Abstract
Functional traits determine the occurrence of species along environmental gradients and their coexistence with other species. Understanding how traits evolved among coexisting species helps to infer community assembly processes. We propose fatty acid composition in consumer tissue as a functional trait related to both food resources and physiological functions of species. We measured phylogenetic signal in fatty acid profiles of 13 field‐sampled Collembola (springtail) species and then combined the data with published fatty acid profiles of another 24 species. Collembola fatty acid profiles generally showed phylogenetic signal, with related species resembling each other. Long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, related to physiological functions, demonstrated phylogenetic signal. In contrast, most food resource biomarker fatty acids and the ratios between bacterial, fungal, and plant biomarker fatty acids exhibited no phylogenetic signal. Presumably, fatty acids related to physiological functions have been constrained during Collembola evolutionary history: Species with close phylogenetic affinity experienced similar environments during divergence, while niche partitioning in food resources among closely related species favored species coexistence. Measuring phylogenetic signal in ecologically relevant traits of coexisting species provides an evolutionary perspective to contemporary assembly processes of ecological communities. Integrating phylogenetic comparative methods with community phylogenetic and trait‐based approaches may compensate for the limitations of each method when used alone and improve understanding of processes driving and maintaining assembly patterns.
Highlights
Functional traits are measurable properties of species which influence their performance and fitness (Violle et al, 2007; Pey et al, 2014)
Collembola may have the ability to synthesize C20 polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs) from precursors, as indicated by laboratory experiments in which a high proportion of C20 PUFAs was found in Isotomidae and Onychiuridae fed with food containing no PUFAs (Chamberlain & Black, 2005)
C20 PUFAs are essential for biosynthesis of prostaglandins and eicosanoids, which are important for reproduction and immune response, and related to temperature and humidity of the habitat (Stanley-Samuelson, Dell, & Ogg, 1992; Stanley-Samuelson, 1994)
Summary
Functional traits are measurable properties of species which influence their performance and fitness (Violle et al, 2007; Pey et al, 2014). These FAs are essential for biosynthesis of other compounds such as prostaglandins and eicosanoids, which are associated with reproduction, immune respo nse, and temperature regulation (Chamberlain, Bull, Black, Ineson, & Evershed, 2004; Chamberlain & Black, 2005; Haubert, Häggblom, Scheu, & Ruess, 2008) They represent β niche traits reflecting species environmental requirements. Distinct FA profiles of different Collembola species suggest trophic niche differentiation among co- occurring species (Chamberlain & Black, 2005; Ruess et al, 2007; Ferlian et al, 2015) This may be attributed to (1) taxonomic or evolutionary relationships between different phylogenetic groups (Chamberlain & Black, 2005), reflecting fixation of the physiology of species and their way of feeding over evolutionary time, and/ or (2) ecological characteristics, such as life-forms (eu-, hemi-, and epedaphic) or availability of food resources in a habitat (Ruess et al, 2007). We constructed a phylogenetic tree for all 37 Collembola species and measured phylogenetic signal in both FA datasets using two common comparative phylogenetic metrics, Blomberg’s K (Blomberg, Garland, & Ives, 2003) and Pagel’s lambda (Pagel, 1999; Freckleton et al, 2002)
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