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Both regional species pool and local community assembly mechanism drive the microbial diversity patterns across geographical gradients. However, little has been done to separate their effects on the β diversity patterns of microbial communities involved in nitrogen (N) cycling in river ecosystems. Here, we use high‐throughput sequencing of the archaeal amoA, bacterial amoA, nirK, and nirS genes, null model, and neutral community model to distinguish the relative importance of species pool and local assembly processes for ammonia‐oxidizing and denitrifying communities in river wetlands along a latitudinal gradient in eastern China. Results indicated that the β diversity of the nirS‐type denitrifying community co‐varied with γ diversity and environmental heterogeneity, implying that regional species pool and heterogeneous selection explained variation in β diversity. However, the β diversity of ammonia‐oxidizing and nirK‐type denitrifying communities did not correlate with γ diversity and environmental heterogeneity. The continuous hump distribution of β deviation along the latitudinal gradient and the lower species dispersal rate indicated that the dispersal limitation shaped the variation in β diversity of ammonia‐oxidizing and nirK‐type denitrifying communities. Additionally, biotic interactions drove ammonia‐oxidizing and nirS‐type denitrifying communities by influencing species co‐occurrence patterns. Our study highlights the importance of regional species pool and local community assembly processes in shaping geographical patterns of N‐cycling microorganisms and extends knowledge of their adaptability to a continuously changing environment on a large scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revealing the mechanisms underlying community organization has long been a central interest for ecologists and biogeographers. Recent findings have suggested that different dimensions of biodiversity may be shaped by contrasting ecological processes, offering complementary insights about community assembly. However, studies integrating multiple diversity facets across the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (QTP) remain insufficient. We combined multiple analytical frameworks to unravel the patterns (taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic) and correlates (local environment, land use and dispersal pathways) of aquatic arthropod diversity in lotic (stream) and lentic (wetland) ecosystems of the QTP. We observed strong phylogenetic signals in most functional traits, pointing to the influence of evolutionary processes on these faunas. Null models indicated that community structure in most streams and wetlands was mostly the result of random draws from the regional functional and phylogenetic species pool. The prevalence of stochasticity was most likely associated with the interplay of the paleogeographical history, the extremely harsh environmental conditions at high elevations and the subsequent impoverishment of the regional species pool. However, some streams and wetlands also exhibited phylogenetic overdispersion and functional clustering, emphasizing the potential importance of competitive exclusion and habitat filtering, respectively. Variation partitioning further revealed that both environmental filtering and dispersal limitation accounted for the spatial variation of diversity measures, with local environment overriding the effects of space and catchment land use. Overall, this study improves our understanding of community organization and diversity patterns in environmentally extreme alpine catchments, with broad implications for the conservation and management of one of the world’s most important high‐altitude treasures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: DNA metabarcoding applies high-throughput sequencing approaches to generate numerous DNA barcodes from mixed sample pools for mass species identification and community characterisation. To date, however, most metabarcoding studies employ second-generation sequencing platforms like Illumina, which are limited by short read lengths and longer turnaround times. While third-generation platforms such as the MinION (Oxford Nanopore Technologies) can sequence longer reads and even in real-time, application of these platforms for metabarcoding has remained limited possibly due to the relatively high read error rates as well as the paucity of specialised software for processing such reads. Results: We show that this is no longer the case by performing nanopore-based, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) metabarcoding on 34 zooplankton bulk samples, and benchmarking the results against conventional Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Nanopore R10.3 sequencing chemistry and super accurate (SUP) basecalling model reduced raw read error rates to ~ 4%, and consensus calling with amplicon_sorter (without further error correction) generated metabarcodes that were ≤ 1% erroneous. Although Illumina recovered a higher number of molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) than nanopore sequencing (589 vs. 471), we found no significant differences in the zooplankton communities inferred between the sequencing platforms. Importantly, 406 of 444 (91.4%) shared MOTUs between Illumina and nanopore were also found to be free of indel errors, and 85% of the zooplankton richness could be recovered after just 12–15 h of sequencing. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that nanopore sequencing can generate metabarcodes with Illumina-like accuracy, and we are the first study to show that nanopore metabarcodes are almost always indel-free. We also show that nanopore metabarcoding is viable for characterising species-rich communities rapidly, and that the same ecological conclusions can be obtained regardless of the sequencing platform used. Collectively, our study inspires confidence in nanopore sequencing and paves the way for greater utilisation of nanopore technology in various metabarcoding applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge about how ecological networks vary across global scales is currently limited given the complexity of acquiring repeated spatial data for species interactions. Yet, recent developments in metawebs highlight efficient ways to first document possible interactions within regional species pools. Downscaling metawebs towards local network predictions is a promising approach to using the current data to investigate the variation of networks across space. However, issues remain in how to represent the spatial variability and uncertainty of species interactions, especially for large-scale food webs. Here, we present a probabilistic framework to downscale a metaweb based on the Canadian mammal metaweb and species occurrences from global databases. We investigated how our approach can be used to represent the variability of networks and communities between ecoregions in Canada. Species richness and interactions followed a similar latitudinal gradient across ecoregions but simultaneously identified contrasting diversity hotspots. Network motifs revealed additional areas of variation in network structure compared with species richness and number of links. Our method offers the potential to bring global predictions down to a more actionable local scale, and increases the diversity of ecological networks that can be projected in space. This article is part of the theme issue 'Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neovaginas are surgically constructed to correct uterovaginal agenesis in women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome or as part of gender-affirming surgery for transfeminine individuals. Understanding the assembly of the neovaginal microbiota is crucial for guiding its management. To address this, we conducted a longitudinal study on MRKH patients following laparoscopic peritoneal vaginoplasty. Our findings reveal that the early microbial assemblage exhibited stochastic characteristics, accompanied with a notable bloom of Enterococcus faecalis and genital Mycoplasmas. While both the pre-surgery dimple microbiota and the fecal microbiota constituted the primary species pool, the neovaginal microbiota developed into a microbiota that resembled that of a normal vagina at 6–12 months post-surgery, albeit with a bacterial vaginosis (BV)-like structure. By 2–4 years post-surgery, the neovaginal microbiota had further evolved into a structure closely resembling with the homeostatic pre-surgery dimple microbiota. This concords with the development of the squamous epithelium in the neovagina and highlights the pivotal roles of progressive selective forces imposed by the evolving neovaginal environment and the colonization tropism of vaginal species. Notably, we observed that strains of Lactobacillus crispatus colonizing the neovagina primarily originated from the dimple. Since L. crispatus is generally associated with vaginal health, this finding suggests potential avenues for future research to promote its colonization. Neovaginas are surgically constructed to correct uterovaginal agenesis in women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome. Here, in a longitudinal study, the authors characterize the dynamics of neovaginal microbiota assembly, showing resemblance to normal vaginal flora at 6-12 months post-surgery, albeit with a bacterial vaginosis-like structure, and further developed into a structure resembling that of the homeostatic pre-surgery dimple microbiota by 2-4 years post-surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Island biological communities are considered to comprise non‐random assemblages from surrounding source pools, but whether they converge towards predictable structural properties remains unclear. Here, we (i) test whether insular communities of land snails converge towards similar functional and/or taxonomic properties and (ii) evaluate whether island functional diversity is determined by island biogeographical characteristics such as area and distance to the pool as well as human‐related variables. Location: Sixty‐six continental Aegean islands. Taxon: Land snails. Methods: We compiled a database of two morphological traits with functional significance (shell height and width) for 163 island species and 1529 species from the major species pools. We quantified inter‐specific morphological dissimilarity between pairs of islands (turnover), using a modified index of the mean nearest taxon distance. We tested for functional and taxonomic convergence using null models and assessing whether overall mean turnover among islands and pairwise island‐by‐island turnover were lower than expected by chance. We performed multiple regression analyses to test whether functional diversity metrics scale with island biogeographical characteristics and human‐related variables. Results: Our analyses provide strong evidence that communities of land snails across the Aegean islands converge towards non‐random functional properties and taxonomic structure. At the island level, a wide range of different shell shapes is observed, indicating greater functional richness than expected by chance. Regression analyses showed that island area is the only efficient predictor of functional diversity, indicating that available ecological/resource space is of central importance in driving the assembly of different shell shapes. Main Conclusions: Our findings, consistent with previous studies of other taxa from oceanic islands, highlight that island species communities are not randomly assembled and display convergence in their functional and taxonomic composition. Integrating functional diversity metrics within biogeographic analyses has