Functional diversity (FD), species richness and community composition

Functional diversity is an important component of biodiversity, yet in comparison to taxonomic diversity, methods of quantifying functional diversity are less well developed. Here, we propose a means for quantifying functional diversity that may be particularly useful for determining how functional diversity is related to ecosystem functioning. This measure of functional diversity “FD” is defined as the total branch length of a functional dendrogram. Various characteristics of FD make it preferable to other measures of functional diversity, such as the number of functional groups in a community. Simulating species' trait values illustrates how the relative importance of richness and composition for FD depends on the effective dimensionality of the trait space in which species separate. Fewer dimensions increase the importance of community composition and functional redundancy. More dimensions increase the importance of species richness and decreases functional redundancy. Clumping of species in trait space increases the relative importance of community composition. Five natural communities show remarkably similar relationships between FD and species richness.     

Relative abundance of invasive plants more effectively explains the response of wetland communities to different invasion degrees than phylogenetic evenness

入侵植物的相对多度比群落系统发育均匀度更能解释湿地群落对不同入侵程度的响应 本地植物群落普遍受到入侵植物不同程度的入侵。然而,入侵植物相对多度与群落系统发育均匀度对不同入侵程度下湿地植物群落响应入侵的相对贡献尚不明确。此外,这种贡献是否随淹水等环境 条件的变化而变化也不清楚。为了探讨这些问题,我们选择空心莲子草(Alternanthera philoxeroides)作为入侵植物,通过改变植物群落物种组成,构建了4个不同的入侵程度,并且设置了水淹和无水淹两种处理。 改变群落入侵程度的同时改变了空心莲子草的相对多度和群落的系统发育均匀度。研究结果表明,不同的入侵程度显著影响了空心莲子草和一些本地物种的单株生物量。变异分割结果表明,无论淹水情况结果如何,空心莲子草相对多度对植物群落指标变异的贡献都大于系统发育均匀度。斯皮尔曼等级相关检验结果表明,空心莲子草的相对多度与空心莲子草和部分本地物种的单株生物量显著负相关;群落系统发育均匀度仅与少数本地种性状显著正相关。其相关强度和显著性均受特定的物种和水淹环境的影响。总之,这些研究结果表明：无论淹水情况如何,入侵植物(空心莲子草)的相对多度都比群落的系统发育均匀度更能有效地解释湿地植物群落对不同入侵程度的响应。     

Toward a better understanding of the regional causes of local community richness

Despite widespread acknowledgement that local ecological communities are profoundly shaped by regional-scale influences, including evolutionary and biogeographic processes, this perspective has yet to be widely incorporated into ecological research. Drawing on recent research, we propose four steps towards making regional influences a stronger part of research on the richness of local communities: (1) identifying the regional-scale causes of variation in species richness in the systems ecologists study; (2) testing for effects of regional richness on local richness, using improved observational and experimental analyses to overcome earlier problems; (3) simultaneously analysing environmental influences on regional and local species richness as well as the influence of regional richness on local richness and (4) considering the potential reciprocal effects of local processes on regional richness. In conclusion, we suggest some ways that similar approaches could be applied to other aspects of community structure beyond species richness.     

Species richness and interacting factors control invasibility of a marine community

Anthropogenic vectors have moved marine species around the world leading to increased invasions and expanded species'' ranges. The biotic resistance hypothesis of Elton (in The ecology of invasions by animals and plants, 1958) predicts that more diverse communities should have greater resistance to invasions, but experiments have been equivocal. We hypothesized that species richness interacts with other factors to determine experimental outcomes. We manipulated species richness, species composition (native and introduced) and availability of bare space in invertebrate assemblages in a marina in Monterey, CA. Increased species richness significantly interacted with both initial cover of native species and of all organisms to collectively decrease recruitment. Although native species decreased recruitment, introduced species had a similar effect, and we concluded that biotic resistance is conferred by total species richness. We suggest that contradictory conclusions in previous studies about the role of diversity in regulating invasions reflect uncontrolled variables in those experiments that modified the effect of species richness. Our results suggest that patches of low diversity and abundance may facilitate invasions, and that such patches, once colonized by non-indigenous species, can resist both native and non-indigenous species recruitment.     

Performance of nonparametric species richness estimators in a high diversity plant community

Abstract. The efficiency of four nonparametric species richness estimators — first‐order Jackknife, second‐order Jackknife, Chao2 and Bootstrap — was tested using simulated quadrat sampling of two field data sets (a sandy ‘Dune’ and adjacent ‘Swale’) in high diversity shrublands (kwongan) in south‐western Australia. The data sets each comprised > 100 perennial plant species and > 10 000 individuals, and the explicit (x‐y co‐ordinate) location of every individual. We applied two simulated sampling strategies to these data sets based on sampling quadrats of unit sizes 1/400th and 1/100th of total plot area. For each site and sampling strategy we obtained 250 independent sample curves, of 250 quadrats each, and compared the estimators’ performances by using three indices of bias and precision: MRE (mean relative error), MSRE (mean squared relative error) and OVER (percentage overestimation). The analysis presented here is unique in providing sample estimates derived from a complete, field‐based population census for a high diversity plant community. In general the true reference value was approached faster for a comparable area sampled for the smaller quadrat size and for the swale field data set, which was characterized by smaller plant size and higher plant density. Nevertheless, at least 15–30% of the total area needed to be sampled before reasonable estimates of S_t (total species richness) were obtained. In most field surveys, typically less than 1% of the total study domain is likely to be sampled, and at this sampling intensity underestimation is a problem. Results showed that the second‐order Jackknife approached the actual value of S_t more quickly than the other estimators. All four estimators were better than S_obs (observed number of species). However, the behaviour of the tested estimators was not as good as expected, and even with large sample size (number of quadrats sampled) all of them failed to provide reliable estimates. First‐ and second‐order Jackknives were positively biased whereas Chao2 and Bootstrap were negatively biased. The observed limitations in the estimators’ performance suggests that there is still scope for new tools to be developed by statisticians to assist in the estimation of species richness from sample data, especially in communities with high species richness.     

