Different Facets Of Biodiversity Research Articles

The multidimensionality of soil macroecology.

The recent past has seen a tremendous surge in soil macroecological studies and new insights into the global drivers of one-quarter of the biodiversity of the Earth. Building on these important developments, a recent paper in Global Ecology and Biogeography outlined promising methods and approaches to advance soil macroecology. Among other recommendations, White and colleagues introduced the concept of a spatial three-dimensionality in soil macroecology by considering the different spheres of influence and scales, as soil organism size ranges vary from bacteria to macro- and megafauna. Here, we extend this concept by discussing three additional dimensions (biological, physical, and societal) that are crucial to steer soil macroecology from pattern description towards better mechanistic understanding. In our view, these are the requirements to establish it as a predictive science that can inform policy about relevant nature and management conservation actions. We highlight the need to explore temporal dynamics of soil biodiversity and functions across multiple temporal scales, integrating different facets of biodiversity (i.e., variability in body size, life-history traits, species identities, and groups of taxa) and their relationships to multiple ecosystem functions, in addition to the feedback effects between humans and soil biodiversity. We also argue that future research needs to consider effective soil conservation policy and management in combination with higher awareness of the contributions of soil-based nature’s contributions to people. To verify causal relationships, soil macroecology should be paired with local and globally distributed experiments. The present paper expands the multidimensional perspective on soil macroecology to guide future research contents and funding. We recommend considering these multiple dimensions in projected global soil biodiversity monitoring initiatives.

How much matching there is in functional, phylogenetic and taxonomic optima of epiphytic macrolichen communities along a European climatic gradient?

Adopting an integrative approach that explicitly includes the different facets of biodiversity is crucial to assess the response of biological communities to changing environments. The identification of the optimal climatic conditions where communities maximize their functional, phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity is useful to compare whether the optima of the different facets of biodiversity match. Using a wide climatic gradient across Europe, we quantified the functional, phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity of epiphytic macrolichen communities, which are valuable early-warning ecological indicators. We ordinated 22 environmental variables and simultaneously illustrated non-parametric regressions of the diversity metrics against the climatic space using the ‘hilltop plot’ method to detect the climatic conditions in which the different diversity facets peaked and to compare the match between them. Functional diversity predicted at least part of the peaks of phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity, but phylogenetic and taxonomic hotspots did not overlap. Epiphytic macrolichen communities maximized their functional and phylogenetic diversity in the southernmost forests, with the Mediterranean region appearing as a biodiversity hotspot. Regarding the studied traits, photobiont type and growth form showed clearly defined optima while the quantitative physiological traits and families' optima did not show this pattern in response to climate. The different facets of biodiversity were not surrogates of each other highlighting the need for an integrative approach to assess the effect of environmental changes on communities and to establish conservation priorities. As functional traits mediated the response of lichen communities to climate, preserving high functional diversity might indirectly preserve high phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity. Relevant ecological indicators useful to develop rapid assessment methods to evaluate the effects of climatic changes include the photobiont type and growth form. The lack of relation between quantitative traits and climate call for further research to unveil their role as ecological indicators of small-scale variables or as effect traits.

Species diversity and composition drive the aesthetic value of coral reef fish assemblages.

Cultural and recreational values of biodiversity are considered as important dimensions of nature's contribution to people. Among these values, the aesthetics can be of major importance as the appreciation of beauty is one of the simplest forms of human emotional response. Using an online survey, we disentangled the effects of different facets of biodiversity on aesthetic preferences of coral reef fish assemblages that are among the most emblematic assemblages on Earth. While we found a positive saturating effect of species' richness on human preference, we found a net negative effect of species abundance, no effect of species functional diversity and contrasting effects of species composition depending on species' attractiveness. Our results suggest that the biodiversity-human interest relationship is more complex than has been previously stated. By integrating several scales of organization, our study is a step forward in better evaluating the aesthetic value of biodiversity.

