An anthrome-based perspective of the traditional biogeographic units: Argentina as a case study

AimAphyllophoroid fungi are associated with plants, either using plants as a resource (as parasites or decomposers) or as symbionts (as mycorrhizal partners). In spite of their strong association with plants, it is unknown how much plant distributions determine their biogeographical patterns compared with environmental factors such as climate and human land use. In this study, our aims are to (1) describe the spatial diversity patterns of aphyllophoroid fungi in Europe and (2) identify the factors shaping these patterns.LocationEurope, as well as the adjacent Subarctic to Arctic islands (Greenland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Svalbard), Palestine and the south‐east coast of the Caspian Sea.MethodsWe compiled a dataset consisting of 14,030 fruitbody occurrences of 1,491 aphyllophoroid fungal species from 39 geographical areas (17 countries) belonging to eight biogeographical regions. We assessed the differences in fungal species richness and overall diversity and its nestedness and turnover components across biogeographical regions of Europe, as well as between southern and northern Europe (based on geographical latitude of 50° as threshold). We used cluster and ordination analyses to classify the European aphyllophoroid communities biogeographically and evaluated the importance of climate, host‐tree species, topography and human land‐use intensity in explaining biogeographical variation.ResultsThe importance of biogeographical regions in determining European aphyllophoroid fungal communities varies for different diversity components. Species richness and nestedness are best explained by plant‐based biogeographical regions, whereas overall beta diversity and species turnover are driven mostly by variation in climate, and nestedness mostly by tree species occupancy. Beta‐diversity patterns of aphyllophoroid fungi do not differ between southern and northern Europe.Main conclusionsAt the continental scale, aphyllophoroid fungi are less shaped by historical legacies than vascular plant and animal communities, and trends of overall beta diversity in southern and northern Europe are similar to patterns found for bryophytes.

AimTo evaluate Morrone's (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)) Neotropical regionalization by testing the prediction that biotas are more homogeneous within than among biogeographic units.LocationNeotropics.MethodsWe conducted pairwise comparisons of beta diversity of Sapotaceae species within and between biogeographic units in the hierarchical regionalization proposed by Morrone (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)), at a spatial resolution of 1‐degree cells. We used a null model to control differences in sampling effort across 1‐degree cells and performed beta‐diversity comparisons conditional on geographic distance to control for distance decay of biotic similarity.ResultsNone of the biogeographic units proposed by Morrone (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)) was biotically homogeneous with respect to all other units at the same hierarchical level. This was the case even for units commonly reported to be isolated and to host distinctive taxa like “Choco.” However, five of 45 biogeographic units were biotically homogenous relative to several other units. These units were “Cuba,” “Chaco,” “Varzea,” “Cauca” and “Costa Pacífica Mexicana.” Also, beta diversity within units was often lower than beta diversity between units at relatively short geographic distances.Main conclusionsThe distribution of Sapotaceae species showed generally low biotic homogeneity within Morrone's (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)) biogeographic units and did not support his biogeographic regionalization. This result suggests a strong role for dispersal and biotic interchange among biogeographic units and across barriers like the Andes. It also casts doubt on the usefulness of Morrone's (2001, Biogeografia de America Latina y el Caribe. Zaragoza, Spain: CYTED, ORCYT‐UNESCO, Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (SEA)) biogeographic units as tools for the identification of priority areas for the conservation of biodiversity. However, relatively high biotic homogeneity within some biogeographic units suggests that they capture significant spatial patterns. In particular, noteworthy biotic homogeneity within “Cuba,” “Cauca” and “Costa Pacifica Mexicana” could be explained by isolation. Also, in “Costa Pacifica Mexicana,” patterns of biotic homogeneity could reflect closer affinities to humid lowland montane forest in Central America than to lowland rain forest in South America. Finally, substantial biotic homogeneity within “Varzea” could result from common adaptation to edaphic environments near the Amazon River.

Presented biogeographical division of the Czech Republic was elaborated initially for purposes of national and supra-national Ecological Networks. This division has its own hierarchy, consisting of both individual and typological biogeographical units. Higher units (biogeographical province, subprovince, and bioregion) are of individual character. Within the territory of the Czech Republic, two biogeographical provinces, four biogeographical subprovinces and 91 biogeographical regions have been distinguished. Hierarchically lower biogeographical units (biochora, group of geobiocoene types) have typological character; their characteristics in English are intended to be published later. All of the biogeographical units - with the exception of the group of geobiocoene types - are elaborated in maps of scale 1:50 000.