the potential to further our understanding of island biodiversity patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Revealing the role of regional species pool size in community assembly rules is essential for extending the species‐pool framework to large‐scale community ecology, and thus for more comprehensive understanding of biodiversity formation. However, little has been done to couple the regional species‐pool effect into local ecological processes in soil fungal communities, which play essential roles in ecosystems worldwide. Here, we performed large‐scale soil surveys of fungal communities to examine the linkage between regional species pool size and Dispersal–Selection Relationships (DSRs), and their relations to community structure. Location: China. Time period: July–August 2019. Major taxa studied: Fungal communities. Methods: By conducting the nationwide soil survey of ~1200 samples from various ecosystems across China, including agricultural, forest, grassland, and wetland soils, we examined the linkage between regional species pool size and DSRs, and their relationship to fungal community structure. Results: We found that selection was negatively related to dispersal, which was consistent with the general view that the strength of selection is weakened by dispersal homogenization, and that this relationship was stronger in regions with larger species pools. Moreover, an increase in community dispersion was correlated with stronger effect size of DSRs, implying greater heterogeneity among fungal communities under larger species pools. Main conclusions: Our study clearly illustrates the association of regional species pool size with local assembly rules and community formation of soil fungi across terrestrial ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates within-site variation in the diversity and composition of aboveground vegetation and seed bank in intensively managed wet grasslands of north-western Germany, comparing field edges, field margins and field interiors. We tested the hypothesis that unfertilized buffer strips at field edges function as refugia of characteristic species even in grasslands that are managed intensively for silage production. In 55 grassland sites on each marsh and moor soils, respectively, we conducted vegetation surveys, seed bank analyses and soil chemical measurements in field edge, margin and interior plots, and searched for the factors causing within-site variation in vegetation composition. The total species pool was small at the 110 sites, i.e. 148 species in the aboveground vegetation and 107 species in the seed bank, demonstrating severe impoverishment. The α-diversity decreased from 23 species (median) per 200 m2 at the edge to 15 species in the interior, with 38 species occurring only at field edges. The number of species with conservation value was very low in aboveground vegetation and seed bank and was only slightly higher at the edge than in the interior. Soil P availability was ca. 30% lower at the unfertilized edges than in the interior. We conclude that unfertilized buffer strips at grassland edges may help reducing nutrient leaching from high-input grassland systems, but they have mostly lost their refugial function for phytodiversity after decades of intensive management. Restoration efforts with seed or green hay transfer from richer source habitats are needed to promote biodiversity in field-edge buffer strips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bamboo fibres, which are widely regarded as a contemporary environmentally sustainable resource, have been utilised in various industries including construction materials and packaging sectors. Malaysia possesses a diverse array of bamboo species, rendering it a significant resource for exploration. Five out of the 69 bamboo species discovered in Malaysia were selected for their suitability and availability in the pulp and paper industry, considering properties such as high cellulose content and long fibers. The objective of this study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the morphological, physiochemical, thermal, and chemical properties of five specific bamboo species that are often found in Malaysia: Gigantochloa scortechinii (GS), Gigantochloa wrayi (GW), Gigantochloa levis (GL), Schizostachyum grande (SG) and Dendrocalamus asper (DA). Selected from a pool of 69 species based on their availability, these various types of bamboo were subjected to analysis using advanced scientific techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, a chemical composition study was performed to clarify the presence of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and ash in all five species. By employing various analytical methodologies, this study investigates and records the properties offered by the bamboo species, providing a significant contribution to the comprehension and knowledge of their potential applications across diverse disciplines. This holds relevance as all five bamboo species are readily available but remain underutilized for further applications in various fields especially in packaging industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light availability and habitat complexity are two key drivers of community assembly. Urbanisation has been shown to affect both, with important consequences to ecological communities. On the intertidal, for instance, studies have shown that light intensity is greater on natural rocky shores than on less complex artificial habitats (seawalls), though different habitats can also experience similar light intensities, for example when shaded by urban structures. Understanding therefore how these factors individually, and combined, affect communities is important to understand the mechanisms driving changes in community structure, and consequently provide solutions to tackle the increasing homogenisation of habitats and lightscapes in urbanised spaces through smart infrastructure designs. Here, we assessed how different light levels affect the recruitment of communities in rock pools and on emergent rock on an intertidal rocky shore. We cleared 30 patches of emergent rock and 30 rock pools and manipulated light using shades with different light transmissions (full light, procedural control, 75%, 35%, and 15% light transmission, full shade) and assessed mobile and sessile communities monthly for 6 months. Effects of reducing light levels were generally stronger on rock than in pools. Fully shaded plots supported double the amount of mobile organisms than plots in full sunlight, in both habitats. Algal cover was higher in pools compared to rock, and at intermediate light levels, but effects varied with site. This study highlights the importance of variable light conditions and different habitats for rocky shore communities, which should be considered in future coastal developments to retain natural biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Chayote [Sechium edule Jacq. (Sw.)] is a non-traditional export product; recently, demand has increased due to its nutritional and functional properties. There is a wide diversity of varietal groups (VGs) within this species. Despite this, only virens levis and nigrum spinosum varieties are commercialized on a large scale, while the rest are underutilized and poorly studied, so the genetic pool of this species is at risk. (2) Methods: The following variables were evaluated in the fruits of 10 chayote groups of varieties: shape, size, weight, stomatal frequency (SF), stoma size, stomatal index (SI), color index (CO*), pigments, titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), total sugars and moisture content. In addition, the postharvest behavior of the ten VGs stored at room temperature and the effect of 1-MCP on fruit quality during cold storage were evaluated. (3) Results: The groups a. minor and n. minor showed rapid weight loss, the albus varieties showed high epidermis oxidation, while v. levis, n. maximum, n. spinosum and n. xalapensis were susceptible to viviparity, blisters and fungal incidence. 1-MCP prevented chilling injury (CI) and weight loss. (4) Conclusions: The diversity of postharvest characteristics allows the use of VGs for different uses such as a fresh fruit, agroindustrial transformation or mixing with other vegetables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: Large quantities of diverse native seeds are required to scale up global restoration efforts. However, it remains unclear for many ecosystems how the diversity of available seed in commercial stocks reflects the composition of the ecosystems where vegetation is being remade. This study highlights existing shortfalls in the diversity of seed presently available for use in restoration and identifies gaps in the seed supply chain while providing a new method for optimising species selection given these constraints. This work underscores how improved collaboration between stakeholders is required to strengthen the seed supply chain and help remake functionally diverse vegetation. Summary: Restoration using native seed is frequently implemented to restore degraded ecosystems. However, it remains unclear how constraints on the diversity of germplasm available for use in restoration may limit the recovery of both species and plant functional diversity.Using a dataset of seed availability for Australia's major vegetation types, we explore variation in the diversity and breadth of functional traits (leaf mass per area, seed mass, plant height) for species where seed is available on commercial markets relative to unavailable. Using these data, we simulate theoretical seed mixes derived from two species pools: (1) constrained by the current market of commercially available seed, and (2) assuming all native species can be planted; then we compare differences in functional diversity (dispersion) as an exercise to explore possible limitations within the current seed supply.Seed from only 12% of Australian plant species (2992 species) is presently available for immediate purchase. Seed was more frequently available for trees and shrubs than for understorey species. Available species were on average taller, with thicker, longer‐lived leaves than unavailable species. Overall, functional dispersion was lower for seed mixes generated using available seed compared with those drawn from all species.Solutions are required to address seed shortfalls so that plantings are not only species rich but also functionally diverse. We develop two options: (1) quantifying and addressing gaps in the seed supply chain that currently limit the capacity for practitioners to restore diverse vegetation; and (2) applying a trait‐informed species‐selection method to plantings that maximises functional diversity using available seed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unraveling the mechanisms of community assembly in different ecosystems is a central ecological issue. Soil depth, which is the predominant characteristic of karst regions, possibly affects community assembly from the regional species pool into local communities. However, the influence of karst soil depth on plant community assembly mechanisms remains unclear. We investigated the community functional traits of karst shrublands by calculating community-weighted mean (CWM) traits for leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf carbon content (LCC), leaf nitrogen content (LNC), leaf phosphorus content (LPC), and leaf potassium content (LKC). To explore the assembly pattern of karst shrublands, we assessed the extent of trait divergence or convergence using trait-based null model analyses. Additionally, we examined how community functional traits and assembly patterns changed with varying local soil depths. Karst