Biodiversity and ecosystem stability across scales in metacommunities

Wang, Shaopeng; Loreau, Michel

doi:10.1111/ele.12582

Cited by 243 publications

(389 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…specialists vs generalists) -the counterpart of the spatial insurance is a buffering effect of biotic interaction processes which can lead to a homogenisation of the regional ecosystems and its subsequent risks of biodiversity loss (Olden et al 2004, Shanafelt et al 2015, Wang and Loreau 2016. specialists vs generalists) -the counterpart of the spatial insurance is a buffering effect of biotic interaction processes which can lead to a homogenisation of the regional ecosystems and its subsequent risks of biodiversity loss (Olden et al 2004, Shanafelt et al 2015, Wang and Loreau 2016.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic and trophic processes drive long‐term changes in functional diversity of freshwater invertebrate communities

2017

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When investigating the fields of biogeography and macroecology, climate-and productivity-related variables are frequently identified as the strongest correlates of species-diversity patterns. These variables have been usually merged under the climate/ productivity hypothesis and describe the direct and indirect actions of climate on species. Being among the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change, streams and rivers are expected to be influenced both by climatic and trophic (i.e. productivity-related) factors. We propose here to distinguish the relative influence of the two processes on large-scale, long-term changes in the functional diversity of freshwater invertebrate communities over two decades in France. To this end, we designed two functional indices using invertebrate traits to surrogate the respective mechanisms: climate vulnerability and feeding specialisation. Using geographically weighted regression (GWR) models, we showed that trends in both indices, along with the initial regional speciespools, have significantly contributed to the overall long-term increase in functional diversity of invertebrate communities. In addition, we highlighted a strong geographical differentiation in the contribution patterns with the climate vulnerability effect decreasing with latitude and the feeding specialisation effect being higher in headwaters than in large rivers. Finally, taking into account this non-stationarity in the ecological processes and responses using GWR models allowed explaining about 75% of the long-term changes in the community diversity. Consequently, this study offers sound perspectives in predicting the future patterns of trends in functional diversity of communities under different scenarios of environmental changes, like climate and/or land-use.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic and trophic processes drive long‐term changes in functional diversity of freshwater invertebrate communities

2017

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“…Secondly, it requires understanding how biological diversity will enhance ecosystem stability (McCann, 2000;Hooper et al, 2005;Strong et al, 2015). There is a wealth of theoretical and empirical data to support the contention that biodiversity (numbers of distinct species, but also functional diversity) enhances both ecosystem productivity and its resistance to perturbation (e.g., Isbell et al, 2015a,b;Wang and Loreau, 2016). Habitats and species diversity are intrinsically intertwined, and baseline diversity is highly variable.…”

Section: Structural Taxonomic Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is Marine Biodiversity? Towards Common Concepts and Their Implications for Assessing Biodiversity Status

Cochrane

Andersen²,

Berg

et al. 2016

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Biodiversity' is one of the most common keywords used in environmental sciences, spanning from research to management, nature conservation, and consultancy. Despite this, our understanding of the underlying concepts varies greatly, between and within disciplines as well as among the scientists themselves. Biodiversity can refer to descriptions or assessments of the status and condition of all or selected groups of organisms, from the genetic variability, to the species, populations, communities, and ecosystems. However, a concept of biodiversity also must encompass understanding the interactions and functions on all levels from individuals up to the whole ecosystem, including changes related to natural and anthropogenic environmental pressures. While biodiversity as such is an abstract and relative concept rooted in the spatial domain, it is central to most international, European, and national governance initiatives aimed at protecting the marine environment. These rely on status assessments of biodiversity which typically require numerical targets and specific reference values, to allow comparison in space and/or time, often in association with some external structuring factors such as physical and biogeochemical conditions. Given that our ability to apply and interpret such assessments requires a solid conceptual understanding of marine biodiversity, here we define this and show how the abstract concept can and needs to be interpreted and subsequently applied in biodiversity assessments.

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“…The relationship between ecological diversity and stability has been a subject of debate within the scientific community [25][26][27][28]. Theory predicts a positive correlation between diversity and stability in ecological communities [29], but there has been much discussion about how these factors should be defined and quantified.…”

Section: Ecological Principles and Polyculturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the potential of polyculture to accelerate algal biofuel production

Newby¹,

Mathews²,

Pate³

et al. 2016

Algal Research

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To date, the algal biofuel industry has focused on the cultivation of monocultures of highly productive algal strains, but scaling up production remains challenging. Algal monocultures are difficult to maintain because they are easily contaminated by wild algal strains, grazers, and pathogens. In contrast, theory suggests that polycultures (multispecies assemblages) can promote both ecosystem stability and productivity. A greater understanding of species interactions and how communities change with time needs to be developed. Ultimately a predictive model of community interactions is needed to harness the capacity of biodiversity to enhance productivity of algal polycultures at industrial scales. Here we review the agricultural and ecological literature to explore opportunities for increased annual biomass production through the use of algal polycultures. We discuss case studies where algal polycultures have been successfully maintained for industries other than the biofuel industry, as well as the few studies that have compared biomass production of algal polycultures to that of monocultures. Assemblages that include species with complementary traits are of particular promise. These assemblages have the potential to increase crop productivity and stability presumably by utilizing natural resources (e.g. light, nutrients, and water) more efficiently via tighter niche packing. Therefore, algal polycultures show promise for enhancing biomass productivity, enabling sustainable production and reducing overall production costs.

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Biodiversity and ecosystem stability across scales in metacommunities

Cited by 243 publications

References 47 publications

Climatic and trophic processes drive long‐term changes in functional diversity of freshwater invertebrate communities

Climatic and trophic processes drive long‐term changes in functional diversity of freshwater invertebrate communities

What Is Marine Biodiversity? Towards Common Concepts and Their Implications for Assessing Biodiversity Status

Assessing the potential of polyculture to accelerate algal biofuel production

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