scholarly journals Spatiotemporal evolution of the global species diversity of Rhododendron

Author(s):  
Xiao-Mei Xia ◽  
Miao-Qin Yang ◽  
Cong-Li Li ◽  
Si-Xin Huang ◽  
Fei Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract How large cosmopolitan plant genera survived great environmental changes and rediversified remains largely unknown. Here we investigated mechanisms underlying the rediversification of Rhododendron, the largest genus of woody plants in the Northern Hemisphere. Using 3437 orthologous nuclear genes, we reconstructed the first completely resolved and dated phylogeny of Rhododendron. We found that most extant species of Rhododendron originated by Neogene rediversification from Paleogene relicts during southern migration. The geographically uneven rediversification of Rhododendron led to a much higher diversity in Asia than in other continents, which was driven by two main environmental variables, i.e., habitat heterogeneity represented by elevation range and annual precipitation related to the Asian monsoons, and can be explained by leaf functional traits that show strong phylogenetic signals and correspond well with leaf-forms and geographical regions. Our study highlights the importance of integrating phylogenomic and ecological analyses in revealing the spatiotemporal evolution of species-rich cosmopolitan plant genera.

Insects ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da-Yeong Lee ◽  
Dae-Seong Lee ◽  
Mi-Jung Bae ◽  
Soon-Jin Hwang ◽  
Seong-Yu Noh ◽  
...  

Odonata species are sensitive to environmental changes, particularly those caused by humans, and provide valuable ecosystem services as intermediate predators in food webs. We aimed: (i) to investigate the distribution patterns of Odonata in streams on a nationwide scale across South Korea; (ii) to evaluate the relationships between the distribution patterns of odonates and their environmental conditions; and (iii) to identify indicator species and the most significant environmental factors affecting their distributions. Samples were collected from 965 sampling sites in streams across South Korea. We also measured 34 environmental variables grouped into six categories: geography, meteorology, land use, substrate composition, hydrology, and physicochemistry. A total of 83 taxa belonging to 10 families of Odonata were recorded in the dataset. Among them, eight species displayed high abundances and incidences. Self-organizing map (SOM) classified sampling sites into seven clusters (A–G) which could be divided into two distinct groups (A–C and D–G) according to the similarities of their odonate assemblages. Clusters A–C were characterized by members of the suborder Anisoptera, whereas clusters D–G were characterized by the suborder Zygoptera. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) identified forest (%), altitude, and cobble (%) in substrata as the most influential environmental factors determining odonate assemblage compositions. Our results emphasize the importance of habitat heterogeneity by demonstrating its effect on odonate assemblages.


Data ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Hyo-Ryeon Kim ◽  
Jae-Hyun Lim ◽  
Ju-Hyoung Kim ◽  
Il-Nam Kim

Marine bacteria, which are known as key drivers for marine biogeochemical cycles and Earth’s climate system, are mainly responsible for the decomposition of organic matter and production of climate-relevant gases (i.e., CO₂, N₂O, and CH₄). However, research is still required to fully understand the correlation between environmental variables and bacteria community composition. Marine bacteria living in the Marian Cove, where the inflow of freshwater has been rapidly increasing due to substantial glacial retreat, must be undergoing significant environmental changes. During the summer of 2018, we conducted a hydrographic survey to collect environmental variables and bacterial community composition data at three different layers (i.e., the seawater surface, middle, and bottom layers) from 15 stations. Of all the bacterial data, 17 different phylum level bacteria and 21 different class level bacteria were found and Proteobacteria occupy 50.3% at phylum level following Bacteroidetes. Gammaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria, which belong to Proteobacteria, are the highest proportion at the class level. Gammaproteobacteria showed the highest relative abundance in all three seawater layers. The collection of environmental variables and bacterial composition data contributes to improving our understanding of the significant relationships between marine Antarctic regions and marine bacteria that lives in the Antarctic.


2015 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 1717-1726 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIANA WOJCIECHOWSKI ◽  
ANDRÉ A. PADIAL

One of the main goals of monitoring cyanobacteria blooms in aquatic environments is to reveal the relationship between cyanobacterial abundance and environmental variables. Studies typically correlate data that were simultaneously sampled. However, samplings occur sparsely over time and may not reveal the short-term responses of cyanobacterial abundance to environmental changes. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that stronger cyanobacteria x environment relationships in monitoring are found when the temporal variability of sampling points is incorporated in the statistical analyses. To this end, we investigated relationships between cyanobacteria and seven environmental variables that were sampled twice yearly for three years across 11 reservoirs, and data from an intensive monitoring in one of these reservoirs. Poor correlations were obtained when correlating data simultaneously sampled. In fact, the 'highly recurrent' role of phosphorus in cyanobacteria blooms is not properly observed in all sampling periods. On the other hand, the strongest correlation values for the total phosphorus x cyanobacteria relationship were observed when we used the variation of sampling points. We have also shown that environment variables better explain cyanobacteria when a time lag is considered. We conclude that, in cyanobacteria monitoring, the best approach to reveal determinants of cyanobacteria blooms is to consider environmental variability.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Antunes Pessoa ◽  
Matheus Tenório Baumgartner ◽  
Marcelo Percilio Santana Junior ◽  
João Paulo Alves Pagotto ◽  
Luiz Gustavo Antunes Pessoa ◽  
...  