shrublands were found to exhibit CWM trait combinations characterized by high LDMC and LCC, as well as low SLA, LNC, LPC, and LKC to adapting to harsh environments. Furthermore, the CWM of LDMC, LCC, LCC/LNC ratio, and LCC/LPC ratio significantly decreased, while SLA and LNC in karst shrublands significantly increased along soil depth gradients. This indicates that, as soil conditions improved, the karst shrubland community shifted from a conservative survival strategy to a resource-acquisition strategy. Overall, the convergence pattern prevailed in the karst shrubland communities for most leaf traits. As the karst soil depth increased, the traits of the shrubland communities shifted from a convergence pattern toward a neutral assembly. These results demonstrate for the first time that species were primarily assembled into karst shrubland communities through environmental filtering, while the importance of environmental filtering in the assembly process gradually weakened with increasing soil depth. Our study underlines the necessity of increasing soil quantity to allow more species from the regional species pool to enter local shrublands, thereby promoting karst community succession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arboviruses transmitted by mosquitoes, including Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), present a substantial global health threat. JEV is transmitted by mosquitoes in the genus Culex, which are common in both urban and rural areas in Vietnam. In 2020, we conducted a 1-year survey of Culex mosquito abundance in urban, suburban, and peri-urban areas of Hanoi using CDC-light traps. Mosquitoes were identified to species and sorted into pools based on species, sex, and trap location. The mosquito pools were also investigated by RT-qPCR for detection of JEV. In total, 4829 mosquitoes were collected over a total of 455 trap-nights, across 13 months. Collected mosquitoes included Culex, Aedes, Anopheles, and Mansonia species. Culex mosquitoes, primarily Cx. quinquefasciatus, predominated, especially in peri-urban areas. Most Culex mosquitoes were caught in the early months of the year. The distribution and abundance of mosquitoes exhibited variations across urban, suburban, and peri-urban sites, emphasizing the influence of environmental factors such as degree of urbanization, temperature and humidity on Culex abundance. No JEV was detected in the mosquito pools. This study establishes baseline knowledge of Culex abundance and temporal variation, which is crucial for understanding the potential for JEV transmission in Hanoi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the succession of terrestrial plant communities is well studied, less is known about succession on dead wood, especially how it is affected by environmental factors. While temperate forests face increasing canopy mortality, which causes considerable changes in microclimates, it remains unclear how canopy openness affects fungal succession. Here, we used a large real-world experiment to study the effect of closed and opened canopy on treatment-based alpha and beta fungal fruiting diversity. We found increasing diversity in early and decreasing diversity at later stages of succession under both canopies, with a stronger decrease under open canopies. However, the slopes of the diversity versus time relationships did not differ significantly between canopy treatments. The community dissimilarity remained mainly stable between canopies at ca. 25% of species exclusively associated with either canopy treatment. Species exclusive in either canopy treatment showed very low number of occupied objects compared to species occurring in both treatments. Our study showed that canopy loss subtly affected fungal fruiting succession on dead wood, suggesting that most species in the local species pool are specialized or can tolerate variable conditions. Our study indicates that the fruiting of the fungal community on dead wood is resilient against the predicted increase in canopy loss in temperate forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: Marine rocky outcrops are model systems of community assembly under harsh conditions. The prevailing environmental conditions that determine a coast–inland gradient of stress and disturbance impose a strong environmental filter on community assembly. However, the Atlantic rocky outcrops of Uruguay challenge this assumption as they exhibit high plant diversity at small spatial scales. We investigated this study system to answer: (1) which environmental factors determine diversity at the local scale; (2) and how does the regional pool influence species composition along the coast–inland gradient? Methods: We analyzed the local and regional determinants of plant community assembly in four rocky sites along the Uruguayan coast. Through a random sampling approach stratified by distance to the coast, we recorded species occurrences and microenvironmental conditions. Observed taxa were assigned into different species assemblages according to their typical vegetation type. Generalized Linear Model (GLM)–Poisson regression, quantile regressions and hierarchical cluster analyses were used to identify the factors underlying local richness and the spatial vegetation structure. Results: Nine different vegetation types generate a mass effect that enhances local diversity. Unexpectedly, 56% of the species are from non‐marine environments — e.g. grasslands or hydrophilous herblands. Species assemblages were spatially clustered, with a turnover of these clusters along the coast–inland gradient. Elevation, distance to the coast and vegetation cover promoted richness, likely due to an attenuation of marine filters. Meanwhile, substrate availability reduced richness, likely due to competitive exclusion as a result of more resources and homogeneous microenvironmental conditions. Conclusions: The high local diversity along the marine rocky outcrops of Uruguay is best explained by a functionally diverse regional species pool, which interacts with local heterogeneity, and by conditions that enhance or attenuate the effect of marine stress. Effective conservation and management strategies are key to minimize the detrimental effects of urbanization, fragmentation, and non‐native plant invasions on these diverse habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Cameroon, Aedes mosquitoes transmit various arboviruses, posing significant health risks. We aimed to characterize the Aedes virome in southwestern Cameroon and identify potential core viruses which might be associated with vector competence. A total of 398 Aedes mosquitoes were collected from four locations (Bafoussam, Buea, Edea, and Yaounde). Aedes albopictus dominated all sites except for Bafoussam, where Aedes africanus prevailed. Metagenomic analyses of the mosquitoes grouped per species into 54 pools revealed notable differences in the eukaryotic viromes between Ae. africanus and Ae. albopictus, with the former exhibiting greater richness and diversity. Thirty-seven eukaryotic virus species from 16 families were identified, including six novel viruses with near complete genome sequences. Seven viruses were further quantified in individual mosquitoes via qRT-PCR. Although none of them could be identified as core viruses, Guangzhou sobemo-like virus and Bafoussam mosquito solemovirus, were highly prevalent regionally in Ae. albopictus and Ae. africanus, respectively. This study highlights the diverse eukaryotic virome of Aedes species in southwestern Cameroon. Despite their shared genus, Aedes species exhibit limited viral sharing, with varying viral abundance and prevalence across locations. Ae. africanus, an understudied vector, harbors a rich and diverse virome, suggesting potential implications for arbovirus vector competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key goals of ecology is to understand how communities are assembled. The species co‐existence theory suggests that community β‐diversity is influenced by species pool and community assembly processes, such as environmental filtering, dispersal events, ecological drift and biotic interactions. However, it remains unclear whether there are similar β‐diversity patterns among different soil microbial groups and whether all these mechanisms play significant roles in mediating β‐diversity patterns. By conducting a broad survey across Chinese deserts, we aimed to address these questions by investing biological soil crusts (biocrusts). Through amplicon‐sequencing, we acquired β‐diversity data for multiple microbial groups, that is, soil total bacteria, diazotrophs, phoD‐harbouring taxa, and fungi. Our results have shown varying distance decay rates of β‐diversity across microbial groups, with soil total bacteria showing a weaker distance‐decay relationship than other groups. The impact of the species pool on community β‐diversity varied across microbial groups, with soil total bacteria and diazotrophs being significantly influenced. While the contributions of specific assembly processes to community β‐diversity patterns varied among different microbial groups, significant effects of local community assembly processes on β‐diversity patterns were consistently observed across all groups. Homogenous selection and dispersal limitation emerged as crucial processes for all groups. Precipitation and soil C:P were the key factors mediating β‐diversity for all groups. This study has substantially advanced our understanding of how the communities of multiple microbial groups are structured in desert biocrust systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) are essential for tree growth and adaptation, yet our understanding of the seasonal storage and mobilization dynamics of whole-tree NSC is still limited, especially when tree functional types are involved. Here, Quercus acutissima Carruth. and Pinus massoniana Lamb, with distinct life-history traits (i.e. a deciduous broadleaf species vs an evergreen coniferous species), were studied to assess the size and seasonal fluctuations of organ and whole-tree NSC pools with a focus on comparing differences in carbon resource mobilization patterns between the two species. We sampled the organs (leaf, branch, stem and root) of the target trees repeatedly over four seasons of the year. Then, NSC concentrations in each organ were paired with biomass estimates from the allometric model to generate whole-tree NSC pools. The seasonal dynamics of the whole-tree NSC of Q. acutissima and P. massoniana reached the peak in autumn and summer, respectively. The starch pools of the two species were supplemented in the growing season while the soluble sugar pools were the largest in the dormant season. Seasonal dynamics of organ-level NSC concentrations and pools were affected by organ type and tree species, with above-ground organs generally increasing during the growing season and P. massoniana roots decreasing during the growing season. In addition, the whole-tree NSC pools of P. massoniana were larger but Q. acutissima showed larger seasonal fluctuations, indicating that larger storage was not associated with more pronounced seasonal fluctuations. We also found that the branch and root were the most dynamic organs of Q. acutissima and P. massoniana , respectively, and were the major suppliers of NSC to support tree growth activities. These results provide fundamental insights into the dynamics and mobilization patterns of NSC at the whole-tree level, and have important implications for investigating environmental adaptions of different tree functional types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of community assembly typically focus on the effects of abiotic environmental filters and stabilizing competition on functional