Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Hisashi Sato, Takeshi Ise
Summary: A biome is a regional ecological community characterized by specific life forms and principal plants. Various schemes have been proposed to predict the global distribution of terrestrial biomes, including the use of physiological climatic limits. This study introduces a practical method using convolutional neural networks to construct empirical models for biome mapping, accurately simulating current and future biome distributions and providing a basis for further research on the impact of climate change on biomes.
GEOSCIENTIFIC MODEL DEVELOPMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Felipe Bastida, David J. Eldridge, Carlos Garcia, G. Kenny Png, Richard D. Bardgett, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo
Summary: Based on a global field survey, it was found that soil carbon content is closely associated with the relationship and ratio between microbial diversity and biomass in soils across different ecosystems and climate types. Particularly, the ratio of soil microbial diversity to biomass is higher in arid environments and lower in C-rich cold environments. The study indicates that reductions in soil carbon content due to land use intensification and climate change could lead to significant shifts in the microbial diversity-biomass ratio, impacting various soil processes.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
John E. Quinn, Emma K. Cook, Nicolas Gauthier
Summary: The study highlights the importance of considering human systems in prioritizing global conservation actions. Different anthropogenic landscapes have varying impacts on vertebrate species richness, with clear heterogeneity across geographic regions. Protection efforts are negatively correlated with threatened bird richness, emphasizing the need for targeted conservation strategies in human-modified ecosystems.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Elvis Tangwa, Wiktor Tracz, Vilem Pechanec, Yisa Ginath Yuh
Summary: This study analyzed the impact of topographic conditions on species richness on forested landslides in the Outer Carpathian region of southern Poland, using three geostatistical methods for prediction. The results showed a high correlation between convergence point density and species richness, with regression kriging performing the best among the methods.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marco Tulio P. Coelho, Elisa Barreto, Thiago F. Rangel, Jose Alexandre F. Diniz-Filho, Rafael O. Wuest, Wilhelmine Bach, Alexander Skeels, Ian R. McFadden, David W. Roberts, Loic Pellissier, Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Catherine H. Graham
Summary: This study reveals that the size and fragmentation of climate conditions play a crucial role in biodiversity and species turnover among terrestrial tetrapods. By considering both climate characteristics and its geographic attributes, we can explain almost 90% of global species richness variation, with half of the explanatory power attributed to climate or the geography of climate.
Review
Ecology
Aphrodite Kantsa, Consuelo M. De Moraes, Mark C. Mescher
Summary: Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) are found in five distinct global regions and include centers of agricultural production and hotspots of extratropical biodiversity. There has been considerable research on the persistence of diverse biological communities in MTEs, but important questions remain about the limits of ecological resilience in the face of accelerating environmental change.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chhaya Chaudhary, Anthony J. Richardson, David S. Schoeman, Mark J. Costello
Summary: Research shows that the global marine animal species richness varies with latitude, with a slight decrease in richness at the equator, which is particularly influenced by temperature. Since the 1970s, species richness at the equator has decreased while increasing at midlatitudes, possibly due to climate change impacting the latitudinal gradient in marine biodiversity globally.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Xin Li, John J. Wiens
Summary: How many species are there on Earth and to what groups do these species belong? Recent estimates of overall global biodiversity have ranged widely, from low millions to trillions. Insects make up half of currently described species and play a crucial role due to their interaction with other taxa. Projections suggest that overall global biodiversity may range from 563 million to 2.2 billion species.
SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Riccardo Testolin, Fabio Attorre, Peter Borchardt, Robert F. Brand, Helge Bruelheide, Milan Chytry, Michele De Sanctis, Jiri Dolezal, Manfred Finckh, Sylvia Haider, Andreas Hemp, Ute Jandt, Michael Kessler, Andrey Yu Korolyuk, Jonathan Lenoir, Natalia Makunina, George P. Malanson, Daniel B. Montesinos-Tubee, Jalil Noroozi, Arkadiusz Nowak, Robert K. Peet, Gwendolyn Peyre, Francesco Maria Sabatini, Jozef Sibik, Petr Sklenar, Steven P. Sylvester, Kiril Vassilev, Risto Virtanen, Wolfgang Willner, Susan K. Wiser, Evgeny G. Zibzeev, Borja Jimenez-Alfaro
Summary: The study assesses global patterns of plant species richness in alpine ecosystems, finding peak regional richness near the equator and mid-latitudes, influenced by alpine area, isolation, and soil pH variation. Community richness peaks in mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, linked to macroclimate, historical factors, and other spatially structured factors. These results emphasize hotspots of species richness at mid-latitudes, suggesting the diversity of alpine plants is related to regional idiosyncrasies and historical prevalence.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Kristy Udy, Matthias Fritsch, Katrin M. Meyer, Ingo Grass, Sebastian Hanss, Florian Hartig, Thomas Kneib, Holger Kreft, Collins B. Kukunda, Guy Pe'er, Hannah Reininghaus, Britta Tietjen, Teja Tscharntke, Clara-Sophie van Waveren, Kerstin Wiegand
Summary: This study found that environmental heterogeneity explains species richness better than area for predicting native mammal species richness worldwide and within biogeographical regions, suggesting that niche-related processes are more prevalent at broad scales.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Melinda D. Smith, Sally E. Koerner, Meghan L. Avolio, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Stephanie Eby, Elisabeth J. Forrestel, Scott L. Collins, Kevin R. Wilcox, Rodrigo Ahumada, John W. Morgan, Gabriel Oliva, Gaston R. Onatibia, Gerhard E. Overbeck, Guadalupe Peter, Emiliano Quiroga, Mahesh Sankaran, Jianshuang Wu, Laura Yahdjian, Qiang Yu
Summary: This study aimed to understand the impact of water availability on richness and evenness and found different relationships between water availability and richness/evenness at regional and global scales. The results suggest that different factors determine patterns of richness and evenness in grassy biomes, leading to varying relationships between richness and evenness at different scales. These findings have implications for understanding how grassy ecosystems may respond to anthropogenic changes such as climate change.
Article
Agronomy
Zhibin Liu, Junyue Zhu, Jianyang Xia, Kun Huang
Summary: This study evaluates the drought resistance and resilience of global vegetation productivity using long-term satellite observations, and finds a significant decline in drought resistance but no significant change in resilience. Temperature and soil moisture are identified as the main factors affecting drought resistance. Earth system models underestimate the historical drought resistance and resilience, and project further decline in the future.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Quansheng Fu, Xianhan Huang, Lijuan Li, Yi Jin, Hong Qian, Xinyuan Kuai, Yaojun Ye, Hengchang Wang, Tao Deng, Hang Sun
Summary: The study finds that species richness, age, and diversification rate are good indicators of predicting extinction risk. Higher risk of extinction is associated with families in regions with faster diversification rates, older ages, and higher species richness, while temperate regions show the opposite pattern.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jason Riggio, Katie Foreman, Ethan Freedman, Becky Gottlieb, David Hendler, Danielle Radomille, Ryan Rodriguez, Thomas Yamashita, John Kioko, Christian Kiffner
Summary: Wildlife corridors are typically designed for single species, but holistic conservation approaches require corridors suitable for multiple species. This study developed a multi-method approach to effectively capture movement of multiple wildlife species, while limiting the area required. The results showed that multi-species corridors based on stacked species distribution models achieve relatively low cumulative costs compared to their respective single-species corridors.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Huan Lin, Michael Julian Caley, Scott A. Sisson
Summary: Global species richness is a crucial biodiversity measure, but current estimates are uncertain and inconsistent. This study uses a Bayesian hierarchical approach to estimate global species richness by combining multiple published studies, solving the issue of data inconsistency and providing a method for future estimation.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Rachael Holmes, Pieter Pelser, Julie Barcelona, Sri Sudarmiyati Tjitrosoedirdjo, Indah Wahyuni, Mark van Kleunen, Petr Pysek, Franz Essl, Holger Kreft, Wayne Dawson, Lahiru Wijedasa, Alessandra Kortz, Martin Hejda, Juan Carlos Berrio, Iskandar Siregar, Mark Williams
Summary: There are major regional gaps in the reporting and accessibility of naturalized plant species distribution data, with particular emphasis on Southeast Asia. The Malesian Naturalized Alien Flora database (MalNAF) is introduced as a standardized checklist for naturalized vascular plant species in the Malesian phytogeographical region. This database provides valuable information on the composition, origins, and habitat preferences of the naturalized flora in the region.
BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Marc Gruenig, Rupert Seidl, Cornelius Senf
Summary: Area burned in Europe has decreased but may reverse due to climate change, especially in temperate and boreal forests. A study using remote sensing data of 64,448 fire events between 1986 and 2020 shows a power-law relationship between maximum fire size and area burned, and a positive correlation between vapor pressure deficit and fire severity. Climate change could double the probability of extreme fires by the end of the century, posing challenges to fire management and forest ecosystem services.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Julian Schrader, Ian J. Wright, Holger Kreft, Patrick Weigelt, Samuel C. Andrew, Ian Abbott, Mark Westoby
Summary: This study extends the Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography to functional traits, showing that traits can also reach equilibrium on islands. Locally extinct species are replaced by new ones sharing similar functional traits.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Ana Stritih, Rupert Seidl, Cornelius Senf
Summary: In this study, the horizontal and vertical structure of mountain forests in the European Alps was characterized using spaceborne lidar. Two alternative states of forest structure were identified: short, open-canopy forests and tall, closed-canopy forests. Disturbances played a significant role in transitioning between these states.
Article
Plant Sciences
Lirong Cai, Holger Kreft, Amanda Taylor, Pierre Denelle, Julian Schrader, Franz Essl, Mark van Kleunen, Jan Pergl, Petr Pysek, Anke Stein, Marten Winter, Julie F. Barcelona, Nicol Fuentes, Inderjit, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, John Kartesz, Andreij Kuprijanov, Misako Nishino, Daniel Nickrent, Arkadiusz Nowak, Annette Patzelt, Pieter B. Pelser, Paramjit Singh, Jan J. Wieringa, Patrick Weigelt
Summary: This study used machine learning and conventional statistical methods to investigate and predict global plant diversity, revealing complex interactions between environmental factors and plant diversity. Current climate and environmental heterogeneity were found to be the primary drivers, while past environmental conditions had smaller but detectable impacts on plant diversity. The results provide accurate estimates of global plant diversity at resolutions relevant for conservation and macroecology.
Article
Plant Sciences
Amanda Taylor, Patrick Weigelt, Pierre Denelle, Lirong Cai, Holger Kreft
Summary: Plant life and growth forms play important roles in plants' strategies in relation to their environment and provide insights into ecological constraints on biodiversity distribution. Using a novel dataset, this study quantifies the contribution of different plant forms to global gradients of vascular plant diversity. Results show a major shift in plant forms from woody perennials in tropical regions to herb-dominated floras in temperate and boreal regions, following a latitudinal gradient in plant form diversity. The study also highlights the importance of contemporary climate and phylogeny in shaping plant form distributions.
Article
Ecology
Lisa Mandl, Ana Stritih, Rupert Seidl, Christian Ginzler, Cornelius Senf
Summary: The launch of NASA's GEDI mission in 2018 provides new opportunities for describing forest ecosystems across large scales. The study quantified GEDI's potential to estimate forest structure in mountain landscapes and found a high agreement between GEDI and ALS at the landscape level. The research highlights the importance of GEDI for ecosystem dynamics and management.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Vannesa Montoya-Sanchez, Holger Kreft, Isabelle Arimond, Johannes Ballauff, Dirk Berkelmann, Fabian Brambach, Rolf Daniel, Ingo Grass, Jes Hines, Dirk Hoelscher, Bambang Irawan, Alena Krause, Andrea Polle, Anton Potapov, Lena Sachsenmaier, Stefan Scheu, Leti Sundawati, Teja Tscharntke, Delphine Clara Zemp, Nathaly Guerrero-Ramirez
Summary: Increasing landscape heterogeneity through establishing tree islands in oil-palm plantations can enhance multi-taxa diversity, particularly due to the increased presence of soil fauna and habitat diversity. Soil fauna, bacteria, and fungi have a stronger association with the overall community than aboveground taxa, emphasizing the importance of considering soil biota in strategies to enhance multi-taxa diversity.
COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Rudolf Reiner, Rupert Seidl, Sebastian Seibold, Cornelius Senf
Summary: As climate change intensifies, forest disturbances caused by increased demand for timber are on the rise. These disturbances create transient edges within forests, which can have significant effects on the habitat quality of forest-dwelling species.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Julian Schrader, Ian J. Wright, Holger Kreft, Kingsley Dixon, Rachael V. Gallagher, Samuel C. Andrew, Patrick Weigelt, Mark Westoby
Summary: This study examines the role of dispersal and environmental filtering processes in plant species colonisation on islands based on functional traits. It finds evidence for selective filters on seed mass and leaf area but not plant height. Using individual trait analysis provides more insight into island floras than multivariate functional diversity indices or trait spaces. The study is important for understanding species colonisation and filtering processes on islands.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alexander Seliger, Christian Ammer, Holger Kreft, Stefan Zerbe
Summary: The understorey vegetation of temperate forests plays a crucial role in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, but it has undergone changes in species diversity and composition due to various factors. The conversion of even-aged coniferous forests into mixed broad-leaved forests is a major objective in sustainable forest management. This study investigated changes in the understorey vegetation of the Bavarian Spessart mountains in Germany after forest conversion, revealing a decrease in soil acidity and a shift towards species associated with broad-leaved forests.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lirong Cai, Holger Kreft, Amanda Taylor, Julian Schrader, Wayne Dawson, Franz Essl, Mark Van Kleunen, Jan Pergl, Petr Pysek, Marten Winter, Patrick Weigelt
Summary: Assessing the distribution and drivers of phylogenetic endemism in seed plants worldwide, this study finds that tropical and subtropical islands and tropical mountain regions have the highest phylogenetic endemism. Tropical rainforest regions are centers of paleoendemism, while Mediterranean-climate regions show high levels of neoendemism. Factors such as warm and wet climates, geographic isolation, and long-term climatic stability are key drivers of phylogenetic endemism. The study provides insights into the evolutionary underpinnings of biogeographical patterns and identifies areas of high evolutionary and biogeographical uniqueness for global conservation priorities.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shu-ya Fan, Qiang Yang, Shao-peng Li, Trevor S. Fristoe, Marc W. Cadotte, Franz Essl, Holger Kreft, Jan Pergl, Petr Pysek, Patrick Weigelt, John Kartesz, Misako Nishino, Jan J. Wieringa, Mark van Kleunen
Summary: Darwin's naturalization conundrum refers to the two hypotheses regarding the likelihood of closely or distantly related alien species naturalizing in regional floras. This study found a latitudinal gradient in the conundrum, with naturalized alien plant species being more closely related to natives at higher latitudes. Human landscape modification further exacerbated the gradient by selecting distantly related aliens in warmer and drier regions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Vasil Metreveli, Holger Kreft, Ilia Akobia, Zurab Janiashvili, Zaza Nonashvili, Lasha Dzadzamia, Zurab Javakhishvili, Alexander Gavashelishvili
Summary: This study examined the habitat requirements of chestnut in the Caucasus region and validated the model using data from the region.
Article
Ecology
Mauro Hermann, Matthias Rothlisberger, Arthur Gessler, Andreas Rigling, Cornelius Senf, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Heini Wernli
Summary: Forest dieback in Europe has intensified and expanded, influenced by meteorological variations of temperature and precipitation. This study quantitatively investigates the meteorological history preceding events of reduced forest greenness and identifies the impact of the hottest summer on record in 2022, negatively affecting 37% of temperate and Mediterranean forest regions. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the forest-meteorology interaction for forest dieback in a changing climate.