Tropical dry forest trees and the relationship between local abundance and geographic range

Aim To test the macroecological principle that a positive relationship exists between local abundance and geographic range size for tree communities in the tropical dry forest. Location Two tropical dry forest (TDF) regions on the Pacific coast of Mexico: one near Chamela, Jalisco; the other near Huatulco, Oaxaca. Methods We recorded species presence and relative abundance of trees and lianas from over 40 locales in each of the study regions using transects across an elevational gradient. We then compared the field data with occurrence data from national and online databases to examine how local patterns of abundance relate to putative geographic range areas and latitudinal breadth. Results We found no significant correlation between abundance and range size. Overall, many more locally abundant species had small ranges than large ones. We found that most species occupy the majority of the TDF range north of Colombia, and those species present in South America occupy the majority of that continent’s TDF range as well. This pattern was independent of local abundance. We also found no relationship between range size and local niche breadth as measured by elevation, or between local abundance and distance to the range centre. Main conclusions The macroecological tenet that posits a positive correlation between local abundance and geographic range size does not appear to hold for TDF trees. The finding that many locally abundant species had narrow ranges also suggests that dry forest endemics may be particularly well adapted to local conditions and make important contributions to community structure. We hypothesize that the absence of abundant species with large ranges is due to opposing environmental constraints that prevent a species from thriving everywhere.     

Multiple modes in a coral species abundance distribution

Species abundance distributions are an important measure of biodiversity and community structure. These distributions are affected by sampling, and alternative species-abundance models often make similar predictions for small sample sizes. Very large samples reveal the relative abundances of rare species, and thus provide information about species relative abundances that small samples cannot. Here, we present the species-abundance distribution for a sample of > 40,000 coral colonies at a single site, exceeding existing samples of coral local assemblages by over an order of magnitude. This abundance distribution is multimodal when examined on a logarithmic scale. Four different model selection procedures all indicate that the underlying community abundance distribution has at least three modes. We show that the multiple modes are not caused by mixtures of species with different habitat preferences. However, spatial aggregation partially explains our results. We inspect published work on species abundance distributions, and suggest that multimodality may be a common feature of large samples.     

Geographic range, turnover rate and the scaling of species diversity

The study of the relative roles of local and regional processes in determining the scaling of species diversity is a very active field in current ecology. The importance of species turnover and the species‐range‐size frequency distributions in determining how local and regional species diversity are linked has been recognised by recent approaches. Here we present a model, based on a system of fully nested sampling quadrats, to analyse species diversity at several scales. Using a recursive procedure that incorporates increasingly smaller scales and a multiplicative formula for relating local and regional diversity, the model allows the simultaneous depiction of alpha, beta and gamma diversity in a single “species‐scale plot”. Species diversity is defined as the number of ranges that are intersected by sampling quadrats of various sizes. The size, shape and location of individual species ranges determine diversity at any scale, but the average point diversity, measured at hypothetical zero‐area localities, is determined solely by the size of individual ranges, regardless of their shape and location. The model predicts that if the species‐area relationship is a power function, then beta diversity must be scale invariant if measured at constant scale increments. Applying the model to the mammal fauna of four Mexican regions with contrasting environmental conditions, we found that: 1) the species‐range‐size frequency distribution at the scale of the Mexican regions differs from the log‐normal pattern reported for the national and continental scales. 2) Beta diversity is not scale‐invariant within each region, implying that the species‐area relationship (SAR) does not follow a power function. 3) There is geographic variation in beta diversity. 4) The scaling of diversity is directly linked to patterns of species turnover rate, and ultimately determined by patterns in the geographic distribution of species. The model shows that regional species diversity and the average distribution range of species are the two basic data necessary to predict patterns in the scaling of species diversity.     