trait dispersion within single trophic levels. Predation is a well‐known driver of community diversity and composition, yet the role of functionally diverse predator communities in filtering prey community traits has received less attention. We examined functionally diverse communities of predators (fishes) and prey (epifaunal crustaceans) in eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds in two northern California estuaries to evaluate the filtering effects of predator traits on community assembly and how filters acting on predators influence their ability to mediate prey community assembly. Fish traits related to bottom orientation were correlated with more clustered epifauna communities, and epifauna were generally overdispersed while fishes were clustered, suggesting prey may be pushed to disparate areas of trait space to avoid capture by benthic sit‐and‐wait predators. We also found correlations between the trait dispersions of predator and prey communities that strengthened after accounting for the effects of habitat filters on predator dispersion, suggesting that habitat filtering effects on predator species pools may hinder their ability to affect prey community assembly. Our results present compelling observational evidence that specific predator traits have measurable impacts on the community assembly of prey, inviting experimental tests of predator trait means on community assembly and explicit comparisons of how the relative effects of habitat filters and intraguild competition on predators impact their ability to affect prey community assembly. Integrating our understanding of traits at multiple trophic levels can help us better predict the impacts of community composition on food web dynamics as regional species pools shift with climate change and anthropogenic introductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water turbidity alters prey detectability and prey selection by a predator. In dimorphic mesopredators, the effect of water turbidity on foraging success may be sex specific, primarily due to sex differences in reproductive allotment, body size and vulnerability to predation. To experimentally test the effect of turbidity on prey consumption with respect to sex, we used turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri), a small fish from ephemeral savanna pools in southeast Africa that vary widely in turbidity. Large males possess conspicuous nuptial coloration while females are smaller and drab. Vision is assumed to be a fundamental sense for turquoise killifish, despite often living in very turbid water. As mesopredators, killifish regulate the invertebrate community in ephemeral pools. We tested the consumption of bloodworms (benthic and red‐coloured) and glassworms (pelagic and transparent) under clear (<1NTU) and turbid (320 NTU) water conditions. We found that turquoise killifish maintained their overall foraging success irrespective of turbidity. In both the clear and turbid water, the females consumed three times more food than males relative to their body mass. This likely stems from the females' high nutritional demands due to daily reproduction. It also suggests that females are not risk‐aversive in clear water despite their smaller size. Water turbidity affected the type of prey consumed by turquoise killifish and demonstrated its potential to affect the community structure of invertebrate species in ephemeral pools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What drives the composition of invaded communities and the local abundance of introduced species are key questions in ecology.Community‐assembly theory provides a useful framework for addressing these questions. Specifically, the environmental filtering model of community assembly predicts that a species' presence and abundance in a community depend on the interaction between its functional traits and the local environmental filters. However, for introduced species, larger‐scale dispersal and introduction‐related filters may restrict their regional trait pool.Here, we tested this framework using long‐term data from 50+ years of old‐field vegetation succession. We asked whether native and introduced plant assemblages followed the same trait‐based assembly rules. We also asked whether local functional dissimilarities between the two can be explained by regional species pool differences, a possibility that has rarely been addressed.We found strong similarities in the assembly processes of native and introduced plants. Average height and seed mass of both groups increased over time, consistent with previous studies of old‐field succession. Moreover, the two showed similar trait–abundance relationships. While there were also some differences, particularly in their trait–incidence relationships, these differences appeared to be minor.Furthermore, we identified species pool constraints on introduced species and found that the exotic species pool was biased towards early successional traits.Lastly, we found that highly invasive exotic species were also likely to deviate from the expected trait–abundance relationship, suggesting a link between the two.These results imply that introduced species generally follow the same assembly rules as native species. They also indicate that species pool differences can result in local functional composition differences, even when the two groups follow the same assembly rules. Moreover, there may be a link between species invasiveness and deviation from assembly rules, which, if further confirmed, provides a potential method of identifying strong invaders.Synthesis: Using data from a long‐term succession study, we showed several similarities, and some differences, in the assembly of native and introduced species assemblages. Our results provide a better understanding of the factors constraining and allowing invasion, and help in the identification of 'rule breaking' invaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two water frog species: the pool frog Pelophylax lessonae (L) and the marsh frog P. ridibundus (R) occur sympatrically in Central Europe and form mixed populations (genetic systems) with their hybrid, the edible frog P. esculentus (E). The aim of the study was to assess the species composition of water frogs in urban and rural populations and compare our current findings with the results of previous studies. We surveyed the same sites that were investigated by Berger et al. in 1962–1970 (Poznań, urban landscape) and 1977–1997 (Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park, rural landscape). Because some ponds surveyed in the past were destroyed or dried-up, we also explored others located in the adjacent areas. We captured frogs during breeding seasons 2020 and 2021 and identified them by the nuclear marker gene SAI-1. We found three types of populations in the urban area: R-E, E-E and R-E-L and four in the rural area: R-E, L-E, E-E and R-E-L. Compared to the historical data, we found a drastic decrease in the frequency of P. lessonae in urban and rural landscapes: from 89.1% and 68% to 2.7% and 1.8%, respectively. At the same time, the frequency of P. ridibundus increased from 2.2% and 0.1% to 40% and 29.6%, respectively. A similar pattern was found for P. esculentus whose frequency increased from 8.7% and 31.9% to 57.3% and 68.6%, respectively. Additionally, we confirmed the presence of a cryptogenic Balkan water frog, P. kurtmuelleri, which was recently discovered in south-western Poland. The frequency of SAI-1 allele specific for this taxon reached 7.3%. The patterns found in both types of landscapes are in line with the current situation of both parental species in Europe. Such dynamic changes show the need for long-term monitoring of the population compositions of water frogs, what is crucial for their conservation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to non‐native plant invasions, many governments have established noxious weed lists to control and eradicate introduced invasive plants. However, invasive agronomic species are often unregulated, and the extent of their invasion across habitat types has never been determined.Using vegetation surveys across 222 plots, we investigated the contribution of agronomic versus noxious non‐native species to the levels of invasion across seven habitat types in central Canada.Although agronomic non‐native species, such as Poa pratensis and Bromus inermis, only made up 21.3% of the non‐native species pool, they accounted for 43.6% of non‐native plant species frequency and 74.4% of relative non‐native plant cover. They were also disproportionately overrepresented compared with noxious non‐native species across all habitat types, except saline marshes.The overabundance of agronomic non‐native plants in central Canada is likely the legacy of cultivar breeding, intentional seeding of introduced forage species and a lack of incentive for the use of native species.Synthesis and applications: Decelerating the invasion by agronomic non‐native plants will require approaches beyond noxious weed lists and initiatives in research, policy and education. These tools can include incentives to use native seed material, for example, in reclamation and forage and turf production, to reduce propagule pressure from invasive agronomic non‐native plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interspecific information flow is known to affect individual fitness, population dynamics and community assembly, but there has been less study of how species diversity affects information flow and thereby ecosystem functioning and services. We address this question by first examining differences among species in the sensitivity, accuracy, transmissibility, detectability and value of the cues and signals they produce, and in how they receive, store and use information derived from heterospecifics. We then review how interspecific information flow occurs in communities, involving a diversity of species and sensory modes, and how this flow can affect ecosystem‐level functions, such as decomposition, seed dispersal or algae removal on coral reefs. We highlight evidence that some keystone species are particularly critical as a source of information used by eavesdroppers, and so have a disproportionate effect on information flow. Such keystone species include community informants producing signals, particularly about predation risk, that influence other species' landscapes of fear, and aggregation initiators creating cues or signals about resources. We suggest that the presence of keystone species means that there will likely be a positive relationship in many communities between species diversity and information through a 'sampling effect', in which larger pools of species are more likely to include the keystone species by chance. We then consider whether the number and relative abundance of species, irrespective of the presence of keystone species, matter to interspecific information flow; on this issue, the theory is less developed, and the evidence scant and indirect. Higher diversity could increase the quantity or quality of information that is used by eavesdroppers because redundancy increases the reliability of information or because the species provide complementary information. Alternatively, there could be a lack of a relationship between species diversity and information if there is widespread information parasitism where users are not sources, or if information sourced from heterospecifics is of lower value than that gained personally or sourced from conspecifics. Recent research suggests that species diversity does have information‐modulated community and ecosystem consequences, especially in birds, such as the diversity of species at feeders increasing resource exploitation, or the number