scholarly journals Global pattern of phytoplankton diversity driven by temperature and environmental variability

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. eaau6253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damiano Righetti ◽  
Meike Vogt ◽  
Nicolas Gruber ◽  
Achilleas Psomas ◽  
Niklaus E. Zimmermann

Despite their importance to ocean productivity, global patterns of marine phytoplankton diversity remain poorly characterized. Although temperature is considered a key driver of general marine biodiversity, its specific role in phytoplankton diversity has remained unclear. We determined monthly phytoplankton species richness by using niche modeling and >540,000 global phytoplankton observations to predict biogeographic patterns of 536 phytoplankton species. Consistent with metabolic theory, phytoplankton richness in the tropics is about three times that in higher latitudes, with temperature being the most important driver. However, below 19°C, richness is lower than expected, with ~8°– 14°C waters (~35° to 60° latitude) showing the greatest divergence from theoretical predictions. Regions of reduced richness are characterized by maximal species turnover and environmental variability, suggesting that the latter reduces species richness directly, or through enhancing competitive exclusion. The nonmonotonic relationship between phytoplankton richness and temperature suggests unanticipated complexity in responses of marine biodiversity to ocean warming.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J Costello ◽  
Tri Arifanti ◽  
Chhaya Chaudhary ◽  
Dinusha Jayathilake ◽  
Han-Yang Lin ◽  
...  

Understanding biodiversity at local and regional requires a global context. This talk presents the global pattern of marine species richness and endemicity, including latitude and depth. We compare maps of marine species endemicity across all taxa (65,000 species), and particular taxa (razor clams, amphipods, polychaetes, seagrass, jellyfish, bryozoans, fish), with a new map of marine ecosystems based on analysis of 20 environmental variables. We show how species richness increases with temperature but dips at the equator, and decreases with depth. Thirty biogeographic realms are distinguished based on species endemicity, with more in coastal than offshore areas. Species richness and endemicity are higher in benthic than pelagic taxa, and macro- than micro- and mega-fauna. However, we should expect individual taxa to vary from these overall patterns due to their evolutionary origins and competition with other taxa; and patterns within geographic regions to vary due to constancy of some environmental variables (e.g. temperature) and local scale habitat variation. Thus nesting of taxon and regional studies within this global context may indicate how ecological interactions have shaped the global evolution of marine biodiversity.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J Costello ◽  
Tri Arifanti ◽  
Chhaya Chaudhary ◽  
Dinusha Jayathilake ◽  
Han-Yang Lin ◽  
...  

Understanding biodiversity at local and regional requires a global context. This talk presents the global pattern of marine species richness and endemicity, including latitude and depth. We compare maps of marine species endemicity across all taxa (65,000 species), and particular taxa (razor clams, amphipods, polychaetes, seagrass, jellyfish, bryozoans, fish), with a new map of marine ecosystems based on analysis of 20 environmental variables. We show how species richness increases with temperature but dips at the equator, and decreases with depth. Thirty biogeographic realms are distinguished based on species endemicity, with more in coastal than offshore areas. Species richness and endemicity are higher in benthic than pelagic taxa, and macro- than micro- and mega-fauna. However, we should expect individual taxa to vary from these overall patterns due to their evolutionary origins and competition with other taxa; and patterns within geographic regions to vary due to constancy of some environmental variables (e.g. temperature) and local scale habitat variation. Thus nesting of taxon and regional studies within this global context may indicate how ecological interactions have shaped the global evolution of marine biodiversity.


Author(s):  
Mauro Gobbi ◽  
Valeria Lencioni

Carabid beetles and chironomid midges are two dominant cold-adapted taxa, respectively on glacier forefiel terrains and in glacial-stream rivers. Although their sensitivity to high altitude climate warming is well known, no studies compare the species assemblages exhibited in glacial systems. Our study compares diversity and distributional patterns of carabids and chironomids in the foreland of the receding Amola glacier in central-eastern Italian Alps. Carabids were sampled by pitfall traps; chironomids by kick sampling in sites located at the same distance from the glacier as the terrestrial ones. The distance from the glacier front was considered as a proxy for time since deglaciation since these variables are positively correlated. We tested if the distance from the glacier front affects: i) the species richness; ii) taxonomic diversity; and iii) species turnover. Carabid species richness and taxonomic diversity increased positively from recently deglaciated sites (those c. 160 m from the glacier front) to sites deglaciated more than 160yrs ago (those located >1300 m from glacier front). Species distributions along the glacier foreland were characterized by mutually exclusive species. Conversely, no pattern in chironomid species richness and turnover was observed. Interestingly, taxonomic diversity increased significantly: closely related species were found near the glacier front, while the most taxonomically diverse species assemblages were found distant from the glacier front. Increasing glacial retreat differently affect epigeic and aquatic insect taxa: carabids respond faster to glacier retreat than do chironomids, at least in species richness and species turnover patterns.


