Species loss drives ecosystem function in experiments, but in nature the importance of species loss depends on dominance

Genung, Mark A.; Fox, Jeremy W.; Winfree, Rachael

doi:10.1111/geb.13137

Cited by 43 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Other studies also failed to detect the effects of species diversity on ecosystem functions but few have disentangled SL and SG as the CAFE approach does (Genung et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thereby, context‐dependent effects, instead of the species number and identity per se, should be the main factor responsible for the reduction of AGB near natural edges. Other studies also failed to detect the effects of species diversity on ecosystem functions but few have disentangled SL and SG as the CAFE approach does (Genung et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Changes in tree size, not species diversity, underlie the low above‐ground biomass in natural forest edges

Silva

Melo

Berg

2021

J Vegetation Science

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Questions: Forest's above-ground biomass is an important component of the global carbon cycle and, in forest fragments, it tends to decrease near the edges. This edge effect on biomass can be due to the number and identity of species residing at edges or due to the context of edges constraining plant functioning regardless of the species. Here, we took advantage of species-rich natural forest edges to test the role of species richness, composition, and context dependency in explaining why forest edges stock less above-ground biomass than interiors.Location: Gallery forests in Brazilian savanna (latitude 21° S, longitude 44° W). Methods:We tested the relationship between species richness and above-ground biomass in 49 forest plots (10,142 trees). We used a novel adaptation of the Price equation to calculate the impact of species composition (losses and gains) and context dependency on the differences of above-ground biomass between edges and interiors.Results: Differences in species richness and composition did not explain the lower above-ground biomass of forest edges when compared to interiors. Biomass responses were context-dependent, in which the same species achieved smaller sizes when it grew in the edge than in the interior. Conclusions:Our study shows that edge effects on biomass may operate independently of biodiversity as edges and interiors had a similar number of species but distinct above-ground biomass. Indeed, in the studied natural forest patches, the edge context itself limits plant size and, thus, the above-ground biomass stock. Beyond unveiling the underlying causes of edge effects on forest biomass, our results call for distinct policies to conserve both the carbon stocks in forest interiors but also the unique diversity of natural edges.

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“…Other studies also failed to detect the effects of species diversity on ecosystem functions but few have disentangled SL and SG as the CAFE approach does (Genung et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in tree size, not species diversity, underlie the low above‐ground biomass in natural forest edges

Silva

Melo

Berg

2021

J Vegetation Science

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“…Additionally, high diversity frequently results in functional redundancy, which helps promote resiliency and resistance of communities by increasing the likelihood that niches are filled under various environmental conditions (69,70). Therefore, a loss of bacterial community diversity and change in community structure could indicate decreased plant and bacterial community health.…”

Section: Drought Stress Changes Phyllosphere Community Diversity and Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Phyllosphere Community Assembly and Response to Drought Stress on Common Tropical and Temperate Forage Grasses

Bechtold

Ryan

Moughan

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Grasslands represent a critical ecosystem important for global food production, soil carbon storage, and water regulation. Current intensification and expansion practices add to the degradation of grasslands and dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Thus, new ways to sustain and improve their productivity are needed. Research efforts focus on the plant-leaf microbiome, or phyllosphere, because its microbial members impact ecosystem function by influencing pathogen resistance, plant hormone production, and nutrient availability through processes including nitrogen fixation. However, little is known about grassland phyllospheres and their response to environmental stress. In this study, globally dominant temperate and tropical forage grass species were grown in a greenhouse under current climate conditions and drought conditions that mimic future climate predictions to understand if (i) plant host taxa influence microbial community assembly, (ii) microbial communities respond to drought stress, and (iii) phyllosphere community changes correlate to changes in plant host traits and stress-response strategies. Community analysis using high resolution sequencing revealed Gammaproteobacteria as the dominant bacterial class, which increased under severe drought stress on both temperate and tropical grasses while overall bacterial community diversity declined. Bacterial community diversity, structure, and response to drought were significantly different between grass species. This community dependence on plant host species correlated with differences in grass species traits, which became more defined under drought stress conditions, suggesting symbiotic evolutionary relationships between plant hosts and their associated microbial community. Further understanding these strategies and the functions microbes provide to plants will help us utilize microbes to promote agricultural and ecosystem productivity in the future.

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“…Species occurrence models, however, provide limited opportunities to understand local abundance changes that accompany species distribution shifts (Lenoir and Svenning 2013, Bates et al 2015, Hastings et al 2020). Species present in high numbers at only a few sites can make large contributions to ecological processes but a focus on occurrence would overlook these species (Table 1: (Stuart-Smith et al 2013, Williams et al 2014, Winfree et al 2015, Johnston et al 2015, Genung et al 2020)). Abundance trends can also act as an early warning signal of population collapse (Clements et al 2017, Ceballos et al 2020) but occurrence patterns may not change until after local population depletion (Hastings et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Establishing how and why model performance varies for different species is critical for conservation and management applications, particularly with respect to commonness. Common species, in terms of local and regional abundance, often contribute most to ecosystem functioning (Genung et al 2020). Low abundance and range-restricted species may be prioritised for conservation, having higher extinction risk (Purvis et al 2000, Ceballos et al 2020) and potentially playing unique roles in ecosystems (Violle et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A quantitative review of abundance-based species distribution models

Waldock

Stuart‐Smith

Albouy

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The contributions of species to ecosystem functions or services depend not only on their presence in a given community, but also on their local abundance. Progress in predictive spatial modelling has largely focused on species occurrence, rather than abundance. As such, limited guidance exists on the most reliable methods to explain and predict spatial variation in abundance. We analysed the performance of 68 abundance-based species distribution models fitted to 800,000 standardised abundance records for more than 800 terrestrial bird and reef fish species. We found high heterogeneity in performance of abundance-based models. While many models performed poorly, a subset of models consistently reconstructed range-wide abundance patterns. The best predictions were obtained using random forests for frequently encountered and abundant species, and for predictions within the same environmental domain as model calibration. Extending predictions of species abundance outside of the environmental conditions used in model training generated poor predictions. Thus, interpolation of abundances between observations can help improve understanding of spatial abundance patterns, but extrapolated predictions of abundance, e.g. under climate change, have a much greater uncertainty. Our synthesis provides a roadmap for modelling abundance patterns, a key property of species' distributions that underpins theoretical and applied questions in ecology and conservation.

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Species loss drives ecosystem function in experiments, but in nature the importance of species loss depends on dominance

Cited by 43 publications

References 48 publications

Changes in tree size, not species diversity, underlie the low above‐ground biomass in natural forest edges

Changes in tree size, not species diversity, underlie the low above‐ground biomass in natural forest edges

Phyllosphere Community Assembly and Response to Drought Stress on Common Tropical and Temperate Forage Grasses

A quantitative review of abundance-based species distribution models

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