of imitated species increasing responses to vocal mimics. A first step for future research includes comprehensive observations of information flow among different taxa and habitats. Then studies should investigate whether species diversity influences the cumulative quality or quantity of information at the community level, and consequently ecosystem‐level processes. An applied objective is to conserve species in part for their value as sources of information for other species, including for humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale forest restoration projects significantly reduce the net rates of forest loss. However, as a key component of forest restoration, planted forests have failed to restore biodiversity. China has implemented a large-scale afforestation program, which includes pure planted forests in particular, leading to various changes in ecosystem processes. Despite this, a comprehensive analysis of understory vegetation diversity patterns in these pure planted forests is still lacking. This study aimed to analyze the data on understory vegetation diversity from three typical pure and natural forest ecosystems of Hunan ecological forests to reveal their diversity patterns. The results revealed no significant difference in the understory diversity index between natural and pure forest types, although natural forests had a bigger species pool. The Zipf–Mandelbrot model was a better fit for species abundance distribution. The fitted results suggested that both environmental filtering and neutral processes affected the species abundance distribution and pure understory communities during restoration succession. Natural forests had the most stable understory diversity structure, whereas pure Phyllostachys heterocycla (Carr.) Mitford forests had the least stable structure. Multivariate regression tree analysis identified indicator species for each community. The gradient boosting model indicated that isothermality and slope direction were the most important factors affecting diversity. The β-diversity analysis showed that community establishment in the four forest types was affected via different mechanisms. The findings of this study have significant implications for understanding the impact of afforestation on the mechanisms for maintaining diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Nested plot designs with concentric plots with increasing radii and size threshold underestimate tree species richness with respect to full census sampling with no tree size restrictions. Regeneration emerged as the most relevant pool for tree species richness estimation. Context: Nested or concentric plot designs, where trees are sampled according to their size and position, are common in National Forest Inventories (NFI) to reduce the sampling effort. However, this could bias the estimation of tree diversity such as species richness. Aims: The main goal of this study is to quantify the effect of the nested plot designs with increasing radii and diameter at breast height threshold on the number of tree species as well as to provide values for mean tree species richness per plot at the forest-type level using the Spanish NFI. Methods: We compared tree species richness according to the Spanish NFI nested plot design (radii ranging from 5 to 25 m with increasing minimum threshold in dbh from 7.5 to 42.5 cm as well as the regeneration compartment) with the richness estimate based on a full census (without restrictions in the location or size) in the Spanish NFI 25 m radius plot. Results: Our results confirmed the underestimation of tree species richness (around 32.5%) when using the nested design. The species omitted in the nested design sampling are often subordinates, typically with small diameters. Regeneration emerged as the main pool for tree species richness estimation. This pattern holds across the main forest types, indicating that it is a generalized rather than regional or local phenomenon. Conclusion: We strongly recommend using full census data for assessing tree species richness whenever available, as relying solely on nested designs can significantly underestimate tree species richness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies on haemosporidian diversity, including origin of human malaria parasites, malaria's zoonotic dynamic, and regional biodiversity patterns, have used target gene approaches. However, current methods have a trade-off between scalability and data quality. Here, a long-read Next-Generation Sequencing protocol using PacBio HiFi is presented. The data processing is supported by a pipeline that uses machine-learning for analysing the reads. Methods: A set of primers was designed to target approximately 6 kb, almost the entire length of the haemosporidian mitochondrial genome. Amplicons from different samples were multiplexed in an SMRTbell® library preparation. A pipeline (HmtG-PacBio Pipeline) to process the reads is also provided; it integrates multiple sequence alignments, a machine-learning algorithm that uses modified variational autoencoders, and a clustering method to identify the mitochondrial haplotypes/species in a sample. Although 192 specimens could be studied simultaneously, a pilot experiment with 15 specimens is presented, including in silico experiments where multiple data combinations were tested. Results: The primers amplified various haemosporidian parasite genomes and yielded high-quality mt genome sequences. This new protocol allowed the detection and characterization of mixed infections and co-infections in the samples. The machine-learning approach converged into reproducible haplotypes with a low error rate, averaging 0.2% per read (minimum of 0.03% and maximum of 0.46%). The minimum recommended coverage per haplotype is 30X based on the detected error rates. The pipeline facilitates inspecting the data, including a local blast against a file of provided mitochondrial sequences that the researcher can customize. Conclusions: This is not a diagnostic approach but a high-throughput method to study haemosporidian sequence assemblages and perform genotyping by targeting the mitochondrial genome. Accordingly, the methodology allowed for examining specimens with multiple infections and co-infections of different haemosporidian parasites. The pipeline enables data quality assessment and comparison of the haplotypes obtained to those from previous studies. Although a single locus approach, whole mitochondrial data provide high-quality information to characterize species pools of haemosporidian parasites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nonrandom association between landscape characteristics and the dominant life history strategies observed in species pools is a typical pattern in nature. Here, we argue that these associations determine predictable changes in the relative importance of assembly mechanisms along broadscale geographic gradients (i.e., the geographic context of metacommunity dynamics). To demonstrate that, we employed simulation models in which groups of species with the same initial distribution of niche breadths and dispersal abilities interacted across a wide range of landscapes with contrasting characteristics. By assessing the traits of dominant species in the species pool in each landscape type, we determined how different landscape characteristics select for different life history strategies at the metacommunity level. We analyzed the simulated data using the same analytical approaches used in the study of empirical metacommunities to derive predictions about the causal relationships between landscape characteristics and dominant life histories in species pools, as well as their reciprocal influence on empirical inferences regarding the assembly process. We provide empirical support for these predictions by contrasting the assembly of moth metacommunities in a tropical versus a temperate mountainous landscape. Together, our model framework and empirical analyses demonstrate how the geographic context of metacommunities influences our understanding of community assembly across broadscale ecological gradients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dark diversity includes ecologically suitable species currently absent in a site, albeit theoretically able to arrive from the surrounding region. Various methods can estimate the likelihood that an absent species is in the dark diversity of a site. Recent developments in estimation of dark diversity have advanced the field, yet uncertainty on method selection might lead to confusion and misleading results. Here, we provide methodological guidance by reanalyzing a data set used in a recently published dark‐diversity study (Hostens et al. 2023; Journal of Vegetation Science 34: e13212). Using various approaches to estimate dark diversity, we discuss why their estimations differ, and examine which methods are more appropriate than others for the particular data set. In this study, the hypergeometric method based on species co‐occurrences outperformed the other considered methods (species distribution modelling, Beals index). Further, we show how estimations of dark diversity can be combined with a Bayesian framework to examine which characteristics of sites and species are related to their tendency to have higher dark‐diversity size (sites) than expected or to be more frequently in dark diversity (species). This paper hopefully enhances confidence in dark‐diversity methods, allowing progress in both ecological theory and biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic variation at local scales can influence both exposure and sensitivity of organisms and thereby scale up to influence population persistence and community composition across broader geographic extents. Tropical forest canopies are more climatically dynamic than the understorey. Consequently, the niche space of forest canopies has higher overlap in thermal conditions along elevation gradients, which imposes less of a climatic barrier to arboreal species than their ground‐dwelling counterparts. We use ant communities of the Australian Wet Tropics to test the prediction that ground communities should have higher rates of species turnover over elevation compared to arboreal communities. We sampled ground and arboreal ants along elevation gradients at a bioregional scale that includes four mountain sub‐regions. We assessed community composition at three spatial resolutions (regional, elevation, vertical) and then calculated beta diversity (species turnover) over elevation for ground and arboreal communities using null modelling procedures to compare different sized species pools. Vertical niche affinity was a strong contributor to overall biogeographic patterns; indicated by a strong interaction between vertical niche and elevation in beta diversity models. On average, the ground community exhibited a pronounced elevational distance–decay pattern while the arboreal community showed no pattern. Mean species turnover was 36% higher in ground than arboreal communities. Our findings suggest that the vertical niche has a pronounced effect on biogeographic patterns which has important implications for understanding the role of local scale climate conditions in shaping communities and for potential responses to future climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims The quartz fields of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) are arid and island-like special habitats, hosting ~142 habitat-specialized plant species, of which 81 % are local endemics, characterized by a rapid turnover of species between and among sites. We use several phylogenetic community metrics: (1) to examine species diversity and phylogenetic structure within and among quartz fields; (2) to