Article
Ecology
David J. X. Tan, Ethan F. Gyllenhaal, Michael J. Andersen
Summary: Pleistocene sea-level change has had a significant impact on the evolution and assembly of island biotas. A software package called PleistoDist has been developed to visualize and quantify the effects of sea-level change on islands and to test different hypotheses of inter-island dispersal and community assembly.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nathan G. King, Sophie-B Wilmes, Samuel S. Browett, Amy Healey, Allan D. McDevitt, Niall J. McKeown, Ronan Roche, Ilze Skujina, Dan A. Smale, Jamie M. Thorpe, Shelagh Malham
Summary: Bacterioplankton communities in the Celtic Sea Front were found to be different and less diverse above the thermocline compared to those below and in the well-mixed waters of the Irish Sea. This difference is likely caused by the stressful environment of high temperatures and low nutrients above the thermocline. Cyanobacteria, particularly Synechococcus spp., were more abundant in the stratified zone and are important contributors to global carbon cycling and productivity.
Article
Ecology
Patricia E. Salerno, Lauren M. Chan, Gregory B. Pauly, W. Chris Funk, Jeanne M. Robertson
Summary: This study combines phylogenetic analyses with fossil data and historical specimen records to investigate the colonization histories and evolutionary processes of lizards inhabiting a near-shore island archipelago. The results suggest that the evolution of some lizard lineages has been influenced by ancient and contemporary human activity, while others are shaped by natural dispersal and vicariance caused by sea-level rise.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Farrage M. Khaleal, Mohamed A. Tahoon, Gehad M. Saleh, Mohamed S. Kamar, Hesham M. H. Zakaly, Ibrahim H. Zidan, Bandar A. Al-Mur, Saad S. Alarif, El Saeed R. Lasheen
Summary: The objective of this study is to assess the natural resources and radiological risks of Wadi El Gemal Island by examining its topography, mineralogy, geochemistry, and radioactive distributions. The island, situated at the outlet of Wadi El Gemal in Egypt's southeastern Desert, has unique features and diverse resources. Samples collected from the island were analyzed, and the concentration of radionuclides was found to be within acceptable levels.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Phillip L. Skipwith, Paul M. Oliver
Summary: A key area of interest in evolutionary biology is the role of ecological opportunity in adaptive radiations. This study investigates ecomorphologically diverse radiations of geckos in continental and insular contexts to test two hypotheses. Surprisingly, the results show that speciation rates are homogenous while morphological diversification rates are idiosyncratic and uncorrelated with speciation rates. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that suggests ecologically diverse radiations may not exhibit exceptional shifts in speciation dynamics or morphological diversification.
Article
Plant Sciences
Chunhui Zhang, Marc W. Cadotte, Alessandro Chiarucci, Michel Loreau, Charles G. Willis, Xingfeng Si, Lanping Li, Marcus V. Cianciaruso
Summary: Our research shows that plant community assembly on Mediterranean islands has dramatically changed due to increased human impacts over the past two centuries, with the shift in functional and phylogenetic structure of plant communities as island area increases. The extinction of similar species and colonization of dissimilar species have driven plant communities towards overdispersion, impacting the functioning of island ecosystems in the future.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Siliang Lin, Lin Chen, Weixin Peng, Jiehua Yu, Jiekun He, Haisheng Jiang
Summary: The study reveals that the flora of Hainan has continental origin and high floristic affinity with Vietnam, with historical land connectivity and temperature being the most important factors. Temperature shapes the floristic dissimilarities through environmental filtering, showing variations in beta diversity components across different regions.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Carmelo Andujar, Paula Arribas, Heriberto Lopez, Yurena Arjona, Antonio Perez-Delgado, Pedro Oromi, Alfried P. Vogler, Brent C. Emerson
Summary: Most of the understanding of island diversity comes from aboveground systems, while the patterns and processes of diversification and community assembly for belowground biotas remain poorly understood. This study focuses on a young and dynamic oceanic island to advance our understanding of the processes driving community assembly of soil mesofauna. Through DNA metabarcoding and analysis, the study reveals the role of niche conservatism in community assembly and the importance of habitat specialization through colonization and preadapted species. The study also shows hierarchical patterns of distance decay and geographical structuring within the soil mesofaunal community.
