scholarly journals It’s All about the Zone: Spider Assemblages in Different Ecological Zones of Levantine Caves

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 576
Author(s):  
Jordan P. Cuff ◽  
Shlomi Aharon ◽  
Igor Armiach Steinpress ◽  
Merav Seifan ◽  
Yael Lubin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Common Species ◽  
Species Pool ◽  
Assemblage Composition ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Dark Zone ◽  
Rapid Speciation ◽  
Cave Entrance ◽  
Composition And Structure ◽  
Regional Species Pool

Caves possess a continuum of ecological zones that differ in their microhabitat conditions, resulting in a gradient of nutrients, climate, and illumination. These conditions engender relatively rapid speciation and diverse assemblages of highly specialised spider fauna. It is unclear, however, how zonation of these caves affects spider assemblage composition and structure. Surveys of 35 Levantine caves were conducted to compare the assemblages of spiders between their different ecological zones. The diverse spider assemblages of these caves differed between the entrance, twilight, and dark zones, with troglophiles and accidental species occupying the cave entrance, endemic troglobites occupying the dark zones, and hybrid assemblages existing in the twilight zones. The progression of assemblage composition and divergence throughout cave zones is suggestive of processes of ecological specialisation, speciation, and adaptation of cave-endemic troglobites in the deepest zones of caves, while cave entrance assemblages are composed of relatively common species that can also be found in epigean habitats. Moreover, the cave entrance zone assemblages in our study were similar in the different caves, while the cave dark zone assemblages were relatively distinct between caves. Cave entrance assemblages are a subset of the regional species pool filtered by the cave conditions, while dark zone assemblages are likely a result of adaptations leading to local speciation events.

MIOCENE NERITIC BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, CALVERT CLIFFS, MARYLAND, USA: SPECIES POOL, PATTERNS AND PROCESSES

Palaios ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 247-259
Author(s):  
STEPHEN J. CULVER ◽  
SETH R. SUTTON ◽  
DAVID J. MALLINSON ◽  
MARTIN A. BUZAS ◽  
MARCI M. ROBINSON ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Benthic Foraminifera ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Species Pool ◽  
Regional Species Pool ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Climate Transition

ABSTRACT The presence/absence and abundance of benthic foraminifera in successive discrete beds (Shattuck “zones”) of the Miocene Calvert and Choptank formations, exposed at the Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA, allows for investigation of community dynamics over space and time. The stratigraphic distribution of benthic foraminifera is documented and interpreted in the context of sea-level change, sequence stratigraphy, and the previously published distribution of mollusks. Neritic benthic foraminiferal communities of four sea-level cycles over ∼4 million years of the middle Miocene, encompassing the Miocene Climatic Optimum and the succeeding middle Miocene Climate Transition, are dominated by the same abundant species. They differ in the varying abundance of common species that occur throughout most of the studied section and in the different rare species that appear and disappear. Transgressive systems tracts (TSTs) have higher species diversity than highstand systems tracts (HSTs) but much lower density of specimens. In contrast to some previous research, all beds in the studied section are interpreted as being from the inner part of a broad, low gradient shelf and were deposited at water depths of less than ∼50 m. It is suggested that species are recruited from a regional species pool of propagules throughout the duration of TSTs. Recruitment is curtailed during highstands leading to lower diversity in the HSTs.

scholarly journals Species ethnobotanical values rather than regional species pool determine plant diversity in agroforestry systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel K. N’Woueni ◽  
Orou G. Gaoue
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Agroforestry Systems ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Species Pool ◽  
Higher Plant ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Regional Species Pool

AbstractThe conversion of natural systems into farms and agroecosystems is the main cause of biodiversity loss. In human-dominated landscapes, understanding the interactions between agroforestry systems and adjacent natural vegetation is fundamental to developing sustainable agricultural systems. Species can move between these two systems with natural systems providing the regional pool of species that shape the agricultural values and conservation value of the agroforestry systems. We investigated the influence of neighboring natural habitats on traditional agroforestry systems in the buffer zone of Pendjari Biosphere Reserve in Benin to understand the contribution of regional processes on the quality of agroforestry systems. We expected that agroforestry parklands adjacent to natural vegetation with high species diversity will also have higher plant species diversity. We found no similarity in plant species composition between agroforestry systems and adjacent natural habitats. A small proportion of species in adjacent natural habitats were found in agroforestry systems. The proportion of shared species was not significantly influenced by plant diversity in adjacent natural habitats or the distance from the agroforestry systems to the natural adjacent habitat. However, plant diversity in agroforestry systems was strongly associated with site ethnobotanical values indicating that farmers act as a supplemental but severe environmental filter of the regional species pool. Our study suggests that promoting the plantation of plants with high ethnobotanical use-value is a potentially viable strategy for sustainable agriculture and ecological restoration in Biosphere reserves.

