Abundance of common species, not species richness, drives delivery of a real‐world ecosystem service

Winfree, Rachael; Fox, Jeremy W.; Williams, Neal M.; Reilly, James R.; Cariveau, Daniel P.

doi:10.1111/ele.12424

Cited by 534 publications

(564 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Our findings may apply directly to herbivorous marine zooplankton [14] and to herbivorous terrestrial insects [30], in which the impact of key traits on the biomass of lower trophic levels has been recently demonstrated. Additionally, our results may also be representative of other ecosystem functions, such as pollination, in which competitive asymmetry plays a larger role than complementarity [10]. The experimental approach we used, separating the role of a key functional trait and phylogenetic distances, provides exciting and promising avenues to understand how evolutionary convergences and divergences affect trophic interactions and shape ecosystem functioning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Disentangling the effect of body size and phylogenetic distances on zooplankton top-down control of algae

2016

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A negative consequence of biodiversity loss is reduced rates of ecosystem functions. Phylogenetic-based biodiversity indices have been claimed to provide more accurate predictions of ecosystem functioning than species diversity alone. This approach assumes that the most relevant traits for ecosystem functioning present a phylogenetic signal. Yet, traits-mediating niche partitioning and resource uptake efficiency in animals can be labile. To assess the relative power of a key trait (body size) and phylogeny to predict zooplankton top-down control on phytoplankton, we manipulated trait and phylogenetic distances independently in microcosms while holding species richness constant. We found that body size provided strong predictions of top-down control. In contrast, phylogeny was a poor predictor of grazing rates. Sizerelated grazing efficiency asymmetry was mechanistically more important than niche differences in mediating ecosystem function in our experimental settings. Our study demonstrates a strong link between a single functional trait (i.e. body size) in zooplankton and trophic interactions, and urges for a cautionary use of phylogenetic information and taxonomic diversity as substitutes for trait information to predict and understand ecosystem functions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Disentangling the effect of body size and phylogenetic distances on zooplankton top-down control of algae

2016

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“…For amphibian skin bacterial communities, however, we found that most of the highly prevalent and dominant bacterial phyla, families, and OTUs were cultured. This is encouraging, because these are the bacteria whose functions we are interested in, as dominant community members are often functionally important (70). In grassland ecosystems, for example, dominant grass species play an important role in community productivity and resistance to invasion (71,72).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Most of the Dominant Members of Amphibian Skin Bacterial Communities Can Be Readily Cultured

Walke

Becker

Hughey

et al. 2015

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Currently, it is estimated that only 0.001% to 15% of bacteria in any given system can be cultured by use of commonly used techniques and media, yet culturing is critically important for investigations of bacterial function. Despite this situation, few studies have attempted to link culture-dependent and culture-independent data for a single system to better understand which members of the microbial community are readily cultured. In amphibians, some cutaneous bacterial symbionts can inhibit establishment and growth of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, and thus there is great interest in using these symbionts as probiotics for the conservation of amphibians threatened by B. dendrobatidis. The present study examined the portion of the culture-independent bacterial community (based on Illumina amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene) that was cultured with R2A low-nutrient agar and whether the cultured bacteria represented rare or dominant members of the community in the following four amphibian species: bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus), eastern newts (Notophthalmus viridescens), spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), and American toads (Anaxyrus americanus). To determine which percentage of the community was cultured, we clustered Illumina sequences at 97% similarity, using the culture sequences as a reference database. For each amphibian species, we cultured, on average, 0.59% to 1.12% of each individual's bacterial community. However, the average percentage of bacteria that were culturable for each amphibian species was higher, with averages ranging from 2.81% to 7.47%. Furthermore, most of the dominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs), families, and phyla were represented in our cultures. These results open up new research avenues for understanding the functional roles of these dominant bacteria in host health. Microorganisms represent a large portion of global biodiversity and are responsible for many important ecological functions, yet the majority of microbes have not been cultured (1-3). It is estimated that only 0.001% to 15% of microbes can be cultured by use of commonly used techniques and media (2, 4), although some recent attempts at culturing the uncultured have been successful. For example, a prevalent and abundant human gut bacterium with potential biomedical importance was recently cultured by a gene-targeted approach (5). Still, only a third of known bacterial phyla have cultured representatives (6). Recent advances in culture-independent rRNA-based molecular approaches have allowed for a greater understanding of bacterial diversity (1,7,8), but in most cases, the only data we have about uncultured microbes are the DNA sequences obtained directly from the environment. Next-generation sequencing in some cases has led to the discovery of entire groups, such as the TM7 candidate division, often found in terrestrial, aquatic, and clinical habitats (9). This group is phylogenetically distinct and widespread yet has not been isolated in pure culture (9-12). There are also bacteri...

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“…However, there is a danger that current 68 regional and local assessments of ecosystem functions and management advice do not 69 incorporate such risk assessments. This could result in poor management advice and 70 undervaluation of the importance of biodiversity, because whilst relatively low levels of 71 biodiversity can be adequate to provide current function [12], higher levels might be needed 72 to support similar levels of function under environmental change [2,[13][14][15][16][17][18]. Therefore, 73 there is a need to identify the characteristics of resilient ecosystem functions and capture 74 these in both predictive models and management guidance.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystem Functions

Oliver

Heard

Isaac

et al. 2015

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

1,106

877

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Abundance of common species, not species richness, drives delivery of a real‐world ecosystem service

Cited by 534 publications

References 49 publications

Disentangling the effect of body size and phylogenetic distances on zooplankton top-down control of algae

Disentangling the effect of body size and phylogenetic distances on zooplankton top-down control of algae

Most of the Dominant Members of Amphibian Skin Bacterial Communities Can Be Readily Cultured

Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystem Functions

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