Understanding how different biodiversity components are related across different environmental conditions is a major goal in macroecology and conservation biogeography. We investigated correlations among alpha and beta taxonomic (TD), phylogenetic (PD), and functional diversity (FD) in ant communities in the five biogeographic regions most representative of western Europe; we also examined the degree of niche conservatism. We combined data from 349 ant communities composed of 154 total species, which were characterized by 10 functional traits and by phylogenetic relatedness. We computed TD, PD, and FD using the Rao quadratic entropy index, which allows each biodiversity component to be partitioned into α and β diversity within the same mathematical framework. We ran generalized least squares and multiple matrix regressions with randomization to investigate relationships among the diversity components. We used Pagel's λ test to explore niche conservatism in each biogeographic region. At the alpha scale, TD was consistently, positively related to PD and FD, although the strength and scatter of this relationship changed among the biogeographic regions. Meanwhile, PD and FD consistently matched up across regions. Accordingly, we found similar degrees of niche conservatism across regions. Nonetheless, these alpha‐scale relationships had low coefficients of determination. At the beta scale, the three diversity components were highly correlated across all regions (especially TD and FD, as well as PD and FD). Our results imply that the different diversity components, and especially PD and FD, are consistently related across biogeographic regions and analytical scale. However, the alpha‐scale relationships were quite weak, suggesting environmental factors might influence the degree of association among diversity components at the alpha level. In conclusion, conservation programs should seek to preserve functional and phylogenetic diversity in addition to species richness, and this approach should be applied universally, regardless of the biogeographic locations of the sites to be protected.

For the first time a palaeobiogeographic framework is proposed for European Neogene freshwater systems. The distribution of 2226 species-group taxa of freshwater gastropods from over 2700 Miocene and Pliocene localities was evaluated. The localities were grouped into palaeo-freshwater systems based on latest palaeogeographic reconstructions. Cluster analyses were computed for four time slices, i.e., Early Miocene, Middle Miocene, Late Miocene, and Pliocene. The analyses demonstrate a generally high degree of provincialism for the Neogene freshwater systems and allow the definition of biogeographic units. The delimitations are based on the cluster analyses, the degree of endemicity, and geographical coherence. The Early Miocene is characterised by a relatively low degree of provincialism suggesting the distinction of three regions. Coinciding with the development of many endemic systems on the Dinarian–Anatolian Island and in central Europe, the Middle Miocene demonstrates a higher degree of provincialism, allowing the definition of six biogeographic regions. With the onset of the Late Miocene the retreat of the Central Paratethys and development of the huge Lake Pannon massively shaped faunal evolution and palaeobiogeography in general. The formation of the ‘Lago-mare’ environment fringing the Mediterranean Basin as well as the development of several restricted freshwater systems in western Europe additionally promoted biogeographic division. The increasing provincialism allowed the delimitation of six biogeographic regions, three of which could be subdivided into seven dominions. With the disappearance of Lake Pannon and the decline of western European and Mediterranean faunas at the Miocene–Pliocene boundary, biodiversity hotspots shifted towards eastern and southeastern Europe. For the Pliocene, four biogeographic regions, five dominions, and four provinces were defined.Most of the here proposed biogeographic units and faunal differences are governed by the varied existence of large, long-lived systems. Because of their prolonged duration they immensely influenced the community composition on the family level, differences of the relative species richnesses per biogeographic region, and the rising rate of endemicity. The underlying mechanism for this pattern is the ongoing continentalization of Europe triggered by the Alpidic orogenesis and the simultaneous retreat of the Paratethys Sea. The continuing restriction of this huge intracontinental sea from the Mediterranean promoted the evolution of endemic freshwater faunas. The arising long-lived systems like Lake Pannon, Lake Dacia or Lake Slavonia persisted over several millions of years and stimulated the evolution of highly diverse and endemic faunas.

