Article
Plant Sciences
Andreas Prinzing, Sandrine Pavoine, Herve Jactel, Joaquin Hortal, Stephan M. Hennekens, Wim A. Ozinga, Igor V. Bartish, Matthew R. Helmus, Ingolf Kuhn, Daniel S. Moen, Evan Weiher, Martin Brandle, Marten Winter, Cyrille Violle, Patrick Venail, Oliver Purschke, Benjamin Yguel
Summary: Research shows that in undisturbed and stressful habitats, local species exhibit high phylogenetic signal in their functional traits. The average local phylogenetic signal decreases with disturbance but does not have a consistent relationship with stress. In disturbed habitats, species may have evolutionarily divergent trait values, potentially influenced by local assembly and environmental fluctuations sustaining different trait values within lineages.
Article
Ecology
Hong Qian, Yong Cao, Cindy Chu, Daijiang Li, Brody Sandel, Xianli Wang, Yi Jin, Janne Soininen
Summary: This study examined various aspects of beta-diversity patterns in North American freshwater fishes, finding high congruence in geographical patterns of total TBD and PBD, turnover, and nestedness components among neighboring watersheds. The results also highlighted the opposite patterns of basal-weighted PBD compared to tip-weighted PBD, and the stronger influence of geographical distance over climate similarity in determining beta-diversity in freshwater fish assemblages.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Marta A. Jarzyna, Ignacio Quintero, Walter Jetz
Summary: This study documents variations in avian functional and phylogenetic diversity along major elevational gradients worldwide, revealing strong latitudinal differences. Assemblages in warm tropical lowlands and cold temperate highlands exhibit high functional overdispersion and distinctiveness, while tropical highlands and temperate lowlands show strong functional clustering and redundancy.
Article
Biology
Faye Moyes, Isaac Trindade-Santos, Anne E. E. Magurran
Summary: Recent research has shown rapid reorganization in ecological assemblages, especially in marine ecosystems. However, it is not well understood how changes in taxonomic diversity correspond to changes in functional diversity. This study analyzed 30 years of trawl data and found that taxonomic rarity aligns with changes in assemblage size, while functional rarity actually increases with larger assemblages. These findings highlight the significance of assessing both taxonomic and functional dimensions when studying biodiversity change.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jialing Qiao, Yang Liu, Haixia Fu, Ling Chu, Yunzhi Yan
Summary: This study assessed the effects of urbanization on fish assemblage diversity in the headwater streams of the Xin'an River in China. The results showed that urban segments had higher species richness and lower functional richness compared to natural segments. Fish assemblages also exhibited taxonomic differentiation but functional homogenization in urbanized areas. The study suggests that a combination of taxonomic and functional diversity indices provides a better understanding of how fish biodiversity responds to urbanization.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Andre L. Luza, Juan P. Quimbayo, Carlos E. L. Ferreira, Sergio R. Floeter, Ronaldo B. Francini-Filho, Mariana G. Bender, Guilherme O. Longo
Summary: Marginal reefs in the Southwestern Atlantic sustain diverse and resilient fish assemblages, providing important ecological functions and ecosystem services. Coral has a more positive impact on fish assemblages compared to turf algae, but the loss of coral-associated fish does not significantly affect the functional trait space of fish assemblages.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Hong Qian, Michael Kessler, Tao Deng, Yi Jin
Summary: The phylogenetic structures of more recently evolved and diversified clades of pteridophytes are consistent with the tropical niche conservatism hypothesis, suggesting that the age of the taxon, its physiological adaptations, and global climatic changes during its evolutionary history are reflected in current plant assemblages.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Fernando Mayer Pelicice, Luciana da Silva Damasceno, Eveline de Almeida Ferreira, Weferson Junio da Graca, Carlos Sergio Agostinho, Rodrigo Fernandes
Summary: This paper investigates the composition and trait turnover among fish assemblages in reservoirs in major Brazilian basins. The results show considerable variation in species and trait composition among reservoirs, with higher similarity within basins. Functional turnover is positively correlated with taxonomic turnover but at lower values. The presence of non-native species is associated with either homogenization or differentiation patterns.
