Article
Environmental Sciences
Irene Villalta, Christophe Bouget, Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde, Mathilde Baude
Summary: Urbanisation has varying effects on wild bee communities, negatively impacting species richness and taxonomical diversity, but not total abundance. Different bee species respond differently to urbanisation, with some being positively affected by urban landscape cover. Urban and peri-urban areas also have distinct bee assemblages. Species turnover is the main driver of community dissimilarities along the urban gradient. Urbanisation favors bees with small body sizes, social structure, and extended flight periods, but does not affect the phylogenetic or functional diversity of communities.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Jonathan Diamond, Denis Roy
Summary: This study examines the relationship between species richness and functional diversity in fish. It finds that species richness cannot accurately estimate functional diversity. In most fish families, there is a pattern of stable functional diversity from the equator through the tropics that shifts at around absolute latitude 31.7 degrees. This analysis demonstrates the importance of considering functional diversity in conservation priorities and policies.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Coline C. F. Boonman, Luca Santini, Bjorn J. M. Robroek, Selwyn Hoeks, Steven Kelderman, Juergen Dengler, Ariel Bergamini, Idoia Biurrun, Maria Laura Carranza, Bruno E. L. Cerabolini, Milan Chytry, Ute Jandt, Tatiana Lysenko, Angela Stanisci, Irina Tatarenko, Solvita Rusina, Mark A. J. Huijbregts
Summary: The study reveals that functional and taxonomic richness of European grassland communities vary considerably over temperature and precipitation gradients. Overall, they follow similar patterns along climate gradients, except for at high minimum temperatures and wide temperature ranges, where functional richness increases and taxonomic richness decreases. This contrasting pattern may trigger new ideas for studies focused on community assembly processes.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Caishuang Huang, Yue Xu, Runguo Zang
Summary: Linking functional trait space and environmental conditions can help understand the variations in functional richness and how it is influenced by key environmental variables in forest communities. This study examined the variations in functional richness and its correlations with environmental variables in subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests in China. The results showed that functional richness decreased with increasing elevation and latitude, but increased with increasing longitude. Climate and soil conditions were found to be the main factors influencing the geographical variation in the functional space occupied by these forest communities. The null model analysis revealed the importance of environmental filtering in defining functional volume within these communities.
Article
Ecology
Jordan C. Besson, Joshua J. Neary, Joshua D. Stafford, Corey G. Dunn, Leandro E. Miranda
Summary: The transformations caused by reservoir cascades can impact fish assemblages at the reach scale, but its basin-scale effects are unclear. By studying longitudinal trends in fish functional traits in the Tennessee River reservoir cascade, it was found that the predictions made by the River Continuum Concept were generally sustained.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Charlie J. G. Loewen, Donald A. Jackson, Benjamin Gilbert
Summary: This study found contrasting responses in species richness, phylogenetic relationships, and functional diversity along geographic temperature gradients in western North America. The results suggest that elevational and latitudinal equivalence assumptions in ecological response models, especially regarding climatic refuges for dispersing species, may not hold true. The study also revealed different patterns of environmental filters and limiting similarity in community assembly with increasing elevation and latitude. Additionally, the study found that predictions of how climate change will influence diversity differ between elevation and latitude gradients.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Andrea Paz, Leyla Hernandez, Lilian S. O. Melo, Mariana Lyra, Celio F. B. Haddad, Ana C. Carnaval
Summary: This study investigates the role of environmental filtering and biotic interactions in shaping the communities of tree frogs in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The researchers find that functional richness is high along the forest, potentially driven by niche partitioning, while environmental filtering becomes more important in extreme environments. Trait overdispersion is found in areas of vegetation contact or adjacent biomes. Considering multiple dimensions of biodiversity and environmental variation provides a more comprehensive understanding of amphibian community assembly.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Joao Bosco Gusmao, David W. Thieltges, Rob Dekker, Laura L. Govers, Kasper J. Meijer, Britas Klemens Eriksson
Summary: The rapid reorganization of global biodiversity has prompted research on the consequences for ecosystem functioning. Efforts to monitor biodiversity change and evaluate its outcomes for ecosystems are currently misaligned. Using macrozoobenthic communities from the Dutch Wadden Sea as a model, this study investigated the relationship between trait diversity and function across sediment gradients. The findings highlight the value of a trait-based approach in complementing traditional biodiversity measures for characterizing changes in ecosystem functioning.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Alexander G. Linan, Jonathan A. Myers, Christine E. Edwards, Amy E. Zanne, Stephen A. Smith, Gabriel Arellano, Leslie Cayola, William Farfan-Rios, Alfredo F. Fuentes, Karina Garcia-Cabrera, Sebastian Gonzalez-Caro, M. Isabel Loza, Manuel J. Macia, Yadvinder Malhi, Beatriz Nieto-Ariza, Norma Salinas, Miles Silman, J. Sebastian Tello
Summary: The study found that on the elevational gradient of the Andes, species turnover is primarily driven by the replacement of clades that originated before the uplift of the mountains, indicating that immigration and sorting of clades pre-adapted to montane habitats are the main mechanisms shaping tree communities across elevational gradients.