Article
Oceanography
Yongjun Wei, Shan Jiang, Lingmin Tian, Liping Wei, Jie Jin, Juan Severino Pino Ibanhez, Yan Chang, Xiaodao Wei, Ying Wu
Summary: The study investigated sediment microbial composition in a continental shelf affected by the Changjiang River plume, revealing spatial variability in microbial diversity and metabolic activity related to terrestrial and phytoplankton-derived substrates.
ACTA OCEANOLOGICA SINICA
(2022)
Article
Biology
Daniel J. Richter, Romain Watteaux, Thomas Vannier, Jade Leconte, Paul Fremont, Gabriel Reygondeau, Nicolas Maillet, Nicolas Henry, Gaetan Benoit, Ophelie Da Silva, Tom O. Delmont, Antonio Fernandez-Guerra, Samir Suweis, Romain Narci, Cedric Berney, Damien Eveillard, Frederick Gavory, Lionel Guidi, Karine Labadie, Eric Mahieu, Julie Poulain, Sarah Romac, Simon Roux, Celine Dimier, Stefanie Kandels, Marc Picheral, Sarah Searson, Tara Oceans Coordinators, Stephane Pesant, Jean-Marc Aury, Jennifer R. Brum, Claire Lemaitre, Eric Pelletier, Peer Bork, Shinichi Sunagawa, Fabien Lombard, Lee Karp-Boss, Chris Bowler, Matthew B. Sullivan, Eric Karsenti, Mahendra Mariadassou, Ian Probert, Pierre Peterlongo, Patrick Wincker, Colomban de Vargas, Maurizio Ribera D'Alcala, Daniele Iudicone, Olivier Jaillon
Summary: This study assesses the global structure of plankton geography by analyzing metagenomes of plankton communities sampled from oceans worldwide. The findings demonstrate the influence of ocean currents on plankton biogeography and reveal characteristic timescales of community dynamics.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gary A. Zarillo
Summary: On the decadal time scale of coastal planning and management, the influence of relative sea-level rise is usually considered constant. However, along the east coast of Florida and coastal regions further north, the coastal ocean sea level is controlled by North Atlantic circulation and Gulf Stream flow at the interannual and decadal time scale. Each coastal region has its own distinctive annual sea-level cycle and longer-term sea-level oscillations. This paper discusses the influence of the strong Florida coastal ocean sea-level signal on topographic evolution, sediment budgets, and coastal transgression at the decadal time scale.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Oceanography
Ou Wang, Tong Lee, Christopher G. Piecuch, Ichiro Fukumori, Ian Fenty, Thomas Frederikse, Dimitris Menemenlis, Rui M. Ponte, Hong Zhang
Summary: The relative contributions of local and remote wind stress and air-sea buoyancy forcing to sea-level variations along the East Coast of the United States are investigated. Wind stress explains a significant portion of the interannual sea-level variance, while both wind and buoyancy forcing together explain a larger portion. The study also disproves a previous hypothesis about the Labrador Sea wind stress being a driver of Nantucket sea-level variations. Remote buoyancy forcing is found to influence Nantucket sea level through slow advective processes.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Ian R. McFadden, Susanne A. Fritz, Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Loic Pellissier, W. Daniel Kissling, Joseph A. Tobias, Matthias Schleuning, Catherine H. Graham
Summary: This study evaluates trait relationships between frugivorous birds and palms at a global scale and identifies factors such as assemblage richness, climate, and biogeographic history that influence these relationships. The results show that trophic interactions have consistent influences on trait structure, but abiotic, biogeographic, and richness effects also play important roles in shaping the functional biogeography of mutualisms.
Article
Plant Sciences
William S. Pearman, Grant A. Duffy, Xiaoyue P. Liu, Neil J. Gemmell, Sergio E. Morales, Ceridwen Fraser
Summary: This study examines the coupled biogeography of the model macroalga Durvillaea and its microbiome using a combination of genotyping by sequencing (host) and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing (microbiome). The results show that the host and microbiome exhibit shared biogeographical structure arising from different processes, with host biogeography showing geographical distance decay and the microbiome showing environmental distance decay. The abundance of microbes is linked to environmental selection, and as microbes become less common, ecological processes shift towards neutral processes.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xiongfeng Du, Ye Deng, Shuzhen Li, Arthur Escalas, Kai Feng, Qing He, Zhujun Wang, Yueni Wu, Danrui Wang, Xi Peng, Shang Wang
Summary: The study investigated the spatial scaling of prokaryotic biodiversity in different strata of a grassland, revealing significant biogeographic patterns in each layer with taxonomic turnover rates higher than phylogenetic ones. The prokaryotic community in grassland soils assembled mainly according to deterministic mechanisms, showing an increasing deterministic proportion with depth.
