Time-variant species pools shape competitive dynamics and biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships

Biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) experiments routinely employ common garden designs, drawing samples from a local biota. The communities from which taxa are sampled may not, however, be at equilibrium. To test for temporal changes in BEF relationships, I assembled pools of aquatic bacterial strains isolated at different time points from leaves on the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica in order to evaluate the strength, direction, and drivers of the BEF relationship across a natural host-associated successional gradient. I constructed experimental communities using bacterial isolates from each time point and measured their respiration rates and competitive interactions. Communities assembled from mid-successional species pools showed the strongest positive relationships between community richness and respiration rates, driven primarily by linear additivity among isolates. Diffuse competition was common among all communities but greatest within mid-successional isolates. These results demonstrate the dependence of the BEF relationship on the temporal dynamics of the local species pool, implying that ecosystems may respond differently to the addition or removal of taxa at different points in time during succession.

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Time-variant species pools shape competitive dynamics and diversity-ecosystem function relationships

10.7287/peerj.preprints.1897 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Dave W Armitage

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Function ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Common Garden ◽

Competitive Dynamics ◽

Bacterial Strains ◽

Pitcher Plant ◽

Respiration Rates ◽

Species Pools ◽

Local Species ◽

Successional Species

Biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) experiments routinely employ common garden designs, drawing samples from a local biota. The communities from which taxa are sampled may not, however, be at equilibrium. To test for temporal changes in BEF relationships, I assembled pools of aquatic bacterial strains isolated at different time points from leaves on the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica in order to evaluate the strength, direction, and drivers of the BEF relationship across a natural host-associated successional gradient. I constructed experimental communities using bacterial isolates from each time point and measured their respiration rates and competitive interactions. Communities assembled from mid-successional species pools showed the strongest positive relationships between community richness and respiration rates, driven primarily by linear additivity among isolates. Diffuse competition was common among all communities but greatest within mid-successional isolates. These results demonstrate the dependence of the BEF relationship on the temporal dynamics of the local species pool, implying that ecosystems may respond differently to the addition or removal of taxa at different points in time during succession.

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Time-variant species pools shape competitive dynamics and diversity-ecosystem function relationships in pitcher plant bacterial communities

10.7287/peerj.preprints.1897v1 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Dave W Armitage

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Function ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Common Garden ◽

Bacterial Strains ◽

Pitcher Plant ◽

Respiration Rates ◽

Species Pools ◽

Local Species ◽

Successional Species

Biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) experiments often employ common garden designs, drawing samples from a local biota. However, the communities from which taxa are sampled may not be at equilibrium. I assembled pools of aquatic bacterial strains isolated at different time points from leaves on the pitcher plant Darlingtonia californica to evaluate the role of a dynamic, host-associated microbiota on the BEF relationship. I constructed experimental communities using bacteria from each time point and measured their respiration rates. Communities assembled from mid-successional species pools showed the strongest positive relationships between community richness and respiration rates, driven primarily by linear additivity among isolates. Diffuse competition was common among all communities but greatest within mid-successional isolates. These results demonstrate the dependence of the BEF relationship on the temporal dynamics of the local species pool, implying that ecosystems may respond differently to the addition or removal of taxa at different points in time during succession.

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Context-dependent dynamics lead to the assembly of functionally distinct pitcher-plant microbiomes

10.1101/727701 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Leonora S. Bittleston ◽

Matti Gralka ◽

Gabriel E. Leventhal ◽

Itzhak Mizrahi ◽

Otto X. Cordero

Keyword(s):

Resource Use ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Niche Construction ◽

Interspecific Interactions ◽

Sarracenia Purpurea ◽

Strongly Correlated ◽

Pitcher Plant ◽

Respiration Rates ◽

Active Debate ◽

And Function

AbstractNiche construction through interspecific interactions can condition future community states on past ones. However, the extent to which such history dependency can steer communities towards functionally different states remains a subject of active debate. Using bacterial communities collected from wild pitchers of the carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, we tested the effects of history on composition and function across communities assembled in synthetic pitcher plant microcosms. We found that the diversity of assembled communities was determined by the diversity of the system at early, pre-assembly stages. Species composition was also contingent on early community states, not only because of differences in the species pool, but also because the same species had different dynamics in different community contexts. Importantly, compositional differences were proportional to differences in function, as profiles of resource use were strongly correlated with composition, despite convergence in respiration rates. Early differences in community structure can thus propagate to mature communities, conditioning their functional repertoire.

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Functional replacement across species pools of vertebrate scavengers separated at a continental scale maintains an ecosystem function

Functional Ecology ◽

10.1111/1365-2435.12577 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 998-1005 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Chantal M. Huijbers ◽

Thomas A. Schlacher ◽

Rosemary R. McVeigh ◽

David S. Schoeman ◽

Andrew D. Olds ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Function ◽

Continental Scale ◽

Species Pools ◽

Functional Replacement

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Testing for local species saturation with nonindependent regional species pools

Ecology Letters ◽

10.1046/j.1461-0248.2000.00147.x ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 198-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Fox ◽

McGrady-Steed ◽

Petchey

Keyword(s):

Species Saturation ◽

Species Pools ◽

Local Species

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Habitat Complexity Affects the Structure but Not the Diversity of Sessile Communities on Tropical Coastal Infrastructure

