Article
Engineering, Environmental
Lloyd D. Potts, Alex Douglas, Luis J. Perez Calderon, James A. Anderson, Ursula Witte, James Prosser, Cecile Gubry-Rangin
Summary: Acute environmental perturbations cause changes in microbial community composition and selection of different phylotypes, while chronic perturbations maintain community stability and can lead to the establishment of alternative stable states. This study also demonstrates the functional resilience of ecosystem following environmental perturbations.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Qiang Pu, Kun Zhang, Alexandre J. Poulain, Jiang Liu, Rui Zhang, Mahmoud A. Abdelhafiz, Bo Meng, Xinbin Feng
Summary: This study investigated the impact of mercury contamination on the microbial community structure and ecosystem multifunctionality in rice paddy soils, highlighting the significance of soil biodiversity in regulating ecosystem functions, especially in mercury-polluted rice paddies.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Qian Zhao, Yuan Zhang, Fen Guo, Catherine Leigh, Xiaobo Jia
Summary: Studies on the impact of salinisation on mountain streams ecosystems showed that as salinisation increased, biodiversity decreased and trophic links were simplified.
Review
Ecology
Mathew A. Leibold, Lynn Govaert, Nicolas Loeuille, Luc De Meester, Mark C. Urban
Summary: The finding that adaptive evolution can often significantly impact ecological dynamics challenges traditional perspectives that ignore evolution in community ecology. This study proposes that evolution frequently alters both local and regional processes of community assembly, showing how adaptation can greatly affect community composition and that this is influenced by regional factors such as environmental heterogeneity and spatial structure.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Afroditi Grigoropoulou, Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber, Cesc Murria
Summary: This study assesses the contributions of local and regional processes and historical and contemporary factors in establishing macroecological patterns. The results reveal that regional environmental filtering plays a crucial role in limiting species range and shaping the regional species pool. The study also indicates that there are differences in diversity patterns between northern and southern regions, with northern species pools exhibiting phylogenetic clustering and southern ones showing overdispersion.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ashutosh Sharma, Dhruv Kumar, Srinivas Rallapalli, Ajit Pratap Singh
Summary: Wetlands are important ecosystems that perform various functions such as groundwater recharge, flood control, carbon sequestration, and pollution reduction. Evaluating wetland functions accurately is challenging due to uncertainty associated with variables such as vegetation, soil, hydrology, land use, and landscape. This study proposes an innovative framework based on the modified hydrogeomorphic approach (HGMA) and fuzzy alpha-cut technique to address this uncertainty. The density of wetlands and basin count were found to be the most uncertain variables in the landscape assessment area, while the functional capacity index (FCI) for water storage and retain particulate had the highest uncertainty among the functions. Quantifying uncertainty can aid practitioners in making informed decisions for preserving and restoring wetland functionality.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Kashif Imdad, Mehebub Sahana, Joe Ravetz, Gopala Areendran, Ouseen Gautam, Sudha Dwivedi, Archana Chaudhary, Haroon Sajjad
Summary: Wetlands are important ecosystems that provide habitat for wildlife, recharge groundwater, moderate climate, control flooding, and support human livelihoods. However, rapid urbanization and industrialization have led to the degradation of wetlands, especially in urban and peri-urban areas. This study assessed the health of wetland ecosystems in Lucknow district, India, using remote sensing data and a Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model. The results showed that wetland health has significantly deteriorated in peri-urban areas due to human activities. The study recommended community participation and involvement of local authorities in conservation and management efforts.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2023)
Review
Ecology
Selam S. Gebreselassie, Alex M. Lechner, Matthew J. Hill, Fang Yenn Teo, Christopher N. Gibbins
Summary: Urban expansion poses a major threat to diversity, especially in rapidly developing tropical countries. This article conducts a systematic review of published research on the ecology of lentic habitats in tropical urban areas, and identifies biases and gaps in existing knowledge. The authors emphasize the need for diversity assessments of all types and sizes of tropical urban wetlands, as well as the adoption of ecosystem service concepts to highlight their importance.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mattia Lanzoni, Mattias Gaglio, Anna Gavioli, Elisa Anna Fano, Giuseppe Castaldelli
Summary: The study revealed significant seasonal variations in the structure and function of fish communities in the Fattibello lagoon, with higher biodiversity levels observed in autumn and summer. Biomass was found to be a better descriptor than individual abundance for the functional use of the lagoon. Different species utilize the lagoon for reproduction, nursery grounds, and feeding throughout the year, highlighting its importance for conservation and sustainable use.
