SER: An R package to characterize environmental regimes

Abstract

Environmental regimes (or environmental legacy or historical legacy) are the dynamics of environmental characteristics over a given (either long or short) time period, such as frequency of mean or extreme events and rate of change, which might be absent by using only contemporary variables. We present SER, an R package for estimating environmental regimes for different environmental variables. Using the data included in the package, several examples are shown. SER is suitable for any type of environmental or biotic variables, including nutrient concentration, light, and dissolved oxygen.In addition, by changing the argument "days_bf," it is possible to compute environmental regimes over any time period, such as days, months, or years. Our case study showed that the inclusion of environmental regimes increased the explained variation of temporal β-diversity and its components. Environmental regimes are expected to advance the "environment-community" relationships in ecological studies. They can further be implemented in other subjects such as social science, socioeconomics, and epidemiology.

Different facets of alpha and beta diversity of benthic diatoms along stream watercourse in a large near‐natural catchment

“…It must be noted that our abiotic factors explained very few variations of both taxonomic and functional beta diversity components with residuals of 86–97% (Figure 6 ), although these values were comparable to those of previous studies (e.g., Branco et al., 2020 ; López‐Delgado et al., 2020 ; Perez Rocha et al., 2018 ). This implied that other variables not considered here, such as environmental regime changes (Wu et al., 2023 ) and biotic interactions (predation, grazing, facilitation and/or competition), might account for a big fraction of beta diversity's variation. Several recent studies have proved the importance of environmental regimes in structuring the biodiversity pattern of river algal communities (e.g., Guo et al., 2020 ; Wu et al., 2023 ; Wu, Wang et al., 2022 ).…”

“…This implied that other variables not considered here, such as environmental regime changes (Wu et al, 2023) and biotic interactions (predation, grazing, facilitation and/or competition), might account for a big fraction of beta diversity's variation. Several recent studies have proved the importance of environmental regimes in structuring the biodiversity pattern of river algal communities (e.g., Guo et al, 2020;Wu et al, 2023;. (Koedooder et al, 2019).…”

“…It can provide a powerful tool for understanding the driving forces that underlie the community structure at multiple spatial and temporal scales, as well as for conservation purposes (Baselga & Leprieur, 2015 ; Villéger et al., 2013 ; Zhou et al., 2022 ). It can be partitioned into turnover and nestedness components, and this decomposition can help to detect the mechanisms behind observed beta diversity patterns (Jamoneau et al., 2018 ; Wu et al., 2023 ). Turnover involves the replacement of taxa, while nestedness refers to the loss/gain of taxa (Baselga, 2010 ; Branco et al., 2020 ; Schmidt et al., 2022 ).…”

The Global Trend of Microplastic Research in Freshwater Ecosystems

“…In this paper, we analyze the research focal points on microplastics in freshwater ecosystems from different periods by combining bibliometrics and the literature reviews. We used R software [ 27 , 28 ] to analyze trends in publication and international cooperation. Additionally, we utilized VOSviewer software [ 29 ] to analyze focal points at different periods.…”

Comparison of different macroinvertebrates bioassessment indices in a large near‐natural watershed under the context of metacommunity theory

“…Using aquatic organisms for freshwater ecosystem health assessment is a well‐established approach as they are affected by a wide range of stressors that reflect the effects of pollution conditions and changes in habitat and hydrological conditions (Hering et al., 2006 ; Wu et al., 2023 ). To date, bioassessment with various aquatic organisms (e.g., fish, macroinvertebrates, and algae) is widely used in many countries and organizations, such as the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the US National Biomonitoring Program (NBP) (Arle et al., 2016 ; Buss et al., 2015 ).…”