Article
Biology
Simon J. Brandl, Jonathan S. Lefcheck, Amanda E. Bates, Douglas B. Rasher, Tommy Norin
Summary: All animals compete for energy, and the use of metabolic traits can provide a better understanding of species coexistence and the functioning of animal communities, improving our ability to predict their responses to environmental change.
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nava Leibovich, Jeremy Rothschild, Sidhartha Goyal, Anton Zilman
Summary: This study investigates the impact of inter- and intraspecies interactions as well as other factors on the structure and stability of ecological systems using a minimal model. The findings reveal a rich phase diagram with regimes that cannot be characterized as niche or neutral, and a multimodal species abundance distribution.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Ecology
John J. Cawley, Giuseppe Marrama, Giorgio Carnevale, Jaime A. Villafana, Faviel A. Lopez-Romero, Juergen Kriwet
Summary: The dagger Pycnodontiformes was a successful lineage of marine fishes with diverse body shapes and feeding habits in the Mesozoic era. Competition reduction between Pycnodontiformes and other similar neopterygian clades led to niche partitioning. Different feeding strategies and high plasticity played a role in further reducing competition within Pycnodontiformes.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Fabiola Nieto-Rabiela, Oscar Rico-Chavez, Gerardo Suzan, Christopher R. Stephens
Summary: Understanding the assembly processes of symbiont communities, including viromes and microbiomes, is crucial for predicting the biogeography and disease ecology of symbionts. Utilizing phylogenetic, functional, and geographical filters, this study highlights the importance of all three filter types (phylogeny, functional traits, and co-occurrence) in shaping viral communities in Mexican bats, showcasing the significance of modeling at different scales.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Shigeki Kishi
Summary: The characteristics of flower-visitor networks are influenced by visitor sex, with male networks being more nested than female networks. This greater nestedness of male networks may have a positive effect on community stability in pollination networks.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Zhi-Yuan Du, Jin Cheng, Qiu-Yun (Jenny) Xiang
Summary: The big-bracted dogwood clade Benthamidia of Cornus is a typical example of the floristic disjunction between eastern Asia (EA) and North America (NA), with greater species diversity in EA than in NA. Through phylogenomic and biogeographic analyses, we confirmed the higher phylogenetic diversity and diversification rate of the EA clade. Our results also indicated a trans-Beringian ancestral distribution, dispersal from Mexico to eastern United States, and early diversification in southwest China.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nestor E. Bosch, Thomas Wernberg, Tim J. Langlois, Dan A. Smale, Pippa J. Moore, Joao N. Franco, Pierre Thiriet, Eric Feunteun, Claudia Ribeiro, Pedro Neves, Rui Freitas, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Kjell Magnus Norderhaug, Alvaro Garcia, Francisco Otero-Ferrer, Fernando Espino, Ricardo Haroun, Natali Lazzari, Fernando Tuya
Summary: The study found that taxonomic diversity peaked around 15-20 degrees N and had a lower peak around 45 degrees N. Tropical regions had more overdispersed assemblages, while clustering was more evident in temperate regions. Environmental factors had a significant impact on phylogenetic and functional diversity, while demographic stochasticity played a crucial role in community assembly.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Peng He, Simone Fontana, Chengcang Ma, Heyong Liu, Li Xu, Ruzhen Wang, Yong Jiang, Mai -He Li
Summary: This study measured leaf traits, community composition, and aboveground biomass at seven different sites along a transect in forest-steppe ecotones in northeast China. The results showed that dominant species in the ecotone communities had high nitrogen content, large leaf area, and low leaf mass per unit area. The ecotone communities also had the highest functional trait diversity. Therefore, vegetation management should focus on maintaining functional trait diversity and promoting plant species with rapid resource acquisition strategies.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Tianxiang Li, Li Xu, Feng Wang, Weijun Zhang, Junpeng Duan, Xiaolu Shen-Tu, Yaobin Song, Runguo Zang, Ming Dong