Article
Ecology
George C. Brooks, Nicholas M. Caruso, Houston C. Chandler, Carola A. Haas
Summary: This study explores the interplay between biotic and abiotic conditions in shaping amphibian communities. The researchers found consistent community composition over 6 years of monitoring, indicating a lack of species turnover and similar responses of all community members to environmental conditions. The study supports the idea that niche partitioning, rather than a storage effect, is a more important factor for species coexistence. Additionally, the lack of synchrony in breeding migrations between species suggests individuals may be constrained by competition with other community members.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sylvie Estrela, Jean C. C. Vila, Nanxi Lu, Djordje Bajic, Maria Rebolleda-Gomez, Chang -Yu Chang, Joshua E. Goldford, Alicia Sanchez-Gorostiaga, Alvaro Sanchez
Summary: The study found that family-level convergence in microbial communities reflects a reproducible metabolic organization, while taxonomic divergence among replicate communities arises from multistability in population dynamics. Multistability can lead to alternative functional states in closed ecosystems but not in metacommunities.
Article
Microbiology
Feng-Hsun Chang, Jinny Wu Yang, Ariana Chih-Hsien Liu, Hsiao-Pei Lu, Gwo-Ching Gong, Fuh-Kwo Shiah, Chih-hao Hsieh
Summary: The presence of more species in a community increases ecosystem functions via nonrandom processes like resource partitioning. Additionally, higher compositional difference between multiple communities also enhances their overall functions, especially when the difference is due to nonrandom assembly processes. In a study of bacterioplankton in the southern East China Sea, it was found that beta diversity positively affects the overall function of communities, with the effect being stronger when nonrandom processes select for phylogenetically dissimilar species. This research expands the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning framework to multiple sites and considers community assembly processes.
Article
Ecology
Jean-Francois Ponge
Summary: Communities are shaped by ecosystem engineers who modify their environment for their own benefit and that of subordinate species. The concept of ecosystem engineers and functional domains explains community boundaries and the transition from small-scale interactions to community-wide processes. Global changes threaten communities mainly through their effects on ecosystem engineers.
