Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Soyeon Bae, Lea Heidrich, Shaun R. Levick, Martin M. Gossner, Sebastian Seibold, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Paul Magdon, Alla Serebryanyk, Claus Baessler, Deborah Schafer, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Inken Doerfler, Jorg Mueller, Kirsten Jung, Marco Heurich, Markus Fischer, Nicolas Roth, Peter Schall, Steffen Boch, Stephan Woellauer, Swen C. Renner, Joerg Mueller
Summary: Despite increasing interest in beta-diversity, the mechanisms underlying species turnover at different spatial scales are not fully understood. Our study revealed that environmental factors and landscape spatial structure have different effects on community composition, and these effects vary among different functional groups.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Merja Elo, Jenny Jyrkankallio-Mikkola, Otso Ovaskainen, Janne Soininen, Kimmo T. Tolonen, Jani Heino
Summary: This study investigated the effect of competition on stream macroinvertebrate communities using species-to-species associations from joint species distribution models. The results suggest that competition may not be the primary driving force of stream macroinvertebrate communities at the spatial grain sizes considered.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Kai Chen, Kevin S. Burgess, Fangliang He, Xiang-Yun Yang, Lian-Ming Gao, De-Zhu Li
Summary: This study quantifies the joint effects of seed traits and phylogeny on species distribution and finds that seed mass, seed dispersal mode, and phylogeny significantly influence species geographic distribution. The findings highlight the importance of including seed traits and phylogenetic history in climate-based niche models to predict the response of plant geographic distribution to climate change.
Article
Plant Sciences
Kohei Koyama, Mayu Tashiro
Summary: The phenomenon of selective abortion, or selective maturation, in plants can have different effects on fruit traits depending on the dispersal mechanism, as shown in the study of bird-dispersed elderberry. While flower-removed trees had higher fruit sets, there was no increase in the number of seeds per fruit, and the control group did not produce larger fruits. This suggests that the impact of selective maturation on fruit traits may vary among species with different dispersal mechanisms.
Article
Biology
Michael Staab, Martin M. Gossner, Nadja K. Simons, Rafael Achury, Didem Ambarli, Soyeon Bae, Peter Schall, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Nico Bluethgen
Summary: Species richness and biomass of insects has generally declined in German forests over the past decade, with larger and carnivorous species being more vulnerable. The underlying drivers of insect decline and variations between species are not yet fully understood. This study highlights the importance of forests in understanding insect trends and suggests that non-native tree species and extensive timber harvesting may contribute to declines. Furthermore, it found that larger and more abundant species at higher trophic levels are most affected, while herbivores show an increase in population. The findings indicate potential shifts in food webs and emphasize the need for targeted management to mitigate declines.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Samuel Dijoux, Noemie A. Pichon, Arnaud Sentis, David S. Boukal
Summary: This study investigates how species invasions affect the structure, diversity, and stability of simple communities, and predicts the factors influencing invasion success and consequences. The results suggest that warm and productive habitats are more susceptible to successful invasions, with smaller competitors, intraguild predators, and relatively small top predators being the most successful invaders. Additionally, successful invasions can either destabilize or stabilize community dynamics, depending on the environmental conditions and the trophic position of the invader.