AimTo date, despite their great potential biogeographical regionalization models have been mostly developed on descriptive and empirical bases. This paper aims at applying the beta‐diversity framework on a statistically representative data set to analytically test the consistency of the biogeographical regionalization of Italian forests.LocationItaly.TaxonVascular plants.MethodsForest plant communities were surveyed in 804 plots made in a statistically representative sample of forest communities made by 201 sites of Italian forests across the three biogeographical regions of the country: Alpine, Continental, and Mediterranean. We conducted an ordination analysis and an analysis of beta‐diversity, decomposing it into its turnover and nestedness components.ResultsOur results provide only partial support to the consistency of the biogeographical regionalization of Italy. While the differences in forest plant communities support the distinction between the Alpine and the other two regions, differences between Continental and Mediterranean regions had lower statistical support. Pairwise beta‐diversity and its turnover component are higher between‐ than within‐biogeographical regions. This suggests that different regional species pools contribute to assembly of local communities and that spatial distance between‐regions has a stronger effect than that within‐regions.Main conclusionsOur findings confirm a biogeographical structure of the species pools that is captured by the biogeographical regionalization. However, nonsignificant differences between the Mediterranean and Continental biogeographical regions suggest that this biogeographical regionalization is not consistent for forest plant communities. Our results demonstrate that an analytical evaluation of species composition differences among regions using beta‐diversity analysis is a promising approach for testing the consistency of biogeographical regionalization models. This approach is recommended to provide support to the biogeographical regionalization used in some environmental conservation polices adopted by EU.

BackgroundThere is a long-term trend towards the abandonment of agro-pastoral activities in the mountain areas of Europe: the following encroachment process of semi-natural grasslands by shrubs is one of the main severe threats to the conservation of biodiversity in mountain environments. To better understand the impact of land abandonment, we analysed the reliability of plant functional groups, ant traits, and ant functional groups as indicators of land use changes. We carried out the research in Italy at four sites along a latitudinal/altitudinal gradient in three biogeographic regions (Mediterranean, Continental, Alpine). We identified three stages of a chronosequence at each site as representative of the plant succession in response to pastoral land-use abandonment.ResultsAs expected, both the plant and ant assemblages considerably differed across sites at the species level and, within each site, among the three stages. This trend was found also using ant traits, functional groups of ants, and plant functional groups. Ant and plant communities were related in terms of composition and functionality. Harvester ants and ants with collective foraging strategy were associated with annual legumes and grasses (Therophytes); ants with a strictly individual foraging strategy with Phanerophytes. Ant traits and plant functional groups indicated significant differences among the three stages of the chronosequence. However, ant functional groups could not discriminate between the stages represented by secondary grasslands currently grazed and shrub-encroached grasslands ungrazed.ConclusionDespite some limitations of ant functional groups in explaining the succession stages of land abandonment, our results suggest that ants are a good surrogate taxon and might be used as bioindicators of land-use changes and ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the functional group approach should be applied to other European ecosystems. Finally, reducing the taxonomic complexity could contribute to developing predictive models to detect early environmental changes and biodiversity loss in mountain habitats.

The Mexican Mountain Component (MMC) includes six biogeographical provinces. In this manuscript, we propose to use endemic taxa as surrogates to prioritize for conservation areas of the MMC. We use the distribution of 24 endemic mammals to prioritize conservation sites in the MMC and to evaluate the current Mexican system of protected natural areas (PNA). We used species distribution models and the software ConsNet 2.0 to prioritize areas for conservation, evaluating two algorithms (the representation maximization problem, and the area minimization problem) and two different representation targets (10 % and 25 %) of the distributional area of endemic taxa. In addition, we considered the effects of including existing PNA and/or excluding areas with altered vegetation. The representation maximization problem including current PNA was ineffective for reaching conservation targets. Meanwhile, all area minimization problems allowed us to prioritize areas reaching the targets of surrogates. In particular, a strategy that considers area minimization problem using a target of 10 % of the distribution of surrogates, including PNA and excluding the altered vegetation, was the most favorable for maintaining the distributional patterns of the endemic mammals. This solution proposes the protection of a total of 37,460 km2, covering areas with altitude above 2,400 m located mainly in the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Transmexican Volcanic Belt, and provinces of the Sierra Madre del Sur. A prioritization strategy based on the distribution of endemic mammals as surrogates can help to maintain the distributional patterns of endemism of the Mexican biota. Key words: conservation biogeography; endemicity; mammals; Mexico; surrogates; sympatry.

