Environmental prevalence and the distribution of species richness across climatic niche space

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 2348-2360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas L. S. Meyer ◽  
Marcio R. Pie
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Niche Space ◽  
Climatic Niche

scholarly journals Impact of urbanization on functional diversity in macromycete communities along an urban ecosystem in Southwest Mexico

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12191
Author(s):  
Marko Gómez-Hernández ◽  
Emily Avendaño-Villegas ◽  
María Toledo-Garibaldi ◽  
Etelvina Gándara
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Niche Space ◽  
Urbanization Gradient ◽  
Urbanization Level ◽  
Functional Value ◽  
Functional Richness ◽  
Available Resources

Macromycetes are a group of fungi characterized by the production of fruit bodies and are highly relevant in most terrestrial ecosystems as pathogens, mutualists, and organic matter decomposers. Habitat transformation can drastically alter macromycete communities and diminish the contribution of these organisms to ecosystem functioning; however, knowledge on the effect of urbanization on macrofungal communities is scarce. Diversity metrics based on functional traits of macromycete species have shown to be valuable tools to predict how species contribute to ecosystem functionality since traits determine the performance of species in ecosystems. The aim of this study was to assess patterns of species richness, functional diversity, and composition of macrofungi in an urban ecosystem in Southwest Mexico, and to identify microclimatic, environmental, and urban factors related to these patterns in order to infer the effect of urbanization on macromycete communities. We selected four oak forests along an urbanization gradient and established a permanent sampling area of 0.1 ha at each site. Macromycete sampling was carried out every week from June to October 2017. The indices used to measure functional diversity were functional richness (FRic), functional divergence (FDig), and functional evenness (FEve). The metric used to assess variation of macrofungal ecological function along the study area was the functional value. We recorded a total of 134 macromycete species and 223 individuals. Our results indicated a decline of species richness with increased urbanization level related mainly to microclimatic variables, and a high turnover of species composition among study sites, which appears to be related to microclimatic and urbanization variables. FRic decreased with urbanization level, indicating that some of the available resources in the niche space within the most urbanized sites are not being utilized. FDig increased with urbanization, which suggests a high degree of niche differentiation among macromycete species within communities in urbanized areas. FEve did not show notable differences along the urbanization gradient, indicating few variations in the distribution of abundances within the occupied sections of the niche space. Similarly, the functional value was markedly higher in the less urbanized site, suggesting greater performance of functional guilds in that area. Our findings suggest that urbanization has led to a loss of macromycete species and a decrease in functional diversity, causing some sections of the niche space to be hardly occupied and available resources to be under-utilized, which could, to a certain extent, affect ecosystem functioning and stability.

scholarly journals An Inordinate Fondness for Species with Intermediate Dispersal Abilities

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Ashby ◽  
Allison K. Shaw ◽  
Hanna Kokko
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Diversity ◽  
Stochastic Simulations ◽  
Diversification Rate ◽  
Population Divergence ◽  
Dispersal Rate ◽  
Niche Space ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
High Dispersal ◽  
Dispersal Abilities

AbstractJBS Haldane is widely quoted to have quipped that the Creator, if one exists, has an inordinate fondness for beetles. Although Coleoptera may not be the most speciose order once Hymenopteran diversity is fully accounted for, as a whole the very clear differences in species diversity among taxa require an explanation. Here we show both analytically and through stochastic simulations that dispersal has eco-evolutionary effects that predict taxa to become particularly species-rich when dispersal is neither too low nor too high. Our models combine recent advances in understanding coexistence in niche space with previously verbally expressed ideas, where too low dispersal imposes biogeographic constraints that prevent a lineage from finding new areas to colonize (reducing opportunities for speciation), while too high dispersal impedes population divergence, leading to few but widely distributed species. We show that this logic holds for species richness and is robust to a variety of model assumptions, but peak diversification rate is instead predicted to increase with dispersal. Our work unifies findings of increasing and decreasing effects of dispersal rate on speciation, and explains why organisms with moderate dispersal abilities have the best prospects for high global species richness.

Climatic niche breadth and species richness in temperate treefrogs

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1936-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary A. Chejanovski ◽  
John J. Wiens
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Climatic Niche

Species richness and niche space for temperate and tropical folivores

Oecologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 168 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Ricklefs ◽  
Robert J. Marquis
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Niche Space

scholarly journals Patterns of speciation are similar across mountainous and lowland regions for a Neotropical plant radiation (Costaceae: Costus)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar M. Vargas ◽  
Brittany Goldston ◽  
Dena L. Grossenbacher ◽  
Kathleen M. Kay
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Geographic Isolation ◽  
Climatic Niche ◽  
Colonization History ◽  
Tropical Mountains ◽  
Topographic Features ◽  
Plant Life Forms ◽  
Diversity Gradient ◽  
High Species Richness