Environmental filtering affects soil fungal community composition more than dispersal limitation at regional scales

The relative importance of dispersal limitation versus environmental filtering for community assembly has received much attention for macroorganisms. These processes have only recently been examined in microbial communities. Instead, microbial dispersal has mostly been measured as community composition change over space (i.e., distance decay). Here we directly examined fungal composition in airborne wind currents and soil fungal communities across a 40 000 km² regional landscape to determine if dispersal limitation or abiotic factors were structuring soil fungal communities. Over this landscape, neither airborne nor soil fungal communities exhibited compositional differences due to geographic distance. Airborne fungal communities shifted temporally while soil fungal communities were correlated with abiotic parameters. These patterns suggest that environmental filtering may have the largest influence on fungal regional community assembly in soils, especially for aerially dispersed fungal taxa. Furthermore, we found evidence that dispersal of fungal spores differs between fungal taxa and can be both a stochastic and deterministic process. The spatial range of soil fungal taxa was correlated with their average regional abundance across all sites, which may imply stochastic dispersal mechanisms. Nevertheless, spore volume was also negatively correlated with spatial range for some species. Smaller volume spores may be adapted to long-range dispersal, or establishment, suggesting that deterministic fungal traits may also influence fungal distributions. Fungal life-history traits may influence their distributions as well. Hypogeous fungal taxa exhibited high local abundance, but small spatial ranges, while epigeous fungal taxa had lower local abundance, but larger spatial ranges. This study is the first, to our knowledge, to directly sample air dispersal and soil fungal communities simultaneously across a regional landscape. We provide some of the first evidence that soil fungal communities are mostly assembled through environmental filtering and experience little dispersal limitation.     

Local ecology and geographic ranges of plants in the Bishop Creek watershed of the eastern Sierra Nevada, California, USA

Aim The physiological requirements and tolerances of a species partially determine both its habitat preferences within a community and its broader geographic range. Therefore, we predicted that local ecology should be correlated with geographic distribution. We tested for a correlation between local ecology and range size, and we attempted to account for this correlation by the climate of the range. Location Bishop Creek Watershed, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, California. Methods We recorded all plant species growing in each of 263 plots in the montane to alpine zones of the watershed. The local habitat preferences of 282 species were described in terms of wetness, elevation, soil, and amount of shade. The size and centre of the geographic range for each species were determined from regional floras. Results Wetness preference within the watershed was significantly correlated with range size. Specifically, plants of wet sites had larger ranges that extend to the north, whereas plants of dry sites tended to have smaller ranges centred to the east. The correlation between local wetness preference and range size was entirely explained by the location of the range centre of the species. Main conclusions A possible reason for the large ranges of mesophilic plants in our study area is that mesic habitats are continuous throughout the western Cordillera, while dry alpine habitats are isolated by valleys to the east. The correspondence between local ecology and geographic distributions implies evolutionary stasis in the niches of these plant species.     

Assembly rules of reef corals are flexible along a steep climatic gradient

Coral reefs, one of the world's most complex and vulnerable ecosystems, face an uncertain future in coming decades as they continue to respond to anthropogenic climate change, overfishing, pollution, and other human impacts [1, 2]. Traditionally, marine macroecology is based on presence/absence data from taxonomic checklists or geographic ranges, providing a qualitative overview of spatial shifts in species richness that treats rare and common species equally [3, 4]. As a consequence, regional and long-term shifts in relative abundances of individual taxa are poorly understood. Here we apply a more rigorous quantitative approach to examine large-scale spatial variation in the species composition and abundance of corals on midshelf reefs along the length of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, a biogeographic region where species richness is high and relatively homogeneous [5]. We demonstrate that important functional components of coral assemblages "sample" space differently at 132 sites separated by up to 1740 km, leading to complex latitudinal shifts in patterns of absolute and relative abundance. The flexibility in community composition that we document along latitudinal environmental gradients indicates that climate change is likely to result in a reassortment of coral reef taxa rather than wholesale loss of entire reef ecosystems.     

Fish species-environment and abundance relationships in a Great Plains river system

Fish assemblages in the upper Red River system of southwestern Oklahoma (USA) were predictable along measured environmental gradients Conductivity was the most important variable predicting structure of fish assemblages followed by stream size, alkalinity woody debris and water clarity Classification of abundance data identified four groups each of species and sites Species groups were separated on a habitat template indicating similar environmental responses within groups However, site groups showed considerable overlap on the template Correlations among species environmental preferences were significantly associated with correlations of species abundances Likewise, site correlations on the basis of measured environmental variables and on the basis of species abundances were significantly similar
We tested abundance and distribution data for agreement with the hierarchical model of Kolasa Several testable predictions of the model described our data well specialist species outnumbered generalist species and were less abundant on average, than generalist species Average abundance of species was highly correlated with their ecological ranges and species were clumped along both ecological range and abundance axes     