Important research carried on currently in ecological regionalization calls for a close look at the role of classifying and mapping vegetation, as both these activities can be of fundamental significance in regionalization. A correlation of classifying and mapping vegetation with ecological regions requires an analysis of vegetation, classifications, regions, and maps. The analysis of vegetation revealed the character of biogeocenoses, plant communities, and continua and, incidentally, made it clear that the correct term for the science of vegetation studies is phytocenology. Problems of vegetation boundaries can develop when continua are compared with transition , this is important in mapping, where the nature and location of boundaries is of major significance. Vegetation is best divided into natural and cultural vegetation and further subdivided on the basis of (1) physiognomy and structure, (2) floristics, (3) community dynamism, and (4) community relations with their respective biotopes. When these units were applied to an analysis of classifications, it developed that a basic distinction must be made between highly flexible, purely descriptive and essentially classless approaches on the one hand, and clearly organized hierarchies on the other. Serious difficulties can arise when a detailed description of vegetation is related with a classification, and an important distinction emerging from these findings is between worldwide and regional classifications. Multiple mapping at large scales evolved into a particularly useful and enlightening method. However, the often demonstrated correlation between phytocenoses and environmental conditions must not lead a researcher to falsely optimistic conclusions, as it may not be applicable in the humid tropics. Aubreville, Poore, Wyatt—Smith, Koriba, Kuchler & Sawyer, etc. have illustrated the need for caution in interpreting such correlations. An analysis of some aspects of regions demonstrated that the relationships between vegetation types and biotopes must be clarified before meaningful ecological regions can be established. This need was illustrated with the map and inset maps of the Hunter Valley region in New South Wales, which proved most revealing. The chief problem of maps in ecological regionalization was found to be the map scale. Scale problems can usually be solved without much difficulty, but they be must clearly understood if the results are not to be misleading. The very nature of the biogeocenose implies by definition that the geographical distributions of biocenoses and of biotopes are most intimately related. The various analyses revealed that vegetation may be regarded as a tangible, integrated expression of the biogeocenose. Maps showing the geographical distribution of the natural (or the potential natural) vegetation do therefore and thereby also reveal ecological regions.

BackgroundBiogeographical units are widely adopted in ecological research and nature conservation management, even though biogeographical regionalisation is still under scientific debate. The European Environment Agency provided an official map of the European Biogeographical Regions (EBRs), which contains the official boundaries used in the Habitats and Birds Directives. However, these boundaries bisect cells in the official EU 10 km × 10 km grid used for many purposes, including reporting species and habitat data, meaning that 6881 cells overlap two or more regions. Therefore, superimposing the EBRs vector map over the grid creates ambiguities in associating some cells with European Biogeographical Regions.New informationTo provide an operational tool to unambiguously define the boundaries of the eleven European Biogeographical Regions, we provide a specifically developed raster map of Grid-Based European Biogeographical Regions (GB-EBRs). In this new map, the borders of the EBRs are reshaped to coherently match the standard European 10 km × 10 km grid imposed for reporting tasks by Article 17 of the Habitats Directive and used for many other datasets. We assign each cell to the EBR with the largest area within the cell.

