Species richness

About: Species richness is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 61672 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2183796 citations.

Niche versus chance and tree diversity in forest gaps

Abstract: Studies that are unprecedented in scale, detail or approach show that niche partitioning contributes less, and chance events more, than expected to maintaining tree species richness via gap dynamics in tropical and temperate forests. Some tree species are differentially adapted for regeneration in different gap microenvironments. However, the stochastic availability of gaps, and limited recruitment of juveniles, mean that gaps are filled mostly by chance occupants rather than by best adapted species. This chance survival can slow competitive exclusion and maintain tree diversity. Gap dynamics do not explain the latitudinal gradient in tree richness.

Phylogenetic measures of biodiversity.

Abstract: We developed a theoretical framework based on phylogenetic comparative methods to integrate phylogeny into three measures of biodiversity: species variability, richness, and evenness. These metrics can be used in conjunction with permutation procedures to test for phylogenetic community structure. As an illustration, we analyzed data on the composition of 58 lake fish communities in Wisconsin. The fish communities showed phylogenetic underdispersion, with communities more likely to contain closely related species. Using information about differences in environmental characteristics among lakes, we demonstrated that phylogenetic underdispersion in fish communities was associated with environmental factors. For example, lakes with low pH were more likely to contain species in the same clade of acid-tolerant species. Our metrics differ from existing metrics used to calculate phylogenetic community structure, such as net relatedness index and Faith's phylogenetic diversity. Our metrics have the advantage of providing an integrated and easy-to-understand package of phylogenetic measures of species variability, richness, and evenness with well-defined statistical properties. Furthermore, they allow the easy evaluation of contributions of individual species to different aspects of the phylogenetic organization of communities. Therefore, these metrics should aid with the incorporation of phylogenetic information into strategies for understanding biodiversity and its conservation.

Global meta-analysis reveals no net change in local-scale plant biodiversity over time

Abstract: Global biodiversity is in decline. This is of concern for aesthetic and ethical reasons, but possibly also for practical reasons, as suggested by experimental studies, mostly with plants, showing that biodiversity reductions in small study plots can lead to compromised ecosystem function. However, inferring that ecosystem functions will decline due to biodiversity loss in the real world rests on the untested assumption that such loss is actually occurring at these small scales in nature. Using a global database of 168 published studies and >16,000 nonexperimental, local-scale vegetation plots, we show that mean temporal change in species diversity over periods of 5–261 y is not different from zero, with increases at least as likely as declines over time. Sites influenced primarily by plant species’ invasions showed a tendency for declines in species richness, whereas sites undergoing postdisturbance succession showed increases in richness over time. Other distinctions among studies had little influence on temporal richness trends. Although maximizing diversity is likely important for maintaining ecosystem function in intensely managed systems such as restored grasslands or tree plantations, the clear lack of any general tendency for plant biodiversity to decline at small scales in nature directly contradicts the key assumption linking experimental results to ecosystem function as a motivation for biodiversity conservation in nature. How often real world changes in the diversity and composition of plant communities at the local scale cause ecosystem function to deteriorate, or actually to improve, remains unknown and is in critical need of further study.

Faunal and environmental change in the late Miocene Siwaliks of northern Pakistan

