Dispersal network heterogeneity promotes species coexistence in hierarchical competitive communities

Zhang, Helin; Bearup, Daniel; Nijs, Ivan; Wang, Shaopeng; Barabás, György; Tao, Yi; Liao, Jinbao

doi:10.1111/ele.13619

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Second, our model generally assumed the same dispersal mode for all species, though supplemented with two scenarios where plants were allowed to adopt different dispersal scenarios (no dispersal or always random dispersal) from animal species. In natural metacommunities, different species can exhibit diverse patterns of dispersal, for example larger‐sized species or higher trophic levels may have larger dispersal rates (Hirt et al, 2018, p. 20), and different species may perceive the physical landscape differently and show various dispersal networks (Zhang et al, 2021). Third, our model assumed constant dispersal modes over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Maintenance of biodiversity in multitrophic metacommunities: Dispersal mode matters

Wang

2023

Journal of Animal Ecology

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1. Although metacommunity models generally formulate dispersal as a random, passive process, mounting evidence suggests that dispersal can be an active process depending on species fitness over the landscape, particularly in multitrophic communities. How different dispersal modes (i.e. from random to increasingly fitnessdependent dispersal) modulate the effect of dispersal on biodiversity remains unclear. Here, we used a metacommunity model of food webs to investigate the effects of dispersal and habitat heterogeneity on biodiversity and how these effects may be dependent on dispersal mode. 2. Our results showed that compared to isolated systems, random dispersal increased local food web diversity (α diversity) but decreased across-community dissimilarity (β diversity) and regional food web diversity (γ diversity), consistent with findings from competitive metacommunity models. However, fitnessdependency could alter the effects of dispersal on biodiversity. Both β and γ diversity increased with the strength of fitness-dependency of dispersal, while α diversity peaked at intermediate fitness-dependency. Notably, strong fitnessdependent dispersal maintained levels of β and γ diversity similar to those observed in isolated systems. Thus, random dispersal and isolation (i.e. no dispersal) can be considered as two extremes along the continuum of fitness-dependent dispersal, in terms of their effects on biodiversity.3. Moreover, both biodiversity-habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity-habitat connectivity relationships depended on the dispersal mode. Strikingly, under random dispersal, γ diversity decreased with habitat heterogeneity and connectivity, but under strong fitness-dependent dispersal, it increased with habitat heterogeneity and remained unchanged as habitat connectivity increased. 4. Our study highlights the context dependence of dispersal effects on biodiversity in heterogeneous landscapes. Our findings have useful implications for biodiversity conservation and landscape management, where management strategies should account for different modes of dispersal across taxa, thus different responses of biodiversity to habitat heterogeneity and connectivity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…| 1199 (Hirt et al, 2018, p. 20), and different species may perceive the physical landscape differently and show various dispersal networks (Zhang et al, 2021). Third, our model assumed constant dispersal modes over time.…”

Section: Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maintenance of biodiversity in multitrophic metacommunities: Dispersal mode matters

Wang

2023

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…Coexistence between species has long been a central question in community ecology research [1,2]. Investigating coexistence relationships can objectively reflect species distribution in a community and the degree of species adaptation to the environment, reveal community structure, type, and plant substitution mechanisms, and predict population extinction [3][4][5]. Modern coexistence theory suggests that the causes of species coexistence in communities depend on the balance of niche overlap and competitive asymmetry [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge about Plant Coexistence during Vegetation Succession for Forest Management on the Loess Plateau, China

Tian

Zhang

et al. 2022

Forests

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Coexistence between species within plant communities is a key issue in the practice of revegetation, forest management, and biodiversity conservation. Vegetation restoration is critical to control soil erosion and improve the ecological environment on the Loess Plateau. Here, we investigate the interspecific relationships of dominant plants during natural vegetation succession on the Loess Plateau. The results suggest that, under the ecological process of environmental filtering, species within communities can reduce interspecific competition and promote species coexistence via spatial heterogeneity and temporal asynchronous differences. The ecological niche overlap index (Oik) significantly and positively correlated with the strength of interspecific associations. Most species pairs had weak competition and more stable interspecific relationships. The results of the χ2 test showed that 317 species pairs were positively associated and 118 were negatively associated. The community is in a positive succession process, and the interaction relationship between species tends to be neutral. We should enhance the protection of positively associated species and pay attention to negatively associated species during forest management. Results revealed that Carex lanceolata Boott and Lespedeza bicolor Turcz coexisted easily with other species for mutual benefit, which could help build artificial forestland of native species to improve the ecological function.

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“…Yet, these conclusions are mostly drawn from lattice-based models, where each individual is assumed to only interact with its surrounding neighbors. This assumption is relatively restrictive, as species dispersal and interactions in nature might occur on complex networks with variation in patch connectivities (i.e., spatial heterogeneity in dispersal networks; Urban and Keitt, 2001;Fortuna et al, 2006;Dale and Fortin, 2010;Galpern et al, 2011;Grilli et al, 2015;Fortin et al, 2021;He et al, 2021;Li et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, Fortuna et al (2006) identified a large spatial dispersal network of temporary ponds, which are used as breeding sites for amphibian species, following a power-law degree distribution. As such, there has been an increasing interest in exploring the effects of network heterogeneity on ecosystem stability using graph theory (Szabó et al, 2004;Szolnoki and Szabó, 2004;Masuda and Konno, 2006;Dale and Fortin, 2010;Schütt and Claussen, 2010;Galpern et al, 2011;Laird, 2014;Nagatani et al, 2018;Fortin et al, 2021;He et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021). Many studies have found that increasing network heterogeneity (i.e., increasing variation in patch connectivities) can promote stable coexistence in cyclic competition (Masuda and Konno, 2006;Schütt and Claussen, 2010;Nagatani et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting effects of dispersal network heterogeneity on ecosystem stability in rock-paper-scissors games

Guo

Zhang

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Intransitive competition, typically represented by the classic rock-paper-scissors game, provides an endogenous mechanism promoting species coexistence. As well known, species dispersal and interaction in nature might occur on complex patch networks, with species interacting in diverse ways. However, the effects of different interaction modes, combined with spatial heterogeneity in patch connectivities, have not been well integrated into our general understanding of how stable coexistence emerges in cyclic competition. We thus incorporate network heterogeneity into the classic rock-paper-scissors game, in order to compare ecosystem stability under two typical modes of interaction: species compete to fill empty sites, and species seize each other’s colony sites. On lattice-structured regular networks, the two interaction modes produce similar stability patterns through forming conspecific clusters to reduce interspecific competition. However, for heterogeneous networks, the interaction modes have contrasting effects on ecosystem stability. Specifically, if species compete for colony sites, increasing network heterogeneity stabilizes competitive dynamics. When species compete to fill empty sites, an increase in network heterogeneity leads to larger population fluctuations and therefore a higher risk of stochastic extinctions, in stark contrast to current knowledge. Our findings strongly suggest that particular attention should be devoted to testing which mode of interaction is more appropriate for modeling a given system.

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Dispersal network heterogeneity promotes species coexistence in hierarchical competitive communities

Cited by 16 publications

References 83 publications

Maintenance of biodiversity in multitrophic metacommunities: Dispersal mode matters

Maintenance of biodiversity in multitrophic metacommunities: Dispersal mode matters

Knowledge about Plant Coexistence during Vegetation Succession for Forest Management on the Loess Plateau, China

Contrasting effects of dispersal network heterogeneity on ecosystem stability in rock-paper-scissors games

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