Radar vision in the mapping of forest biodiversity from space

Recent progress in remote sensing provides much-needed, large-scale spatio-temporal information on habitat structures important for biodiversity conservation. Here we examine the potential of a newly launched satellite-borne radar system (Sentinel-1) to map the biodiversity of twelve taxa across five temperate forest regions in central Europe. We show that the sensitivity of radar to habitat structure is similar to that of airborne laser scanning (ALS), the current gold standard in the measurement of forest structure. Our models of different facets of biodiversity reveal that radar performs as well as ALS; median R² over twelve taxa by ALS and radar are 0.51 and 0.57 respectively for the first non-metric multidimensional scaling axes representing assemblage composition. We further demonstrate the promising predictive ability of radar-derived data with external validation based on the species composition of birds and saproxylic beetles. Establishing new area-wide biodiversity monitoring by remote sensing will require the coupling of radar data to stratified and standardized collected local species data.

A minimum set of Information Standards for Essential Biodiversity Variables

Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) are integrated information products typically derived from disparate sources of primary observations combined by the use of biodiversity models and data integration algorithms. Furthermore, developing policy-relevant indicators from EBVs requires an additional level of integration between datasets that inform on different facets of biodiversity, e.g. at levels from species to ecosystems. The development and dissemination of EBVs requires that the origin of the primary observations, models and algorithms, measurement uncertainties, and the scope of application are consistently reported and traceable. To support this process, the GEO BON Taskforce for Essential Biodiversity Variables - Data is developing the Minimum Information Standards (MIS) for EBVs. MIS are sets of specifications for describing datasets that aim to standardize data reporting and to maximize its discoverability and interoperability. Here we present a community effort to generate minimum standards that can be used across all the EBV classes, including genetic composition, species populations and traits, and the composition, structure and function of ecosystems. MIS for Essential Biodiversity Variables is founded in the description of the EBV-data cube as the unifying framework to deliver interoperable biodiversity observations. They summarize aspects of the spatial and temporal domains of the datasets, as well as uncertainty and bias reporting. Furthermore, they identify traceability along the EBV production workflow from the identification of primary observations to the derivation of a spatially and temporally consistent EBV product. MIS also incorporate the GEOSS proposed principles for data management. Finally, a metadata publishing toolkit ensures that EBVs are discoverable and used under the auspices of GEO BON.

Mapping Biodiversity Patterns across Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia represents a global biodiversity hotspot, and yet compared to much of the rest of the world we have a relatively poor understanding of the patterns of biodiversity and endemism, or even basic distributions for many taxa. Global maps such as the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) species range maps often have major inaccuracies in the spatial mapping of species localities, which are particularly problematic around political administrative boundary regions, and make any form of spatial prioritization difficult or impossible. Here I show various approaches to mapping biodiversity across the landscape, including the mapping of both ecosystems with high levels of endemism, and databasing huge volumes of data as a basis for mapping out species distributions when combined with other forms of data, to map out diversity at numerous different taxonomic levels. I showcase the initial results of mapping for various taxa, and different ways of aggregating the data to better understand different facets of biodiversity. Additionally I discuss various approaches to developing spatial priorities for conservation across the region and the relative tradeoffs between each.

Ecological drivers of alpha and beta diversity of freshwater invertebrates in arid and semiarid Patagonia (Argentina)

Freshwater biodiversity is showing a global decline in relation to environmental change and there is an urgent need to quantify different facets of biodiversity to assess the conservation value of freshwater ecosystems. Identifying the ecological drivers of arid and semiarid Patagonian waterbodies is a critical requirement for planning action to conserve these still poorly understood habitats. We tested the responses of alpha and beta diversity of invertebrates (presence-absence, abundance, and biomass) to local, landscape, and climatic features, in 45 Patagonian freshwater bodies classified in three groups: isolated ponds, connected ponds, and lotic systems. We first compared the invertebrate community compositions of the different waterbodies. Secondly, using a co-inertia analysis we assessed the relative roles of local, landscape and climatic factors in driving variation in assemblage composition. Finally, we compared different facets of beta diversity and modelled their responses to environmental variables (predictors), by generalized dissimilarity modelling (GDM). Unexpectedly, lotic systems with a total of 109 taxa, were richer than lentic ones, but isolated ponds contributed most to beta diversity and supported more unique and proportionally more endemic species. Alpha and beta diversity were mainly driven by local features and secondly by climatic descriptors. However, these patterns shifted according to different community composition measures. Collectively, our results suggest that isolated ponds have a higher biodiversity value and would be more vulnerable than connected ponds and lotic systems to environmental changes. However, all waterbody types contributed to gamma biodiversity, reinforcing the importance of conserving a diversity of freshwater ecosystems in any landscape and particularly in arid and semiarid Patagonia. Our findings are a first step to resolving and quantifying the amount of changes occurring in Patagonian waterbodies, and are a prerequisite for predicting changes in species distributions in the face of global change.