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.3389/fevo.2021.673227 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Su Yin Chee ◽

Jean Chai Yee ◽

Chee Ban Cheah ◽

Ally Jane Evans ◽

Louise B. Firth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Habitat Complexity ◽

Synergistic Effects ◽

Biological Complexity ◽

Biological Factors ◽

Anthropogenic Stressors ◽

Environmental Setting ◽

Species Pools ◽

Local Species ◽

Sessile Organisms ◽

Physical Complexity

Increasing human population, urbanisation, and climate change have resulted in the proliferation of hard coastal infrastructure such as seawalls and breakwaters. There is increasing impetus to create multifunctional coastal defence structures with the primary function of protecting people and property in addition to providing habitat for marine organisms through eco-engineering - a nature-based solutions approach. In this study, the independent and synergistic effects of physical complexity and seeding with native oysters in promoting diversity and abundances of sessile organisms were assessed at two locations on Penang Island, Malaysia. Concrete tiles with varying physical and biological complexity (flat, 2.5 cm ridges and crevices, and 5 cm ridges and crevices that were seeded or unseeded with oysters) were deployed and monitored over 12 months. The survival of the seeded oysters was not correlated with physical complexity. The addition of physical and biological complexity interacted to promote distinct community assemblages, but did not consistently increase the richness, diversity, or abundances of sessile organisms through time. These results indicate that complexity, whether physical or biological, is only one of many influences on biodiversity on coastal infrastructure. Eco-engineering interventions that have been reported to be effective in other regions may not work as effectively in others due to the highly dynamic conditions in coastal environment. Thus, it is important that other factors such as the local species pools, environmental setting (e.g., wave action), biological factors (e.g., predators), and anthropogenic stressors (e.g., pollution) should also be considered when designing habitat enhancements. Such factors acting individually or synergistically could potentially affect the outcomes of any planned eco-engineering interventions.

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Spatial and temporal dynamics of Puccinia andropogonis on Comandra umbellata and Andropogon gerardii in a native prairie

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b05-087 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 83 (9) ◽

pp. 1159-1173 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Charles W. Barnes ◽

Linda L. Kinkel ◽

James V. Groth

Keyword(s):

Disease Severity ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Common Garden ◽

Andropogon Gerardii ◽

Coefficient Of Determination ◽

Big Bluestem ◽

Native Prairie ◽

Spatial And Temporal Dynamics ◽

Rust Severity ◽

One Year

The rust Puccinia andropogonis (Schwein.) was studied on its aecial and telial plant hosts, comandra ( Comandra umbellata L. Nutt.) and big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardii Vitman), respectively, in a native prairie to investigate the influence of aecial host proximity on disease severity of the telial host in a natural system. Both hosts were mapped to measure distances from comandra clones to selected big bluestem plants in a Minnesota prairie. Mean rust severity on big bluestem was regressed on the number of aecia on comandra (aecial density) within eight distance intervals from big bluestem plants. Distance intervals were analyzed both inclusive and exclusive of other distance intervals. There was a significant positive relationship between aecial density on comandra and rust severity on big bluestem that decreased with increasing distance in accordance with the power law model, becoming nonsignificant at distances >40 m. To establish whether the genetic background of big bluestem influenced the relationship between rust severity and the distance to comandra, a common garden was planted with a representative big bluestem plant population. The low coefficient of determination (r2) between mean rust severities of individual plants from one year to another suggests there is not a strong genetic component in the host determining disease severity.

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Greater local diversity under older species pools may arise from enhanced competitive equivalence

10.1101/2020.04.20.052316 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Devin R. Leopold ◽

Tadashi Fukami

Keyword(s):

Species Interactions ◽

Fungal Species ◽

Local Communities ◽

Species Pool ◽

Minor Role ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Local Diversity ◽

Species Pools ◽

Regional Species Pool ◽

Local Species

AbstractLocal ecological communities tend to contain more species when they are located within a geologically older region, a pattern that has traditionally been attributed to the accumulation of species in the regional species pool. In this explanation, local species interactions are assumed to play a minor role in the formation of the regional species pool, which is instead thought to be driven by speciation and dispersal occurring across larger areas. Here, we provide evidence suggesting a more important role of local species interactions than generally assumed. In an experiment in which we assembled 320 local communities of root-associated fungi under 80 species pools, we varied the species richness of the experimental species pools and the mean age of the sites from which we collected the fungal species across a 4-myr soil chronosequence in Hawaii. We found that realized local species diversity in the assembled communities increased more extensively with increasing species-pool richness when species were from older sites. We also found that older species pools had lower functional and phylogenetic diversity, indicating that the evolution of greater competitive equivalence among potential colonists enabled higher local diversity under older species pools. Our results suggest that the tendency of older regions to have higher local richness arises not simply because older species pools are more speciose, but also because the constituent species have evolved traits that allow them to co-occur more readily in local communities.

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Disentangling the drivers of local species richness using probabilistic species pools

Journal of Biogeography ◽

10.1111/jbi.13763 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 47 (4) ◽

pp. 879-889

Author(s):

Dirk Nikolaus Karger ◽

Rafael O. Wüest ◽

Christian König ◽

Juliano Sarmento Cabral ◽

Patrick Weigelt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Local Species Richness ◽

Species Pools ◽

Local Species

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