Article
Ecology
Alvaro Castilla-Beltran, Lea de Nascimento, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Robert J. Whittaker, Maria M. Romeiras, Andrew B. Cundy, Mary Edwards, Sandra Nogue
Summary: Palaeoecological data provide important insights into ecological changes in oceanic islands over long periods of time. The study in Brava Island, Cabo Verde, showed a regional drying trend leading to erosion but limited immediate impacts on vegetation. The expansion of exogenous plants, increase in grazing and fires, and decrease in native vegetation happened around 300 years ago.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Severin D. H. Irl, Andreas H. Schweiger, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Claudine Ah-Peng, Jose Ramon Arevalo, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Alessandro Chiarucci, Curtis C. Daehler, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Olivier Flores, Christoph Kueffer, Petr Madera, Rudiger Otto, Julienne M. -I. Schweiger, Dominique Strasberg, Anke Jentsch
Summary: Plant invasion on tropical and subtropical islands seems to be mainly driven by precipitation and human impact, while temperature seems to be of little importance. Furthermore, anemochory and anthropochory are dispersal strategies associated with large niche widths of non-native species.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Vanessa Cutts, Dagmar M. Hanz, Martha P. Barajas-Barbosa, Adam C. Algar, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Severin D. H. Irl, Holger Kreft, Patrick Weigelt, Jose Maria Fernandez Palacios, Richard Field
Summary: Trait data from scientific floras can be reliable and useful for certain plant traits, but not others. Specifically, leaf area values showed good agreement between scientific floras and field-measured data, while specific leaf area values had a weaker relationship. The TRY database contains many traits, but is incomplete in species coverage for the study region and oceanic islands in general.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Dagmar M. Hanz, Vanessa Cutts, Martha Paola Barajas-Barbosa, Adam C. Algar, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Jose-Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Richard Field, Holger Kreft, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Patrick Weigelt, Severin D. H. Irl
Summary: Functional traits can elucidate biogeographical and ecological processes driving assemblage structure. Our study on plant species of different evolutionary origins in the Canary Islands revealed that endemic and non-endemic native species possess similar traits, while alien species tend to expand functional space in introduced ecosystems. The distribution of functional diversity of floristic groups is distinct across environmental gradients, indicating their adaptation to different habitats.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Francisco Cabrera Rodriguez, Rudiger Otto, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios
Summary: Time, climate, and topography have significant influences on soil properties and plant composition on lava flows of an oceanic island. In the semi-arid coastal areas of La Palma Island, the climatic windward-leeward gradient affects plant colonization and soil development. During primary succession, the dominant successional shrubs are endemics, highlighting the importance of evolutionary adaptation to volcanic disturbances.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Sandra Nogue, Lea de Nascimento, Laura Graham, Luke A. Brown, Luis Antonio Gomez Gonzalez, Alvaro Castilla-Beltran, Josep Penuelas, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Kathy J. Willis
Summary: This study examined the distribution of pollen traits in relation to different levels of aridity and how the composition of pollen traits changed with past environmental conditions. The results showed that pollen traits related to desiccation tolerance were more prevalent in drier areas of the laurel forest distribution, while rich pollen grain ornamentation was more prevalent in the core of the distribution. The study also found that pollen functional diversity increased during drier conditions, indicating a trend towards desiccation tolerance. This study provides insights into the role of pollen traits in understanding the dynamics of plant communities.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Maria A. Garcia-Lopez, Vicente Rozas, Jose M. Olano, Gabriel Sanguesa-Barreda, Miguel Garcia-Hidalgo, Susana Gomez-Gonzalez, Roberto Lopez-Rubio, Jose M. Fernandez-Palacios, Ignacio Garcia-Gonzalez, Ana Garcia-Cervigon
Summary: This study assesses the dendrochronological potential and tree-ring climate sensitivity of tree species from the Tenerife laurel forest. The results show the presence of annual growth rings and the relationship between tree-ring width and water availability and drought occurrence. This opens up new research opportunities for dendroecological studies in Macaronesian laurel forests.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Julian Schrader, Lea de Nascimento, Severin D. H. Irl, Lazaro Sanchez-Pinto, Ruediger Otto
