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158 results for “metacommunity”
Herbivory modifies the role of spatial processes in a grassland plant metacommunity
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Functional traits and metacommunity theory reveal that habitat filtering and competition maintain bird diversity in a human shared landscape
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Animal metacommunities of temporary ponds in a flat grassland landscape of Uruguay
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Ericoid mycorrhizal fungal metacommunity facilitates closely related Rhododendron species coexistence
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Guadeloupe Snails Metacommunity
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Mutualistic coevolution and community diversity favor persistence in metacommunities under environmental changes
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Priority effects determine how dispersal affects biodiversity in seasonal metacommunities
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McMurdo Dry Valleys Metacommunity dynamics simulations for diatoms in Antarctic ponds
We use metacommunity simulations to understand how local and regional community assembly dynamics influence the regional biodiversity patterns that we observe in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem. A metacommunity refers to a network of communities in an ecosystem that are connected to one another by the dispersal of biota among sites. For example, ponds in the McMurdo Dry Valleys share common diatom species that are likely dispersed among neighboring ponds by wind. We have written a metacommunity model for the R programming language (MCSim, Sokol et al. 2015) to explore what biodiversity patterns look like for different metacommunity connectivity scenarios. This gives us the opportunity to model alternative hypotheses and explore how biodiversity metrics, such as beta-diversity, can be expected to respond to changing ecosystem connectivity for different sets of assumptions about the underlying dynamics that could potentially control biodiversity in the Dry Valleys.Â
Data from : Fragmentation promotes the role of dispersal in determining 10 intermittent headwater stream metacommunities
<p>Dispersal, defined as the movement of individuals among local communities in a landscape, is a regional process determining metacommunity dynamics in ecosystems. Whereas both natural and anthropogenic ecosystem fragmentations can limit dispersal, previous attempts to measure such limitation have faced considerable context-dependency, due to a combination of spatial extent and associated environmental variability, the wide range of dispersal modes and abilities of organisms or variation in network topologies. Therefore, it is today unclear what role dispersal plays compared to local environmental filtering in explaining metacommunity dynamics in dendritic ecosystems. We quantified alpha and beta-diversity components of invertebrate metacommunities across ten fragmented headwater stream networks and tested the hypothesis that dispersal is the primary determinant of biodiversity organisation in these dynamic and spatially-constrained ecosystems. Alpha-diversity was much lower at intermittent reaches compared to perennial’s, including long upon rewetting, indicating an overwhelming effect of drying including a legacy on local communities. Beta-diversity was never correlated with environmental distances but predominantly explained by spatial distances accounting for river network fragmentation. The nestedness proportion of beta-diversity was considerable and echoed compositional differences that communities from intermittent reaches were subsets of perennial ones. Altogether, these results indicate dispersal is the primary process shaping metacommunity dynamics in these ten headwater stream networks, where local communities recurrently undergo extinction and recolonization events. This challenges previous conceptual views that local environment filtering is the main driver of headwater stream metacommunities. As the fragmentation of river networks is increasing due to global change, our results suggest that some freshwater ecosystems currently driven by local environment filtering could gradually become dispersal-limited. In this perspective, shifts from perennial to intermittent flow regimes represent tipping points that should not be crossed to not jeopardise river biodiversity, functional integrity and the ecosystem services they provide to society.</p>
Data from: The functional roles of species in metacommunities, as revealed by metanetwork analyses of bird-plant frugivory networks
<p>Understanding how biodiversity and interaction networks change across environmental gradients is a major challenge in ecology. We integrated metacommunity and metanetwork perspectives to test species' functional roles in bird-plant frugivory interactions in a fragmented forest landscape in Southwest China, with consequences for seed dispersal. Availability of fruit resources both on and under trees created vertical feeding stratification for frugivorous birds. Bird-plant interactions involving birds feeding only on the tree or both on and under the tree (shared) had a higher centrality and contributed more to metanetwork organization than interactions involving birds feeding only under the tree. Moreover, bird-plant interactions associated with large-seeded plants disproportionately contributed to metanetwork organization and centrality. Consequently, on-the-tree and shared birds contributed more to metanetwork organization whereas under-the-tree birds were more involved in local processes. We would expect that species' roles in the metanetwork will translate into different conservation values for maintaining functioning of seed-dispersal networks.</p>