Community assembly and species traits

2019 ◽  
pp. 231-246
Author(s):  
Gary G. Mittelbach ◽  
Brian J. McGill
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Species Pool ◽  
Environmental Filters ◽  
Abiotic Environment ◽  
Local Site ◽  
Powerful Approach ◽  
Regional Species Pool

There is perhaps no more fundamental question in ecology than what determines the number and kinds of species found in a community and their relative abundances. This chapter lays out a powerful approach to answering this question, based on the concepts of a regional species pool and environmental filters. The species pool is the set of species that could potentially colonize a local site or community. Of these potential colonists, some species are limited in their ability to disperse to site, some are limited by their ability to survive the abiotic environment, and some are limited by their interactions with other species. These “filters” act individually or in concert, and the functional traits of species determine their success in passing through these filters to colonize a local site. There is growing empirical evidence that both abiotic and biotic processes select for specific functional traits. Focusing on the functional traits of species may lead to rules of community assembly that are general and help unify a variety of more specific theories.

Can long-distance dispersal shape the local and regional species pool?

2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Zobel ◽  
Merit Otsus ◽  
Kai Rünk ◽  
Jaan Liira
Keyword(s):  
Species Pool ◽  
Long Distance Dispersal ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Regional Species Pool

scholarly journals Different Effects of Regional Species Pool on Plant Diversity between Forest and Grassland Biomes in Arid Northwest China

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. e0131982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liping Li ◽  
Yining Liu ◽  
Xiangping Wang ◽  
Jingyun Fang ◽  
Qingchun Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Species Pool ◽  
Regional Species Pool ◽  
Arid Northwest China

The Context of Early Southeastern Prehistoric Cave Art: A Report on the Archaeology of 3rd Unnamed Cave

1998 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 663-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan F. Simek ◽  
Jay D. Franklin ◽  
Sarah C. Sherwood
Keyword(s):  
Lithic Technology ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Dark Zone ◽  
Cave Entrance ◽  
Karst Cavern ◽  
Age Determinations ◽  
Cave Art

In the deep recesses of “3rd Unnamed Cave,” a karst cavern in Tennessee, evidence for an ancient association between dark zone cave art and chert mining has recently been documented. The art comprises petroglyphs on the ceiling of a chamber more than 1 km from the cave entrance. On the floor below the art, natural sediments were excavated prehistorically to obtain high-quality chert nodules. Radiocarbon age determinations place the mining during the Terminal Archaic period. Studies in lithic technology, geoarchaeology, and petroglyph description are presented.

scholarly journals Predicting climate change effects on marine biodiversity: comparison of recent and fossil molluscan death assemblages

2002 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 847-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.M. Warwick ◽  
S.M. Turk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Sandy Beach ◽  
Species Pool ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Taxonomic Distinctness ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Regional Species Pool

The death assemblage of molluscs (gastropods and bivalves) from the sandy beach at Harlyn Bay, north Cornwall is shown to be fully representative of the biodiversity of the regional species pool from all habitat types. The biodiversity measures used are average taxonomic distinctness (Δ+, the average degree to which species in an assemblage are related to each other) and variation in taxonomic distinctness (Λ+, the evenness of the spread of taxa across the taxonomic spectrum). A late Pliocene fossil assemblage of molluscs from St Erth Pits, north Cornwall, UK, is also not significantly different in biodiversity, in these terms, from the present-day regional species pool. The climate in the late Pliocene was similar to the present-day Mediterranean, suggesting that predicted changes in climate, by the end of this century, will not affect molluscan biodiversity, although the species composition will undoubtedly change.

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