Urbanization as a driver of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity losses in bird communities

Urbanization is one of the most important threats to biodiversity worldwide, as it drives declines in species diversity, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity and increases functional redundancy among species. We estimated taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities, as well as the abundance of several functional groups, in bird communities from a town in east-central Argentina in 1985–1986 and 30 years after (2015–2016). In 1985–1986, we found that taxonomic diversity (abundance, species richness, and alpha diversity), functional richness, and basal phylogenetic diversity were negatively related to building cover, whereas terminal phylogenetic diversity showed a positive relationship with building cover. Moreover, the abundance of specialized functional groups (ground, aerial, and foliage insectivores; nectarivores/insectivores; ground/canopy and ground granivores) decreased with increased building cover, whereas the reverse pattern for the abundance of generalists (medium-sized/large and small omnivores) was found. In 2015–2016, by contrast, taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities were not related to building cover. Our results not only support the hypothesis that urbanization affects the potential number of ecosystem functions, but also that this relationship may change through time. Given the accelerated rate of urbanization worldwide, an integrative approach between different facets of biodiversity is promoted to gain insight into the response of bird communities in urban environments.

Biodiversity explains maximum variation in productivity under experimental warming, nitrogen addition, and grazing in mountain grasslands.

Anthropogenic global warming, nitrogen addition, and overgrazing alter plant communities and threaten plant biodiversity, potentially impacting community productivity, especially in sensitive mountain grassland ecosystems. However, it still remains unknown whether the relationship between plant biodiversity and community productivity varies across different anthropogenic influences, and especially how changes in multiple biodiversity facets drive these impacts on productivity. Here, we measured different facets of biodiversity including functional and phylogenetic richness and evenness in mountain grasslands along an environmental gradient of elevation in Yulong Mountain, Yunnan, China. We combined biodiversity metrics in a series of linear mixed‐effect models to determine the most parsimonious predictors for productivity, which was estimated by aboveground biomass in community. We examined how biodiversity–productivity relationships were affected by experimental warming, nitrogen addition, and livestock‐grazing. Species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and single functional traits (leaf nitrogen content, mg/g) represented the most parsimonious combination in these scenarios, supporting a consensus that single‐biodiversity metrics alone cannot fully explain ecosystem function. The biodiversity–productivity relationships were positive and strong, but the effects of treatment on biodiversity–productivity relationship were negligible. Our findings indicate that the strong biodiversity–productivity relationships are consistent in various anthropogenic drivers of environmental change.

Multiple facets of biodiversity drive the diversity-stability relationship.

A substantial body of evidence has demonstrated that biodiversity stabilizes ecosystem functioning over time in grassland ecosystems. However, the relative importance of different facets of biodiversity underlying the diversity-stability relationship remains unclear. Here we use data from 39 grassland biodiversity experiments and structural equation modelling to investigate the roles of species richness, phylogenetic diversity and both the diversity and community-weighted mean of functional traits representing the 'fast-slow' leaf economics spectrum in driving the diversity-stability relationship. We found that high species richness and phylogenetic diversity stabilize biomass production via enhanced asynchrony in the performance of co-occurring species. Contrary to expectations, low phylogenetic diversity enhances ecosystem stability directly, albeit weakly. While the diversity of fast-slow functional traits has a weak effect on ecosystem stability, communities dominated by slow species enhance ecosystem stability by increasing mean biomass production relative to the standard deviation of biomass over time. Our in-depth, integrative assessment of factors influencing the diversity-stability relationship demonstrates a more multicausal relationship than has been previously acknowledged.

