scholarly journals Increasing fish taxonomic and functional richness affects ecosystem properties of small headwater prairie streams

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 887-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika C. Martin ◽  
Keith B. Gido ◽  
Nora Bello ◽  
Walter K. Dodds ◽  
Allison Veach
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Properties ◽  
Prairie Streams ◽  
Functional Richness

A wildfire in an Amazonian canga community maintained important ecosystem properties

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 943
Author(s):  
Luciula Cunha Barbosa ◽  
Pedro Lage Viana ◽  
Grazielle Sales Teodoro ◽  
Cecílio Frois Caldeira ◽  
Silvio Junio Ramos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Fire Event ◽  
Ecosystem Properties ◽  
Phylogenetic Community Structure ◽  
Functional Richness ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Neotropical Savannas

Because wildfires alter plant communities, we describe the effects of a single fire event on the composition and diversity of Amazonian ferruginous savannas, locally known as cangas. We installed 20 observation plots in burned and unburned parts of a homogeneous canga site from the Carajás Massif. The single fire event shifted community composition slightly, increased functional richness and the abundance of anemochoric and subshrub species, but did not influence the number of phanerophyte species, highlighting the importance of both seeding and resprouting strategies in the post-fire scenario. In contrast, neither taxonomic nor phylogenetic diversity was affected by the fire event. The absence of differences in the phylogenetic community structure indicated that specific adaptations to fires are widespread within the canga phylogeny, although fires are not an eminent part of these ecosystems, as in other neotropical savannas. As diversity metrics were not negatively affected by a single fire event and only small shifts in species composition were observed, our data indicate maintenance of important ecosystem properties despite an occasional wildfire event in the analysed canga shrubland. Further research should outline how different physiognomies are affected and how different fire regimes influence communities to assist in the design of effective management plans for this ecosystem.

scholarly journals The Effect of Climate and Human Pressures on Functional Diversity and Species Richness Patterns of Amphibians, Reptiles and Mammals in Europe

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 275
Author(s):  
Mariana A. Tsianou ◽  
Maria Lazarina ◽  
Danai-Eleni Michailidou ◽  
Aristi Andrikou-Charitidou ◽  
Stefanos P. Sgardelis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Climatic Variables ◽  
Quadratic Entropy ◽  
Functional Richness ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality ◽  
Rao’S Quadratic Entropy ◽  
Richness Patterns

The ongoing biodiversity crisis reinforces the urgent need to unravel diversity patterns and the underlying processes shaping them. Although taxonomic diversity has been extensively studied and is considered the common currency, simultaneously conserving other facets of diversity (e.g., functional diversity) is critical to ensure ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services. Here, we explored the effect of key climatic factors (temperature, precipitation, temperature seasonality, and precipitation seasonality) and factors reflecting human pressures (agricultural land, urban land, land-cover diversity, and human population density) on the functional diversity (functional richness and Rao’s quadratic entropy) and species richness of amphibians (68 species), reptiles (107 species), and mammals (176 species) in Europe. We explored the relationship between different predictors and diversity metrics using generalized additive mixed model analysis, to capture non-linear relationships and to account for spatial autocorrelation. We found that at this broad continental spatial scale, climatic variables exerted a significant effect on the functional diversity and species richness of all taxa. On the other hand, variables reflecting human pressures contributed significantly in the models even though their explanatory power was lower compared to climatic variables. In most cases, functional richness and Rao’s quadratic entropy responded similarly to climate and human pressures. In conclusion, climate is the most influential factor in shaping both the functional diversity and species richness patterns of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals in Europe. However, incorporating factors reflecting human pressures complementary to climate could be conducive to us understanding the drivers of functional diversity and richness patterns.

Bird species assemblages differ, while functional richness is maintained across an urban landscape

2021 ◽  
Vol 212 ◽  
pp. 104094
Author(s):  
Monicah Mbiba ◽  
Cynthia Mazhude ◽  
Christo Fabricius ◽  
Hervé Fritz ◽  
Justice Muvengwi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Functional Richness
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