Low cross-taxon congruence among aquatic organisms in artificial tropical ponds: implications for biomonitoring

The use of biodiversity surrogates is often suggested to increase the cost-effectiveness of biomonitoring programs, as this demands less time and taxonomic expertise. In addition, the detection of multi-taxon associations is a first step toward a better understanding of how organisms interact with each other. Such a multi-taxon association is termed a congruence, and can be detected through measuring the similarity in the distributional patterns shown by different biological groups. To assess the ability of different taxa to serve as surrogates for others, we carried out a Procrustes analysis on the beta diversity patterns of seven biological groups (aquatic birds, Amphibians, Macrophytes, Coleoptera, Odonata, Heteroptera and phytoplankton) in 35 ponds of the Cerrado biome. We found that: (i) the values of congruence in the studied ponds were weak; (ii) among all the biological groups compared, the highest congruence was found between amphibians and macrophytes; (iii) amphibians were congruent with the Coleoptera, Heteroptera, and macrophytes; (iv) the different taxa studied had different responses to environmental conditions; and (v) although they showed relatively weak congruence with the other taxa in each pond environment, amphibian communities were the most strongly influenced by environment variables. Almost all the communities observed in these systems showed unique pattern and thus should be studied and monitored in their entirety.

Supporting global biodiversity assessment through high-resolution macroecological modelling: Methodological underpinnings of the BILBI framework

ABSTRACTAimGlobal indicators of change in the state of terrestrial biodiversity are often derived by intersecting observed or projected changes in the distribution of habitat transformation, or of protected areas, with underlying patterns in the distribution of biodiversity. However the two main sources of data used to account for biodiversity patterns in such assessments – i.e. ecoregional boundaries, and vertebrate species ranges – are typically delineated at a much coarser resolution than the spatial grain of key ecological processes shaping both land-use and biological distributions at landscape scale. Species distribution modelling provides one widely used means of refining the resolution of mapped species distributions, but is limited to a subset of species which is biased both taxonomically and geographically, with some regions of the world lacking adequate data to generate reliable models even for better-known biological groups.InnovationMacroecological modelling of collective properties of biodiversity (e.g. alpha and beta diversity) as a correlative function of environmental predictors offers an alternative, yet highly complementary, approach to refining the spatial resolution with which patterns in the distribution of biodiversity can be mapped across our planet. Here we introduce a new capability – BILBI (the Biogeographic Infrastructure for Large-scaled Biodiversity Indicators) – which has implemented this approach by integrating advances in macroecological modelling, biodiversity informatics, remote sensing and high-performance computing to assess spatial-temporal change in biodiversity at ~1km grid resolution across the entire terrestrial surface of the planet. The initial implementation of this infrastructure focuses on modelling beta-diversity patterns using a novel extension of generalised dissimilarity modelling (GDM) designed to extract maximum value from sparsely and unevenly distributed occurrence records for over 400,000 species of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates.Main conclusionsModels generated by BILBI greatly refine the mapping of beta-diversity patterns relative to more traditional biodiversity surrogates such as ecoregions. This capability is already proving of considerable value in informing global biodiversity assessment through: 1) generation of indicators of past-to-present change in biodiversity based on observed changes in habitat condition and protected-area coverage; and 2) projection of potential future change in biodiversity as a consequence of alternative scenarios of global change in drivers and policy options.

Differences in abundance and diversity of diurnal invertebrates among three Fijian forests, and a comparison of two trapping methods for rapid assessments

Apart from some high-profile exceptions (e.g. charismatic long-horned beetles), the ecology and conservation of Fijian invertebrates have received little research attention, and their potential as biodiversity surrogates or indicators is poorly understood. We surveyed diurnal terrestrial invertebrates within three Fijian forest types (lowland, upland, and coastal) using Malaise traps and beating trays to compare invertebrate abundance and diversity among forests. We also evaluated the efficiency of the two trapping methods for rapid invertebrate assessments. Overall, we collected 2584 invertebrates representing 321 morphospecies within 22 arthropod orders. We found significant differences in the abundance and diversity of invertebrates among forest sites for beating-tray samples, but not for Malaise-trap samples. Upland forest had the greatest diversity (Simpsons diversity index, D = 0.98); coastal forest recorded the lowest diversity (D = 0.14), but the greatest abundance of invertebrates. Several orders of invertebrates were relatively abundant across sites and traps (i.e. had high sampling reliability; they included Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera), so could be targeted as surrogates for broader biodiversity sampling. Given the urgency with which baseline data are needed across the South Pacific, invertebrate sampling provides a rapid biodiversity assessment tool, including for working in remote areas with few resources.