Article
Ecology
Patrick Strutzenberger, Konrad Fiedler
Summary: The study found that plant growth form has the greatest influence on the phylogenetic structure of herbivore assemblages in the nemoral and boreal regions of the Western Palaearctic, with higher plant systematics or secondary metabolites playing a lesser role at this macroecological scale. The approach used in the study successfully identified patterns in the phylogenetic structure of herbivore assemblages, supporting the classical plant apparency hypothesis. Plant secondary compounds had limited explanatory power on the analyzed scale.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Simon J. McKinley, Benjamin J. Saunders, Etienne Rastoin-Laplane, Pelayo Salinas-de-Leon, Euan S. Harvey
Summary: This study investigated the functional diversity and vulnerability of coastal reef fish communities in the Galapagos using Baited Remote Underwater Stereo-Video systems. The results showed that Galapagos reef fish communities are highly vulnerable to reduced functional diversity if species are lost. However, there may be some ecosystem resilience against species loss due to species filling similar ecological niches.
ESTUARINE COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Sergio Henrique Borges, Tarcisio do R. S. Tavares, Nicholas M. A. Crouch, Fabricio Baccaro
Summary: The study found that total species richness and evenness were similar between secondary and old growth forests, but there were more bird species and disturbance-vulnerable species in the controls of old growth forests. Additionally, bird abundance with distinct functional traits differed between secondary forest age categories, and phylogenetic diversity was higher compared to old growth forests, suggesting a positive conservation value of secondary forests for bird diversity.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Shuchan Zhou, Kan Wang, Beata Messyasz, Yaoyang Xu, Meixiang Gao, Yuying Li, Naicheng Wu
Summary: Islands play a crucial role in global biodiversity and are prone to biodiversity loss. Understanding the factors that affect island biodiversity patterns is important for conservation efforts.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Victor Julio Rincon-Parra, Maria Angela Echeverry-Galvis, Silvia J. Alvarez
Summary: Agro-industrial expansion and land-use change in the Colombian Llanos have significant impacts on biodiversity, particularly on bird species. This study investigates the response of functional traits to land-use changes and their influence on bird species' occurrence probability in the region. The findings highlight the importance of considering functional traits and their variation in predicting and mitigating the effects of land-use changes on biodiversity.
FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Mark Westoby, Luke Yates, Barbara Holland, Ben Halliwell
Summary: Cross-species correlations between quantitative traits or between traits and habitat properties can indicate that a trait value is effective in supporting populations in certain contexts but not others. Controlling for phylogeny is important in such correlations, but it has its limitations as a clade's traits tend to provide success in specific habitats, leading to similar trait selection within the clade. Multi-response mixed models using phylogenetic covariance matrices can quantify the conservative trait correlation (CTC), which incorporates phylogenetic conservatism and ongoing influences of other traits. CTC concept treats both phylogenetic conservatism and ongoing influences as joint explanations in trait correlations.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Daichi Iijima, Atsushi Kobayashi, Gen Morimoto, Masashi Murakami
Summary: Understanding the process underlying spatial gradients in biodiversity, particularly altitudinal gradients, is important in ecology. This study examined the phylogenetic and functional structures of breeding bird assemblages in the montane to alpine zones of Mount Norikura, Japan, and investigated the effects of natural environmental factors and human-induced landscape transformation. The findings suggest that severe natural environments play a fundamental role in community assembly in high mountain regions, while lower elevations may have weaker filtering effects.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Nestor E. Bosch, Jacquomo Monk, Jordan Goetze, Shaun Wilson, Russell C. Babcock, Neville Barrett, Jock Clough, Leanne M. Currey-Randall, David V. Fairclough, Rebecca Fisher, Brooke A. Gibbons, David Harasti, Euan S. Harvey, Michelle R. Heupel, Jamie L. Hicks, Thomas H. Holmes, Charlie Huveneers, Daniel Ierodiaconou, Alan Jordan, Nathan A. Knott, Hamish A. Malcolm, Dianne McLean, Mark Meekan, Stephen J. Newman, Ben Radford, Matthew J. Rees, Benjamin J. Saunders, Conrad W. Speed, Michael J. Travers, Corey B. Wakefield, Thomas Wernberg, Tim J. Langlois
Summary: This study used baited remote underwater stereo-video to investigate 82 demersal teleost species in Australia's continental shelf, finding that seascape relief, water depth, and human gravity were strong predictors of the occurrence of large fishes and the abundance of fishes above the minimum legal size. No-take marine reserves had a positive effect on legal-size fish abundance, while sublegal fishes were best predicted by sea surface temperature gradients.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Albert Pessarrodona, Sterling B. Tebbett, Nestor E. Bosch, David R. Bellwood, Thomas Wernberg
Summary: Algal turfs are expected to dominate coral reef benthos in the Anthropocene, and our study found that surgeonfishes, particularly those that crop and suck sediment, can adapt to and feed on high sediment loads in these turfs, which may be advantageous in future sediment-laden turf-dominated reefs.