Article
Ecology
Hai-Yang Zhang, Andrew Bissett, Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros, Hong-Wei Liu, Jeff R. Powell
Summary: Genomic traits reflect the evolutionary processes behind ecological variation in organisms, especially in how they acquire and use resources. Soil fungi have diverse nutritional strategies and variation in fitness along resource gradients, which may be associated with different genomic traits. We found that species with large genomes have nutrient-poor mycelium and low GC content, and these patterns are present across fungal guilds but with varying explanatory power. Additionally, we observed shifts in guild composition and species turnover within guilds in nutrient-poor soils dominated by fungi with large genomes and lower GC content, highlighting the importance of these traits in successful ecological strategies for soil fungi.
Article
Plant Sciences
Stefan F. Hupperts, Erik A. Lilleskov
Summary: This study reveals that there is a trade-off between symbiont foraging traits and associated carbon costs, which shapes seedling ectomycorrhizal fungal communities in peatlands.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hudson T. Pinheiro, Chancey MacDonald, Juan Pablo Quimbayo, Bart Shepherd, Tyler A. Phelps, Ana Carolina Loss, Joao Batista Teixeira, Luiz A. Rocha
Summary: Coral reefs are highly studied ecological assemblages, but the large-scale assembly rules based on empirical quantitative data along the depth gradient have not been investigated. This study reveals that the influence of biogeographic drivers on species richness of coral reef fishes changes significantly with depth, resulting in distinct assemblages governed by different rules in mesophotic coral ecosystems.
Article
Ecology
Erin Larson, N. LeRoy Poff, W. Chris Funk, Rachel A. Harrington, Boris C. Kondratieff, Scott G. Morton, Alexander S. Flecker
Summary: Frameworks focusing on functional diversity are gaining popularity, with the inclusion of taxonomic diversity metrics to uncover mechanisms driving species loss following disturbance events. Testing a predictive framework on stream insect communities revealed concordance between multidimensional taxonomic diversity metrics and functional diversity responses, highlighting the importance of considering both taxonomic and functional diversity in understanding disturbance impacts on biodiversity.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marko Gomez-Hernandez, Emily Avendano-Villegas, Maria Toledo-Garibaldi, Etelvina Gandara
Summary: Urbanization significantly impacts macrofungal communities, leading to a decrease in species richness and under-utilization of available resources in some sections of the niche space. Functional diversity is reduced, but niche differentiation among macrofungal species within urbanized areas is high.
Article
Forestry
Alejandra Alfaro Pinto, Juan J. Castillo Mont, David E. Mendieta Jimenez, Alex Guerra Noriega, Jorge Jimenez Barrios, Andrea Clavijo McCormick
Summary: This study characterized riparian tree communities along the Acome riverbank in Guatemala by identifying four main riparian communities and 115 tree species. The study emphasized the crucial role of these riparian tree communities in maintaining water quality, providing habitats for wildlife, and facilitating the movement and dispersal of species. This information is vital for the development of restoration strategies and management plans in the region.