Multi-species occupancy modeling provides novel insights into amphibian metacommunity structure and wetland restoration
<p>A fundamental goal of community ecology is to understand species-habitat relationships and how they shape metacommunity structure. Recent advances in occupancy modeling enable habitat relationships to be assessed for both common and rare species within metacommunities using multi-species occupancy models (MSOM). These models account for imperfect species detection and offer considerable advantages over other analytical tools commonly used for community analyses under the elements of metacommunity structure (EMS) framework. Here, we demonstrate that MSOM can be used to infer habitat relationships and test metacommunity theory, using amphibians. Repeated frog surveys were undertaken at 55 wetland sites in eastern Australia. We detected 11 frog species from three families (Limnodynastidae, Myobatrachidae and Pelodryadidae). The rarest species was detected at only one site whereas the most common species was detected at 42 sites (naïve occupancy rate: 0.02 – 0.76). Two models were assessed representing two competing hypotheses; the best-supported model included the covariates distance to the nearest site (connectivity), wetland area, presence of the non-native eastern mosquitofish (<i>Gambusia holbrooki</i>), proportion cover of emergent vegetation, an interaction term between Gambusia and emergent vegetation cover, and the proportion canopy cover over a site. Hydroperiod played no detectable role in metacommunity structure. We found species-habitat relationships that fit with current metacommunity theory – occupancy increased with wetland area and connectivity. There was a strong negative relationship between occupancy and the presence of predatory Gambusia, and a positive interaction between Gambusia and emergent vegetation. The presence of canopy cover strongly increased occupancy for several tree frog species, highlighting the importance of terrestrial habitat for amphibian community structure. We demonstrated how responses by amphibians to environmental covariates at the species level can be linked to occupancy patterns at the metacommunity scale. Our results have clear management implications – wetland restoration projects for amphibians and likely other taxa should maximize wetland area and connectivity, establish partial canopy cover, and eradicate Gambusia or provide aquatic vegetation to mitigate the impact of this non-native fish. We strongly advocate the use of MSOM to elucidate the habitat drivers behind animal occupancy patterns and to derive unbiased occupancy estimates for monitoring programmes.</p>
Data from: Effects of arthropod inquilines on growth and reproductive effort among metacommunities of the purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea var. montana)
<p>Many plant species harbor communities of symbionts that release nutrients used by their host plants. However, the importance of these nutrients to plant growth and reproductive effort is not well understood. Here, we evaluate the relationship between the communities that colonize pitcher plant phytotelmata and the pitcher plants' vegetative growth and flower production to better understand the symbiotic role played by phytotelma communities. We focus on the mountain variety purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea var. montana), which occurs in small and isolated populations in Western North Carolina. We found that greater symbiont community diversity is associated with higher flower production the following season. We then examined geographic variation in communities and found that smaller plant populations supported less diverse symbiont communities. We relate our observations to patterns of community diversity predicted by community ecology theory.</p>
Data from: Priority effects can persist across floral generations in nectar microbial metacommunities
The order of species arrival can influence how species interact with one another and, consequently, which species may coexist in local communities. This phenomenon, called priority effects, has been observed in various types of communities, but it remains unclear whether priority effects persist over the long term spanning multiple generations of local communities in metacommunities. Focusing on bacteria and yeasts that colonize floral nectar of the sticky monkey flower, Mimulus aurantiacus, via hummingbirds and other flower-visiting animals, we experimentally manipulated initial microbial dominance on plants (regarded as metacommunities) to examine whether its effects persisted across multiple generations of flowers (regarded as local microbial habitats). The experimental introduction of Neokomagataea (= Gluconobacter) bacteria and Metschnikowia yeasts into wild flowers showed that the effects of initial dominance were observable across multiple floral generations. Three weeks after introduction, corresponding approximately to three floral generations, Neokomagataea introduction led to exclusion of yeasts, whereas Metschnikowia introduction did not result in the exclusion of Neokomagataea. Our results suggest that, even when local habitats are ephemeral, priority effects may influence multiple generations of local communities within metacommunities.