The effect of the taxon and geographic range size of host eucalypt species on the species richness of gall-forming insects

Abstract This field study was designed to test whether the taxonomic group and geographic range size of a host plant species, usually found to influence insect species richness in other parts of the world, affected the number of gall species on Australian eucalypts. We assessed the local and regional species richness of gall-forming insects on five pairs of closely related eucalypt species. One pair belonged to the subgenus Corymbia, one to Monocalyptus, and three to different sections of Symphyomyrtus. Each eucalypt pair comprised a large and a small geographic range species. Species pairs were from coastal or inland regions of eastern Australia. The total number of gall species on eucalypt species with large geographic ranges was greater than on eucalypt species with small ranges, but only after the strong effect of eucalypt taxonomic grouping was taken into account. There was no relationship between the geographic range size of eucalypt species and the size of local assemblages of gall species, but the variation in insect species composition between local sites was higher on eucalypt species with large ranges than on those with small ranges. Thus the effect of host plant range size on insect species richness was due to greater differentiation between more widespread locations, rather than to greater local species richness. This study confirms the role of the geographic range size of a host plant in the determination of insect species richness and provides evidence for the importance of the taxon of a host plant.     

Interspecific abundance-range size relationships: range position and phylogeny

A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the widely observed positive interspecific relationship between local abundance and extent of geographic distribution in animals Here, we use data on British birds to assess two of these hypotheses that the relationship results from the relative position of a study area with respect to the geographic ranges of the species which occur there, and that the relationship results from a simple difference between taxonomic groups, rather than any general tendency for more abundant species to have larger range sizes We find support for neither hypothesis Phylogenetically controlled comparative analyses reveal that the positive abundance-range size relationship is consistently found within taxa, even when abundance and range size are calculated at a variety of spatial and temporal scales Analyses both across species and within taxa show that bird species for which Britain is near to the centre of their distribution in Europe tend to have larger British range sizes and higher abundances than do species where Britain is close to the edge of their range in Europe However, these relationships do not cause that between abundance and range size, because this latter relationship persists within different range position categories Whether a species is near the centre or edge of its geographic range in Britain may affect its position on the abundance-range size relationship, but does not produce the relationship Range position in Britain does, however, seem to be related to the magnitude of temporal changes in the range sizes of British birds There is some evidence to suggest that species for which Britain is nearer to their European range centre have shown smaller changes in distribution over the period 1970–1990 than have species for which Britain is close to their European range edge     

Spatial patterns of plant diversity and communities in Alpine ecosystems of the Hengduan Mountains,Northwest Yunnan,China

Aims Conduct a quantitative, but rapid, regional-level assessment of the alpine flora across northwest Yunnan (NWY) to provide a broad-based understanding of local and regional patterns of the composition, diversity and health of alpine ecosystems across NWY.Methods A stratified random sampling design was employed to select sites across the different mountain ranges of NWY. Vegetation was sampled by stratifying each site by the three major alpine vegetation community types: meadow, dwarf shrub and scree. Two 50-m transects were randomly located within each community type at each sampling site with 10 1-m 2 subplots systematically placed along each transect. Environmental variables were recorded at each transect. Multivariate analyses were used to classify the major plant community assemblages and link community patterns to environmental and habitat variables.Important findings Forb species richness varied from 19 to 105 species per site (21 sites total) with an average of 59 species per site (60 m 2 sampled per site). Most species were patchily distributed with narrow distributions and/or small population sizes; over half the species occurred at only one or two sites. Distinct species assemblages were identified in the meadow vegetation that was strongly aggregated by geographic location suggesting the presence of distinct phytogeographic zones of the meadow alpine flora. Elevation and geographic location were the dominant environmental gradients underlying the variations in species composition. Jaccard's coefficient of similarity averaged only 10% among sites indicating there was little similarity in the alpine flora across the region. The alpine vegetation is highly heterogeneous across the complex landscape of the Hengduan Mountains of NWY. Conservation strategies need to take into account the large geographic differences in the flora to maximize protection of biodiversity.     