investigate whether quartz field specialists are evolutionarily drawn from local species pools, whereas the alternative hypothesis posits that there is no significant evolutionary connection between quartz field specialists and the local species pools; and (3) to determine whether there is an association between certain traits and the presence of species in quartz fields. Methods We sampled and developed dated phylogenies for six species-rich angiosperm families (Aizoaceae, Asteraceae, Crassulaceae, Cyperaceae, Fabaceae and Santalaceae) represented in the quartz field floras of southern Africa. Specifically, we focused on the flora of three quartz field regions in South Africa (Knersvlakte, Little Karoo and Overberg) and their surrounding species pools to address our research questions by scoring traits associated with harsh environments. Key Results We found that the Overberg and Little Karoo had the highest level of species overlap for families Aizoaceae and Fabaceae, whereas the Knersvlakte and the Overberg had the highest species overlap for families Asteraceae, Crassulaceae and Santalaceae. Although our phylogenetic community structure and trait analyses showed no clear patterns, relatively low pairwise phylogenetic distances between specialists and their local species pools for Aizoaceae suggest that quartz species could be drawn evolutionarily from their surrounding areas. We also found that families Aizoaceae and Crassulaceae in Knersvlakte and Little Karoo were phylogenetically even. Conclusions Despite their proximity to one another within the GCFR, the studied areas differ in their species pools and the phylogenetic structure of their specialists. Our work provides further justification for increased conservation focus on these unique habitats under future scenarios of global change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anticipated long‐term rise in temperature can have numerous effects on freshwater phytoplankton, however, there is a great deal of uncertainty about how biogeochemical processes modify community functioning under a warming climate. Previous works regarding a large shallow lake and a mesocosm study showed a positive relationship between the temporal variability of phytoplankton composition and mean temperature, which might be a sign of warming‐stimulated instability in ecosystem processes. To elucidate whether these observations are part of a more general phenomenon, we combined a numerical model describing the dependence of algal growth on temperature and nutrient concentration with a multispecies, multi‐nutrient model. We ran simulations representative of changes in phytoplankton communities with randomized initial species composition under different temperature scenarios (current annual temperature pattern increased with 1°C, 2°C, or 3°C), various levels of nitrogen and phosphorus supply and different degrees of temporal variability in those supplies. The model outputs showed that seasonal variability in composition can be enhanced by warming through the mechanistic links between nutrient availability, temperature, and species‐specific growth rates, but the rate of increase is also dependent on nutrient ratios and the size of the species pool. Moreover, temporal variability in nutrient loads also enhanced compositional variability, but the rate of increase also depended on the level of nutrient supply. The results of our study hint that the impact of climate change and eutrophication on phytoplankton dynamics can be more intricate than spatiotemporally limited field or experimental observations would suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microorganisms, especially rare microbial species, are crucial in estuarine ecosystems for driving biogeochemical processes and preserving biodiversity. However, the understanding of the links between ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) and the diversity of rare bacterial taxa in estuary ecosystems remains limited. Employing high-throughput sequencing and a variety of statistical methods, we assessed the diversities and assembly process of abundant and rare bacterioplankton and their contributions to EMF in a subtropical estuary. Taxonomic analysis revealed Proteobacteria as the predominant phylum among both abundant and rare bacterial taxa. Notably, rare taxa demonstrated significantly higher taxonomic diversity and a larger species pool than abundant taxa. Additionally, our findings highlighted that deterministic assembly processes predominantly shape microbial communities, with heterogeneous selection exerting a stronger influence on rare taxa. Further analysis reveals that rare bacterial beta-diversity significantly impacts to EMF, whereas alpha diversity did not. The partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) analysis demonstrated that the beta diversity of abundant and rare taxa, as the main biotic factor, directly affected EMF, while temperature and total organic carbon (TOC) were additional key factors to determine the relationship between beta diversity and EMF. These findings advance our understanding of the distribution features and ecological knowledge of the abundant and rare taxa in EMF in subtropical estuaries, and provide a reference for exploring the multifunctionality of different biospheres in aquatic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi play vital regulatory roles in terrestrial ecosystems. Local community assembly mechanisms, including deterministic and stochastic processes, as well as the size of regional species pools (gamma diversity), typically influence overall soil microbial community beta diversity patterns. However, there is limited evidence supporting their direct and indirect effects on beta diversity of different soil fungal functional groups in forest ecosystems. To address this gap, we collected 1606 soil samples from a 25-ha subtropical forest plot in southern China. Our goal was to determine the direct effects and indirect effects of regional species pools on the beta diversity of soil fungi, specifically arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), ectomycorrhizal (EcM), plant-pathogenic, and saprotrophic fungi. We quantified the effects of soil properties, mycorrhizal tree abundances, and topographical factors on soil fungal diversity. The beta diversity of plant-pathogenic fungi was predominantly influenced by the size of the species pool. In contrast, the beta diversity of EcM fungi was primarily driven indirectly through community assembly processes. Neither of them had significant effects on the beta diversity of AM and saprotrophic fungi. Our results highlight that the direct and indirect effects of species pools on the beta diversity of soil functional groups of fungi can significantly differ even within a relatively small area. They also demonstrate the independent and combined effects of various factors in regulating the diversities of soil functional groups of fungi. Consequently, it is crucial to study the fungal community not only as a whole but also by considering different functional groups within the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polychaetes are important components of the macrofaunal communities associated with golden kelp Ecklonia radiata holdfasts across different spatial scales. However, the polychaete component varies in different habitat types in response to varying environmental conditions. Here, we compared patterns of variation in Ecklonia radiata holdfast-associated polychaetes between rock pools and gullies along South Africa's southeast coast. Eighteen species were found in gullies and 28 species in rock pools, with 13 and 16 families represented, respectively. The study sites at Cwebe, Dwesa and Nqabarha had 12, 11 and 20 species, respectively. The rock pools were more species-rich than the gullies, while Nqabarha was the most species-rich site. The composition of species varied both among habitat types and between sites, with a separation in polychaete composition observed between Cwebe and Dwesa. The species that contributed >60% to the distinction between habitat types and among sites were Lepidonotus semitectus, Cirriformia capensis, Eunice aphroditotis, Syllis sp., Chaetopterus variopedatus, L. durbanensis, Arabella iricolor, Lysidice natalensis and Gunnarea gaimardi. The polychaete distribution on kelp holdfasts was influenced by the sediment and geomorphological characteristics of the sampling sites. Our findings highlight the importance of sediment in creating habitat heterogeneity and how this facilitates high species richness in rock pools. However, physical factors explained a small proportion of the variance in the polychaete assemblages. Therefore, biological factors could be more important drivers than abiotic elements, particularly between habitat types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biotic and abiotic conditions have been found to strongly influence how biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning in forests. This context dependency of biodiversity‐productivity relationships in real‐world ecosystems may be shaped by the biogeographic context via deep‐time processes acting on the size and composition of the species pool such as dispersal limitation, environmental filtering, speciation and invasibility. However, the role of the biogeographic context in shaping multifaceted biodiversity and forest productivity relationships remains uncertain.Using data from the Spanish National Forest Inventory in climatically similar forests on the Canary Islands (637 plots) and mainland Spain (1434 plots), we investigate the extent to which above‐ground productivity is determined by ecological and evolutionary processes associated with the biogeographic context. We used structural equation models to test the drivers of above‐ground productivity in both contexts, that operate via multifaceted tree diversity (taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity) or alternative mechanisms, that is environmental conditions, non‐native species, and the number of trees.Our results show that mainland and island forests exhibit similar levels of productivity, yet island forests display overall lower multifaceted diversity. We found that the number of trees increased multifaceted diversity and also increased productivity directly and via their effects on phylogenetic diversity in both mainland and island forests. Further, non‐native species increased productivity in island forests.Synthesis: Our results suggest that multifaceted diversity, by capturing the diversity of evolutionary history, contributes to elucidating diversity‐productivity relationships in mainland and island forests that could not be detected by taxonomic diversity alone. By filling empty niches in island forests, we find that non‐native species are fundamentally altering ecosystem functioning on islands and thus, reveal how biogeographic context can shape biodiversity‐productivity relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premise: Spectroscopy is a powerful remote sensing tool for monitoring plant biodiversity over broad geographic areas. Increasing evidence suggests that foliar spectral reflectance can be used to identify trees at the species level. However, most studies have focused on only a limited number of species at a time, and few studies have explored the underlying phylogenetic structure of leaf spectra. Accurate species identifications are important for reliable estimations of biodiversity from spectral data. Methods: Using over 3500 leaf‐level spectral measurements, we evaluated whether foliar reflectance spectra (400–2400 nm) can accurately differentiate most tree species from a regional species pool in eastern North America. We explored relationships