Linking human impacts to community processes in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems |
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Authors: | Ian R McFadden Agnieszka Sendek Morgane Brosse Peter M Bach Marco Baity-Jesi Janine Bolliger Kurt Bollmann Eckehard G Brockerhoff Giulia Donati Friederike Gebert Shyamolina Ghosh Hsi-Cheng Ho Imran Khaliq J Jelle Lever Ivana Logar Helen Moor Daniel Odermatt Loïc Pellissier Luiz Jardim de Queiroz Christian Rixen Nele Schuwirth J Ryan Shipley Cornelia W Twining Yann Vitasse Christoph Vorburger Mark K L Wong Niklaus E Zimmermann Ole Seehausen Martin M Gossner Blake Matthews Catherine H Graham Florian Altermatt Anita Narwani |
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Institution: | 1. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland;2. Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland;3. Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland;4. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Davos, Switzerland |
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Abstract: | Human impacts such as habitat loss, climate change and biological invasions are radically altering biodiversity, with greater effects projected into the future. Evidence suggests human impacts may differ substantially between terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, but the reasons for these differences are poorly understood. We propose an integrative approach to explain these differences by linking impacts to four fundamental processes that structure communities: dispersal, speciation, species-level selection and ecological drift. Our goal is to provide process-based insights into why human impacts, and responses to impacts, may differ across ecosystem types using a mechanistic, eco-evolutionary comparative framework. To enable these insights, we review and synthesise (i) how the four processes influence diversity and dynamics in terrestrial versus freshwater communities, specifically whether the relative importance of each process differs among ecosystems, and (ii) the pathways by which human impacts can produce divergent responses across ecosystems, due to differences in the strength of processes among ecosystems we identify. Finally, we highlight research gaps and next steps, and discuss how this approach can provide new insights for conservation. By focusing on the processes that shape diversity in communities, we aim to mechanistically link human impacts to ongoing and future changes in ecosystems. |
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Keywords: | aquatic ecology dispersal drift global change mechanism selection speciation synthesis |
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