Integrating the Rabinowitz rarity framework with a National Plant Inventory in South Korea

Increasingly large presence‐only survey datasets are becoming available for use in conservation assessments. Potentially, these records could be used to determine spatial patterns of plant species rarity and endemism. We test the integration of a large South Korean species record database with Rabinowitz rarity classes. Rabinowitz proposed seven classes of species rarity using three variables: geographic range, habitat specificity, and local population size. We estimated the range size and local abundance of 2,215 plant species from species occurrence records and habitat specificity as the number of landcover types each species’ records were found in. We classified each species into a rarity class or as common, compared species composition by class to national lists, and mapped the spatial pattern of species richness for each rarity class. Species were classed to narrow or wide geographic ranges using 315 km, the average from a range size index of all species (D_max), based on maximum distance between observations. There were four classes each within the narrow and wide range groups, sorted using cutoffs of local abundance and habitat specificity. Nationally listed endangered species only appeared in the narrow‐range classes, while nationally listed endemic species appeared in almost all classes. Species richness in most rarity classes was high in northeastern South Korea especially for species with narrow ranges. Policy implications. Large presence‐only surveys may be able to estimate some classes of rarity better than others, but modification to include estimates of local abundance and habitat types, could greatly increase their utility. Application of the Rabinowitz rarity framework to such surveys can extend their utility beyond species distribution models and can identify areas that need further surveys and for conservation priority. Future studies should be aware of the subjectivity of the rarity classification and that regional scale implementations of the framework may differ.     

Geographic locale and relative dominance patterns among North American passerine communities

Numerous studies have addressed variation in the local occurrence and abundance of species, but only recently have investigators begun considering the influence of spatial context on community structure. We examined the influence of geographic position within a species’ range on its dominance (relative abundance) within the community. Our three primary questions were: 1) Does dominance within a community vary across a species’ range? 2) Do dominance‐location trends differ between widely and narrowly distributed species? and 3) Does dominance within a guild vary across a species range? We examined 40 passerine species (20 widely distributed, 20 narrowly distributed) and their communities using North American Breeding Bird Survey data, of which, a subset of 11 species belonging to a single foraging guild were used for addressing guild effects. Data were gathered from communities at the center (10 locations) and periphery (10 locations) of each species’ range. Focal species were significantly less dominant at locations on the periphery of their ranges compared to central locations, and did not differ between widely and narrowly distributed species. In examining factors influencing these patterns, it was found that narrowly distributed species occur in communities of fewer individuals and fewer species compared to widely distributed species irrespective of locale. Within the foraging guild, dominance was also lower at the periphery than at the center of focal species’ ranges. However, guild abundance was also lower at the periphery of ranges while guild richness did not vary with locale. Specifically, focal species abundance decreased at a greater rate than abundance of other members of the foraging guild. Contrary to overall community data, widely distributed species were more dominant members of their guild at the center of their ranges. No significant patterns were found between distribution and guild dominance at the periphery of ranges.     

Geographic range structure in North American landbrids: variation with migratory strategy, trophic level, and breeding habitat

We investigated the relationship between abundance and geographic range structure of 258 North American landbirds. For this purpose we used six measures of range structure based upon fractal geometry and geostatistics, and three ecological characteristics that can influence avian distribution. Permanent residents (PRs) that were abundant showed little fragmentation of their abundance surface at the periphery of their breeding range. Conversely, common Neotropical migrants (NTMs) exhibited low fragmentation of their central populations the abundance surface was smoother for PRs than NTMs or short-distance migrants (SDMs). indicating that changes in abundance occurred more gradually across space for this group. The areas of high abundance for grassland species had little demographic fragmentation, but other populations showed little spatial autocorrelation in abundance. Species that bred in late-successional forests were relatively rare compared to species breeding in other habitat types. Among carnivores. PRs had a higher average abundance than either NTMs or SDMs. Although carnivores had more distributional gaps within their ranges than other trophic groups, the number of gaps did not differ between rare and abundant species, indicating that increased abundance did not change their presence. absence distribution maps. Knowledge of patterns and variations of geographic range structure among species may provide insights into processes that shape and maintain the biodiversity of a continent.     

Do local abundances of British birds change with proximity to range edge?

