Integrating environmental and spatial processes in ecological community dynamics

The processes controlling the abundances of species across multiple sites form the cornerstone of modern ecology. In these metacommunities, the relative importance of local environmental and regional spatial processes is currently hotly debated, especially in terms of the validity of neutral model. I collected 158 published data sets with information on community structure, environmental and spatial variables. I showed that approximately 50% of the variation in community composition is explained by both environmental and spatial variables. The majority of the data sets were structured by species-sorting dynamics (SS), followed by a combination of SS and mass-effect dynamics. While neutral processes were the only structuring process in 8% of the collected natural communities, disregarding neutral dispersal processes would result in missing important patterns in 37% of the studied communities. Moreover, metacommunity characteristics such as dispersal type, habitat type and spatial scale predicted part of the detected variation in metacommunity structure.     

Fine spatial grain,large spatial extent and biogeography of macrophyte‐associated cladoceran communities across Neotropical floodplains

相似文献   

The importance of landscape and habitat properties in explaining instantaneous and long‐term distributions of large branchiopods in subtropical temporary pans

1. The notion that the spatial configuration of habitat patches has to be taken into account to understand the structure and dynamics of ecological communities is the starting point of metacommunity ecology. One way to assess metacommunity structure is to investigate the relative importance of environmental heterogeneity and spatial structure in explaining community patterns over different spatial and temporal scales. 2. We studied metacommunity structure of large branchiopod assemblages characteristic of subtropical temporary pans in SE Zimbabwe using two community data sets: a community snapshot and a long‐term data set covering 4 years. We assessed the relative importance of environmental heterogeneity and dispersal (inferred from patch occupancy patterns) as drivers of community structure. Furthermore, we contrasted metacommunity patterns in pans that occasionally connect to the river (floodplain pans) and pans that lack such connections altogether (endorheic pans) using redundancy models. 3. Echoes of species sorting and dispersal limitation emerge from our data set, suggesting that both local and regional processes contribute to explaining branchiopod assemblages in this system. Relative importance of local and regional factors depended on the type of data set considered. Overall, habitat characteristics that vary in time, such as conductivity, hydroperiod and vegetation cover, best explained the instantaneous species composition observed during a snapshot sampling while long‐term species composition appeared to be linked to more constant intrinsic habitat properties such as river connectivity and spatial location.     

The variation of tree beta diversity across a global network of forest plots

Aims With the aim of understanding why some of the world's forests exhibit higher tree beta diversity values than others, we asked: (1) what is the contribution of environmentally related variation versus pure spatial and local stochastic variation to tree beta diversity assessed at the forest plot scale; (2) at what resolution are these beta‐diversity components more apparent; and (3) what determines the variation in tree beta diversity observed across regions/continents? Location World‐wide. Methods We compiled an unprecedented data set of 10 large‐scale stem‐mapping forest plots differing in latitude, tree species richness and topographic variability. We assessed the tree beta diversity found within each forest plot separately. The non‐directional variation in tree species composition among cells of the plot was our measure of beta diversity. We compared the beta diversity of each plot with the value expected under a null model. We also apportioned the beta diversity into four components: pure topographic, spatially structured topographic, pure spatial and unexplained. We used linear mixed models to interpret the variation of beta diversity values across the plots. Results Total tree beta diversity within a forest plot decreased with increasing cell size, and increased with tree species richness and the amount of topographic variability of the plot. The topography‐related component of beta diversity was correlated with the amount of topographic variability but was unrelated to its species richness. The unexplained variation was correlated with the beta diversity expected under the null model and with species richness. Main conclusions Because different components of beta diversity have different determinants, comparisons of tree beta diversity across regions should quantify not only overall variation in species composition but also its components. Global‐scale patterns in tree beta diversity are largely coupled with changes in gamma richness due to the relationship between the latter and the variation generated by local stochastic assembly processes.     