Article
Ecology
Albert Pessarrodona, Adriana Verges, Nestor E. Bosch, Sahira Bell, Shannen Smith, Maria P. Sgarlatta, Thomas Wernberg
Summary: The study investigates the impact of tropicalization of reefs on the availability of nutritional resources and energy flow through herbivore-based trophic pathways. The results show that tropicalized reefs have higher amounts of palatable algal turfs and detrital particulates, and herbivorous fishes have significantly higher feeding intensity. Algal turfs in tropicalized reefs are found to be the central drivers of energetic shifts in the ecosystem.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Nestor E. Bosch, Matthew McLean, Salvador Zarco-Perello, Scott Bennett, Rick D. Stuart-Smith, Adriana Verges, Albert Pessarrodona, Fernando Tuya, Tim Langlois, Claude Spencer, Sahira Bell, Benjamin J. Saunders, Euan S. Harvey, Thomas Wernberg
Summary: Extreme climatic events can reshape the functional structure of ecological communities and have potential flow-on effects on ecosystem functioning. This study examined the changes in the trait structure of herbivorous fish and their impact on herbivory-related functions and macroalgal recovery in a temperate reef system after an extreme marine heatwave. The results showed that the trait structure of the herbivorous fish assemblage shifted after the heatwave, leading to changes in herbivory roles and limited recovery of the ecosystem.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Karen Filbee-Dexter, Thomas Wernberg, Rodolfo Barreiro, Melinda A. Coleman, Thibaut Bettignies, Colette J. Feehan, Joao N. Franco, Berit Hasler, Ines Louro, Kjell M. Norderhaug, Peter A. U. Staehr, Fernando Tuya, Jan Verbeek
Summary: The urgent need for ecosystem restoration has prompted the international community to accelerate the efforts, and seaweed forest restoration has lagged behind other ecosystems. Its transformation into a commercial-scale enterprise can contribute significantly to global restoration efforts.
JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Fernando Espino, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, Nestor E. Bosch, Francisco J. Otero-Ferrer, Ricardo Haroun, Fernando Tuya
Summary: Sharks play a crucial role in marine ecosystems, and their conservation is essential for maintaining the balance of these ecosystems. This study investigated the distribution and population structure of Mustelus mustelus in the Canary Islands, finding that adult individuals are more prevalent in the eastern and central islands. The study also suggests protective measures, such as fishing bans and habitat conservation, to ensure the conservation of this vulnerable shark species.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Angel Mateo-Ramirez, Julia Manez-Crespo, Laura Royo, Fernando Tuya, Ines Castejon-Silvo, Gema Hernan, Laura Pereda-Briones, Jorge Terrados, Fiona Tomas
Summary: The introduction and successful expansion of tropical species into temperate systems, exacerbated by climate change, have significant impacts on ecosystems. This study examines the effects of the invasive tropical alga Halimeda incrassata on epifaunal assemblages associated with Cymodocea nodosa seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean Sea. The colonization of seagrass meadows by H. incrassata leads to important changes in epifaunal communities, increasing abundance and diversity. These alterations have implications for food web structure and ecosystem functioning in native ecosystems.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Joao Neiva, Ricardo Bermejo, Alba Medrano, Pol Capdevila, David Milla-Figueras, Pedro Afonso, Enric Ballesteros, Brahim Sabour, Donatella Serio, Eduardo Nobrega, Joao Soares, Jose Valdazo, Fernando Tuya, Martina Mulas, Alvaro Israel, Sofia S. Sadogurska, Michael D. Guiry, Gareth A. Pearson, Ester A. Serrao
Summary: This study provides new insights into the systematics, species delimitation, and biogeography of Cystoseira s.l. in the North-east Atlantic. By using molecular markers, the researchers identified 27 molecular operational taxonomic units, including previously unknown cryptic diversity, and proposed redefinitions, reinstatements, and recognitions of certain taxa.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nestor E. Bosch, Albert Pessarrodona, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Fernando Tuya, Yannick Mulders, Sahira Bell, Tim Langlois, Thomas Wernberg