Aim Species generally vary in the density they attain at different sites, prompting the question of whether this variation is systematic across their range. We investigate this question using data on the abundance and distribution of thirty-two species of passerine birds across Britain derived from censuses organized by the British Trust for Ornithology. Methods Analysis is complicated by the issue of quantifying the distance of any particular census location from the edge of the range of a species when the study area encompasses only part of its entire distribution. No measure of this quantity is a priori the correct one, and so we use a variety of different measures which make differing assumptions about how abundances might be structured across species ranges. Results None of the measures used reveal any consistent relationships between the density attained by species at census sites and the spatial positions of those sites. Only thirteen species show significant relationships with any of the measures, and no more than seven species with any single measure. Main conclusion In summary, there is no convincing evidence that passerine bird densities are usually lower towards range edges in Britain. We discuss possible reasons for these findings.     

Impact of logging on the richness and diversity of forest butterflies in a tropical dry forest in Thailand

Studies on the impact of logging on tropical forest butterflies have been almost exclusively conducted in moist forest habitats. This study considers the impacts of small-scale logging on butterfly communities at three sites of varying disturbance intensity in a tropical dry forest in western Thailand. Butterfly species richness was similar at all sites, but the abundance of butterflies and diversity of the butterfly community decreased with increased logging disturbance. The recorded decrease in diversity at the relatively large sampling scale used lends further support to the hypothesis that disturbance effects are scale dependent. Species abundance data for butterflies fitted a log-normal distribution at all sites, but also a log-series distribution at the two disturbed sites. These analyses suggest a more complex butterfly community at the undisturbed site, but also that log-series and log-normal distributions may not to be sufficiently sensitive to be useful indicators of community changes following logging. Community ordination separates both the butterfly species and transect samples into three distinct regions corresponding to the three study locations. Ordination axes are correlated with tree density, understorey cover and understorey plant richness. Species with the smallest geographic ranges tend to be the least abundant and occurred most frequently in the undisturbed site. The observed diverging responses to disturbance among butterfly families diminishes the value of butterfly communities as biodiversity indicators, and forest managers should perhaps focus on restricted range species or of groups of recognized sensitive species for this purpose.     

Position within the geographic range, relative local abundance and developmental instability

Local population abundance often declines with increasing distance from the center of the species' geographic range. This pattern has been hypothesized to parallel the decline in the probability of encountering favorable niche requirements, implying that local abundance is primarily a reflection of local environmental conditions. In this study we evaluate a potential corollary of this hypothesis. We postulate that local conditions that depress abundance are also likely to perturb development. Accordingly, we predicted that spatial patterns in abundance should be mirrored by spatial patterns of developmental instability. To test this prediction we compared 38 contemporary and Pleistocene populations, belonging to 30 mollusc species. Samples were collected at a single site along the Gulf of California, differentially located in relation to the center of each species' geographic range. We identified, as boundaries to triangular bivariate distributions, a negative relationship between developmental instability and relative abundance, and a positive relationship between instability and relative distance from the center of the range. Overall, however, the observed pattern deviated from the expected in that the majority of low-abundance peripheral populations exhibit relatively low levels of developmental instability.     

Persistence and diversification of the Holarctic shrew,Sorex tundrensis (Family Soricidae), in response to climate change

Environmental processes govern demography, species movements, community turnover and diversification and yet in many respects these dynamics are still poorly understood at high latitudes. We investigate the combined effects of climate change and geography through time for a widespread Holarctic shrew, Sorex tundrensis. We include a comprehensive suite of closely related outgroup taxa and three independent loci to explore phylogeographic structure and historical demography. We then explore the implications of these findings for other members of boreal communities. The tundra shrew and its sister species, the Tien Shan shrew (Sorex asper), exhibit strong geographic population structure across Siberia and into Beringia illustrating local centres of endemism that correspond to Late Pleistocene refugia. Ecological niche predictions for both current and historical distributions indicate a model of persistence through time despite dramatic climate change. Species tree estimation under a coalescent process suggests that isolation between populations has been maintained across timeframes deeper than the periodicity of Pleistocene glacial cycling. That some species such as the tundra shrew have a history of persistence largely independent of changing climate, whereas other boreal species shifted their ranges in response to climate change, highlights the dynamic processes of community assembly at high latitudes.     