Tropical low-land rainforests are one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world and provide valuable ecosystem services such as climate change mitigation. They are immensely threatened by expanding human land-use. Especially in South-East Asia, deforestation and replacement with cash crop monoculture plantations such as rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) have led to drastic losses in biodiversity and to ecosystem degradation. Recently, the research focus has increasingly extended to belowground demonstrating strong structuring effects of human land-use on soil microbial communities. Fungi fulfill various ecological functions and their interaction with plants include efficient degradation of dead plant material (saprotrophs), mutualistic mycorrhizal interactions with roots, essential for the nutrient uptake in a majority of land plants, and structuring effects on plant communities (pathogens). Thereby, fungi are often tightly associated with the plant community as a key group of organisms facilitating the flow of nutrients between the below- and aboveground biome. Conversion of tropical lowland rainforests plantations leads to drastic changes in fungal community structures. The magnitude of structuring effects by changes in root or soil properties on the composition of trophic groups (mycorrhiza, saprotrophs and pathogens) remains unknown. The present thesis, conducted on Sumatra (Indonesia), analyses the structuring effects of human land-use in tropical ecosystems on this important group of microorganisms using next generation sequencing methods and root and soil properties. The work is structured into three major research chapters. 
\nIn the first research chapter, I analyzed the effect of land-use intensity on root associated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM). Anthropogenic land-use severely affects the AM communities in grasslands but tropical forest transformation systems have rarely been studied. I hypothesized that increased land-use intensities negatively affect AM abundance and diversity because of impaired plant fungus interactions at the roots. I further hypothesized that increases in land-use intensity drive the composition of the AM community, causing decline in naturally occurring AM fungi. A land-use intensity index (LUI) based on yield, chemical input and plant richness across four major land-use systems (forest, jungle rubber, rubber and oil palm plantations) was developed and the effect of LUI on AM molecular richness and abundance as well as AM spore abundance and root colonization was tested. Indicator species analysis was used to investigate significant associations between AM species and land-use types. LUI structured the root associated AM community and negatively affected AM diversity and abundance but positively affected AM spore abundance in soil. Distinct land-use types harbored distinct AM communities; however, forest harbored a higher number of indicator species. In conclusion, land-use intensity strongly altered AM communities across land-use systems reducing specialized OTUs. Extensive management practices may help sustain a diverse and abundant AM community.
\nLocal soil and root associated fungal communities often differ considerably. Likely, this is caused by varying magnitude of structuring effects by the plant root community (biotic environmental filter) and edaphic conditions (abiotic environmental filter). However, few studies analyzed the effects of those environmental drivers on root versus soil associated fungal communities across different land-use types. In chapter 2, I tested the hypothesis that root associated fungi respond to changes in root properties more strongly than to changes in soil properties, due to their strong dependence on the root community. In turn, the soil fungal community provides a species pool from which the root community is recruited and this pool is structured mainly by changes in soil properties and stochastic fluctuations. Shifts of different ecological groups of soil and root inhabiting fungi in response to spatial distance as well as changes in soil and root chemistry across different land-use systems (as above, including riparian sites) were investigated. Overall, environmental filters had a stronger effect on the fungal community composition than geographic distance. Unexpectedly, high turnover and low nestedness between local root and soil communities was found. Additionally to a strong structuring effect of soil pH, root chemistry, especially root C/N strongly affected the composition of the root-associated fungal assemblages, while root vitality also affected shifts in soil-residing fungal communities. Root and soil chemistry changes drove divergent turnover of different functional groups (saprotroph, mycorrhiza and plant pathoges) in soil and roots. An important novel result was that assemblages root associated fungal communities were promoted by changes of root chemistry largely independent of the surrounding soil community. Therefore, recovering chemical root traits in intensively managed systems may stabilize the fungal communities against human land-use.
\nThe results of the previous chapters raised the question, whether enrichment of oil palm plantations with other tree species can help to reverse the strong structuring effects of human land-use and partly recover the mycorrhizal community. To address this question, I analyzed the effect of tree species enrichment islands in an intensively managed oil palm plantation on the soil fungal community composition. Islands of native tree species (Parkia speciosa, Archidendron pauciflorum, Durio zibethinus, Peronema canescens, Shorea leprosula, Dyera polyphylla) were planted in an oil palm monoculture and further management was stopped within the islands to allow for natural undergrowth succession. After three years of enrichment cultivation, I tested the hypothesis that tree enrichment alters the taxonomic and functional soil fungal community composition in comparison with that in the soil of intensely managed oil palm plantations. However, no significant effects of tree species richness, or presence of individual tree species on the fungal community composition were found. A small proportion of community variation (< 10 %) was explained by soil abiotic conditions (N, C/N and P) and the majority of variation remained unexplained. These results suggest that abiotic filters as the result of intensively managed land-use constitute a legacy to fungal communities, overruling structuring effects of the vegetation on soil fungal communities within the first years after stopping management.
\nThis thesis demonstrated a severe structuring impact of anthropogenic land-use on the fungal community structures. Soil abiotic properties were a main driver of fungal community composition in roots and soil. For the first time, changes in root chemical traits were linked to changes in the root and soil fungal communities. The results of this thesis underpin that the observed community shifts may result in loss of ecosystem services such as tree nutrient provision and tree health because of impaired AM root colonization. Links between shifts in the fungal community and plant root vitality suggest negative plant soil feedbacks driven by fungal community shifts. Strong bottom-up regulatory effects by root chemical traits especially on the root associated fungal community was demonstrated. However, no structuring effects of three years of plant succession on soil fungal communities in a biodiversity enriched oil palm plantations was found. Time series are required to investigate long term structuring effects of plant top-down regulation of soil fungal communities and the spatial scale at which root traits can affect local soil fungal communities. In summary, this thesis provides valuable new insights in the fungal community assembly processes under human land-use and highlights important areas of future research.

