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opencc-zeroMar 2024View details →

Niche and neutral-based processes differ in importance for common and rare species in a metacommunity of anurans in subtropical grasslands

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.

opencc-zeroFeb 2022View details →

Data from: The Matthew effect: common species become more common and rare ones become more rare in response to artificial light at night

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been and still is rapidly spreading, and has become an important component of global change. Although numerous studies have tested its potential biological and ecological impacts on animals, very few studies have tested whether it affects alien and native plants differently. Furthermore, common plant species, and particularly common alien species, are often found to benefit more from additional resources than rare native and rare alien species. Whether this is also the case with regard to increasing light due to ALAN is still unknown. Here, we tested how ALAN affected the performance of common and rare alien and native plant species in Germany directly, and indirectly via flying insects. We grew five common alien, six rare alien, five common native and four rare native plant species under four combinations of two ALAN (no ALAN vs ALAN) and two insect-exclusion (no exclusion vs exclusion) treatments, and compared their biomass production. We found that common plant species, irrespective of their origin, produced significantly more biomass than rare species, and that this was particularly true under ALAN. Furthermore, alien species tended to show a slightly stronger positive response to ALAN than native species did (p = 0.079). Our study shows that common plant species benefited more from ALAN than rare ones. This might lead to competitive exclusion of rare species, which could have cascading impacts on other trophic levels and thus have important community-wide consequences, when ALAN becomes more widespread. In addition, the slightly more positive response of alien species indicates that ALAN might increase the risk of alien plant invasions.

publicFeb 2022View details →

Data from: The Matthew effect: common species become more common and rare ones become more rare in response to artificial light at night

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publicJul 2024View details →

Fruit-, seed- and seedling-related fitness traits after self-pollination and two types of cross-pollination in regionally and locally common and rare plant species

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publicMar 2024View details →

Niche and neutral-based processes differ in importance for common and rare species in a metacommunity of anurans in subtropical grasslands

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opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

Data from: Persistently rare species experience stronger negative frequency dependence than common species: a statistical attractor that is hard to avoid

Aim: Why are so many species rare, yet persistent? Possibly, rare species experience strong negative frequency dependence (NFD, i.e. strong intraspecific competition relative to interspecific competition), which both makes them rare and buffers them against extinction. A second, not mutually exclusive, possibility is that rare species that experience weak NFD go extinct quickly due to demographic and environmental stochasticity. Both possibilities predict that persistent rare species will experience stronger NFD than common ones. Yenni et al. (2017) confirmed this prediction in a range of mostly-terrestrial communities. Here we test that prediction in lake zooplankton, and explore its theoretical basis. Location: 53 temperate lakes Time period: 1970-2011 Major taxa studied: Cladocerans, copepods Methods: We used long-term time series data to estimate the covariance between strength of NFD and mean frequency (relative abundance) for crustacean zooplankton. We used a randomization test to ask whether the covariance between NFD and mean frequency is stronger than expected, given sampling error. We also calculated the covariance between NFD and mean frequency in simulated communities from three different ecological models. Results: Rare species experience significantly stronger NFD than common species in over half of the communities. The distribution of associations between NFD and rarity is skewed towards weak associations, which always occur in communities with high evenness. All three theoretical models reproduce these empirical results, even though they are based on different mechanisms (demographic or environmental stochasticity, and mathematical constraints on possible NFD-frequency relationships). Main conclusions: Rare species typically experience stronger NFD than common ones because there are many different ecological scenarios in which they will do so, and only a few scenarios in which they won't. Like several other macroecological patterns, the tendency for rare species to experience stronger NFD than common ones is a "statistical attractor" that is hard to avoid.

zenodo32/100

Distribution. SW Atlantic in SE Brazil (N to Espirito Santo State), Uruguay, and N Argentina (S to Golfo San Matias in N Patagonia); relatively common on both Uruguayan and Argentinian sides of La Plata River Estuary. The species is not continuously distributed, and there are two areas in its N distribution where it is extremely rare or absent. in Pontoporiidae