王朗自然保护区地栖脊椎动物群落结构和生境类型的关系

2006年8—11月,采用围栏陷阱法对四川省王朗自然保护区地栖脊椎动物的群落结构进行了研究,结合森林砍伐、旅游和植被恢复方式等干扰因子所推动的动物栖息生境变化,探讨了动物群落结构和生境类型的关系。监测历时75 d,8个样地共捕获3纲6目17科21种778只地栖脊椎动物,物种组成包括3种两栖类、1种鸟类和17种哺乳类。每百陷阱日的捕获率为32.4%;以普通鼩鼱、高山姬鼠、纹背鼩鼱、高原林蛙等4种为优势种,占全部捕获数的76.9%;其余17种的个体数均较少,物种多度和其分布区域呈显著线性相关(P0.001)。动物群落多样性指数,以干扰相对弱的原生针叶林物种多样性指数和均匀度指数为最高,而优势度指数最低;其次为旅游干扰的原生林灌丛和自然更新的次生林灌丛;人工种植的次生针叶林多样性指数和均匀度指数最低,而优势度指数最高。以动物群落相似性指数进行系统聚类,8个样地的动物群落聚为3类:即干扰相对弱的原生针叶林动物群落、严重干扰的人工针叶林动物群落、部分干扰的原生林灌丛和次生林灌丛动物群落。     

A Framework for Evaluating Heterogeneity and Landscape-Level Impacts of Non-native Aquatic Species

Non-native species are a major component of global environmental change, and aquatic systems are especially vulnerable to non-native species impacts. Much of the research on aquatic non-native species impact has occurred at the local or site level. In reality, non-native species impacts play out across multiple spatial scales on heterogeneous landscapes. How can we ‘scale up’ our understanding of site-level impacts to the broader landscape scale? To address this disconnect, we synthesize our current understanding of key components of landscape-scale non-native species impacts: geographic range, abundance, and local impacts. Most aquatic non-native species have small ranges, while a few have large ranges. However, aquatic non-native species are often far from saturated on landscapes, and occurrence records are often woefully incomplete. Aquatic non-native species are often at low abundances where they are present, reaching high abundance in a small number of locations. Finally, local-scale impact can be estimated from abundance, but this requires knowledge of the abundance–impact relationship. Considering these multiple components enables understanding of non-native species impacts at broader spatial scales. Although the landscape-level impacts of aquatic non-native species may be high, the spatial distribution of site-level impacts is uneven, and highly impacted sites may be relatively uncommon. This heterogeneity in impacts provides an opportunity to optimize and prioritize non-native species management and prevention efforts.     

Seed Rain and Seed Bank Reveal that Seed Limitation Strongly Influences Plant Community Assembly in Grasslands

Dispersal is an important factor in plant community assembly, but assembly studies seldom include information on actual dispersal into communities, i.e. the local propagule pool. The aim of this study was to determine which factors influence plant community assembly by focusing on two phases of the assembly process: the dispersal phase and the establishment phase. At 12 study sites in grazed ex-arable fields in Sweden the local plant community was determined and in a 100-m radius around the centre of each site, the regional species pool was measured. The local seed bank and the seed rain was explored to estimate the local propagule pool. Trait-based models were then applied to investigate if species traits (height, seed mass, clonal abilities, specific leaf area and dispersal method) and regional abundance influenced which species from the regional species pool, dispersed to the local community (dispersal phase) and which established (establishment phase). Filtering of species during the dispersal phase indicates the effect of seed limitation while filtering during the establishment phase indicates microsite limitation. On average 36% of the regional species pool dispersed to the local sites and of those 78% did establish. Species with enhanced dispersal abilities, e.g. higher regional abundance, smaller seeds and dispersed by cattle, were more likely to disperse to the sites than other species. At half the sites, dispersal was influenced by species height. Species establishment was however mainly unlinked to the traits included in this study. This study underlines the importance of seed limitation in local plant community assembly. It also suggests that without information on species dispersal into a site, it is difficult to distinguish between the influence of dispersal and establishment abilities, and thus seed and microsite limitation, as both can be linked to the same trait.