Habitat filtering influences the phylogenetic structure of avian communities across a coastal gradient in southern Brazil

The evolution of a particular trait or combination of traits within lineages may affect subsequent evolutionary outcomes, leading closely related species to exhibit higher phenotypic similarity than expected under a simple Brownian‐motion evolutionary model. Niche theory postulates that phenotypes determine species distribution across environmental gradients, leading to a phylogenetic signature in the community assembly. Thus, the incorporation of species phylogeny in the analysis of community ecology structure allows one to link broader environmental, spatial and temporal factors to local, small‐scale ecological processes, thus enabling understanding of community assembly patterns in a broader context. We used the net relatedness index to assess phylogenetic structure within avian communities across a harshness gradient in coastal habitats in southern Brazil. We also evaluated phylogenetic beta diversity, to test whether closely related species exploit habitats with similar environmental conditions. In order to do so, we scaled up phylogenetic information from the species to site level using phylogenetic fuzzy weighting. We found a pattern of phylogenetic clustering in less‐vegetated habitats, namely sandy beach and dunes, which are subject to harsher conditions because of proximity to the ocean. Basal lineages were associated with the more structurally homogeneous sandy beach, while late‐divergence clades occurred in more complex habitats, which were positively related to vegetation cover and height. The observed pattern of phylogenetic clustering suggested the importance of harsh conditions in constraining the distribution of avian lineages. Furthermore, contrasting environmental features between habitats influenced phylogenetic variation, demonstrating the prevalence of phylogenetic habitat filtering. From an applied point of view, such as planning and management of biological reserves, we showed that the full array of habitat patches embedded within coastal ecological gradients must be included in order to preserve distinct evolutionary lineages.     

The influence of niche and neutral processes on a neotropical anuran metacommunity

One of the most important questions in ecology is the relative importance of local conditions (niche processes) and dispersal ability (neutral processes) in driving metacommunity structure. Although many studies have been conducted in recent years, there is still much debate. We evaluated the processes (niche and neutral) responsible for variation in anuran composition in 28 lentic water bodies in southeastern Brazil. Because anurans depend heavily on environmental conditions, we hypothesized that environmental variables (niche processes) are the most important drivers of community composition. Additionally, as anurans have limited dispersal abilities, and the study region presents harsh conditions (high forest fragmentation, low rainfall and long dry season), we expected a lower, but significant, spatial signature in metacommunity structure, due to neutral dynamics. We used a partial redundancy analysis with variation partitioning to evaluate the relative influence of environmental and spatial variables as drivers of metacommunity structure. Additionally, we used a recently developed spatial autocorrelation analysis to test if neutral dynamics can be attributed to the pure spatial component. This analysis is based on predictions that species abundances are independent but similarly spatially structured, with correlograms similar in shape. Therefore, under neutral dynamics there is no expectation of a correlation between the pairwise distance of spatial correlograms and the pairwise correlation of species abundances predicted by the pure spatial component. We found that the environmental component explained 21.5%, the spatial component 10.2%, and the shared component 6.4% of the metacommunity structure. We found no correlation between correlograms and correlation of abundances predicted by the pure spatial component (Mantel test = ?0.109, P = 0.961). In our study, niche‐based processes are the dominant process that explained community composition. However, neutral processes are important because spatial variation can be attributed to pure neutral dynamics rather than to missing spatially structured environmental factors.     

Spatial coherence and the persistence of high diversity in spatially heterogeneous landscapes

Our planet hosts a variety of highly diverse ecosystems. The persistence of high diversity is generally attributed to factors such as the structure of interactions among species and the dispersal of species in metacommunities. Here, we show that large contiguous landscapes—that are characterized by high dispersal—facilitate high species richness due to the spatial heterogeneity in interspecies interactions. We base our analysis on metacommunities under high dispersal where species densities become equal across habitats (spatially coherent). We find that the spatially coherent metacommunity can be represented by an effective species interaction‐web that has a significantly lower complexity than the constituent habitats. Our framework also explains how spatial heterogeneity eliminates differences in the effective interaction‐web, providing a basis for deviations from the area‐heterogeneity tradeoff. These results highlight the often‐overlooked case of high dispersal where spatial coherence provides a novel mechanism for supporting high diversity in large heterogeneous landscapes.     