The effects of temperature and dispersal on species diversity in natural microbial metacommunities
<p>Dispersal is key for maintaining biodiversity at local- and regional scales in metacommunities. However, little is known about the combined effects of dispersal and climate change on biodiversity. Theory predicts that alpha-diversity is maximized at intermediate dispersal rates, resulting in a hump-shaped diversity-dispersal relationship. This relationship is predicted to flatten when competition increases. We anticipate that this same flattening will occur with increased temperature because, in the rising part of the temperature performance curve, interspecific competition is predicted to increase. We explored this question using aquatic communities of <i>Sarracenia purpurea</i> from early- and late-successional stages, in which we simulated four levels of dispersal and four temperature scenarios. With increased dispersal, the hump shape was observed consistently in late successional communities, but only in higher temperature treatments in early succession. Increased temperature did not flatten the hump-shape relationship, but decreased the level of alpha- and gamma-diversity. Interestingly, higher temperatures negatively impacted small-bodied species. These metacommunity-level extinctions likely relaxed interspecific competition, which could explain the absence of flattening of the diversity-dispersal relationship. Our findings suggest that climate change will cause extinctions both at local- and global- scales and emphasize the importance of intermediate levels of dispersal as an insurance for local diversity.</p>
Multitrophic metacommunity dataset, with metapopulation level butterfly data, in addition to predation pressure and floral abundance
<p>This dataset includes metapopulation level butterfly data within a butterfly metacommunity sampled across 15 sites at Burnt Lands Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, during the summer of 2019. It includes floral abundance at each site for each sampling round. It also includes information on the number of predator attacks on experimental clay butterfly models at each site. It contains data on site size and connectivity for the 15 sites, as well as the length of butterfly survey transects sampled in each site.</p>
Niche and neutral-based processes differ in importance for common and rare species in a metacommunity of anurans in subtropical grasslands
<p>Most species-rich communities consist of a limited number of common species and many rare species. This widespread ecological pattern can arise due to the predominance of either niche-based or neutral-based processes in community structuring. We tested two hypotheses related to this pattern for an anuran metacommunity composed of 35 species distributed in 187 ponds in the South Brazilian grasslands: (1) for common species, niche processes should prevail over neutral ones because common species evolved under a wider range of ecological filters than rare species; (2) for rare species, neutral processes should prevail because rare species are more prone to ecological drift and dispersion limitation. We found that the densities of both common (i.e., the 25% higher density ones) and rare (i.e., the 75% lower density ones) species depended mostly on pond structure and land use, indicating a similar response to niche-based processes in both groups of species. The importance of pond descriptors and type of land use, however, differed between the two groups, confirming that common and rare species represent ecologically distinct groups within the metacommunity. In addition, neutral processes—related to dispersion limitation or not—influenced both species groups, but the spatial filters selected explained a smaller portion of the variation in species densities compared to environmental descriptors. Our findings showcase the prevalence of niche processes in structuring communities of common and rare species of anurans in subtropical grasslands and indicate the variables of pond structure and land use that are relevant to guide conservation practices for the metacommunity of anurans in the South Brazilian grasslands. </p>
Data from: Functional identity regulates aboveground biomass better than trait diversity along abiotic conditions in global forest metacommunities
<p>Although several studies have identified the effects of functional trait diversity (FTD) and/ or identity, i.e., the community-weighted mean (CWM) of a trait, on aboveground biomass (AGB) along abiotic conditions, these effects on AGB in global forest metacommunities are still largely unexplored. Here, we modelled the effects of abiotic (i.e., climate, soil and plot physical conditions) and biotic [i.e., FTD, CWM of conservative traits (CWMCT), CWM of acquisitive traits (CWMAT), and functional dominance (FunDom; based on CWM of plant maximum height or diameter)] factors on AGB in 76 forest metacommunities (from 24 studies). Using multiple linear regression models and piecewise structural equation modeling (pSEM), we tested the hypothesis that both abiotic and biotic factors regulate AGB, but that the mass ratio mechanism underpins AGB of metacommunities in global forests better than the niche complementarity mechanism. We found that abiotic and biotic factors contributed 45.39% and 54.07%, respectively, to the explained variance in AGB (<i>R<sup>2</sup></i> = 0.59), and as such, abiotic factors shaped FTD (<i>R<sup>2</sup></i> = 0.42 to 0.48), CWMCT (<i>R<sup>2</sup></i> = 0.33 to 0.36), CWMAT (<i>R<sup>2</sup></i> = 0.27 to 0.33), and FunDom (<i>R<sup>2</sup></i> = 0.59 to 0.61) through divergent effect sizes and directions. The final best-fitted pSEM showed that FunDom increased (<i>β</i> = 0.49) but CWMCT (<i>β</i> = -0.35) and CWMAT (<i>β</i> = -0.11) decreased AGB (<i>R<sup>2</sup></i> = 0.52) as compared to the negligible effect of FTD (<i>β</i> = 0.04). This study supports the mass ratio effect, specifically the overruling role of tall-stature or dominant trees on AGB, at a macroecological scale, and hence, suggests that a suitable species' functional strategy is important to promote carbon sequestration in forest metacommunities that underpins human well-being. We expect that our study will advance the field of biodiversity – ecosystem functioning at a macroecological scale by using the metacommunity concept and approach.</p>