Article
Ecology
Lucie Thompson, Konstans Wells, Nuria Galiana, Miguel Lurgi
Summary: This study investigates the range shifts of birds in Great Britain and finds that geographical boundaries and species traits and environmental preferences are important factors influencing those shifts, particularly for Northern and passeriform species.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xiongfeng Du, Songsong Gu, Zheng Zhang, Shuzhen Li, Yuqi Zhou, Zhaojing Zhang, Qi Zhang, Linlin Wang, Zhicheng Ju, Chengliang Yan, Tong Li, Danrui Wang, Xingsheng Yang, Xi Peng, Ye Deng
Summary: Soil bacterial communities in a coastal area follow a distance-decay relationship and the distribution is influenced by body size. This study collected soil samples from two adjacent ecosystems and found that the entire microbial community, as well as individual taxonomic groups, exhibited distance-decay patterns. The turnover rate of microbial communities was higher in nontidal soils and topsoil, with body size influencing the spatial limitation in nontidal topsoil but not in tidal soils.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Willem Bonnaffe, Alain Danet, Stephane Legendre, Eric Edeline
Summary: The study finds that the effects of temperature on food web structure depend on different levels of biological organization, leading to complex changes in network structure and functioning with warming.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shengjie Liu, Shangwen Xia, Donghao Wu, Jocelyn E. Behm, Yuanyuan Meng, Hao Yuan, Ping Wen, Alice C. Hughes, Xiaodong Yang
Summary: This study investigated the distribution and morphological traits of termite diversity globally and in China. It found that termite species richness increased with decreasing latitude, and termite morphological traits showed a latitudinal trend with decreasing body size and leg length at higher latitudes. Temperature, NDVI, and water variables were identified as the most important drivers of termite richness variation, while temperature and soil properties drove the geographic distribution of termite morphological traits. The study's global termite richness map provides a valuable baseline for further ecological analysis.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Evan C. Fricke, Chia Hsieh, Owen Middleton, Daniel Gorczynski, Caroline D. Cappello, Oscar Sanisidro, John Rowan, Jens-Christian Svenning, Lydia Beaudrot
Summary: Food webs play a crucial role in influencing ecosystem diversity and functioning. This study utilized extinct and extant mammal traits, geographic ranges, observed predator-prey interactions, and deep learning models to investigate the changes in terrestrial mammal food webs over the past 130,000 years globally. The results revealed significant declines in complexity of food webs due to loss of food web links after the arrival and expansion of human populations. The study estimates a 53% decline in food web links globally, primarily caused by extinctions but also by range losses for extant species. This highlights the potential for restoring food webs through recovery of extant species.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Joshua S. Lynn, Ragnhild Gya, Kari Klanderud, Richard J. Telford, Deborah E. Goldberg, Vigdis Vandvik
Summary: Climate change impacts on biota vary across sites, species, and individual species' ranges. Incorporating species' trait information improves predictions about climate responses. Plant height emerges as the most consistent trait associated with species' climate difference sensitivity.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Ming Zhao, Zhaogang Liu, Hongxiang Zhang, Yuanyuan Wang, Hong Yan
Summary: Understanding the determinants of seed germination is crucial for predicting plant population regeneration and adaptation under changing climates. Multiple factors, including plant traits and seed characteristics, influence germination percentage and speed. This study found that biennials had higher germination rates, species with brown seeds had higher germination percentages, and phylogeny-related factors had a stronger influence on germination variation.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Renata Kedzior, Agnieszka Kosewska
Summary: This study investigated the influence of different habitat types in agricultural landscapes on the assemblage parameters and life history traits of ground beetles. The results showed that abundance, species richness, and species diversity of ground beetles were highest in the orchard habitat, and the occurrence of large brachypterous predators was strongly influenced by habitat heterogeneity.
Article
Mathematics, Applied
Stefano Gualandi, Eleonora Vercesi, Giuseppe Toscani
Summary: By utilizing classical methods of statistical mechanics, this paper establishes a kinetic model that can replicate the observed statistical weight distribution of various species. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated through numerical fittings on mammalian eutherians of the order Chiroptera population.
MATHEMATICAL MODELS & METHODS IN APPLIED SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Sophia I. Passy, Joseph L. Mruzek, William R. Budnick, Thibault Leboucher, Aurelien Jamoneau, Jonathan M. Chase, Janne Soininen, Eric R. Sokol, Juliette Tison-Rosebery, Annika Vilmi, Jianjun Wang, Chad A. Larson
Summary: This study is the first spatially explicit examination of the species-area relationship (SAR) in subcontinental freshwater ecosystems, focusing on the shape and origins of the SAR across different organismal groups (diatoms, insects, and fish) with varying body size and dispersal capacity. The results show that scale and species group are the most important predictors of the SAR shape, while climatic factors and metacommunity properties are secondary predictors. Different models are applicable to different organismal groups, scales, and metacommunity properties. Therefore, future research should investigate how climate change affects metacommunity properties and alters the SAR.
