Biogeography and ecology: towards the integration of two disciplines

Ricklefs, Robert E.; Jenkins, David G.

doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0066

Cited by 101 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 136 publications

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“…This paper is part of a collection that is intended to build a bridge and synthesis between ecology and biogeography [10,11], and here we address the issue of community assembly from the perspective of community ecology. A biogeographical approach to community assembly is addressed by Emerson et al [12] in which they contrast phylogeography and community assembly and provide useful guidance on the study of difficult taxa, including cryptozoans such as Collembola.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances, challenges and a developing synthesis of ecological community assembly theory

Weiher

Freund

Bunton

et al. 2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

546

564

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Ecological approaches to community assembly have emphasized the interplay between neutral processes, niche-based environmental filtering and niche-based species sorting in an interactive milieu. Recently, progress has been made in terms of aligning our vocabulary with conceptual advances, assessing how trait-based community functional parameters differ from neutral expectation and assessing how traits vary along environmental gradients. Experiments have confirmed the influence of these processes on assembly and have addressed the role of dispersal in shaping local assemblages. Community phylogenetics has forged common ground between ecologists and biogeographers, but it is not a proxy for trait-based approaches. Community assembly theory is in need of a comparative synthesis that addresses how the relative importance of niche and neutral processes varies among taxa, along environmental gradients, and across scales. Towards that goal, we suggest a set of traits that probably confer increasing community neutrality and regionality and review the influences of stress, disturbance and scale on the importance of niche assembly. We advocate increasing the complexity of experiments in order to assess the relative importance of multiple processes. As an example, we provide evidence that dispersal, niche processes and trait interdependencies have about equal influence on trait-based assembly in an experimental grassland.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances, challenges and a developing synthesis of ecological community assembly theory

Weiher

Freund

Bunton

et al. 2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

546

564

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“…Understanding drivers of patterns of species richness and diversity are key goals in ecological and biogeographical studies (Rosenzweig 1995;Ricklefs and Jenkins 2011). Models of community assembly can demonstrate underlying mechanisms that explain similarity in structure across taxonomic and functional groups (e.g., Caswell 1976; Connor and Simberloff 1979;Menge and Olson 1990;Kelt 1999;Kelt et al 1999;Leibold and Mikkelson 2002;Emerson and Gillespie 2008;Thibault and Brown 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of host and flea communities along an elevational gradient in Colorado

Maher

Timm

2014

Can. J. Zool.

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Patterns in community composition across a landscape are the result of mechanistic responses and species interactions. Interactions between hosts and parasites have additional complexity because of the contingency of host presence and interactions among parasites. To assess the role of environmental changes within host and parasite communities, we surveyed small mammals and their fleas over a dynamic elevational gradient in the Front Range in Colorado, USA. Communities were characterized using several richness and diversity metrics and these were compared using a suite of frequentist and randomization approaches. We found that flea species richness was related to the number of host species based upon rarefaction, but no patterns in richness with elevation were evident. Values of diversity measures increased with elevation, representing that small-mammal and flea communities were more even upslope, yet turnover in composition was not related to examined variables. The results suggest there are strong local effects that drive these small-mammal and flea communities, although the breadth of flea species is tied to host availability.Key words: Siphonaptera, fleas, Rodentia, small mammals, species richness, host-parasite relationships.Résumé : La répartition de la composition des communautés sur l'ensemble d'un paysage est le résultat de réactions mécanistes et d'interactions entre espèces. Les interactions d'hôtes et de parasites revêtent une complexité supplémentaire en raison de l'impondérabilité de la présence des hôtes, ainsi que des interactions de parasites. Afin d'évaluer le rôle des changements du milieu au sein de communautés d'hôtes et de parasites, nous avons étudié des petits mammifères et leurs puces sur un gradient altitudinal dynamique dans la chaîne frontale des Rocheuses, au Colorado, É.-U. Les communautés ont été caractérisées à l'aide de plusieurs paramètres de richesse et de diversité, qui ont été comparés en utilisant un ensemble d'approches fréquentistes et de randomisation. Nous avons constaté que la richesse spécifique des puces était reliée au nombre d'espèces d'hôtes reposant sur la raréfaction, mais aucune tendance de la richesse en fonction de l'altitude n'est ressortie. Les valeurs de mesures de la diversité augmentaient avec l'altitude, indiquant que les communautés de petits mammifères et de puces étaient plus équitables vers le haut, même si le renouvellement de la composition n'était pas relié aux variables examinées. Les résultats donnent à penser que de forts effets locaux contrôlent ces communautés de petits mammifères et de puces, bien que la diversité des espèces de puces soit associée à la disponibilité des hôtes. [Traduit par la Rédaction]

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“…Recent critiques have questioned whether local processes are sufficient to explain community properties and even whether the ecological community is a realistic construct in a dynamic world (2, 9-11). These issues remain controversial (12), but consensus is emerging that community properties cannot be understood without biogeographical and historical context (13,14).…”

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confidence: 99%

Community ecology in a changing environment: Perspectives from the Quaternary

Jackson

Blois

2015

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

164

125

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Community ecology and paleoecology are both concerned with the composition and structure of biotic assemblages but are largely disconnected. Community ecology focuses on existing species assemblages and recently has begun to integrate history (phylogeny and continental or intercontinental dispersal) to constrain community processes. This division has left a "missing middle": Ecological and environmental processes occurring on timescales from decades to millennia are not yet fully incorporated into community ecology. Quaternary paleoecology has a wealth of data documenting ecological dynamics at these timescales, and both fields can benefit from greater interaction and articulation. We discuss ecological insights revealed by Quaternary terrestrial records, suggest foundations for bridging between the disciplines, and identify topics where the disciplines can engage to mutual benefit. community ecology | Quaternary paleoecology | climate change Community ecology and Quaternary paleoecology are both concerned with the composition and structure of biotic assemblages, including patterns of spatial variation and dynamics in changing environments. Community ecology focuses on the here and now of existing species assemblages, emphasizing mechanistic understanding of local species interactions and their consequences. Quaternary paleoecology uses geohistorical evidence (1) to infer properties of past communities and how they have changed, at local to regional scales, during the past few thousand to the past 2.6 million years. Both fields are under increasing demand to inform scientists, resource managers, and policymakers of what might be in store for biodiversity and ecosystems services under ongoing and future global change (2-5). Despite their shared concerns, however, community ecology and Quaternary paleoecology are fundamentally disconnected, with relatively little engagement.

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Biogeography and ecology: towards the integration of two disciplines

Cited by 101 publications

References 136 publications

Advances, challenges and a developing synthesis of ecological community assembly theory

Advances, challenges and a developing synthesis of ecological community assembly theory

Patterns of host and flea communities along an elevational gradient in Colorado

Community ecology in a changing environment: Perspectives from the Quaternary

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