Article
Ecology
Jon Morant, Eneko Arrondo, Ainara Cortes-Avizanda, Marcos Moleon, Jose A. Donazar, Jose A. Sanchez-Zapata, Pascual Lopez-Lopez, Hector Ruiz-Villar, Inigo Zuberogoitia, Zebensui Morales-Reyes, Lara Naves-Alegre, Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez
Summary: This study estimated the production and distribution of ungulate carrion biomass in peninsular Spain, revealing that anthropogenic sources supplied much more carrion than natural sources. Livestock was the primary carrion provider, followed by big game hunting and roadkills. The spatial distribution of carrion differed among sources, with anthropogenic carrion being more aggregated. The findings highlight the importance of carrion biomass quantification in evaluating ecosystem health.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
A. Orihuela-Torres, E. Sebastian-Gonzalez, J. M. Perez-Garcia
Summary: Outdoor recreation has increased in recent decades, especially after the COVID-19 lockdown. This study examines the impact of outdoor recreation on terrestrial vertebrate scavengers in El Hondo Natural Park, Spain, and finds that it alters the scavenger assemblage and scavenging patterns. Non-native species are more frequently found scavenging in public access areas, indicating the influence of human activities. Additionally, the consumption time and biomass by vertebrate scavengers are affected by outdoor recreation. Therefore, regulating tourism and protecting restricted areas are crucial for preserving biodiversity and ecological processes.
ANIMAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Giliandro G. Silva, Marco Aurelio Pizo, Andy J. Green, Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez, Leandro Bugoni, Leonardo Maltchik
Summary: This study describes the structure of a Neotropical waterfowl seed-dispersal network and identifies the species that have an important role for the network structure. The network was found to be nested, with the yellow-billed teal showing the highest contribution to nestedness and weighted nestedness. However, the weighted modularity was not significant. The structure of this network differed from a previous waterfowl network study in Europe.
Article
Ecology
Tatiana Alves, Marcos Robalinho Lima, Luiz dos Anjos
Summary: We investigated the relationship between the specialization level of understory insectivorous Passeriformes and forest cover in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil. We hypothesized that the Tyrannides, a large clade closely associated with forest habitat, would be more affected by forest loss than the Passeri. We evaluated the association between the abundance of single species and forest cover.
Article
Ecology
Thomas J. Matthews, Joseph P. Wayman, Robert J. Whittaker, Pedro Cardoso, Julian P. Hume, Ferran Sayol, Konstantinos Proios, Thomas E. Martin, Benjamin Baiser, Paulo A. V. Borges, Yasuhiro Kubota, Luiz dos Anjos, Joseph A. Tobias, Filipa C. Soares, Xingfeng Si, Ping Ding, Chase D. Mendenhall, Yong Chee Keita Sin, Frank E. Rheindt, Kostas A. Triantis, Francois Guilhaumon, David M. Watson, Lluis Brotons, Corrado Battisti, Osanna Chu, Francois Rigal
Summary: Research on island species-area relationships (ISAR) has expanded to incorporate functional (IFDAR) and phylogenetic (IPDAR) diversity. However, we lack comprehensive global analyses of how these categories of island diversity-area relationship (IDAR) vary. In this study, we provide the first comparative evaluation of IDARs at the global scale using avian data sets from 51 archipelagos. Our results show that increasing richness with area drives the non-richness corrected IPDAR and IFDAR. We also find that archipelagos with steeper ISARs have larger differences in slope between IDARs, indicating increased redundancy on larger islands in these archipelagos.