Article
Ecology
Siwen He, Beixin Wang, Kai Chen, Janne Soininen
Summary: Metacommunity structure is influenced by both deterministic and stochastic factors, with their importance varying depending on environmental and trait heterogeneity. Environmental filtering is most strongly associated with regions of moderate environmental heterogeneity and high trait heterogeneity. Associations with stochastic factors are more variable and difficult to predict.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Janne Soininen
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the variation of stream diatom community assembly processes at different spatial scales. It was found that environmental filtering dominated the assembly of diatom communities, especially at small scales, while stochastic factors such as random dispersal and ecological drift became more influential at larger scales.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Tuuli Rissanen, Pekka Niittynen, Janne Soininen, Anna-Maria Virkkala, Miska Luoto
Summary: The relationships between key environmental drivers and plant functional traits in the tundra are largely consistent across spatial scales. Summer temperature and snow persistence are the most important variables explaining community trait composition. Snow has significant impacts on seed mass, specific leaf area, and vegetation height.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Stef Haesen, Jonas J. Lembrechts, Pieter De Frenne, Jonathan Lenoir, Juha Aalto, Michael B. Ashcroft, Martin Kopecky, Miska Luoto, Ilya Maclean, Ivan Nijs, Pekka Niittynen, Johan van den Hoogen, Nicola Arriga, Josef Bruna, Nina Buchmann, Marek Ciliak, Alessio Collalti, Emiel De Lombaerde, Patrice Descombes, Mana Gharun, Ignacio Goded, Sanne Govaert, Caroline Greiser, Achim Grelle, Carsten Gruening, Lucia Hederova, Kristoffer Hylander, Juergen Kreyling, Bart Kruijt, Martin Macek, Frantisek Malis, Matej Man, Giovanni Manca, Radim Matula, Camille Meeussen, Sonia Merinero, Stefano Minerbi, Leonardo Montagnani, Lena Muffler, Roma Ogaya, Josep Penuelas, Roman Plichta, Miguel Portillo-Estrada, Jonas Schmeddes, Ankit Shekhar, Fabien Spicher, Mariana Ujhazyova, Pieter Vangansbeke, Robert Weigel, Jan Wild, Florian Zellweger, Koenraad Van Meerbeek
Summary: Microclimate research has gained renewed interest in the past decade, and its importance for ecological processes is increasingly recognized. To improve ecological models, there is a growing need for high-resolution microclimatic temperature grids across broad spatial extents. In this study, we present a new set of open-access bioclimatic variables for microclimate temperatures of European forests at a resolution of 25 x 25 m(2).
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Heidi K. Mod, Tuuli Rissanen, Pekka Niittynen, Janne Soininen, Miska Luoto
Summary: By assessing the relationships between species occupancy and niche metrics, as well as trait variability, at different spatial scales in four study areas north of the Arctic Circle, this study found that species' traits were more important at fine scales, while abiotic filtering played a larger role at broad scales. These findings highlight the scale-dependency of factors driving species occupancy.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jonathan F. Jupke, Sebastian Birk, Apostolos Apostolou, Jukka Aroviita, Annette Baattrup-Pedersen, Peter Balazi, Libuse Baresova, Saul Blancoi, Maria Borrego-Ramos, Herman van Dam, Elias Dimitriou, Christian K. Feld, Maria Teresa Ferreira, Gana Gecheva, Joan Goma, Nikola Hanzek, Ida Marie Haslev, Tsvetelina Isheva, Aurelien Jamoneau, Jenny Jyrkaenkallio-Mikkola, Maria Kahlert, Ioannis Karaouzas, Satu Maaria Karjalainen, Adriana Olenici, Piotr Panek, Petr Paril, Edwin T. H. M. Peeters, Marek Polasek, Didier Pont, Audrone Pumputyte, Leonard Sandin, Lucia Sochuliakova, Janne Soininen, Igor Stankovic, Michal Straka, Mirela Susnjara, Tapio Sutela, Juliette Tison-Rosebery, Marija Gligora Udovic, Michiel Verhofstad, Petar Zutinic, Ralf B. Schaefer
Summary: Typology systems used in ecology fail to accurately classify site groups with distinct biological communities. Combining segment-based and region-based typology systems might improve their utility for freshwater biota.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
J. Kemppinen, P. Niittynen, T. Rissanen, V. Tyystjaervi, J. Aalto, M. Luoto