between spectral, phylogenetic, and leaf functional trait variation as well as their influence on species classification using a hurdle regression model. Results: Spectral reflectance accurately differentiated tree species (κ = 0.736, ±0.005). Foliar spectra showed strong phylogenetic signal, and classification errors from foliar spectra, although present at higher taxonomic levels, were found predominantly between closely related species, often of the same genus. In addition, we find functional and phylogenetic distance broadly control the occurrence and frequency of spectral classification mistakes among species. Conclusions: Our results further support the link between leaf spectral diversity, taxonomic hierarchy, and phylogenetic and functional diversity, and highlight the potential of spectroscopy to remotely sense plant biodiversity and vegetation response to global change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic matter (OM) resources shape not only the trophic diversity of benthic communities but also the diversity of benthic functional traits. The resulting community structure has a direct effect on many ecosystem processes and functions. Still, the relationship between functional diversity of marine benthos and its trophic diversity in response to the variability of food remains poorly investigated. To explore this relationship we focused on the assessment of various facets of macrobenthic diversity in two temperate coastal areas (southern Baltic Sea) characterized by similar species pool and habitat properties but different OM sources and supplies. We also identified spatio‐temporal patterns of functional structure and assessed, which OM properties had the strongest influence on benthic communities. In our study, functional space dispersion followed isotopic space dispersion, reflecting the positive relationship between food variability and ecological functions of benthic communities. Moreover, functional structure in shallow areas was more location‐specific in comparison to deeper areas, and this was significantly related to OM parameters. Higher OM variability close to the river mouth prevented the community from becoming dominated by one specialized species, whereas limited OM supply at shallow open coast lowered the diversity by enabling stronger competitor to dominate the community. In more offshore areas, local OM variability ceased and hence, communities tended to reflect similar trophic and functional patterns. Our study demonstrates that functional and isotopic diversity approaches can be effectively combined to better understand mechanisms driving benthic community structure and confirm that greater variability in OM supply increases diversity of benthic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the ongoing environmental degradation from local to global scales, it is fundamental to develop more efficient means of gathering data on species and ecosystems. Local ecological knowledge, in which local communities can consistently provide information on the status of animal species over time, has been shown to be effective. Several studies demonstrate that data gathered using local ecological knowledge (LEK)‐based methods are comparable with data obtained from conventional methods (such as line transects and camera traps).Here, we employ a consensus analysis to validate and evaluate the accuracy of interview data on LEK. Additionally, we investigate the influence of social and bioecological variables on enhancing data quality. We interviewed 323 persons in 19 villages in the Western and Central Amazon to determine the level of consensus on the abundance of hunted and non‐hunted forest species. These villages varied in size, socio‐economic characteristics and in the experience with wildlife of their dwellers. Interviewees estimated the relative abundance of 101 species with a broad spectrum of bioecological characteristics using a four‐point Likert scale.High consensus was found for species population abundance in all sampled villages and for 79.6% of interviewees. The village consensus of all species abundance pooled was negatively correlated with village population size. The consensus level was high regardless of the interviewees' hunting experience. Species that are more frequently hunted or are more apparent had greater consensus values; only two species presented a low consensus level, which are rare and solitary species.We show in our study in the Amazon that information gathered by local peoples, Indigenous as well as non‐Indigenous, can be useful in understanding the status of animal species found within their environment. The high level of cultural consensus we describe likely arises from knowledge sharing and the strong connection between the persons interviewed and the forest. We suggest that consensus analysis can be used to validate LEK‐generated data instead of comparing these types of data with information obtained by conventional methods. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relatively unmanaged interstitial areas at the residential–wildland interface can support the development of novel woody plant communities. Community assembly processes in urban areas involve interactions between spontaneous and cultivated species pools that include native, introduced (exotic/non-native) and invasive species. The potential of these communities to spread under changing climate conditions has implications for the future trajectories of forests within and beyond urban areas. We quantified woody vegetation (including trees and shrubs) in relatively unmanaged "interstitial" areas at the residential–wildland interface and in exurban reference natural areas in six metropolitan regions across the continental USA. In addition, we analyzed soil N and C cycling processes to ensure that there were no major anthropogenic differences between reference and interstitial sites such as compaction, profile disturbance or fertilization, and to explore effects of novel plant communities on soil processes. We observed marked differences in woody plant community composition between interstitial and reference sites in most metropolitan regions. These differences appeared to be driven by the expanded species pool in urban areas. There were no obvious anthropogenic effects on soils, enabling us to determine that compositional differences between interstitial and reference areas were associated with variation in soil N availability. Our observations of the formation of novel communities in interstitial spaces in six cities across a very broad range of climates, suggest that our results have relevance for how forests within and beyond urban areas are assessed and managed to provide ecosystem services and resilience that rely on native biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Urban parks are hot spots of bird diversity in cities. However, their role as urban filters for raptor species has not been assessed yet. This study aimed to compare the functional and phylogenetic traits of raptor assemblages in urban parks with the regional species pool of raptors in east–central Argentina. Diurnal raptors were surveyed in 51 urban parks in six cities during breeding and nonbreeding seasons. The regional species pool was assessed through raptor surveys and published maps surrounding the cities. The functional and phylogenetic relatedness of urban raptors was higher than expected by chance, suggesting filtering induced by urban parks. Urban raptors were, in general, generalist species with small body sizes. Moreover, species tended to be part of the Falconidae family. Based on the results obtained here and in other published work, a model of raptor assembling in urban parks is proposed. The design of urban parks needs to be more heterogeneous, promoting the occurrence of specialist raptors. Urban parks are hot spots of bird diversity in cities. However, their role as urban filters for raptor species has not been assessed yet. This study aimed to compare the functional and phylogenetic traits of raptor assemblages in urban parks with the regional species pool of raptors in east–central Argentina. Diurnal raptors were surveyed in 51 urban parks in six cities during breeding and nonbreeding seasons. The regional species pool was assessed through raptor surveys and published maps surrounding the cities. The observed functional and phylogenetic relatedness of urban raptors was compared with 999 simulated raptor assemblages from the regional species pool. A total of five species were recorded in urban parks. The Chimango Caracara (Milvago chimango) was the numerically dominant species, comprising 95% of the 172 individuals recorded. The regional species pool was composed of 20 diurnal species. The functional and phylogenetic relatedness of urban raptors was higher than expected by chance, suggesting filtering induced by urban parks. Urban raptors were, in general, generalist species with small body sizes. Moreover, species tended to be part of the Falconidae family. Based on the results obtained here and in other published work, a model of raptor assembling in urban parks is proposed. The design of urban parks needs to be more heterogeneous, promoting the occurrence of specialist raptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reef fisheries are multispecific and employ a variety of fishing gears across marine environments, even in remote areas. This intricate and multifaceted nature of reef fisheries is often overlooked in management strategies, leading to global management failures. In Brazil, information about reef fisheries is often scarce and scattered. This stems from inadequate policies and an unrecognized societal value of reef fisheries. Here, we combine nationwide reef fish landing data (1950–2015) with an extensive literature review on Brazilian reef fisheries. We explore temporal and spatial patterns in total landings, species traits, functional diversity and composition to understand the current scenario, identify drivers of change and highlight information gaps. Brazilian reef fisheries rapidly increased in landing volume, number of targeted species and exploited traits in the 1980's, despite mainly targeting carnivorous fish (groupers, snappers, jacks and trevallies). Exploited functional space increased over time, mainly due to the incorporation of smaller and lower-trophic level species that gradually were added to the pool of fished species. Local and international markets have been the main drivers behind these patterns, while subsistence fishing is marginal. Lack of proper management and enforcement of existing regulations have led to population declines, dwindling total catches since the early 2000's, and numerous threatened species. Artisanal fishing accounts for the majority of catches, raising concern on the social impacts of degraded reef fisheries. We highlight the urgent need for adequate fishing statistics, and the use/application of science-based management and policy actions to secure productive fisheries and healthy reef ecosystems in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dispersal is more intense in the ocean than on land because most marine taxa present planktonic life stages that are transported by currents even without specific morphological traits. Thus, species dispersal shapes the distribution of biodiversity along seascapes and drives the composition of biodiversity assemblages. To identify marine assembling zones which characterise spatial areas particularly prone to receive and retain similar animal assemblages from the regional pool of species through passive dispersal, we propose a community‐based approach grounded on Lagrangian simulations of plankton dispersal. This novel approach was applied to communities (coast, outer