The concepts of biogeographical regions and areas of endemism are briefly reviewed prior to a discussion of what constitutes a natural biogeographical unit. It is concluded that a natural biogeographical unit comprises a group of endemic species that share a geological history. These natural biogeographical units are termed Wallacean biogeographical units in honour of the biogeographer A.R. Wallace. Models of the geological development of Indonesia and the Philippines are outlined. Areas of endemism within Wallacea are identified by distributional data, and their relationship to each other and to the adjacent continental regions are evaluated using molecular phylogenies from the literature. The boundaries of these areas of endemism are in broad agreement with earlier works, but it is argued that the Tanimbar Islands are biologically part of south Maluku, rather than the Lesser Sundas, and that Timor (plus Savu, Roti, Wetar, Damar, and Babar) and the western Lesser Sundas form areas of endemism in their own right. Wallacean biogeographical units within Wallacea are identified by congruence between areas of endemism and geological history. It is concluded that although Wallacea as a whole is not a natural biogeographical region, neither is it completely artificial as it is formed from a complex of predominantly Australasian exotic fragments linked by geological processes within a complex collision zone. The Philippines are argued to be an integral part of Wallacea, as originally intended.

Humans have fundamentally altered global patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Surprisingly, existing systems for representing these global patterns, including biome classifications, either ignore humans altogether or simplify human influence into, at most, four categories. Here, we present the first characterization of terrestrial biomes based on global patterns of sustained, direct human interaction with ecosystems. Eighteen “anthropogenic biomes” were identified through empirical analysis of global population, land use, and land cover. More than 75% of Earth's ice-free land showed evidence of alteration as a result of human residence and land use, with less than a quarter remaining as wildlands, supporting just 11% of terrestrial net primary production. Anthropogenic biomes offer a new way forward by acknowledging human influence on global ecosystems and moving us toward models and investigations of the terrestrial biosphere that integrate human and ecological systems.

AimAlthough patterns of biodiversity across the globe are well studied, there is still a controversial debate about the underlying mechanisms and their generality across biogeographic scales. In particular, it is unclear to what extent diversity patterns along environmental gradients are directly driven by abiotic factors, such as climate, or indirectly mediated through biotic factors, such as resource effects on consumers.LocationAndes, Southern Ecuador; Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.MethodsWe studied the diversity of fleshy‐fruited plants and avian frugivores at the taxonomic level, that is, species richness and abundance, as well as at the level of functional traits, that is, functional richness and functional dispersion. We compared two important biodiversity hotspots in mountain systems of the Neotropics and Afrotropics. We used field data of plant and bird communities, including trait measurements of 367 plant and bird species. Using structural equation modeling, we disentangled direct and indirect effects of climate and the diversity of plant communities on the diversity of bird communities.ResultsWe found significant bottom‐up effects of fruit diversity on frugivore diversity at the taxonomic level. In contrast, climate was more important for patterns of functional diversity, with plant communities being mostly related to precipitation, and bird communities being most strongly related to temperature.Main conclusionsOur results illustrate the general importance of bottom‐up mechanisms for the taxonomic diversity of consumers, suggesting the importance of active resource tracking. Our results also suggest that it might be difficult to identify signals of ecological fitting between functional plant and animal traits across biogeographic regions, since different species groups may respond to different climatic drivers. This decoupling between resource and consumer communities could increase under future climate change if plant and animal communities are consistently related to distinct climatic drivers.

Human land use disturbance is a major contributor to the loss of natural plant communities, and this is particularly true in areas used for agriculture, such as the Midwestern tallgrass prairies of the United States. Previous work has shown that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) additions can increase native plant survival and success in plant community restorations, but the dispersal of AMF in these systems is poorly understood. In this study, we examined the dispersal of AMF taxa inoculated into four tallgrass prairie restorations. At each site, we inoculated native plant species with greenhouse-cultured native AMF taxa or whole soil collected from a nearby unplowed prairie. We monitored AMF dispersal, AMF biomass, plant growth, and plant community composition, at different distances from inoculation. In two sites, we assessed the role of plant hosts in dispersal, by placing known AMF hosts in a “bridge” and “island” pattern on either side of the inoculation points. We found that AMF taxa differ in their dispersal ability, with some taxa spreading to 2-m in the first year and others remaining closer to the inoculation point. We also found evidence that AMF spread altered non-inoculated neighboring plant growth and community composition in certain sites. These results represent the most comprehensive attempt to date to evaluate AMF spread.