Species pools,community completeness and invasion: disentangling diversity effects on the establishment of native and alien species

Invasion should decline with species richness, yet the relationship is inconsistent. Species richness, however, is a product of species pool size and biotic filtering. Invasion may increase with richness if large species pools represent weaker environmental filters. Measuring species pool size and the proportion realised locally (completeness) may clarify diversity‐invasion relationships by separating environmental and biotic effects, especially if species’ life‐history stage and origin are accounted for. To test these relationships, we added seeds and transplants of 15 native and alien species into 29 grasslands. Species pool size and completeness explained more variation in invasion than richness alone. Although results varied between native and alien species, seed establishment and biotic resistance to transplants increased with species pool size, whereas transplant growth and biotic resistance to seeds increased with completeness. Consequently, species pools and completeness represent multiple independent processes affecting invasion; accounting for these processes improves our understanding of invasion.     

Biotic resistance to invasion is ubiquitous across ecosystems of the United States

The biotic resistance hypothesis predicts that diverse native communities are more resistant to invasion. However, past studies vary in their support for this hypothesis due to an apparent contradiction between experimental studies, which support biotic resistance, and observational studies, which find that native and non‐native species richness are positively related at broad scales (small‐scale studies are more variable). Here, we present a novel analysis of the biotic resistance hypothesis using 24 456 observations of plant richness spanning four community types and seven ecoregions of the United States. Non‐native plant occurrence was negatively related to native plant richness across all community types and ecoregions, although the strength of biotic resistance varied across different ecological, anthropogenic and climatic contexts. Our results strongly support the biotic resistance hypothesis, thus reconciling differences between experimental and observational studies and providing evidence for the shared benefits between invasive species management and native biodiversity conservation.     

Fungal diversity increases soil fungistasis and resistance to microbial invasion by a non resident species

Biodiversity decline is a major concern for ecosystem functioning. Recent research efforts have been mostly focused on terrestrial plants, while, despite their importance in both natural and artificial ecosystems, little is known about soil microbial communities. This work aims at investigating the effects of fungal species richness on soil invasion by non resident microbes. Synthetic fungal communities with a species diversity ranging from 1 to 8 were assembled in laboratory microcosms and used in three factorial experiments to assess the effect of diversity on soil fungistasis, microbial invasion of soil amended with plant litter and of plant rhizosphere. The capability of different microbes to colonize environments characterized by different resident microbial communities was measured. The number of microbial species in the microcosms positively affected soil fungistasis that was also induced more rapidly in presence of synthetic communities with more species. Moreover, the increase of resident fungal diversity dramatically reduced the invasibility of both soil and plant rhizosphere. We found lower variability of soil fungistasis and invasibility in microcosms with higher species richness of microbial communities. Our study pointed out the existence of negative relationships between fungal diversity and soil invasibility by non resident microbes. Therefore, the loss of microbial species may adversely affect ecosystem functionality under specific environmental conditions.     

From richer to poorer: successful invasion by freshwater fishes depends on species richness of donor and recipient basins

Evidence for the theory of biotic resistance is equivocal, with experiments often finding a negative relationship between invasion success and native species richness, and large‐scale comparative studies finding a positive relationship. Biotic resistance derives from local species interactions, yet global and regional studies often analyze data at coarse spatial grains. In addition, differences in competitive environments across regions may confound tests of biotic resistance based solely on native species richness of the invaded community. Using global and regional data sets for fishes in river and stream reaches, we ask two questions: (1) does a negative relationship exist between native and non‐native species richness and (2) do non‐native species originate from higher diversity systems. A negative relationship between native and non‐native species richness in local assemblages was found at the global scale, while regional patterns revealed the opposite trend. At both spatial scales, however, nearly all non‐native species originated from river basins with higher native species richness than the basin of the invaded community. Together, these findings imply that coevolved ecological interactions in species‐rich systems inhibit establishment of generalist non‐native species from less diverse communities. Consideration of both the ecological and evolutionary aspects of community assembly is critical to understanding invasion patterns. Distinct evolutionary histories in different regions strongly influence invasion of intact communities that are relatively unimpacted by human actions, and may explain the conflicting relationship between native and non‐native species richness found at different spatial scales.     

Stem tissue mass density is linked to growth and resistance to a stem‐boring insect in Alternanthera philoxeroides

To investigate how stem anatomical structure is linked to growth and resistance to stem‐boring insects in a herbaceous species, six populations of alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) were grown in a common garden. Stem growth rate (GR) of A. philoxeroides and pupation rate as an estimate of resistance to a stem‐boring insect (Agasicles hygrophila) were quantified. Stem tissue mass density (TMD) was measured and stem anatomical traits were analysed on cross‐sectional areas (CSA). Stem TMD was positively correlated with resistance (i.e. negatively correlated with pupation rate) and negatively correlated with GR. Stem cortex CSA (%) and vascular bundle (VB) density (no./mm²) were positively related to stem TMD and negatively related to pupation rate. The GR was positively related to VB CSA (%) and negatively related to VB density. These results suggest that stem TMD, which results from a high fraction in cortex CSA and high VB density, is a key determinant of resistance to a stem‐boring specialist in A. philoxeroides. The high resistance of plants with higher stem TMD may partially impose a cost to plant growth.