Summary: Oceanic islands are known for their unique and diverse plant communities, but they are threatened by invasive species. However, the Canary Island plant systems have a weak infiltration of invasive plants and are rarely threatened by them. Highly disturbed areas on the islands are recolonized by native plants. This provides an opportunity to study invasion into plant communities and understand the underlying processes.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Susanne S. Renner, Rudiger Otto, Jose Luis Martin-Esquivel, Manuel Marrero-Gomez, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios
Summary: This study analyzed the oldest available data on the high-elevation vegetation on Mt. Teide in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The results show that the upper range limits of species have shifted upward, possibly due to climate change and goat eradication.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Dagmar M. Hanz, Vanessa Cutts, Martha Paola Barajas-Barbosa, Adam Algar, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Flavien Collart, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Richard Field, Dirk N. Karger, David R. Kienle, Holger Kreft, Jairo Patino, Franziska Schrodt, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Patrick Weigelt, Severin D. H. Irl
Summary: Oceanic islands, including the Canary Islands in Spain, have unique floras with a high proportion of endemic species. This study aimed to assess the impact of climate change on the range sizes of island plants and identify species in need of conservation. The results showed that single-island endemic species are projected to lose a greater proportion of their climatically suitable area compared to archipelago endemics or nonendemic native species.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Anna Walentowitz, Bernd Lenzner, Franz Essl, Nichola Strandberg, Alvaro Castilla-Beltran, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Svante Bjorck, Simon Connor, Simon G. Haberle, Karl Ljung, Matiu Prebble, Janet M. Wilmshurst, Cynthia A. Froyd, Erik J. de Boer, Lea de Nascimento, Mary E. Edwards, Janelle Stevenson, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Sandra Nogue
Summary: Human-mediated changes in island vegetation are largely caused by the introduction and establishment of non-native species. However, data on past changes in non-native plant species abundance are scarce. Using fossil pollen data and botanical status information, we studied the changes in non-native plant abundance on 29 islands over the past 5000 years. Our findings reveal a proportional increase in non-native plant pollen in the last 1000 years and highlight the importance of considering the longer and more dynamic history of non-native plant introductions.
Article
Ecology
Vanessa Cutts, Dagmar M. Hanz, Martha Paola Barajas-Barbosa, Franziska Schrodt, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Pierre Denelle, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Pierre Gauzere, Matthias Grenie, Severin D. H. Irl, Nathan Kraft, Holger Kreft, Brian Maitner, Francois Munoz, Wilfried Thuiller, Cyrille Violle, Patrick Weigelt, Richard Field, Adam C. Algar
Summary: Current models of island biogeography treat endemic and non-endemic species as if they were functionally equivalent, focussing primarily on species richness. Thus, the functional composition of island biotas in relation to island biogeographical variables remains largely unknown.
Article
Plant Sciences
Carlos A. Gois-Marques, Lea de Nascimento, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Jose Madeira, Miguel Menezes de Sequeira
Summary: This study discusses the systematic affinities of the first wind-pollinated besom heaths fossils found in the Macaronesia, assigning them to a species within the Palaearctic Erica sect. Chlorocodon. The fossils suggest a colonization of Madeira Island prior to 1.3 Ma, indicating the presence of wind-pollinated besom heaths since at least the early Pleistocene.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Martha Paola Barajas Barbosa, Dylan Craven, Patrick Weigelt, Pierre Denelle, Rudiger Otto, Sandra Diaz, Jonathan Price, Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios, Holger Kreft
Summary: Oceanic island floras are known for their unique morphological characteristics and provide examples of trait evolution. These morphological shifts are believed to be influenced by the biogeographical processes and evolutionary histories of oceanic islands. However, the mechanisms behind the distribution and diversity of plant functional traits remain unclear.
Article
Forestry
Vicente Rozas, Maria A. Garcia-Lopez, Jose M. Olano, Gabriel Sanguesa-Barreda, Miguel Garcia-Hidalgo, Susana Gomez-Gonzalez, Roberto Lopez-Rubio, Jose M. Fernandez-Palacios, Ignacio Garcia-Gonzalez, Laura Lozano-Lopez, Paula Garcia-Gonzalez, Ana I. Garcia-Cervigon
Summary: Laurel forests are important for biodiversity conservation but have been severely damaged by human activities. The Canary laurel forests have been altered by logging, livestock, and agriculture. We studied two well-preserved laurel forests on Tenerife Island to understand forest dynamics under land-use change and windstorms using dendrochronological methods. Passive restoration may be sufficient to regenerate this habitat in currently degraded areas.