Abstract The use and occupation of land by human population substantially influence environmental variables and fish assemblage in streams. However, there is little knowledge on how these changes affect the ecomorphological structure of fish assemblage in mesohabitats. Therefore, we aim to assess whether the land-use types affect the ecomorphological structure of fish assemblage in distinct mesohabitats. Environmental and ichthyofaunistic data were collected in three mesohabitats (rifles, runs, and pools) of five rural and five urban streams. Twenty-one ecomorphological indices were obtained from the mean of linear morphological measurements and areas of the fishes. Subsequently, the Euclidean distance was calculated, based on the ecomorphological indices, between each pair of species, to measure the ecomorphological distances for the mesohabitats of the rural and urban streams. The results show that the urban environment is more harmful to streams than the rural one, due to changes in the environmental variables and decrease in species richness. The main environmental changes found in urban streams were the decrease in canopy cover by riparian vegetation and dissolved oxygen, and the increase in electrical conductivity and bed silting. Also, there was a significant decrease in the morphological similarity between fish species in the mesohabitats of urban streams compared to rural ones. Therefore, we can conclude that the urban environment leads to the loss of morphologically similar fish species in the mesohabitats, with only a few functionally distinct species remaining.


Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Khishigdelger Enkhtur ◽  
Bazartseren Boldgiv ◽  
Martin Pfeiffer

Geometrids are a species-rich group of moths that serve as reliable indicators for environmental changes. Little is known about the Mongolian moth fauna, and there is no comprehensive review of species richness, diversity, and distribution patterns of geometrid moths in the country. Our study aims to review the existing knowledge on geometrid moths in Mongolia. We compiled geometrid moth records from published scientific papers, our own research, and from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to produce a checklist of geometrid moths of Mongolia. Additionally, we analyzed spatial patterns, species richness, and diversity of geometrid moths within 14 ecoregions of Mongolia and evaluated environmental variables for their distribution. In total, we compiled 1973-point records of 388 geometrid species. The most species-rich ecoregion in Mongolia was Daurian Forest Steppe with 142 species. Annual precipitation and maximum temperature of the warmest month were the most important environmental variables that correlated with NMDS axes in an analysis of geometrid assemblages of different ecoregions in Mongolia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1784) ◽  
pp. 20133029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Bock Axelsen ◽  
Susanna Manrubia

Global linguistic diversity (LD) displays highly heterogeneous distribution patterns. Though the origin of the latter is not yet fully understood, remarkable parallelisms with biodiversity distribution suggest that environmental variables should play an essential role in their emergence. In an effort to construct a broad framework to explain world LD and to systematize the available data, we have investigated the significance of 14 variables: landscape roughness, altitude, river density, distance to lakes, seasonal maximum, average and minimum temperature, precipitation and vegetation, and population density. Landscape roughness and river density are the only two variables that universally affect LD. Overall, the considered set accounts for up to 80% of African LD, a figure that decreases for the joint Asia, Australia and the Pacific (69%), Europe (56%) and the Americas (53%). Differences among those regions can be traced down to a few variables that permit an interpretation of their current states of LD. Our processed datasets can be applied to the analysis of correlations in other similar heterogeneous patterns with a broad spatial distribution, the clearest example being biological diversity. The statistical method we have used can be understood as a tool for cross-comparison among geographical regions, including the prediction of spatial diversity in alternative scenarios or in changing environments.


2008 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 507-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary D. Schnell ◽  
Cassie J. Poindexter ◽  
Cornelio Sánchez-Hernández ◽  
María de Lourdes Romero-Almaraz ◽  
Michael L. Kennedy ◽  
...  

In Colima, Mexico, we conducted 8-night mark–recapture grid studies of southern pygmy mice ( Baiomys musculus (Merriam, 1892)) in January 2003–2007 in dry deciduous and tropical moist forests. For 40 000 trap-nights, 436 individuals were captured 764 times (comprising 18.6% of small mammals). The male:female ratio was 1:1.37, 82.9% were adults, 51.4% of females were pregnant or lactating, and coastal animals, on average, were heavier than those inland. Females moved farther than males. Baiomys was on 17 of 25 grids (densities 1.82–106.24 individuals/ha). Moon illumination did not affect capture or recapture probabilities, but trap-night did (overall, probability increased 1.66%/night). Grids with Baiomys had less bare ground and a more open canopy. Capture sites had more grass, less dead wood and bare ground, a more open and lower canopy, and greater distance to trees. Logistic regression indicated coastal capture sites had more forbs, grasses, and woody plants, and thicker vegetation at 1 m height with trees being relatively distant. Variables differed somewhat for northern sites, and the equation for all grids included 10 of 14 environmental variables. Baiomys frequented edge of an unimproved road traversing one grid. Baiomys musculus, widespread in Colima, exhibited preference for habitats with relatively dense ground cover and at least a partially open canopy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alienor Jeliazkov ◽  
Darko Mijatovic ◽  
Stéphane Chantepie ◽  
Nigel Andrew ◽  
Raphaël Arlettaz ◽  
...  