Article
Ecology
Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez, Jon Morant, Marcos Moleon, Daniel Redondo-Gomez, Zebensui Morales-Reyes, Roberto Pascual-Rico, Juan Manuel Perez-Garcia, Eneko Arrondo
Summary: This study reveals an underestimation of the role of scavengers in vertebrate food webs, especially for non-predator species and mammals. It suggests further investigation and recognition of the importance of carrion as a food resource for vertebrates.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Bia A. Almeida, Gabriela M. Bochio, Larissa C. Calsavara, Fernanda C. Marques, Luiz dos Anjos
Summary: The seasonal variation in tropical and subtropical systems affects bird species differently based on their resource use. However, knowledge about the drivers of species presence and abundance during different seasons is still limited for most tropical bird species. This study examines bird community seasonality in the Atlantic Rainforest, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, in three forest types subjected to varying climatic conditions. The research reveals seasonal changes in bird composition related to diet and foraging strata, with invertivores more prevalent in winter and frugivores less prevalent in the forest type with colder winters.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Helon Simoes Oliveira, Luiz dos Anjos
Summary: The study explores the response of functional trait diversity of birds to forest vegetation integrity and assesses the impact of species richness on niche occupancy patterns. The results indicate that lower vegetation integrity leads to increased foraging and consumption behavior in birds, while higher vegetation integrity results in larger beaks and increased foraging for invertebrates in the canopy. Furthermore, lower vegetation integrity is associated with an increase in species richness and expansion and packing of niche space. Therefore, forests with high vegetation integrity should be conserved despite their lower species richness.
JOURNAL FOR NATURE CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biology
Eneko Arrondo, Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez, Marcos Moleon, Zebensui Morales-Reyes, Jose Maria Gil-Sanchez, Ainara Cortes-Avizanda, Olga Ceballos, Jose Antonio Donazar, Jose Antonio Sanchez-Zapata
Summary: Individual dietary variation has important consequences for ecology and evolution, even in taxa with assumed homogeneous diets. Vultures, typically considered as 'carrion eaters', offer an excellent model to study how inter-individual transmissible behaviors influence individual dietary variation. By combining GPS-tracking and accelerometers with fieldwork, researchers identified the individual diets of 55 griffon vultures from two overlapping populations in Spain. The study found that vultures from humanized areas consumed more anthropic resources, resulting in more uniform diets, while vultures from wilder areas consumed more wild ungulates, leading to greater dietary variability. Males also consumed more anthropic resources than females. Additionally, vultures retained their cultural dietary preferences in shared foraging areas.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Matheus Marques Tavares, Helon Simoes Oliveira, Luiz dos Anjos
Summary: Human impacts on landscapes have led to significant changes in bird composition. A comparison of the bird community at the State University of Londrina campus (UEL) now and 17 years ago revealed changes in species composition, despite similar species richness. The transformations of a shrub into a secondary forest and the deactivation of a fish farming project were identified as potential factors influencing these changes.
ORNITHOLOGY RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Esther Sebastian-Gonzalez, Eva Gracia, Alejandra Moran-Ordonez, Irene Perez-Ibarra, Ana Sanz-Aguilar, Mar Sobral
Summary: Although there is an increasing awareness of the low number of women in science, especially in leadership positions and higher stages of the scientific career, more actions are urgently needed to support scientific mothers and increase gender diversity and equality in Academia. Therefore, a group of moms in science propose 10 simple rules that can be adopted by academic institutions to directly support mother scientists and avoid losing them from Academia. The implementation of these rules may also benefit other groups such as mothers-to-be, fathers, caregivers, and women in general, helping to create more diverse working environments and ultimately leading to more optimal solutions.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Larissa Corsini Calsavara, Marcos Robalinho Lima, Gabriela Menezes Bochio, Hugo Reis Medeiros, Luiz dos Anjos
Summary: In this study, the researchers examined how different levels of disturbance in Araucaria forests affect bird functional diversity. They found that bird communities in less disturbed forests sites are more functionally redundant than those communities in highly disturbed habitats.
ORNITHOLOGY RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Helon Simoes Oliveira, Isabella Assis Barreto, Luiz dos Anjos
Summary: This study investigated the variation in species richness and composition of bird communities in a tropical rainforest in Brazil over six morning periods. The results showed that the first four 15-minute periods after sunrise were the most effective for sampling, covering over 96% of total species richness. However, the taxonomic composition varied among the morning periods, with turnover dominating over nestedness. Researchers interested in species richness should focus on the first four periods, while those interested in species composition or specific species should spend more time in the field.
ORNITHOLOGY RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Pal Toth, Andy J. Green, David M. Wilkinson, Kane Brides, Adam Lovas-Kiss
Summary: Ducks and geese serve as dispersal vectors for plants, with mallards dispersing more plant species compared to geese. Plant communities and traits dispersed also differ between urban and natural habitats.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)