Summary: Understanding the role of species' traits in community assembly is crucial for predicting the impact of disturbances on ecosystem functioning. Fish assemblages in different habitats show varying degrees of trait convergence and divergence, which in turn shape their trophic and energetic dynamics. These findings have important implications for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ines Perez-Peris, Sandra Navarro-Mayoral, Marcial Cosme de Esteban, Fernando Tuya, Viviana Pena, Ignacio Barbara, Pedro Neves, Claudia Ribeiro, Antonio Abreu, Jacques Grall, Fernando Espino, Nestor Echedey Bosch, Ricardo Haroun, Francisco Otero-Ferrer
Summary: This study examined the impact of depth on the size and morphology of calcareous red macroalgae structures (rhodoliths) and the abundance of associated flora and fauna. The findings revealed that depth typically influenced the size and shape of rhodoliths, with larger nodules found at intermediate and deep depths. The biomass of attached macroalgae (epiphytes) also increased with depth. The study concluded that the morphology of rhodoliths and associated epibionts were primarily influenced by depth, regardless of latitude.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nestor E. Bosch, Fernando Espino, Fernando Tuya, Ricardo Haroun, Lorenzo Bramanti, Francisco Otero-Ferrer
Summary: The degradation of shallow ecosystems has led to a need to study and understand the biodiversity and functioning of Mesophotic Ecosystems. However, most research has been limited to tropical regions and focused on species, neglecting other important aspects of biodiversity. By studying a subtropical island in the Atlantic Ocean, we found that fish communities in mesophotic black coral forests (BCFs) differed in functional structure compared to shallow reefs, indicating the importance of specific management and conservation strategies for preserving the unique biodiversity and functionality of mesophotic BCFs.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Adriana Gouveia, Mathilde Godefroid, Philippe Dubois, Fernando Espino, Fernando Tuya, Ricardo Haroun, Alicia Herrera, Francisco Otero-Ferrer
Summary: This study assesses the thermal tolerance of the black coral Antipathella wollastoni, indicating that it has low vulnerability to increased temperatures and triggers a unique escape strategy.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fernando Tuya, Nadine Schubert, Julio Aguirre, Daniela Basso, Eduardo O. Bastos, Flavio Berchez, Angelo F. Bernardino, Nestor E. Bosch, Heidi L. Burdett, Fernando Espino, Cindy Fernandez-Garcia, Ronaldo B. Francini-Filho, Patrick Gagnon, Jason M. Hall-Spencer, Ricardo Haroun, Laurie C. Hofmann, Paulo A. Horta, Nicholas A. Kamenos, Line Le Gall, Rafael A. Magris, Sophie Martin, Wendy A. Nelson, Pedro Neves, Irene Olive, Francisco Otero-Ferrer, Viviana Pena, Guilherme H. Pereira-Filho, Federica Ragazzola, Ana Cristina Rebelo, Claudia Ribeiro, Eli Rinde, Kathryn Schoenrock, Joao Silva, Marina N. Sissini, Frederico T. S. Tamega
Summary: Global marine conservation is hindered by an imbalance in research efforts and policy actions, which limits progress towards sustainability. Rhodolith beds, despite their global ecological importance and numerous ecosystem functions, remain disproportionately understudied compared to other coastal ecosystems. The lack of information about these habitats and their ecosystem services hampers effective conservation measures, especially considering the severe pressures and threats they face. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize research on rhodolith beds, combat degradation, and protect biodiversity for the future.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Fernando Tuya, Javier Martinez-Perez, Alvaro Fueyo, Nestor E. Bosch
Summary: Our study demonstrates the strong phylogenetic signal in seagrasses, particularly in reproductive traits, and supports the OU model as the most parsimonious pattern of niche conservatism.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Fernando Tuya, Nestor E. Bosch, Laura Rodriguez
Summary: This study investigated the distribution ranges of seagrasses worldwide and found that seagrasses have larger distribution ranges near the equator, possibly due to their origins during warm geologic periods and longer climatic stability in tropical areas.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)