Abstract: The Siwalik formations of northern Pakistan consist of deposits of ancient rivers that existed throughout the early Miocene through the late Pliocene. The formations are highly fossil- iferous with a diverse array of terrestrial and freshwater vertebrates, which in combination with exceptional lateral exposure and good chronostratigraphic control allows a more detailed and tem- porally resolved study of the sediments and faunas than is typical in terrestrial deposits. Conse- quently the Siwaliks provide an opportunity to document temporal differences in species richness, turnover, and ecological structure in a terrestrial setting, and to investigate how such differences are related to changes in the fluvial system, vegetation, and climate. Here we focus on the interval between 10.7 and 5.7 Ma, a time of significant local tectonic and global climatic change. It is also the interval with the best temporal calibration of Siwalik faunas and most comprehensive data on species occurrences. A methodological focus of this paper is on controlling sampling biases that confound biological and ecological signals. Such biases include uneven sampling through time, differential preservation of larger animals and more durable skeletal elements, errors in age-dating imposed by uncertainties in correlation and paleomagnetic timescale calibrations, and uneven tax- onomic treatment across groups. We attempt to control for them primarily by using a relative-abun- dance model to estimate limits for the first and last appearances from the occurrence data. This model also incorporates uncertainties in age estimates. Because of sampling limitations inherent in the terrestrial fossil record, our 100-Kyr temporal resolution may approach the finest possible level of resolution for studies of vertebrate faunal changes over periods of millions of years. Approximately 40,000 specimens from surface and screenwash collections made at 555 localities form the basis of our study. Sixty percent of the localities have maximum and minimum age esti- mates differing by 100 Kyr or less, 82% by 200 Kyr or less. The fossils represent 115 mammalian species or lineages of ten orders: Insectivora, Scandentia, Primates, Tubulidentata, Proboscidea, Pholidota, Lagomorpha, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Rodentia. Important taxa omitted from this study include Carnivora, Elephantoidea, and Rhinocerotidae. Because different collecting methods were used for large and small species, they are treated separately in analyses. Small spe- cies include insectivores, tree shrews, rodents, lagomorphs, and small primates. They generally weigh less than 5 kg. The sediments of the study interval were deposited by coexisting fluvial systems, with the larger emergent Nagri system being displaced between 10.1 and 9.0 Ma by an interfan Dhok Pathan sys- tem. In comparison to Nagri floodplains, Dhok Pathan floodplains were less well drained, with smaller rivers having more seasonally variable flow and more frequent avulsions. Paleosol se- quences indicate reorganization of topography and drainage accompanying a transition to a more seasonal climate. A few paleosols may have formed under waterlogged, grassy woodlands, but most formed under drier conditions and more closed vegetation. The oxygen isotopic record also indicates significant change in the patterns of precipitation be- ginning at 9.2 Ma, in what may have been a shift to a drier and more seasonal climate. The carbon isotope record demonstrates that after 8.1 Ma significant amounts of C 4 grasses began to appear and that by 6.8 Ma floodplain habitats included extensive C4 grasslands. Plant communities with predominantly C3 plants were greatly diminished after 7.0 Ma, and those with predominantly C4 plants, which would have been open woodlands or grassy woodlands, appeared as early as 7.4 Ma. Inferred first and last appearances show a constant, low level of faunal turnover throughout the interval 10.7-5.7-Ma, with three short periods of elevated turnover at 10.3, 7.8, and 7.3-7.0 Ma. The three pulses account for nearly 44% of all turnover. Throughout the late Miocene, species richness declined steadily, and diversity and richness indices together with data on body size imply that community ecological structure changed abruptly just after 10 Ma, and then again at 7.8 Ma. Be- tween 10 and 7.8 Ma the large-mammal assemblages were strongly dominated by equids, with more balanced faunas before and after. The pattern of appearance and disappearance is selective with respect to inferred habits of the animals. Species appearing after 9.0 Ma are grazers or typical of more open habitats, whereas many species that disappear can be linked to more closed vege- tation. We presume exceptions to this pattern were animals of the mixed C

Global diversity of gastropods (Gastropoda; Mollusca) in freshwater

Abstract: The world’s gastropod fauna from continental waters comprises ∼4,000 valid described species and a minimum of 33–38 independent lineages of Recent Neritimorpha, Caenogastropoda and Heterobranchia (including the Pulmonata). The caenogastropod component dominates in terms of species richness and diversity of morphology, physiology, life and reproductive modes and has produced several highly speciose endemic radiations. Ancient oligotrophic lakes (e.g., Baikal, Ohrid, Tanganyika) are key hotspots of gastropod diversity; also noteworthy are a number of lower river basins (e.g., Congo, Mekong, Mobile Bay). But unlike many other invertebrates, small streams, springs and groundwater systems have produced the most speciose associations of freshwater gastropods. Despite their ecological importance in many aquatic ecosystems, understanding of even their systematics is discouragingly incomplete. The world’s freshwater gastropod fauna faces unprecedented threats from habitat loss and degradation and introduced fishes and other pests. Unsustainable use of ground water, landscape modification and stock damage are destroying many streams and springs in rural/pastoral areas, and pose the most significant threats to the large diversity of narrow range endemics in springs and ground water. Despite comprising only ∼5% of the world’s gastropod fauna, freshwater gastropods account for ∼20% of recorded mollusc extinctions. However, the status of the great majority of taxa is unknown, a situation that is exacerbated by a lack of experts and critical baseline data relating to distribution, abundance, basic life history, physiology, morphology and diet. Thus, the already considerable magnitude of extinction and high levels of threat indicated by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is certainly a significant underestimate.