Summary: Soil moisture has significant spatio-temporal variations in boreal forest and tundra environments. Comprehensive soil moisture datasets are scarce in these environments. The relationship between soil moisture and topography is site-specific and varies in space and time. General topographic models show poor performance when transferred from one area to another. The strong spatio-temporal heterogeneity of soil moisture conditions in boreal forest and tundra environments should be carefully considered.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Zhenyu Huang, Baozhu Pan, Janne Soininen, Xinyuan Liu, Yiming Hou, Xing Liu
Summary: Uncovering the mechanisms underlying phytoplankton community assembly remains a major challenge in freshwater ecology. In Tibetan floodplain ecosystems, the roles of environmental filtering and spatial processes in shaping phytoplankton metacommunity under various hydrological conditions are still unclear. This study compared the spatiotemporal patterns and assembly processes of phytoplankton communities in a river-oxbow lake system during non-flood and flood periods. The results showed significant seasonal and habitat variations in phytoplankton communities, with lower density, biomass, and alpha diversity during the flood period. Habitat differences were less pronounced during the flood period, potentially due to increased hydrological connectivity.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Tuuli Rissanen, Aino Aalto, Heli Kainulainen, Olli Kauppi, Pekka Niittynen, Janne Soininen, Miska Luoto
Summary: This study examined the relationship between plant diversity and environmental factors in northern Norway. The results revealed that snow and fluvial conditions were strongly linked to taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic plant diversity in tundra ecosystems. The study emphasized the importance of investigating multiple facets of biodiversity and addressing local hydrological conditions in understanding vegetation patterns.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mariana Garcia Criado, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Anne D. Bjorkman, Signe Normand, Anne Blach-Overgaard, Haydn J. D. Thomas, Anu Eskelinen, Konsta Happonen, Juha M. Alatalo, Alba Anadon-Rosell, Isabelle Aubin, Mariska te Beest, Katlyn R. Betway-May, Daan Blok, Allan Buras, Bruno E. L. Cerabolini, Katherine Christie, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Bruce C. Forbes, Esther R. Frei, Paul Grogan, Luise Hermanutz, Robert D. Hollister, James Hudson, Maitane Iturrate-Garcia, Elina Kaarlejaervi, Michael Kleyer, Laurent J. Lamarque, Jonas J. Lembrechts, Esther Levesque, Miska Luoto, Petr Macek, Jeremy L. May, Janet S. Prevey, Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, Serge N. Sheremetiev, Laura Siegwart Collier, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Andrew Trant, Susanna E. Venn, Anna-Maria Virkkala
Summary: Climate change is causing species redistributions, particularly in the tundra biome. This study investigates the relationship between plant trait values and species distributions in tundra shrubs. The authors find that winner and loser species in the warming tundra biome share similar trait spaces, making them difficult to predict based on commonly measured traits.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Pieter Sanczuk, Karen De Pauw, Emiel De Lombaerde, Miska Luoto, Camille Meeussen, Sanne Govaert, Thomas Vanneste, Leen Depauw, Jorg Brunet, Sara A. O. Cousins, Cristina Gasperini, Per-Ola Hedwall, Giovanni Iacopetti, Jonathan Lenoir, Jan Plue, Federico Selvi, Fabien Spicher, Jaime Uria-Diez, Kris Verheyen, Pieter Vangansbeke, Pieter De Frenne
Summary: Macroclimatic changes have global impacts on ecosystems. Forest floors under dense tree canopies buffer the impacts of macroclimate change on forest biodiversity, while canopy opening exacerbates these impacts. A cross-continental transplant experiment was conducted to understand the role of forest microclimates in shaping future plant distributions.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Oona Leppiniemi, Olli Karjalainen, Juha Aalto, Miska Luoto, Jan Hjort
Summary: This study models the suitable environments for palsas and peat plateaus in the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region and assesses the impact of climate change on these landforms. The research finds that climate change will significantly reduce the suitable environments and have important implications for greenhouse gas emissions in the circumpolar region.