some species than others, or indirectly by changing the ways in which native species compete among themselves. We tested the direct and indirect effects of an invasive aphid herbivore on a native aphid species and two host milkweed species. The invasive aphid caused a 10-fold decrease in native aphid populations, and a 30% increase in plant mortality (direct effects). The invasive aphid also increased the strength of interspecific competition between the two native plant hosts (indirect effects). By investigating the role that indirect effects play in shaping species interactions in native communities, our study highlights an understudied component of species invasions.

Concepts and Methods of Community Ecology Applied to Freshwater Fisheries Management

1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (S2) ◽  
pp. s448-s470 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. O. Evans ◽  
B. A. Henderson ◽  
N. J. Bax ◽  
T. R. Marshall ◽  
R. T. Oglesby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Ecology ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Resource Partitioning ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Fish Communities ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Space And Time

In this paper we review selected theory, hypotheses, and methods of community ecology with reference to fisheries management. Community ecology is concerned with theoretical and empirical studies of the behavior of species assemblages over space and time. Ideas that have evolved from these types of studies concerning hierarchical organization, resource partitioning, food webs, structural integration, stability, complexity, and production and their relevance to fisheries management are discussed. One main conclusion confirmed by the ASPY Symposium is that the productivity of fish communities is determined by energy inputs, nutrients, edaphic factors, and habitat variables but that the distribution of the production by species is strongly influenced by interactions between species. A related conclusion is that species interactions are size dependent because of morphological, physiological, and behavioral constraints on predator–prey relationships, resulting in a hierarchical organization. Further, density-dependent interactions (predation, competition) within and between species influence growth rates, size distributions, and age-specific mortality and reproductive rates, and vice versa. Anthropogenic factors such as fishing, nutrient enrichment, introduction of exotic species, and chemical contaminants tend to act differentially at the level of species, but due to interdependencies between species their effects are propagated at the community level by disrupting its size- and niche-structured organization. Fish communities can be managed as relatively discrete functional units, but dependency on whole system dynamics ultimately necessitates an ecosystem perspective. Development of a more quantitative theory of fish community dynamics will require improved descriptions of species interactions (food web structure, ontogenetic histories, resource partitioning, and body size dependency), better characterization of complexity, stability, and successional change in fish communities, additional knowledge of energy transfer through aquatic ecosystems, and improved methods of estimating biomass distributions in fish communities. Comparative studies over space and time and experimental and adaptive management are appropriate ways for fishery scientists and managers to acquire this knowledge.

scholarly journals A novel inference of the fundamental biodiversity number for multiple immigration-limited communities

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Champak Beeravolu Reddy ◽  
François Munoz ◽  
Pierre Couteron
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Parameter Inference ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Ordination Techniques ◽  
Community Theory ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Field Plots ◽  
Permanent Field

Neutral community theory postulates a fundamental quantity, θ, which reflects the species diversity on a regional scale. While the recent genealogical formulation of community dynamics has considerably enhanced quantitative neutral ecology, its inferential aspects have remained computationally prohibitive. Here, we make use of a generalized version of the original two-level hierarchical framework in order to define a novel estimator for θ, which proves to be computationally efficient and robust when tested on a wide range of simulated neutral communities. Estimating θ from field data is also illustrated using two tropical forest datasets consisting of spatially separated permanent field plots. Preliminary results also reveal that our inferred regional diversity parameter based on community dynamics may be linked to widely used ordination techniques in ecology. This paper essentially paves the way for future work dealing with the parameter inference of neutral communities with respect to their spatial scale and structure.

scholarly journals Emergent phases of ecological diversity and dynamics mapped in microcosms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiliang Hu ◽  
Daniel R. Amor ◽  
Matthieu Barbier ◽  
Guy Bunin ◽  
Jeff Gore
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Stable Equilibrium ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Ecological Diversity ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Complex Systems Theory ◽  
Microbial Ecosystems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Emergent Behaviors

Natural ecological communities display striking features, such as high biodiversity and a wide range of dynamics, that have been difficult to explain in a unified framework. Using experimental bacterial microcosms, we perform the first direct test of recent complex systems theory predicting that simple aggregate parameters dictate emergent behaviors of the community. As either the number of species or the strength of species interactions is increased, we show that microbial ecosystems transition between distinct qualitative dynamical phases in the predicted order, from a stable equilibrium where all species coexist, to partial coexistence, to emergence of persistent fluctuations in species abundance. Under the same conditions, high biodiversity and fluctuations allow and require each other. Our results demonstrate predictable emergent diversity and dynamics in ecological communities.

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