Taxonomic and functional facets of the resilience to management of mown subalpine grasslands

AbstractQuestionsSustaining ecosystem services for society in the face of global change is a major challenge. Resilience, an ecosystem's ability to absorb disturbance and return to its initial functioning, is critical for this. We assessed the resilience of mown subalpine grasslands following restoration management. Using a novel multi‐indicator approach, we asked how different taxonomic and functional facets of biodiversity influence resilience mechanisms. We demonstrated this approach for a case study in subalpine grasslands, asking: how resilient are grasslands dominated by Patzkea paniculata and their agronomic services to changing mowing regimes?LocationVillar d'Arène, Hautes‐Alpes, Provence‐Alpes‐Côte d'Azur, France. Boundary area of Ecrins National Park.MethodsA manipulative experiment tested the reciprocal effects of mowing cessation and mowing resumption for 10 years. We analysed floristic composition data following four steps. First, we used the Community Structure Integrity Index (CSII; Jaunatre et al., ) to obtain qualitative and quantitative summaries of taxonomic responses. The second step focused on taxonomic biodiversity using species richness, Simpson and Pielou indices, and responsive species identified in the first step. Third, we analysed functional diversity responses using functional groups and community weighted mean (CWM) of vegetative plant traits. Finally, we quantified ecosystem services impacts by estimating fodder quantity and quality using trait‐based models.ResultsThe mowing manipulation demonstrated the high resilience of P. paniculata grasslands and revealed reversibility of transitions between mown and unmown states. By reducing the abundance of P. paniculata, the resumption of mowing restored forage quality. Supported by a complementary case study on post‐disturbance re‐sowing in hay meadows, this study demonstrates the resilience of mown subalpine grasslands to management change and explores underlying belowground mechanisms of vegetative regeneration and belowground reserves.ConclusionOur novel multi‐indicator approach provides multifaceted mechanistic understanding necessary to anticipate impacts of socio‐ecological changes and to maintain the multiple benefits of mountain grasslands. Addressing the different facets of biodiversity from abundance data that are systematically collected in impact or monitoring assessment, this approach provides a common framework, widely applicable to different types of restoration or management interventions, across regions and biota.

Improving spatial predictions of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity

Abstract In this study, we compare two community modelling approaches to determine their ability to predict the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic properties of plant assemblages along a broad elevation gradient and at a fine resolution. The first method is the standard stacking individual species distribution modelling (SSDM) approach, which applies a simple environmental filter to predict species assemblages. The second method couples the SSDM and macroecological modelling (MEM—SSDM‐MEM) approaches to impose a limit on the number of species co‐occurring at each site. Because the detection of diversity patterns can be influenced by different levels of phylogenetic or functional trees, we also examine whether performing our analyses from broad to more exact structures in the trees influences the performance of the two modelling approaches when calculating diversity indices. We found that coupling the SSDM with the MEM improves the overall predictions for the three diversity facets compared with those of the SSDM alone. The accuracy of the SSDM predictions for the diversity indices varied greatly along the elevation gradient, and when considering broad to more exact structure in the functional and phylogenetic trees, the SSDM‐MEM predictions were more stable. SSDM‐MEM moderately but significantly improved the prediction of taxonomic diversity, which was mainly driven by the corrected number of predicted species. The performance of both modelling frameworks increased when predicting the functional and phylogenetic diversity indices. In particular, fair predictions of the taxonomic composition by SSDM‐MEM led to increasingly accurate predictions of the functional and phylogenetic indices, suggesting that the compositional errors were associated with species that were functionally or phylogenetically close to the correct ones; however, this did not always hold for the SSDM predictions. Synthesis. In this study, we tested the use of a recently published approach that couples species distribution and macroecological models to provide the first predictions of the distribution of multiple facets of plant diversity: taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic. Moderate but significant improvements were obtained; thus, our results open promising avenues for improving our ability to predict the different facets of biodiversity in space and time across broad environmental gradients when functional and phylogenetic information is available.