Summary: This study investigated the assembly mechanisms of the Taxus fuana forest community in Tibet, China and found that both niche and neutral processes simultaneously influenced the community assembly, with their variations closely related to the environment. The phylogenetic structure at the community level and tree layer were influenced by topographic and soil factors, while the shrub and herb layers were more affected by a single environmental factor. The synergy of multiple environmental factors had a more obvious influence on community assembly than individual environmental factors, especially at the community level.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Tianju Zhang, Yaning Chen, Sikandar Ali
Summary: Plant diversity is essential for ecosystem stability, but it is vulnerable to climate change and human activities. Understanding the spatial pattern and factors affecting plant diversity at the watershed level is crucial for biodiversity conservation.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Nicole A. Stewart, Tiffany A. Schriever
Summary: Understanding the role of environmental filtering and spatial processes in assembling and maintaining rare aquatic communities is crucial for conservation. This study examined the influence of environmental and spatial factors on the diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages in wetlands along the coastline of Lake Michigan. The results showed that species diversity and composition varied along the coastline due to environmental gradients, with high species replacement and correlation with local and regional environmental variables. The study emphasized the importance of considering coastline connectivity for maintaining freshwater biodiversity.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ramiro Martin-Devasa, Sara Martinez-Santalla, Carola Gomez-Rodriguez, Rosa M. Crujeiras, Andres Baselga
Summary: This study aimed to assess the dependence between the form of the decrease in biological similarity with distance (distance-decay) and species range size, and introduced the use of a sigmoidal model, the Gompertz function, for fitting distance-decay models. The results showed that the functional form of distance-decay patterns depends on species range size, and the Gompertz function accommodates different frequency distributions of species range size.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Ivan Torres, Antonio Parra, Jose M. Moreno
Summary: This research analyzed beta diversity and its components in a herbaceous plant community in Central Spain after a fire, and its relationship with dispersal ability. The study found that dispersal limitation is the primary driver of local community assembly, while biotic interactions between woody plants and herbaceous plants have a smaller contribution to community dissimilarity.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Matilda Haraldsson, Elisa Thebault
Summary: Understanding species coexistence has been a central question in ecology. Recent research shows that similar species can also escape competitive exclusion, leading to clusters of species with similar traits. Competition and predation can both promote the formation of similar species clusters in prey-predator communities, with predation having a stabilizing effect on clustering patterns and making the clusters more diverse. These results bring new perspectives to the study of trait distributions in ecological interaction networks.
Article
History & Philosophy Of Science
Samantha Wakil, James Justus
Summary: The concept of 'niche' in ecology is argued to be less significant than commonly believed. It is viewed as valuable but, in reality, does not contribute significantly to the field.
BIOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
V. Urgorri, M. Candas, G. Diaz-Agras, X. Cunha-Veira, C. Gomez-Rodriguez, L. Miguez-Rodriguez
Summary: The proposed renaming of the Atlantic holothurian Psolidium complanatum to Psolidium bathygalego due to naming conflicts, with a detailed study conducted on 843 specimens to describe the external and internal anatomy.
MARINE BIODIVERSITY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Cristian Dambros, Nilton Caceres, Andres Baselga
Summary: The study investigated the drivers of biodiversity spatial distribution and differences in responses to climate, habitat loss, and fragmentation among rodents and marsupials in the Atlantic forest. Results showed that temperature, precipitation, forest fragment size, and spatial distance played important roles in shaping species diversity patterns. Dispersal was found to be a significant factor in the distribution of Neotropical small mammals at broad scales.
Article
Entomology
Yeray Folgar-Camean, Carola Gomez-Rodriguez, Alexander S. Konstantinov, Andres Baselga
Summary: The evolutionary origin of flea beetles' camouflage can be partially explained by both hypotheses. Some host plants restrict feeding damage appearance on their leaves, favoring specific beetles with matching color and size (H1). However, in most plant taxa, beetle-associated constraints exert selective pressure for the beetle to damage leaves in a particular way, similar to its own color and size (H2).