Distribution. SW Atlantic in SE Brazil (N to Espirito Santo State), Uruguay, and N Argentina (S to Golfo San Matias in N Patagonia); relatively common on both Uruguayan and Argentinian sides of La Plata River Estuary. The species is not continuously distributed, and there are two areas in its N distribution where it is extremely rare or absent.

opennotspecifiedJul 2014View details →

publicJan 2019View details →

Data from: Persistently rare species experience stronger negative frequency dependence than common species: a statistical attractor that is hard to avoid

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publicMar 2015View details →

Data from: Patterns of geographic distribution have a considerable influence on population genetic structure in one common and two rare species of Rhododendron (Ericaceae)

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publicSep 2017View details →

Data from: Females drive asymmetrical introgression from rare to common species in Darwin's tree finches

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publicOct 2024View details →

Pollen interference between rare and common species

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opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Admixture and the organization of genetic diversity in a butterfly species complex revealed through common and rare genetic variants

Detailed information about the geographic distribution of genetic and genomic variation is necessary to better understand the organization and structure of biological diversity. In particular, spatial isolation within species and hybridization between them can blur species boundaries and create evolutionary relationships that are inconsistent with a strictly bifurcating tree model. Here we analyze genome-wide DNA sequence and genetic ancestry variation in Lycaeides butterflies to quantify the effects of admixture and spatial isolation on how biological diversity is organized in this group. We document geographically widespread and pervasive historic admixture, with more restricted recent hybridization. This includes evidence supporting previously known and unknown instances of admixture. The genome composition of admixed individuals varies much more among than within populations, and tree- and genetic ancestry-based analyses indicate that multiple distinct admixed lineages or populations exist. We find that most genetic variants in Lycaeides are rare (minor allele frequency < 0.5%). Because the spatial and taxonomic distributions of alleles reflect demographic and selective processes since mutation, rare alleles, which are presumably younger than common alleles, were spatially and taxonomically restricted compared to common variants. Thus, we show patterns of genetic variation in this group are multifaceted, and we argue that this complexity challenges simplistic notions concerning the organization of biological diversity into discrete, easily delineated, and hierarchically structured entities.

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Data for Spangenberg, Simpkins and Wiegand "Species distribution modeling using commonness optimization leads to poor predictions for rare species"

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opencc-by-4.0Sep 2024View details →

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Habitat hotspots of common and rare tropical species along climatic and edaphic gradients

1. Understanding coexistence in high biodiversity ecosystems requires knowledge of how rare and common species share the multidimensional environmental space. Climatic and edaphic conditions can provide a plethora of habitats, supporting different compositional and structural communities where species can adapt and differentiate. 2. We used a large dataset consisting of 580 tropical tree species sampled in 163 25×25 m quadrats along an altitudinal gradient covering an area of 160 km2 of tropical rainforest in Jianfengling reserve (Hainan Island, China). For each plot the data include tree species and abundance, altitude and six soil properties from which a two dimensional environmental space was constructed. 3. With this extensive dataset we tested the hypothesis that different combination of environmental factors can generate multiple hotspots on three axes of diversity: species richness, Shannon-equivalent species richness and habitat preference, a measure of evenness in the distribution of individuals across an environmental gradient. 4. We found that humid and cool areas with more nitrogen availability were occupied by richer and more diverse communities of wide range species. Rare (in terms of number of individuals) and range restricted species instead, tended to prefer minor habitats, generally warmer with high potassium, calcium, magnesium and, in particular, phosphorous. As a result, wide and range restricted species were segregated across the environmental space. 5. Synthesis. Our findings indicate rare species tend to occur more frequently where common species are less abundant. A clear pattern of species richness and diversity was driven by a combination of several environmental factors (soil properties and climate). The complexity of the environment not only explains the different species distribution along each habitat, but also determines the relative abundance of each species in the entire community. Although some habitats have low species richness and diversity, they are highly preferred by rare species; therefore biodiversity conservation efforts should consider protecting these fragile ecosystems.

publicJun 2015View details →

Data from: Habitat hotspots of common and rare tropical species along climatic and edaphic gradients

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