Biodiversity and ecosystem services−A case study for the assessment of multiple species and functional diversity levels in a cultural landscape

The expansion of large-scale plantations has a major impact on landscapes in the Tropics and Subtropics. Crops like soy bean, oil palm and rubber have led to drastic changes in land cover over the past decades, thereby altering ecosystem functions and services (ESS). Associated shifts in ESS such as climate regulation, erosion and water cycles, biodiversity as well as soil fertility or the provisioning of raw materials have been assessed through several models and software solutions (InVEST, ARIES, MIMES). However, suitable methods for the integration of a range of biodiversity assessments in agricultural landscapes are scarce.With this study, we introduce a methodology for incorporating multiple levels of species diversity into models to allow an integrated evaluation of ESS. We collected data sets from both published and unpublished sources on the distribution of vascular plants, selected pollinator groups, ground beetles, ungulates as well as amphibians, mammals, reptiles and birds in rubber-dominated landscapes, with a focus on our study sites in Southwest China and Thailand. Based on this information, we developed a common classification scheme that enables the integration of different facets of biodiversity (species diversity and functional diversity) to complement an interdisciplinary ESS assessment.Species diversity data were normalized against the most divers habitats reported (using habitat scores) to assess the impact of rubber cultivation on multiple levels of biodiversity. This resulted in a comparable matrix of different land use types and their suitability as habitat for the respective species groups allowing the aggregation of very diverse indicators. The findings were applied to two alternative land use scenarios in southern China to highlight the potential effects of land use and management decisions on species and functional diversity. Our results highlighted that the conservation oriented scenario did score higher for habitat suitability in both total species (+5%) as well as IUCN Red List species (+6%) assessments compared to the current state or business as usual scenarios (-2% and −3% compared to current state).The process presented here allows for an application within established ESS software programs, in our case InVEST, using aggregated indices while additionally providing enhanced opportunities for comparable, spatially explicit assessments of the expected impact of the analyzed scenarios on specific species groups.

Measuring and explaining large‐scale distribution of functional and phylogenetic diversity in birds: separating ecological drivers from methodological choices

AbstractAimInvestigations into how different facets of biodiversity are related has become a central research agenda in ecology. Here, we use a large‐scale and high‐resolution data set on bird distribution to examine the robustness of the relationships between species diversity and functional or phylogenetic diversity.LocationFranceMethodsWe measured the functional and phylogenetic diversity of 1914 bird assemblages monitored over 10 years with a standardized protocol. We investigated the consequences of incorporating abundance versus presence–absence data, changing the number and identity of traits considered, or varying the spatial scale used to estimate functional and phylogenetic diversity. We further examined the outcomes of different null model procedures that aim to reveal ecological processes influencing the distribution of each facet of diversity.ResultsWe found that the shape and strength of the relationship between species diversity and functional diversity are structured by several methodological choices. We show that increasing the quantity of information yielded by the indices (in particular, including abundances or increasing the number of traits considered) decreases the amount of functional redundancy estimated. Reducing the number of functional traits used to estimate functional diversity can change and even reverse the relationship of interest. Moreover, using alternative null models, we highlighted the specific role of environmental filtering and the link between species abundances and their functional originality (defined for a given species as the average of the functional distances with other species). The same tests applied to phylogenetic diversity revealed that its relationship with species diversity varies differently suggesting that this latter index cannot be used as a proxy for functional diversity.Main conclusionsOur results show that the identification of patterns and processes linking species diversity to functional or phylogenetic diversity vary with methodological choices. We further show that the study of these sources of variation via robustness tests allows ecologically meaningful information to be separated from pure artefacts.

Assessing biodiversity with sound: Do acoustic diversity indices reflect phylogenetic and functional diversities of bird communities?

