Journal ArticleDOI
The role of spatial scale and the perception of large‐scale species‐richness patterns
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TLDR
For example, a hump-shaped altitudinal species-richness pattern is the most typical (c. 50%), with a monotonic decreasing pattern also frequently reported, but the relative distribution of patterns changes readily with spatial grain and extent.Abstract:
Despite two centuries of exploration, our understanding of factors determining the distribution of life on Earth is in many ways still in its infancy. Much of the disagreement about governing processes of variation in species richness may be the result of differences in our perception of species-richness patterns. Until recently, most studies of large-scale species-richness patterns assumed implicitly that patterns and mechanisms were scale invariant. Illustrated with examples and a quantitative analysis of published data on altitudinal gradients of species richness (n = 204), this review discusses how scale effects (extent and grain size) can influence our perception of patterns and processes. For example, a hump-shaped altitudinal species-richness pattern is the most typical (c. 50%), with a monotonic decreasing pattern (c. 25%) also frequently reported, but the relative distribution of patterns changes readily with spatial grain and extent. If we are to attribute relative impact to various factors influencing species richness and distribution and to decide at which point along a spatial and temporal continuum they act, we should not ask only how results vary as a function of scale but also search for consistent patterns in these scale effects. The review concludes with suggestions of potential routes for future analytical exploration of species-richness patterns.read more
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Methods and uncertainties in bioclimatic envelope modelling under climate change
Risto K. Heikkinen,Miska Luoto,Miguel B. Araújo,Raimo Virkkala,Wilfried Thuiller,Martin T. Sykes +5 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review a number of critical methodological issues that may lead to uncertainty in predictions from bioclimatic modelling. But, they conclude that, although biOClimatic envelope models have important advantages, they need to be applied only when users of models have a thorough understanding of their limitations and uncertainties.
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Microbes on mountainsides: Contrasting elevational patterns of bacterial and plant diversity
Jessica A. Bryant,Christine Lamanna,Hélène Morlon,Andrew J. Kerkhoff,Brian J. Enquist,Brian J. Enquist,Brian J. Enquist,Jessica L. Green +7 more
TL;DR: The findings suggest that the forces structuring microorganism and macroorganism communities along elevational gradients differ, and that the influence of sample scale in intertaxonomic comparisons remains a challenge.
Journal ArticleDOI
Soil pH drives the spatial distribution of bacterial communities along elevation on Changbai Mountain
Congcong Shen,Jinbo Xiong,Huayong Zhang,Youzhi Feng,Xiangui Lin,Xinyu Li,Wenju Liang,Haiyan Chu +7 more
TL;DR: A comprehensive analysis of soil bacterial community composition and diversity along six elevations representing six typical vegetation types from forest to alpine tundra using a bar-coded pyrosequencing technique suggests that pH is a better predictor of soilacterial elevational distribution and also suggests that vegetation types may indirectly affect soil bacterial Elevational distribution through altering soil C and N status.
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Towards an integrated computational tool for spatial analysis in macroecology and biogeography
TL;DR: Sam as discussed by the authors is a freeware package for spatial analysis in macroecology and biogeography, which allows the user to describe spatial patterns in variables and provides an explicit spatial framework for standard techniques of regression and correlation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Disentangling the Drivers of β Diversity Along Latitudinal and Elevational Gradients
Nathan J. B. Kraft,Nathan J. B. Kraft,Liza S. Comita,Liza S. Comita,Jonathan M. Chase,Nathan J. Sanders,Nathan J. Sanders,Nathan G. Swenson,Thomas O. Crist,James C. Stegen,James C. Stegen,Mark Vellend,Mark Vellend,Brad Boyle,Marti J. Anderson,Howard V. Cornell,Kendi F. Davies,Amy L. Freestone,Brian D. Inouye,Susan Harrison,Jonathan Myers +20 more
TL;DR: It is shown that sampling alone predicts changes in β diversity caused simply by changes in the sizes of species pools, and there is no need to invoke differences in the mechanisms of community assembly in temperate versus tropical systems to explain these global-scale patterns of β diversity.
References
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