The Influence of Paleoclimate on Present-Day Patterns in Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Svenning, Jens‐Christian; Eiserhardt, Wolf L.; Normand, Signe; Ordóñez, Alejandro; Sandel, Brody

doi:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-112414-054314

Cited by 255 publications

(318 citation statements)

References 153 publications

(178 reference statements)

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“…flat decays in all cases) suggests that these beetle assemblages are composed of species with similar characteristics (good dispersers), irrespective to the taxon to which they belong. This would be in agreement with the well documented imprint of Pleistocene glaciations in the biota of the European continent, where species living at high latitudes have recolonized those territories from glacial refugia in the south (Hewitt 1999, Svenning and Skov 2007, Svenning et al 2015. In turn, the marked heterogeneity in southern decay patterns (flat vs steep decays) implies that assemblages of different taxa are composed of Figure 5.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Variation among European beetle taxa in patterns of distance decay of similarity suggests a major role of dispersal processes

2018

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The decay of assemblage similarity with spatial distance can be explained by alternative mechanisms: dispersal limitation and species sorting. To understand their relative contributions, we compare the decay in faunal similarity with spatial distance and, independently, with climatic distance, of 21 beetle taxa with varying dispersal abilities and ecological niches, in southern and northern Europe. Similarity in beetle faunas was associated to spatial but not to climatic distances, pointing to the preponderance of dispersal processes rather than niche constraints. In most taxa, southern faunas were more dissimilar than northern ones: smaller initial similarity and steeper distance decay rate. Distance decay patterns in the north were relatively flat and very similar across taxa, suggesting that only good dispersers would have reached those latitudes after the glacial retreat. The difference in distance decay patterns between north and south is correlated with the taxon's slope of the distance decay pattern in the south and with its latitudinal richness difference. That is, in taxa with distance decay patterns similarly flat in the south and the north, the latitudinal richness gradient is weak. This correlation points again to differences in dispersal ability as a major determinant of biogeographic patterns in European beetles. Both dispersal and niche-related characteristics explained north-south slope differences, but dispersal attributes turned out to be more relevant when initial similarity and distance decay strength were considered together. Our results show that, to understand diversity patterns in Europe, closely related biological groups cannot be assumed to be surrogates and regions with different historical biogeography should be analysed separately. Paradoxically, the study of beetle faunas of southern Europe will shed light on the processes controlling the recolonization of northern latitudes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Variation among European beetle taxa in patterns of distance decay of similarity suggests a major role of dispersal processes

2018

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“…The biogeographical events may also contribute to the modern spatial patterns of biodiversity (Svenning, Eiserhardt, Normand, Ordonez, & Sandel, 2015). For example, the repeated rise and fall of many glaciers along the altitude during the Quaternary may have shaped the contemporary patterns of species along the elevational gradient (Zhong, Qin, & Xu, 1979).…”

Section: Drivers Of Phylogenetic Structures Of Seed Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altitudinal biodiversity patterns of seed plants along Gongga Mountain in the southeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Luo

Shrestha

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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The mechanisms underlying elevation patterns in species and phylogenetic diversity remain a central issue in ecology and are vital for effective biodiversity conservation in the mountains. Gongga Mountain, located in the southeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, represents one of the longest elevational gradients (ca. 6,500 m, from ca. 1,000 to 7,556 m) in the world for studying species diversity patterns. However, the elevational gradient and conservation of plant species diversity and phylogenetic diversity in this mountain remain poorly studied. Here, we compiled the elevational distributions of 2,667 native seed plant species occurring in Gongga Mountain, and estimated the species diversity, phylogenetic diversity, species density, and phylogenetic relatedness across ten elevation belts and five vegetation zones. The results indicated that species diversity and phylogenetic diversity of all seed plants showed a hump‐shaped pattern, peaking at 1,800–2,200 m. Species diversity was significantly correlated with phylogenetic diversity and species density. The floras in temperate coniferous broad‐leaved mixed forests, subalpine coniferous forests, and alpine shrublands and meadows were significantly phylogenetically clustered, whereas the floras in evergreen broad‐leaved forests had phylogenetically random structure. Both climate and human pressure had strong correlation with species diversity, phylogenetic diversity, and phylogenetic structure of seed plants. Our results suggest that the evergreen broad‐leaved forests and coniferous broad‐leaved mixed forests at low to mid elevations deserve more conservation efforts. This study improves our understanding on the elevational gradients of species and phylogenetic diversity and their determinants and provides support for improvement of seed plant conservation in Gongga Mountain.

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“…Earth's past climate changes have played a key role in shaping the evolution and distribution of macroorganisms (Svenning, Eiserhardt, Normand, Ordonez, & Sandel, 2015). During the late Quaternary (the last 2.6 Myr), global temperature oscillated dramatically between cold glacial and warm interglacial periods (Ruddiman, 2014), with major consequences for the diversity and composition of macroorganism communities (Dobrovolski, Melo, Cassemiro, & Diniz-Filho, 2012;Normand et al, 2011;Svenning et al, 2015;Svenning & Skov, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Quaternary climate change explains soil fungal community composition rather than fungal richness in forest ecosystems

Gao

Sandel

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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The dramatic climate fluctuations of the late Quaternary have influenced the diversity and composition of macroorganism communities, but how they structure belowground microbial communities is less well known. Fungi constitute an important component of soil microorganism communities. They play an important role in biodiversity maintenance, community assembly, and ecosystem functioning, and differ from many macroorganisms in many traits. Here, we examined soil fungal communities in Chinese temperate, subtropical, and tropic forests using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the fungal ITS1 region. The relative effect of late Quaternary climate change and contemporary environment (plant, soil, current climate, and geographic distance) on the soil fungal community was analyzed. The richness of the total fungal community, along with saprotrophic, ectomycorrhizal (EM), and pathogenic fungal communities, was influenced primarily by the contemporary environment (plant and/or soil) but not by late Quaternary climate change. Late Quaternary climate change acted in concert with the contemporary environment to shape total, saprotrophic, EM, and pathogenic fungal community compositions and with a stronger effect in temperate forest than in tropic–subtropical forest ecosystems. Some contemporary environmental factors influencing total, saprotrophic, EM, and pathogenic fungal communities in temperate and tropic–subtropical forests were different. We demonstrate that late Quaternary climate change can help to explain current soil fungal community composition and argue that climatic legacies can help to predict soil fungal responses to climate change.

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The Influence of Paleoclimate on Present-Day Patterns in Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Cited by 255 publications

References 153 publications

Variation among European beetle taxa in patterns of distance decay of similarity suggests a major role of dispersal processes

Variation among European beetle taxa in patterns of distance decay of similarity suggests a major role of dispersal processes

Altitudinal biodiversity patterns of seed plants along Gongga Mountain in the southeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Late Quaternary climate change explains soil fungal community composition rather than fungal richness in forest ecosystems

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