AbstractThe use of functional information in the form of species traits plays an important role in explaining biodiversity patterns and responses to environmental changes. Although relationships between species composition, their traits, and the environment have been extensively studied on a case-by-case basis, results are variable, and it remains unclear how generalizable these relationships are across ecosystems, taxa and spatial scales. To address this gap, we collated 80 datasets from trait-based studies into a global database for metaCommunity Ecology: Species, Traits, Environment and Space; “CESTES”. Each dataset includes four matrices: species community abundances or presences/absences across multiple sites, species trait information, environmental variables and spatial coordinates of the sampling sites. The CESTES database is a live database: it will be maintained and expanded in the future as new datasets become available. By its harmonized structure, and the diversity of ecosystem types, taxonomic groups, and spatial scales it covers, the CESTES database provides an important opportunity for synthetic trait-based research in community ecology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Landis ◽  
Deren A R Eaton ◽  
Wendy L Clement ◽  
Brian Park ◽  
Elizabeth L Spriggs ◽  
...  

Abstract Phylogeny, molecular sequences, fossils, biogeography, and biome occupancy are all lines of evidence that reflect the singular evolutionary history of a clade, but they are most often studied separately, by first inferring a fossil-dated molecular phylogeny, then mapping on ancestral ranges and biomes inferred from extant species. Here we jointly model the evolution of biogeographic ranges, biome affinities, and molecular sequences, while incorporating fossils to estimate a dated phylogeny for all of the 163 extant species of the woody plant clade Viburnum (Adoxaceae) that we currently recognize in our ongoing worldwide monographic treatment of the group. Our analyses indicate that while the major Viburnum lineages evolved in the Eocene, the majority of extant species originated since the Miocene. Viburnum radiated first in Asia, in warm, broad-leaved evergreen (lucidophyllous) forests. Within Asia, we infer several early shifts into more tropical forests, and multiple shifts into forests that experience prolonged freezing. From Asia, we infer two early movements into the New World. These two lineages probably first occupied warm temperate forests and adapted later to spreading cold climates. One of these lineages (Porphyrotinus) occupied cloud forests and moved south through the mountains of the Neotropics. Several other movements into North America took place more recently, facilitated by prior adaptations to freezing in the Old World. We also infer four disjunctions between Asia and Europe: the Tinus lineage is the oldest and probably occupied warm forests when it spread, whereas the other three were more recent and in cold-adapted lineages. These results variously contradict published accounts, especially the view that Viburnum radiated initially in cold forests and, accordingly, maintained vessel elements with scalariform perforations. We explored how the location and biome assignments of fossils affected our inference of ancestral areas and biome states. Our results are sensitive to, but not entirely dependent upon, the inclusion of fossil biome data. It will be critical to take advantage of all available lines of evidence to decipher events in the distant past. The joint estimation approach developed here provides cautious hope even when fossil evidence is limited. [Biogeography; biome; combined evidence; fossil pollen; phylogeny; Viburnum.]


Archaea ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
María del Rocío Torres-Alvarado ◽  
Francisco José Fernández ◽  
Florina Ramírez Vives ◽  
Francisco Varona-Cordero

Methanogenesis may represent a key process in the terminal phases of anaerobic organic matter mineralization in sediments of coastal lagoons. The aim of the present work was to study the temporal and spatial dynamics of methanogenic archaea in sediments of tropical coastal lagoons and their relationship with environmental changes in order to determine how these influence methanogenic community. Sediment samples were collected during the dry (February, May, and early June) and rainy seasons (July, October, and November). Microbiological analysis included the quantification of viable methanogenic archaea (MA) with three substrates and the evaluation of kinetic activity from acetate in the presence and absence of sulfate. The environmental variables assessed were temperature, pH, Eh, salinity, sulfate, solids content, organic carbon, and carbohydrates. MA abundance was significantly higher in the rainy season (106–107 cells/g) compared with the dry season (104–106 cells/g), with methanol as an important substrate. At spatial level, MA were detected in the two layers analyzed, and no important variations were observed either in MA abundance or activity. Salinity, sulfate, solids, organic carbon, and Eh were the environmental variables related to methanogenic community. A conceptual model is proposed to explain the dynamics of the MA.


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