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ramiro Martin-Devasa, Sara Martinez-Santalla, Carola Gomez-Rodriguez, Rosa M. Crujeiras, Andres Baselga
Summary: This study aimed to assess the dependence between the form of the decrease in biological similarity with distance (distance-decay) and species range size, and introduced the use of a sigmoidal model, the Gompertz function, for fitting distance-decay models. The results showed that the functional form of distance-decay patterns depends on species range size, and the Gompertz function accommodates different frequency distributions of species range size.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Andres Baselga, Carola Gomez-Rodriguez, Miguel B. Araujo, Adrian Castro-Insua, Miguel Arenas, David Posada, Alfried P. Vogler
Summary: This study developed a predictive framework based on approximate Bayesian computation to quantify the role of dispersal and environmental constraints in community turnover. Simulations showed that spatial turnover rates remain invariant across genealogical scales when dispersal limitation determines species ranges, but vary when environmental constraint limits species ranges. Analysis of empirical biological communities revealed a combination of dispersal and environmental constraints influencing spatial turnover at different scales. The study highlights the importance of considering multiple genealogical scales in understanding the relative role of dispersal and environmental constraints in community turnover.
Article
Ecology
Sara Martinez-Santalla, Ramiro Martin-Devasa, Carola Gomez-Rodriguez, Rosa M. Crujeiras, Andres Baselga
Summary: Modeling community similarity decay with spatial distance is important for studying community variation. A new nonlinear significance test combining R-2 statistic with permutations was proposed, showing good performance for nonlinear relationships. This test should be favored over linear Mantel test for assessing distance-decay patterns.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Maria Teresa Boquete, Zulema Varela, Jose Angel Fernandez, Juan Antonio Calleja, Cristina Branquinho, Antonina Chila, Nils Cronberg, Ricardo Cruz de Carvalho, Cristiana Aleixo, Belen Estebanez-Perez, Veronica Fernandez-Gonzalez, Andres Baselga, Carola Gomez-Rodriguez, Juana Maria Gonzalez-Mancebo, Sebastien Leblond, Javier Martinez-Abaigar, Nagore G. Medina, Encarnacion Nunez-Olivera, Jairo Patino, Ruben Retuerto, Anton Vazquez-Arias, Alain Vanderpoorten, Harald G. Zechmeister, Jesus Ramon Aboal
Summary: Unisexual bryophytes, such as the cosmopolitan moss Pseudoscleropodium purum, provide a useful model system to study the regulation of sexual vs. asexual reproduction in plants. In this study, the researchers investigated the sex expression, sex ratio, and shoot traits of 242 populations of P. purum across its distribution range. They found high variation in sex expression and predominantly female-biased populations. The variation in reproductive traits was partly explained by environmental variation and the species' biogeographical history. The researchers hypothesize that sexual dimorphism and vegetative growth contribute to sex ratio bias and limit the chances of sexual reproduction in long-term persistent populations.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Ramiro Martin-Devasa, Sara Martinez-Santalla, Carola Gomez-Rodriguez, Rosa M. Crujeiras, Andres Baselga
Summary: This study developed a new test statistic (zdep) to assess the significance of differences between parameters of distance-decay models. Through simulation studies and a case study on Iberian vertebrates, the zdep statistic showed good performance and can be used to compare parameters of regression models fitted from pairwise dependent data.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Alexander S. Konstantinov, Andres Baselga, Robert S. Anderson, Christopher Carlton, Vladimir I. Gusarov, Michael A. Ivie, Brittany E. Owens, Igor M. Sokolov, Alexey K. Tishechkin
Summary: This study assessed the diversity of beetles in terrestrial moss cushions on three West Indian islands based on 10 years of moss sampling. A total of 1711 adult beetles were collected, belonging to 234 species from 30 families. The results showed that community composition in moss inhabiting beetles is determined by geographical isolation processes and environmental variation. Additionally, the abundance of beetles was higher in moss cushions collected on trees than in those collected on soil/rock, possibly due to the greater diversity of fungi and beetle fungivores associated with tree growing moss communities.
JOURNAL OF INSECT BIODIVERSITY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Erika Mayumi Shimabukuro, Carola Gomez-Rodriguez, Carlos Jose E. Lamas, Andres Baselga
Summary: This study compared insect communities in the Amazon Mountains and the Atlantic Forest Mountains in Brazil. The results showed significant differences in species composition between the two regions, supporting the hypothesis that mountain passes are higher in the Tropic.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2023)