The Condor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle D Kittelberger ◽  
Montague H C Neate-Clegg ◽  
Evan R Buechley ◽  
Çağan Hakkı Şekercioğlu

Abstract Tropical mountains are global hotspots for birdlife. However, there is a dearth of baseline avifaunal data along elevational gradients, particularly in Africa, limiting our ability to observe and assess changes over time in tropical montane avian communities. In this study, we undertook a multi-year assessment of understory birds along a 1,750 m elevational gradient (1,430–3,186 m) in an Afrotropical moist evergreen montane forest within Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains. Analyzing 6 years of systematic bird-banding data from 5 sites, we describe the patterns of species richness, abundance, community composition, and demographic rates over space and time. We found bimodal patterns in observed and estimated species richness across the elevational gradient (peaking at 1,430 and 2,388 m), although no sites reached asymptotic species richness throughout the study. Species turnover was high across the gradient, though forested sites at mid-elevations resembled each other in species composition. We found significant variation across sites in bird abundance in some of the dietary and habitat guilds. However, we did not find any significant trends in species richness or guild abundances over time. For the majority of analyzed species, capture rates did not change over time and there were no changes in species’ mean elevations. Population growth rates, recruitment rates, and apparent survival rates averaged 1.02, 0.52, and 0.51 respectively, and there were no elevational patterns in demographic rates. This study establishes a multi-year baseline for Afrotropical birds along an elevational gradient in an under-studied international biodiversity hotspot. These data will be critical in assessing the long-term responses of tropical montane birdlife to climate change and habitat degradation.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Ya-Ping Liu ◽  
Sheng-Tao Fang ◽  
Zhen-Zhen Shi ◽  
Bin-Gui Wang ◽  
Xiao-Nian Li ◽  
...  

Three new phenylhydrazones, penoxahydrazones A–C (compounds 1–3), and two new quinazolines, penoxazolones A (compound 4) and B (compound 5), with unique linkages were isolated from the fungus Penicillium oxalicum obtained from the deep sea cold seep. Their structures and relative configurations were assigned by analysis of 1D/2D NMR and mass spectroscopic data, and the absolute configurations of 1, 4, and 5 were established on the basis of X-ray crystallography or ECD calculations. Compound 1 represents the first natural phenylhydrazone-bearing steroid, while compounds 2 and 3 are rarely occurring phenylhydrazone tautomers. Compounds 4 and 5 are enantiomers that feature quinazoline and cinnamic acid units. Some isolates exhibited inhibition of several marine phytoplankton species and marine-derived bacteria.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corrado Battisti ◽  
Marco Giardini ◽  
Francesca Marini ◽  
Lorena Di Rocco ◽  
Giuseppe Dodaro ◽  
...  

We reported a study on breeding birds occurring inside an 80 m-deep karst sinkhole, with the characterization of the assemblages recorded along its semi-vertical slopes from the upper edge until the bottom. The internal sides of the sinkhole have been vertically subdivided in four belts about 20 m high. The highest belt (at the upper edge of the cenote) showed the highest values in mean number of bird detections, mean and normalized species richness, and Shannon diversity index. The averaged values of number of detections and species richness significantly differ among belts. Species turnover (Cody’s β-diversity) was maximum between the highest belts. Whittaker plots showed a marked difference among assemblages shaping from broken-stick model to geometric series, and explicited a spatial progressive stress with a disruption in evenness towards the deepest belts. Bird assemblages evidenced a nested subset structure with deeper belts containing successive subsets of the species occurring in the upper belts. We hypothesize that, at least during the daytime in breeding season, the observed non-random distribution of species along the vertical stratification is likely due to (i) the progressive simplification both of the floristic composition and vegetation structure, and (ii) the paucity of sunlight as resources from the upper edge to the inner side of the cenote.


2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1582) ◽  
pp. 3256-3264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Woodcock ◽  
David P. Edwards ◽  
Tom M. Fayle ◽  
Rob J. Newton ◽  
Chey Vun Khen ◽  
...  

South East Asia is widely regarded as a centre of threatened biodiversity owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to agriculture. In particular, forests degraded by repeated rounds of intensive logging are viewed as having little conservation value and are afforded meagre protection from conversion to oil palm. Here, we determine the biological value of such heavily degraded forests by comparing leaf-litter ant communities in unlogged (natural) and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. We accounted for impacts of logging on habitat heterogeneity by comparing species richness and composition at four nested spatial scales, and examining how species richness was partitioned across the landscape in each habitat. We found that twice-logged forest had fewer species occurrences, lower species richness at small spatial scales and altered species composition compared with natural forests. However, over 80 per cent of species found in unlogged forest were detected within twice-logged forest. Moreover, greater species turnover among sites in twice-logged forest resulted in identical species richness between habitats at the largest spatial scale. While two intensive logging cycles have negative impacts on ant communities, these degraded forests clearly provide important habitat for numerous species and preventing their conversion to oil palm and other crops should be a conservation priority.


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