AbstractHigh species richness and endemism in tropical mountains are recognized as major contributors to the latitudinal diversity gradient. The processes underlying mountain speciation, however, are largely untested. The prevalence of steep ecogeographic gradients and the geographic isolation of populations by topographic features are predicted to promote speciation in mountains. We evaluate these processes in a species-rich Neotropical genus of understory herbs that range from the lowlands to montane forests and have higher species richness in topographically complex regions. We ask whether climatic niche divergence, geographic isolation, and pollination shifts differ between mountain-influenced and lowland Amazonian sister pairs inferred from a 756-gene phylogeny. Neotropical Costus ancestors diverged in Central America during a period of mountain formation in the last 3 My with later colonization of Amazonia. Although climatic divergence, geographic isolation, and pollination shifts are prevalent in general, these factors don’t differ between mountain-influenced and Amazonian sister pairs. Despite higher climatic niche and species diversity in the mountains, speciation modes in Costus appear similar across regions. Thus, greater species richness in tropical mountains may reflect differences in colonization history, diversification rates, or the prevalence of rapidly evolving plant life forms, rather than differences in speciation mode.

scholarly journals Alpine, but not montane, seed plants constitute a biogeographically and climatically distinct species pool across the Americas.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hector Figueroa ◽  
Hannah Marx ◽  
Maria Beatriz de Souza Cortez ◽  
Charles Grady ◽  
Nicholas J. Engle-Wrye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Niche Breadth ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Species Pool ◽  
Seed Plants ◽  
Niche Space ◽  
Climatic Niche ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
Southern Us ◽  
Alpine Species

Aim Higher elevation habitats contribute substantially to global biodiversity. Nevertheless, we know comparatively little about how diversity patterns differ among alpine and montane communities across different mountain ranges. Here, we characterized the realized niche space of American seed plants to ask whether or not montane or alpine community compositions define climatically distinct species pools at this regional scale. Location Americas. Time Period Contemporary. Major taxa studied Seed plants. Methods We assembled a niche model dataset of 72,372 American seed plants based on digitized and georeferenced specimen records. We used this dataset to quantify occupied abiotic niche space with regards to temperature, precipitation, and elevation. This approach further permitted differentiation of higher-elevation specialists (i.e., ranges centered at high elevations) from generalists (i.e., ranges centered at lower elevations but extending into mountain areas). Results Montane communities did not differ from the regional species pool in terms of richness patterns, occupied climatic niche space, or niche breadth. In contrast, alpine communities were characterized by a bimodal latitudinal diversity gradient, drastically reduced climatic niche space, and broader temperature but narrower precipitation niche breadth. Alpine generalists further showed statistically significant differences in temperature, but not precipitation, niche breadth from both alpine specialists and lowland taxa. We also highlight non-alpine species whose climatic niche space otherwise overlapped with that of alpine plants. These species were geographically concentrated in the southern US and Mexico, tended to have a greater fraction of their ranges in frost-exposed mountain foothills, and less of their range in lowland, frost-free, areas, compared to other non-alpine species. Main conclusions These results suggest that ecological and physiological barriers, rather than dispersal limitation might better explain alpine community assembly and that alpine, but not montane, communities form a climatically distinct species pool in the Americas.

scholarly journals Simple attributes predict the importance of plants as hosts to the richness of fungi and arthropods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Henrik Bruun ◽  
Ane Kirstine Brunbjerg ◽  
Lars Dalby ◽  
Camilla Fløjgaard ◽  
Tobias G. Frøslev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Niche Space ◽  
Carbon Substrates ◽  
One Step ◽  
Terrestrial Biodiversity ◽  
Link Score ◽  
Better Than

AbstractConsumers constitute the vast majority of global terrestrial biodiversity. Yet, local consumer richness is poorly understood. Plant species richness offers a simple hypothesis to how the diversification of carbon substrates may promote the diversity of arthropods and fungi. We took this one step further and used databases on plant-consumer interaction links to derive the richness of associated biota per plant species (link score). Using a species inventory of 130 sites we investigated 1) how well the link score could be predicted by plant attributes and 2) if the sum of plant species’ observed or predicted link scores could predict site richness of arthropods and macrofungi better than plant species richness alone. We found plant link scores to be positively related to plant size, abundance, nativeness and ectomycorrhizal status. Link based indices generally improved prediction of richness, stressing the importance of plants as niche space for the megadiverse groups of insects and fungi.

scholarly journals Energetic increases lead to niche packing in deep-sea wood falls

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 20180294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig R. McClain ◽  
Clifton Nunnally ◽  
Abbie S. A. Chapman ◽  
James P. Barry
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Functional Space ◽  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Niche Space ◽  
Environmental Capacity ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Space Expansion

Mechanisms leading to variation in diversity over energetic gradients continue to challenge ecologists. Changes in diversity may reflect the environmental capacity to support species' coexistence through increased niche packing or niche space expansion. Current ecological theory predicts that increases in energy may lead to both scenarios but not their relative strengths. We use experimental deep-sea, wood-fall communities, where energy supply can be controlled, to test for the importance of niche expansion and packing in functional space over an energetic gradient. Invertebrate communities were identified and counted from 16 Acacia sp. logs ranging in size from 0.6 to 20.6 kg in mass (corresponding to energy availability) deployed at 3203 m in the Pacific Ocean for 5 years. We use four fundamental energetic species-level functional traits—food source, trophic category, motility and tiering—to characterize species niches. Increases in energy on wood falls lead to increases in species richness. This higher species richness resulted from a substantial increase in mean niche overlap, suggesting that increases in energy may afford reduced competition.

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