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Xiaoni Wu, Xudong Ma, Lianyu Hu, Chunjie Shen, Denggao Fu
Summary: Little is known about the consequences of human activities on species assemblages and biodiversity patterns. Our study in mid-Yunnan, China found that species co-occurrence patterns in man-made forests were non-random, while natural secondary forests had higher values of species diversity, functional diversity, community-weighted means, and soil microbial diversity. In conclusion, our results suggest that naturally recovering forests are better than man-made plantations based on biodiversity patterns.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Rebeca Arias-Real, Pilar Hurtado, Giulia Gionchetta, Cayetano Gutierrez-Canovas
Summary: Aquatic fungi play a crucial role in global biogeochemical cycles, but the assembly processes determining their co-occurrence and assembly patterns over drying gradients are still unclear. Our study investigated co-occurrence patterns and assembly processes in 15 streams and found correlations between co-occurrence probability and species differences in conidia shape and fungal endophytic capacity. Functional diversity reduction over the drying gradient is generally associated with non-random abiotic filtering.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Erwin J. J. Sieben, Skhumbuzo P. Khubeka, Simangele Sithole, Nancy M. Job, Donovan C. Kotze
WETLANDS ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2018)
Article
Ecology
Erwin J. J. Sieben
Article
Ecology
Serban Proches, Rahayu S. Sukri, Salwana M. Jaafar, Erwin J. J. Sieben, Nurul Hazlina Zaini, Norain Abas, Siti Nurqayah Suhaini, Nurul Maz Juhairah Manjul, Muhammad Abdul Hakeem Julaihi, David J. Marshall, J. W. Ferry Slik, Desika Moodley
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2019)
Article
Plant Sciences
P. Chatanga, D. C. Kotze, M. Janks, E. J. J. Sieben
SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
(2019)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Peter Chatanga, Erwin J. J. Sieben
Article
Plant Sciences
Seadi S. Mofutsanyana, Nacelle B. Collins, Samuel A. Adelabu, Peter Chatanga, Erwin J. J. Sieben
APPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Peter Chatanga, Erwin J. J. Sieben
Article
Ecology
Peter Chatanga, Donovan C. Kotze, Tom W. Okello, Erwin J. J. Sieben
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
(2020)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
E. J. J. Sieben, R. P. Glen, H. van Deventer, A. Dayaram
Summary: The study investigated the diversity of wetland plants in South Africa, Lesotho, and eSwatini, and found a correlation between precipitation and wetland plant species diversity. Higher precipitation was associated with an increase in wetland habitats, leading to greater diversity of wetland plant species.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Basanda Xhantilomzi Nondlazi, Moses Azong Cho, Heidi van Deventer, Erwin Jacobus Sieben
Summary: This study assessed the variation in edaphic factors in wetlands in the Mpumalanga Lake District, South Africa. Significant differences were found between wetlands for soil moisture content and bulk density, with negative trends observed along littoral gradients. It was recommended to extend the wetland buffer zone to 100 m for better management and monitoring under changing climates.
Article
Plant Sciences
Erwin J. J. Sieben, Ashley Subbiah, Nancy Job, Peter Chatanga, Nacelle Collins, Fynn T. H. Corry
Summary: Factors influencing plant diversity in wetlands vary depending on the spatial scale, with geographic, catchment, and wetland scales all playing a significant role. There are significant differences in Shannon's Diversity Index between different wetland habitats.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
A. J. Rebelo, E. Sieben, P. Meire, K. J. Esler
Summary: Wetland communities in South Africa, particularly dominated by Prionium serratum, face high levels of stress and disturbance. This study investigates the role of autogenic and allogenic succession in the dynamics of valley-bottom wetlands in drylands. The research explores the environmental parameters driving dominance of Prionium serratum and the functional traits that contribute to its characteristic patchiness. The study identifies soil pH and relative groundwater depth as the main drivers of community assembly and reveals adaptations of Prionium-dominated communities to disturbances such as fires and floods. The findings provide insights for wetland restoration efforts and highlight future research directions.
WETLANDS ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
H. van Deventer, A. Linstrom, L. Naidoo, N. Job, E. J. J. Sieben, M. A. Cho
Summary: This study compared the effectiveness of Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 sensors in classifying wetland and terrestrial vegetation, finding that both sensors can effectively distinguish between wetland and terrestrial vegetation. By incorporating elevation data and spectral indices in the classification scenarios, the accuracy of wetland vegetation mapping can be significantly improved.
REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS-SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Erwin J. J. Sieben, Serban Proches, Aluoneswi C. Mashau, Moleseng C. Moshobane
Summary: An inventory of wetland vegetation in South Africa reveals a mismatch between the prioritized alien control programs and the most common invasive alien plants. This article argues for greater alignment between these programs and wetland rehabilitation programs, highlighting the importance of wetland protection and the need to consider all species posing threats to wetland habitats.
SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Lindani Z. Mavimbela, Erwin J. J. Sieben, Serban Proches
NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF FORESTRY SCIENCE
(2018)