Climate and land-use changes drive biodiversity turnover in arthropod assemblages over 150 years

Abstract

Long-term studies are essential to understand the impacts of global changes on the multiple facets of biological diversity. Here, we report that multiple environmental stressors, namely climate, landuse and human population density jointly acted in conditioning assemblage composition and functionality over long time periods. By carefully reconstructing the temporal evolution of these stressors, we explicitly tested how environmental changes can determine the observed changes in taxonomic and functional diversity. We found that rapid changes in precipitation de-stabilize the assemblages and maximize colonization and extinction rates, especially when coupled with changes in human population density (for taxonomy) or temperature (for functionality). Higher microclimatic heterogeneity increases the stability of biodiversity, by reducing taxonomic and functional loss. Finally, changes in natural habitats increased colonization, influencing taxonomic nestedness and functional replacement. The integration of long-term datasets combining distribution, climate and traits may deepen our understanding of the processes underlying biodiversity responses to global-scale drivers.

Environmental DNA from archived leaves reveals widespread temporal turnover and biotic homogenization in forest arthropod communities

“…The universality of these changes suggests that neither site- nor taxon-specific factors are responsible. Possible explanations include factors that act at a larger scale, such as climate change-induced range shifts ( Marta et al, 2021 ), nitrogen deposition ( Gámez-Virués et al, 2015 ), and the introduction of invasive species ( Soroye et al, 2020 ; Lister and Garcia, 2018 ). Given that our leaf samples recover a fairly broad phenological window, the alternative explanation that the observed community-wide turnover pattern may have resulted from shifting phenologies ( Cohen et al, 2018 ) is unlikely.…”

“…Current studies on insect decline primarily focus on site-based assessments of α -diversity and biomass ( Hallmann et al, 2017 ; Seibold et al, 2019 ). Yet, these metrics alone are insufficient for characterizing ongoing biodiversity change ( Marta et al, 2021 ; Kortz and Magurran, 2019 ; Magurran and Henderson, 2010 ). Significant temporal community change and declines can also occur at the scale of β - or γ -diversity, without affecting local richness.…”

Environmental DNA from archived leaves reveals widespread temporal turnover and biotic homogenization in forest arthropod communities

“…The universality of these changes suggests that neither site- nor taxon-specific factors are responsible. Possible explanations include factors that act at a larger scale, such as climate change-induced range shifts 16 , nitrogen deposition 31 and the introduction of invasive species 32,33 . Given that our leaf samples recover a fairly broad phenological window, the alternative explanation that the observed community-wide turnover pattern may have resulted from shifting phenologies 34 is unlikely.…”

“…Current studies on insect decline primarily focus on site-based assessments of α-diversity and biomass 1,3 . Yet, these metrics alone are insufficient for characterizing ongoing biodiversity change [16][17][18] . Significant temporal community change and declines can also occur at the scale of β-or γ-diversity, without affecting local richness.…”

Estimation of Current and Future Suitable Areas for Tapirus pinchaque in Ecuador

“…The magnitude of the problem is such that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that, of the species studied, around 50% have already been affected by climate change. The effects of this phenomenon on biodiversity can be explained by the fact that the particular environmental conditions for each species are significantly disrupted, preventing them from adapting [14,15]. The effects of climate change on life can be observed at different levels, in interactions with other species, in the extent of their geographic distribution, and even in the ecosystems themselves [16].…”