Assembly Rules for Functional Groups in North American Desert Rodent Communities

Fox, Barry J.; Brown, James H.

doi:10.2307/3545483

Cited by 142 publications

(143 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This conclusion is consistent with rules of community assembly, which proceeds first by adding taxa that are overdispersed after which close relatives are included (38,39). Additionally, there is strong evidence showing higher taxonomic affinity for biogeographic region in North America through the Pleistocene, such that genera found, for example, in montane or desert regions have persisted there regardless of movements of individual species (32,40).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Niche conservatism above the species level

Hadly

Spaeth

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

103

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Traits that enable species to persist in ecological environments are often maintained over time, a phenomenon known as niche conservatism. Here we argue that ecological niches function at levels above species, notably at the level of genus for mammals, and that niche conservatism is also evident above the species level. Using the proxy of geographic range size, we explore changes in the realized niche of North American mammalian genera and families across the major climatic transition represented by the last glacial-interglacial transition. We calculate the mean and variance of range size for extant mammalian genera and families, rank them by range size, and estimate the change in range size and rank during the late Pleistocene and late Holocene. We demonstrate that range size at the genus and family levels was surprisingly constant over this period despite range shifts and extinctions of species within the clades. We suggest that underlying controls on niche conservatism may be different at these higher taxonomic levels than at the species level. Niche conservatism at higher levels seems primarily controlled by intrinsic life history traits, whereas niche conservatism at the species level may reflect underlying environmental controls. These results highlight the critical importance of conserving the biodiversity of mammals at the genus level and of maintaining an adequate species pool within genera.climate change ͉ extinction ͉ geographic range size ͉ mammals ͉ Pleistocene T he distributions of mammals are labile over ecological time and have been impacted by human activities, including climatic warming over the past century (1-6). Although humans are altering the distribution of Earth's species in our lifetimes (7), we have little information about how extant species and higher taxa altered their distributions in the past. Here we examine the fossil record for variation in the distribution of mammalian ranges at the level of genus and families in response to climatic change over an evolutionary and ecological relevant time scale (tens of thousands of years). The goal is to understand whether niche conservatism is evident at taxonomic levels higher than species and, if so, what actually underlies the conservation of a niche through long time periods.Nearly all previous studies of niche conservatism have been at the level of species.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Niche conservatism above the species level

Hadly

Spaeth

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

103

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“…They suggested that this type of functional group representation is more predictive of ecosystem processes than exclusively taxonomic or morphological approaches. Fox and Brown (1993) concluded that the mechanism underlying this assembly rule for functional groups is interspecific competition, which is congruent with the concept of Paine (1969aPaine ( , 1969b that KS serve to alleviate competitive interactions within functional groups of their prey.…”

Section: Assembly Rules For Functional Groupssupporting

confidence: 59%

“…Currently, functional groups are defined in an ad hoc way based on morphological, physiological, behavioral, biochemical, or environmental responses or on trophic criteria. However, concepts of functional groups are widespread in ecology (see reviews of Walker 1992, Fox and Brown 1993, Bengtsson 1998, Harris 1999, Kinzig et al 2001). Gitay and Noble (1997) reviewed the history of functional groups/types, and Simberloff and Dayan (1991) reviewed the guild concept and its relationship to functional groups.…”

Section: Assembly Rules For Functional Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This viewpoint was advocated by Martinez (1996) and by Martinez and Dunne (1998) as a way to aggregate the complex functional diversity of ecosystems, and adopted by Fox and Brown (1993) in their study of a Nevada desert ecosystem. Fox and Brown (1993) aggregated 14 species of rodents (Order Rodentia) into three feeding guilds, namely, granivores, folivores, and insectivores, which were further divided into five "functional groups" based on clearly defined foraging strategies. They suggested that this type of functional group representation is more predictive of ecosystem processes than exclusively taxonomic or morphological approaches.…”

Section: Assembly Rules For Functional Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Linking Keystone Species and Functional Groups: A New Operational Definition of the Keystone Species Concept

Davic¹

2003

120

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ABSTRACT. The concept of the "keystone species" is redefined to allow for the a priori prediction of these species within ecosystems. A keystone species is held to be a strongly interacting species whose top-down effect on species diversity and competition is large relative to its biomass dominance within a functional group. This operational definition links the community importance of keystone species to a specific ecosystem process, e.g., the regulation of species diversity, within functional groups at lower trophic levels that are structured by competition for a limited resource. The a priori prediction of keystone species has applied value for the conservation of natural areas.

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“…These two assumptions have been incorporated into the ecological niche theory that describes the existence of rules for the structuring and coexistence of species within communities. Several rules have been described based on these assumptions, including body-size ratios, favorable states, guild proportionality, nestedness, environmental characteristics, forbidden species combinations, incidence functions, and checkerboard distributions (Diamond 1975, Patterson & Atmar 1986, Fox 1987, Wilson 1989, Fox & Brown 1993, Dayan & Simberloff 1994. In most rules, the process is inferred, but not tested.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assembly rules in Muscid Fly assemblages in the grasslands Biome of Southern Brazil

Krüger¹,

Carvalho²,

Ribeiro³

2010

Neotrop. entomol.

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-The distribution of muscid species (Diptera) in grasslands fragments of southern Brazil was assessed using null models according to three assembly rules: (a) negatively-associated distributions; (b) guild proportionality; and (c) constant body-size ratios. We built presence/absence matrices and calculated the C-score index to test negatively-associated distributions and guild proportionality based on the following algorithms: total number of fi xed lines (F L ), total number of fi xed columns (F C ), and the effect of the average size of the populations along lines (W) for 5000 randomizations. We used null models to generate random communities that were not structured by competition and evaluated the patterns generated using three models: general, trophic guilds, and taxonomic guilds.All three assembly rules were tested in each model. The null hypothesis was corroborated in all F L X F C co-occurrence analyses. In addition, 11 analyses of the models using the W algorithm showed the same pattern observed previously. Three analyses using the W algorithm indicated that species cooccurred more frequently than expected by chance. According to analyses of co-occurrence and guild proportionality, the coexistence of muscid species is not regulated by constant body size ratios. In fl ies of the grasslands, no rule was identifi ed. Yet, a consensus did emerge from our analyses: species co-occur more frequently than expected by chance, indicating that aggregation is a recurring phenomenon among fl ies with saprophagous adults and predatory larvae. Therefore, competition does not seem to play an important role in the determination of muscid assemblages in the grasslands in Southern Brazil.

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Assembly Rules for Functional Groups in North American Desert Rodent Communities

Cited by 142 publications

References 28 publications

Niche conservatism above the species level

Niche conservatism above the species level

Linking Keystone Species and Functional Groups: A New Operational Definition of the Keystone Species Concept

Assembly rules in Muscid Fly assemblages in the grasslands Biome of Southern Brazil

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