Community metabarcoding reveals the relative role of environmental filtering and spatial processes in metacommunity dynamics of soil microarthropods across a mosaic of montane forests
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Disentangling the relative role of environmental filtering and spatial processes in driving metacommunity structure across mountainous regions remains challenging, as the way we quantify spatial connectivity in topographically and environmentally heterogeneous landscapes can influence our perception of which process predominates. More empirical datasets are required to account for taxon- and context-dependency but relevant research in understudied areas is often compromised by the taxonomic impediment<span><span>. </span></span>We here employed haplotype-level community DNA metabarcoding, enabled by stringent filtering of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs), to characterize metacommunity structure of soil microarthropod assemblages across a mosaic of five forest habitats on the Troodos mountain range in Cyprus. We found similar β diversity patterns at ASV and species (OTU, Operational Taxonomic Unit) levels, which pointed to a primary role of habitat filtering resulting in the existence of largely distinct metacommunities linked to different forest types. Within-habitat turnover was correlated to topoclimatic heterogeneity, again emphasizing the role of environmental filtering. However, when integrating landscape matrix information for the highly fragmented <i>Quercus alnifolia</i> habitat, we also detected a major role of spatial isolation determined by patch connectivity, indicating that stochastic and niche-based processes synergistically govern community assembly. Alpha diversity patterns varied between ASV and OTU levels, with OTU richness decreasing with elevation and ASV richness following a longitudinal gradient, potentially reflecting a decline of genetic diversity eastwards due to historical pressures. Our study demonstrates the utility of haplotype-level community metabarcoding for characterising metacommunity structure of complex assemblages and improving our understanding of biodiversity dynamics across mountainous landscapes worldwide.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
A patch-dynamic metacommunity perspective on the persistence of mutualistic and antagonistic bipartite networks
<p>The structure of interactions between species within a community plays a key role in maintaining biodiversity. Previous studies have found that the effects of these structures might substantially differ depending on interaction type, for example, a highly connected and nested architecture stabilizes mutualistic communities, while the stability of antagonistic communities is enhanced in modular and weakly connected structures. Here we show that, when network dynamics are modelled using a patch-dynamic metacommunity framework, the qualitative differences between antagonistic and mutualistic systems disappear, with nestedness and modularity interacting to promote metacommunity persistence. However, the interactive effects are significantly weaker in antagonistic metacommunities. Our model also predicts an increase in connectance, nestedness and modularity over time in both types of interaction, except in antagonistic networks where nestedness declines. At steady state, we find a strong negative correlation between nestedness and modularity in both mutualistic and antagonistic metacommunities. These predictions are consistent with the structural trends found in a large dataset of real-world antagonistic and mutualistic communities.</p>
Data from: Towards a better ecological understanding of metacommunity stability: A multiscale framework to disentangle population variability and synchrony effects
<p>1. Despite great progress in our understanding of the mechanisms governing ecosystem stability in local communities, we still lack knowledge at a larger spatial scale. Studying the stability of metacommunities requires assessing the temporal stability and synchrony of populations across space and organizational levels. Previous attempts to disentangle these effects have provided limited ecological interpretations, and conceptual improvements are needed to identify the underlying ecological processes.</p> <p>2. We propose an extended framework aiming at disentangling simultaneously the relative effects of population stability and different types of synchronies on metacommunity stability. We adapted previous methods of decomposing stability into a new set of indices associated with clearer ecological hypotheses. Particularly, we provide synchrony indices that are not affected by statistical properties of the metacommunity but focus on species responses to environment, demography, and interactions. We applied this framework to a unique dataset describing the sorted biomass of individual plant populations, across 12 communities of a species-rich meadow, and for 16 years. The communities were sampled in different treatments of fertilization and dominant removal to evaluate the effect of environmental heterogeneity on stability.</p> <p>3. We found higher stability at a larger spatial scale, mainly due to statistical averaging (portfolio effect). The variability of individual populations was an important determinant of the stability of the whole metacommunity. Consistent with the hypothesis of a common response to environmental conditions, we found that the fluctuations of populations were mostly synchronized (within and between species) at a large spatial scale and tended to destabilize the metacommunity. On the other hand, opposite fluctuations (anti-synchrony) between populations occurred at the local scale, probably due to local species interactions.</p> <p>4. Synthesis Our framework appears as a powerful tool to test how ecological processes occurring simultaneously at different spatial and organizational scales affect the stability of metacommunities. This study advances our ecological understanding of the processes underlying the stability of species-rich environments. --</p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
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The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
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