Stochastic and deterministic processes drive wetland community assembly across a gradient of environmental filtering

The role of deterministic and stochastic processes in community assembly is a key question in community ecology. We evaluated the effect of an abiotic filter (hydroperiod) on the partitioned diversity of three taxonomic groups (birds, vegetation, macroinvertebrates) from prairie pothole wetlands in Alberta, Canada, which naturally vary in water permanence. We observed that alpha and gamma diversity were higher in permanent than temporary wetlands (16–25% and 34–47% respectively, depending on the taxon). This suggests an influence of deterministic constraints on the number of species a wetland can support. Taxa which cannot persist in shallow, temporary wetlands are excluded by the deterministic constraints that a shortened hydroperiod imposes. In contrast, we observed that beta diversity was significantly higher (2–12%) in temporary wetlands than permanent ones, and temporary wetlands supported more unique combinations of community composition than permanent wetlands, despite having a smaller regional species pool. This observation contradicts prior mesocosm studies that found beta diversity mirrored the pattern in gamma diversity along an environmental filtering gradient. We conclude that deterministic processes are more influential in more stable permanent wetlands, whereas stochastic processes play a more important role in assembly in dynamic temporary wetlands that must disassemble and re‐establish annually. Considering three distinct taxonomic groups differing in their relative mobility, our large‐scale field study demonstrates that both stochastic and deterministic processes act together to influence the assembly of multiple communities and that the relative importance of the two processes varies consistently along a gradient of environmental filtering.     

Examining residual spatial correlation in variation partitioning of beta diversity in a subtropical forest

AimsThe relative roles of ecological processes in structuring beta diversity are usually quantified by variation partitioning of beta diversity with respect to environmental and spatial variables or gamma diversity. However, if important environmental or spatial factors are omitted, or a scale mismatch occurs in the analysis, unaccounted spatial correlation will appear in the residual errors and lead to residual spatial correlation and problematic inferences.     

The spatial scaling of saprotrophic fungal beta diversity in decomposing leaves

Assembly of fungal communities remains poorly understood in part because of the daunting range of spatial scales that may be involved in this process. Here, we use individual leaves as a natural sampling unit, comprising spatially distinct habitat and/or resource patches with unique histories and suites of resources. Spatial patterns in fungal beta diversity were tested for consistency with the metacommunity paradigms of species sorting and neutral dynamics. Thirty senesced leaves were collected from the forest floor (O horizon) in replicate upland forest, riparian forest and vernal pool habitats. We quantified spatial distance between leaves, and fungal community composition was assayed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism. Significant distance‐decay relationships were detected at all but one upland site. This is the first study where changes in fungal community composition were quantified across discrete adjacent habitat patches, providing evidence that fungal distance decay is operational at a scale of centimetres. Although leaves of differing lignin contents were sampled from each site, leaf type was not consistently important in explaining variation in fungal community composition. However, depth of a leaf within the forest floor significantly influenced community composition at five of six sites. Environmental heterogeneity associated with depth could include moisture gradients, relative influence of soil or spore colonization, and impact of forest floor biotic community (i.e. collembola and earthworms). Because the influence of spatial distance and depth on fungal community composition could not be disentangled, both species‐sorting and neutral processes may be embedded within the distance‐decay relationships that we found.     

Dispersal, spatial scale, and species diversity in a hierarchically structured experimental landscape

Although there has been growing interest in the effect of dispersal on species diversity, much remains unknown about how dispersal occurring at multiple scales influences diversity. We used an experimental microbial landscape to determine whether dispersal occurring at two different scales - among local communities and among metacommunities - affects diversity differently. At the local scale, dispersal initially had a positive effect and subsequently a neutral effect on diversity, whereas at the metacommunity and landscape scales, dispersal showed a consistently negative effect. The timing in which dispersal affected beta diversity also differed sharply between local communities and metacommunities. These patterns were explained by scale- and time-dependent effects of dispersal in allowing spread of species and in removing spatial refuges from predators. Our results suggest that the relative contribution of opposing mechanisms by which dispersal affects diversity changes considerably over time and space in hierarchical landscapes in which dispersal occurs at multiple scales.     