Measuring biodiversity is a challenging task for research in taxonomy, ecology and conservation. Biodiversity is commonly measured using metrics related to species richness, phylogenetic-, or functional-trait diversity of species assemblages. Because these metrics are not always correlated with each other, they have to be considered separately. A descriptor of animal diversity based on the diversity of sounds produced by animal communities, named here the Community Acoustic Diversity (CAD), was recently proposed. In many cases, the CAD could be easier to measure than other metrics. Although previous analyses have revealed that acoustic diversity might increase as species richness increases, the ability of CAD to reflect other components of biodiversity has not been formally investigated. The aim of this study is to test theoretically whether functional and phylogenetic diversities could be reflected by acoustic diversity indices in bird communities. Data on species assemblages were collated by the French Breeding Bird Survey describing spatial and temporal variation in community structure and composition across France since 2001. Phylogenetic and functional data were compiled from literature. Acoustic data were obtained from sound libraries. For each of the 19,420 sites sampled, indices of phylogenetic, functional and acoustic diversity of bird communities were calculated based on species’ pair-wise distance matrices and species’ abundances. The different aspects of biodiversity were compared through correlation analyses. The results showed that acoustic diversity was correlated with phylogenetic diversity, when the branch lengths of the tree were considered, and to functional diversity, especially body mass and reproduction. Correlations between phylogenetic, functional and acoustic distances among species did not entirely explain the correlations between phylogenetic, functional and acoustic diversity within communities. This result was interpreted as an effect of local ecological processes underpinning how bird communities assemble. Comparing the diversity patterns with a null model, phylogenetic and functional diversities were significantly clustered whereas acoustic diversity was not different from what was expected by chance. A comparison between acoustic indices showed that spectral component of acoustic diversity seems more appropriate to reveal bird phylogenetic diversity whereas temporal component seems more adapted to reveal functional diversity of a bird community. Overall, even if the processes at the origin of the different facets of biodiversity are different, CAD reveals part of phylogenetic diversity and some extent of functional diversity.

Orb-weaving spider diversity in the Iberá Marshlands, Argentina

The Iberá Marshlands RAMSAR reserve, in the northeast of Argentina, is one of the largest and most important wetlands of America. In this study we assess orb-weaving spider (Araneae: Orbiculariae) diversity in this reserve, analyzing different facets of local diversity (species richness, diversity, evenness and taxonomic distinctness), and the contribution of species differentiation (beta diversity) among localities and habitat types to the composition of regional diversity. We found 1657 individuals of 59 orb-weaving spider species/morphospecies. Local diversity differs among the three sampled localities. At the habitat level, the different facets of biodiversity followed a clear pattern, where woodlands have higher species richness, diversity, evenness and taxonomic distinctness than savannas. Savanna sites shared a common spider species composition, while woodland communities have high values of complementarity. Thus, beta diversity has a very high contribution to the regional diversity of the orb-weaving spiders in the Iberá Marshlands. We suggest that conservation management in the reserve should be directed towards promoting natural spatial heterogeneity, giving special protection to habitat mosaics in different localities.

Limiting similarity, niche filtering and functional diversity in coastal lagoon fish communities

The fundamental idea behind the study of biodiversity patterns is the presumed connection between the shape of species assemblages and the functional ways in which they are organized, this functional organization referring to how species are related to one another, as competitors or members of a web of interactions and to how species are facing similar environmental constraints. Amongst the different facets of biodiversity, functional diversity is certainly a key for ecosystem processes in coastal areas. However, surprisingly, patterns of functional diversity have received little attention until now. After presenting a common framework linking functional diversity patterns to species coexistence theories, the aim of our study was twofold: (1) to seek assembly rules in brackish lagoon fish communities drove by functional traits. To this aim we used null models to examine the influence of two opposing forces acting on community structure: interspecific competition that might prevent the coexistence of the most similar species, and environmental filters that might result in the most similar species to coexist. (2) To seek relationships between fish functional diversity and environmental gradients, if any. Fish sampling was carried out in two coastal lagoons where stations differ considerably in terms of physicochemical parameters. Using morphological functional traits, functional diversity of fish communities was estimated using two recently published indices as well as a new proposed index. Firstly our study was not able to demonstrate a limitation of similarity in coexisting lagoon fishes due to interspecific competition. Conversely our results support the niche filtering hypothesis preventing species too dissimilar from one another to co-occur at the same station. Secondly, salinity was positively related to the functional diversity of fishes in both lagoons suggesting that within species assemblages near the channel species are less redundant than at stations far from the channel where species tend to be functionally similar (benthic and eating zooplankton).