Topic
Species richness
About: Species richness is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 61672 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2183796 citations.
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TL;DR: It is shown that the southern Atlantic forest was climatically unstable relative to the central region, which served as a large climatic refugium for neotropical species in the late Pleistocene, and establishes a validated approach to biodiversity prediction in other understudied, species-rich regions.
Abstract: Biodiversity hotspots, representing regions with high species endemism and conservation threat, have been mapped globally. Yet, biodiversity distribution data from within hotspots are too sparse for effective conservation in the face of rapid environmental change. Using frogs as indicators, ecological niche models under paleoclimates, and simultaneous Bayesian analyses of multispecies molecular data, we compare alternative hypotheses of assemblage-scale response to late Quaternary climate change. This reveals a hotspot within the Brazilian Atlantic forest hotspot. We show that the southern Atlantic forest was climatically unstable relative to the central region, which served as a large climatic refugium for neotropical species in the late Pleistocene. This sets new priorities for conservation in Brazil and establishes a validated approach to biodiversity prediction in other understudied, species-rich regions.
944 citations
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University of Vienna1, Austrian Academy of Sciences2, Ilia State University3, Slovak Academy of Sciences4, University of Innsbruck5, University of Granada6, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania7, Norwegian University of Science and Technology8, Russian Academy of Sciences9, University of Molise10, Babeș-Bolyai University11, University of Pavia12, University of Geneva13, University of Parma14, University of Lausanne15, Open University of Cyprus16
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used 867 vegetation samples above the treeline from 60 summit sites in all major European mountain systems to show that ongoing climate change gradually transforms mountain plant communities.
Abstract: Climate impact studies have indicated ecological fingerprints of recent global warming across a wide range of habitats1, 2. Although these studies have shown responses from various local case studies, a coherent large-scale account on temperature-driven changes of biotic communities has been lacking3, 4. Here we use 867 vegetation samples above the treeline from 60 summit sites in all major European mountain systems to show that ongoing climate change gradually transforms mountain plant communities. We provide evidence that the more cold-adapted species decline and the more warm-adapted species increase, a process described here as thermophilization. At the scale of individual mountains this general trend may not be apparent, but at the larger, continental scale we observed a significantly higher abundance of thermophilic species in 2008, compared with 2001. Thermophilization of mountain plant communities mirrors the degree of recent warming and is more pronounced in areas where the temperature increase has been higher. In view of the projected climate change5, 6 the observed transformation suggests a progressive decline of cold mountain habitats and their biota.
943 citations
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TL;DR: The nested subset hypothesis was formulated to describe and explain patterns in the community structure of insular mammal faunas which are in the state of ‘relaxation’ and suggests that selective extinction of species may be chiefly responsible for the nestedness in natural archipelagos.
Abstract: The nested subset hypothesis was formulated to describe and explain patterns in the community structure of insular mammal faunas which are in the state of ‘relaxation’. The hypothesis states that the species comprising a depauperate fauna should constitute a proper subset of those in richer faunas, and that an archipelago of such faunas arranged by species richness should present a nested series. The non-randomness of this pattern is evaluated for montane mammals in the American Southwest using Monte Carlo simulations under two sets of conditions. First, we constructed model archipelagos with the observed distribution of species richnesses, drawing individual species at random (without replacement) from the species pool (RANDOM0). Secondly, we constructed model archipelagos having the observed distribution of species richnesses, but weighted the selection of species by their actual frequencies of occurrence (RANDOM1). The degree of nestedness in the model archipelagos was then used to assess the non-randomness of the observed structure. Actual Southwestern mammal faunas have a far more nested structure than model archipelagos produced by either RANDOM0 or RANDOM1, and there is virtually zero probability that observed structure is represented in the distribution of scores from either simulation run. Similar analyses were conducted on other archipelagos to determine the generality of this relationship and to identify variables putatively responsible for its production. Mammal faunas of large islands off the coast of Maine, U.S.A., studied by Crowell (1986) also comprise nested subsets, as do those inhabiting islands off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, studied by Lawlor (1983). Significantly, when the Baja archipelago is divided into landbridge islands (which are presumed to be relaxing to lower species level) and oceanic islands (where species number is limited by successful overwater dispersal), only the former show significant nestedness under the more stringent conditions of RANDOM1. These results and theoretical considerations suggest that selective extinction of species may be chiefly responsible for the nestedness in natural archipelagos. Our conclusions have obvious implications for the design of natural preserves (e.g. SLOSS): several small fragments of a single biota can be expected to support nested subsets of the species originally present or that would likely be retained in a single large preserve. Even more sobering are arguments raised which suggest that the faunas of preserves established in different habitats within the same biome might be expected to converge in composition via selective extinction.
942 citations
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King Juan Carlos University1, University of Vermont2, Pablo de Olavide University3, Technical University of Madrid4, Northern Arizona University5, University of La Serena6, Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica7, Universidad Simón Rodríguez8, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev9, State University of Feira de Santana10, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja11, University of Sfax12, University of New South Wales13, Central University of Venezuela14, National University of San Juan15, University of the Bío Bío16, Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment17, Ohio State University18, National Agrarian University19, National University of La Pampa20, University of New England (Australia)21, Office of Environment and Heritage22, Spanish National Research Council23, Northeast Normal University24, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center25
TL;DR: A global empirical study relating plant species richness and abiotic factors to multifunctionality in drylands, which collectively cover 41% of Earth’s land surface and support over 38% of the human population, suggests that the preservation of plant biodiversity is crucial to buffer negative effects of climate change and desertification in dryland.
Abstract: Experiments suggest that biodiversity enhances the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage, productivity, and the buildup of nutrient pools (multifunctionality). However, the relationship between biodiversity and multifunctionality has never been assessed globally in natural ecosystems. We report here on a global empirical study relating plant species richness and abiotic factors to multifunctionality in drylands, which collectively cover 41% of Earth’s land surface and support over 38% of the human population. Multifunctionality was positively and significantly related to species richness. The best-fitting models accounted for over 55% of the variation in multifunctionality and always included species richness as a predictor variable. Our results suggest that the preservation of plant biodiversity is crucial to buffer negative effects of climate change and desertification in drylands.
941 citations
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TL;DR: This work quantifies geographic patterns of endemism-scaled richness (“endemism richness”) of vascular plants across 90 terrestrial biogeographic regions, including islands, worldwide and evaluates their congruence with terrestrial vertebrates.
Abstract: Endemism and species richness are highly relevant to the global prioritization of conservation efforts in which oceanic islands have remained relatively neglected. When compared to mainland areas, oceanic islands in general are known for their high percentage of endemic species but only moderate levels of species richness, prompting the question of their relative conservation value. Here we quantify geographic patterns of endemism-scaled richness (“endemism richness”) of vascular plants across 90 terrestrial biogeographic regions, including islands, worldwide and evaluate their congruence with terrestrial vertebrates. Endemism richness of plants and vertebrates is strongly related, and values on islands exceed those of mainland regions by a factor of 9.5 and 8.1 for plants and vertebrates, respectively. Comparisons of different measures of past and future human impact and land cover change further reveal marked differences between mainland and island regions. While island and mainland regions suffered equally from past habitat loss, we find the human impact index, a measure of current threat, to be significantly higher on islands. Projected land-cover changes for the year 2100 indicate that land-use-driven changes on islands might strongly increase in the future. Given their conservation risks, smaller land areas, and high levels of endemism richness, islands may offer particularly high returns for species conservation efforts and therefore warrant a high priority in global biodiversity conservation in this century.
930 citations