Beta‐diversity in temperate and tropical forests reflects dissimilar mechanisms of community assembly

Site‐to‐site variation in species composition (β‐diversity) generally increases from low‐ to high‐diversity regions. Although biogeographical differences in community assembly mechanisms may explain this pattern, random sampling effects can create this pattern through differences in regional species pools. Here, we compared assembly mechanisms between spatially extensive networks of temperate and tropical forest plots with highly divergent species pools (46 vs. 607 species). After controlling for sampling effects, β‐diversity of woody plants was similar and higher than expected by chance in both forests, reflecting strong intraspecific aggregation. However, different mechanisms appeared to explain aggregation in the two forests. In the temperate forest, aggregation reflected stronger environmental correlations, suggesting an important role for species‐sorting (e.g. environmental filtering) processes, whereas in the tropics, aggregation reflected stronger spatial correlations, more likely reflecting dispersal limitation. We suggest that biogeographical differences in the relative importance of different community assembly mechanisms contribute to these striking gradients in global biodiversity.     

Metacommunity structure of aquatic gastropods in a river floodplain: the role of niche breadth and drift propensity

相似文献   

村落文化林与非文化林多尺度物种多样性加性分配

文化林是指村民按照文化传统、风俗习惯或宗教信仰自觉保护和管理的森林,具有一定社会文化功能。目前国内外对文化林物种多样性研究主要为定性描述,缺乏对文化林和非文化林生物多样性的定量比较及差异来源分析。利用物种多样性加性分配方法,将总的Gamma 多样性分成样格内的Alpha多样性以及样格间、样方间和林型间Beta多样性,对中国亚热带地区3个村落文化林的乔木层、灌木层、草本层和藤本层进行物种多样性的多尺度分析。调查发现:(1)文化林共有维管束植物296种,以苦槠,樟和米槠为优势种,非文化林共有维管束植物189种,以杉木、马尾松和毛竹为优势种。文化林乔木层和灌木层物种数显著高于非文化林,草本层和藤本层物种数差异不显著。(2)Beta多样性随尺度增大而增加,林型间Beta多样性最高,占区域总Gamma多样性的41.9%-62.8%,其次是样方间Beta多样性(18.6%-31.9%),对区域多样性贡献最小为样格内Alpha和样格间Beta多样性。(3)林型间的多样性对区域物种多样性的贡献中,文化林占主导作用,乔木层占54.4%-81.0%,灌木层占51.2%-60.2%,草本层占42.9%-64.1%,藤本层占49.9%-62.2%。(4) 物种累积-面积曲线表明,在各个尺度上,文化林物种多样性始终高于非文化林,从而在相同面积下保护了更多的物种。加性分配模型在多个空间尺度上阐明了Alpha和Beta多样性的变化,突出了文化林对区域物种多样性的贡献,对保护对象和保护范围的决策以及生物多样性的保护与恢复具有重要意义。     

中国典型森林生态系统乔木层群落物种多样性的空间分布格局及其影响因素

物种多样性地理分布格局及其成因是生物地理学和宏观生态学研究的核心问题之一,基于中国13个典型森林生态系统乔木层群落植物的调查数据,分析物种多样性随经纬度的变化规律,探讨物种多样性空间分布格局的影响因素。结果表明:(1) 13个典型森林生态系统的4个物种多样性指数均随经纬度上升而下降,其中物种丰富度变化更为显著,而Shannon-Wiener指数、Simpson指数和Pielou指数随经度上升变化不显著;(2)相关性分析结果显示,物种多样性指数与植物特性、能量和水分因子的单因素相关关系并不一致。其中,物种丰富度、Shannon-Wiener指数和Simpson指数与年均温、最冷月均温、温度年较差和潜在蒸散量的相关性最显著(P0.01),Pielou指数与年均温、最冷月均温、实际蒸散量、潜在蒸散量和郁闭度有显著相关关系(P0.05);(3)方差分解结果表明,能量和水分的共同作用对物种多样性指数空间分布格局的解释率最高,达到15%—42%;植物特性、能量和水分因子三者共同作用对物种多样性指数空间分布格局解释率次之,为14%—27%;植物特性与能量因子或水分因子两者之间的共同作用以及植物特性和水分因子独立作用对物种多样性指数空间分布格局的解释率较小,其中能量因子对物种多样性指数空间分布格局的单独解释率高于植物特性或水分因子。研究表明能量和水分共同作用是影响大尺度森林乔木层物种多样性空间分布格局形成的主要因素,但植物特性的差异对物种多样性空间分布格局影响也不可忽视。