shelf, slope, seamounts and islands; 0–80 m depth) of the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic and used to assess connectivity pathways. For that, we classified the modelled particles in 15 categories according to biological traits (planktonic life duration and spawning habitat) of representative planktonic communities. From the hierarchical clustering of the multivariate matrix containing the amount of arriving particles from each category in each cell we defined 14 assembling zones. Results highlighted that the assembling zones were mostly shaped by the degree of exposure to currents and the presence of mesoscale features (eddies, recirculation) derived from the interaction between these currents and coastlines. The boundaries, dispersal and connectivity patterns of these zones consistently align with local and regional in situ spatial distribution and abundance patterns of organisms, and provide an appropriate basis for the formulation of ecological hypotheses in the metacommunity framework to be tested in situ, such as the balance between species sorting and mass effect assembling archetypes. This approach, when coupled with the knowledge of other processes shaping communities' structure and distribution, provides important insights for regions and animal groups for which knowledge is limited or absent, and more generally allows for a comprehensive overview of the distribution of distinct communities and connectivity pathways along marine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: Madagascar's children are taught that their ancestors destroyed the vast ancient forest, giving rise to modern grasslands, a misleading myth that continues to undermine people's relationship with nature. Replacing this myth with a more nuanced and accurate narrative around grassy ecosystems is fundamental to building a more positive relationship between Madagascar's people and ecosystems, a process that is necessary to build modern conservation practice and environmental governance. The data we present are consistent with a pre‐human grass flora in the region, suggesting the local grassy ecosystems should not be written off as fully anthropogenic and undesirable but are instead in need of recognition and further research attention. Summary: Grassy ecosystems cover over a quarter of dry land, with mosaics of old‐growth and recently formed anthropogenic systems appearing superficially similar to an uninformed observer. Grasses are part of a deep web of historic relationships between grassy ecosystems and local people.We collect and compile the first list of grass species (Poaceae) in north‐west Madagascar in order to make an initial evidence assessment for a pre‐human grass flora. Field surveys and voucher specimen collections were carried out. Specimen identification was performed using morphological character comparison with reference specimens, literature and personal knowledge of grasses from other parts of Madagascar.Seventy species are recorded and assigned to 44 genera. The species list is compared with regional grass checklists from central and south‐central Madagascar. Thirty‐five grasses are unique to Mahajanga, comprising 19% of the multi‐region species pool analysed; the regional species richness is comparable to that of the highlands.The main subfamilies represented are the Panicoideae (64%) and Chloridoideae (29%). Seven species are endemic to Madagascar, reflecting their evolutionary origins on the island. Many of the species are found in multiple types of habitat and substrate, while others are restricted to limited areas and habitats, and local species richness varies significantly with habitat and soil. The main disturbance regimes driving species occurrence include fire and grazing, possibly partly reflecting similar disturbances prior to human arrival. The patterns observed in the grass flora of north‐western Madagascar are overall congruent with a pre‐human grass flora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across ecology, and particularly within microbial ecology, there is limited understanding how the generation and maintenance of diversity. Although recent work has shown that both local assembly processes and species pools are important in structuring microbial communities, the relative contributions of these mechanisms remain an important question. Moreover, the roles of local assembly processes and species pools are drastically different when explicitly considering the potential for saturation or unsaturation, yet this issue is rarely addressed. Thus, we established a conceptual model that incorporated saturation theory into the microbiological domain to advance the understanding of mechanisms controlling soil bacterial diversity during forest secondary succession. Conceptual model hypotheses were tested by coupling soil bacterial diversity, local assembly processes and species pools using six different forest successional chronosequences distributed across multiple climate zones. Consistent with the unsaturated case proposed in our conceptual framework, we found that species pool consistently affected α‐diversity, even while local assembly processes on local richness operate. In contrast, the effects of species pool on β‐diversity disappeared once local assembly processes were taken into account, and changes in environmental conditions during secondary succession led to shifts in β‐diversity through mediation of the strength of heterogeneous selection. Overall, this study represents one of the first to demonstrate that most local bacterial communities might be unsaturated, where the effect of species pool on α‐diversity is robust to the consideration of multiple environmental influences, but β‐diversity is constrained by environmental selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will modify the marine ecosystem in several ways, but the effects of changing climate on benthic diatoms, which are one of the most important photosynthesizing organism groups in benthic habitats, are poorly studied. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to investigate the effects of increasing temperature and decreasing salinity on the taxonomic and functional diversity of benthic diatoms. We showed that decreasing salinity affects the taxonomic and functional composition of communities, and the threshold salinity for community composition is ~5. This indicates that when climate change leads to decreasing salinity in brackish systems, the most pronounced changes in communities occur in areas where salinity decreases from >5 to <5. We also showed that both increasing temperature and decreasing salinity exert stress on communities and, hence, lead to the decrease of the alpha and beta diversity of communities. This indicates that climate change reduces the size of the species pool of diatoms. Our results show that, along with the changing climate, we can expect benthic diatom communities to become less diverse and less resilient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Contemporary and projected shifts in global fire regimes highlight the importance of understanding how fire affects ecosystem function and biodiversity across taxa and geographies. Pyrodiversity, or heterogeneity in fire history, is often an important driver of biodiversity, though it has been largely overlooked until relatively recently. In this paper, we synthesise previous research to develop a theoretical framework on pyrodiversity–biodiversity relationships and propose future research and conservation management directions. Theoretical Framework: Pyrodiversity may affect biodiversity by diversifying available ecological niches, stabilising community networks and/or supporting diverse species pools available for post‐fire colonisation. Further, pyrodiversity's effects on biodiversity vary across different spatial, temporal and organismal scales depending on the mobility and other life history traits of the organisms in question and may be mediated by regional eco‐evolutionary factors such as historical fire regimes. Developing a generalisable understanding of pyrodiversity effects on biodiversity has been challenging, in part because pyrodiversity can be quantified in various ways. Applying the Pyrodiversity Concept: Exclusion of Indigenous fire stewardship, fire suppression, increased unplanned ignitions and climate change have led to dramatic shifts in fire regimes globally. Such shifts include departures from historic levels of pyrodiversity and add to existing challenges to biodiversity conservation in fire‐prone landscapes. Managers navigating these challenges can be aided by targeted research into observed contemporary pyrodiversity–biodiversity relationships as well as knowledge of historical reference conditions informed by both Indigenous and local ecological knowledge and western science. Future Research Directions: Several promising avenues exist for the advancement of pyrodiversity science to further both theoretical and practical goals. These lines of investigation include but are not limited to (1) testing the increasing variety of pyrodiversity metrics and analytical approaches; (2) assessing the spatial and temporal scale‐dependence of pyrodiversity's influence; (3) reconstructing historical pyrodiversity patterns and developing methods for predicting and/or promoting future pyrodiversity; and (4) expanding the focus of pyrodiversity science beyond biodiversity to better understand its influence on ecosystem function and processes more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we focused on the co-occurrence pattern on regional and local scales, and on the niche differences of two species of congeneric beetles (Ochthebius quadricollis and O. lejolisii, Hydraenidae) exclusive of supratidal rockpools. Abundances of adults and larval stages from both species and environmental variables were obtained in 10 pools from 12 localities along the Iberian Mediterranean coast. To determine the local co-existence pattern, we monthly sampled two localities in an annual cycle. On regional and local scales, we found negative correlations between both species' pool abundances, which suggest spatio-temporal segregation based on their different environmental responses. The OMI analysis detected interspecific niche differences, larger in larvae than adults. The best regression models obtained for O. quadricollis larvae included depth, conductivity, and fine sediments as the main explanatory variables with a positive effect, and distance to sea and CPOM with a negative effect. For O. lejolisii larvae, the best models included CPOM and periphyton with positive effects, while pool area, depth and conductivity negatively affected. Our results suggest that subtle interspecific differences in ecological niches, mainly those related to pool hydroperiod and salinity, could determine spatio-temporal storage effects as the principal mechanisms of co-existence on local and regional scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization alters natural habitats, restructures biotic communities and serves as a filter for selecting species from regional species pools. However, empirical evidence of the specific traits that allow species to persist in urban areas yields mixed results. More importantly, it remains unclear which traits are widespread for species utilizing urban spaces (urban utilizers) and which are environment‐dependent traits.Using 745 bird species from 287 university/institute campuses in 74 cities and their species pools across China, we tested whether species that occur in urban areas are correlated with regards to their biological (body mass, beak shape, flight capacity and clutch size), ecological (diet diversity, niche width and habitat breadth), behavioural (foraging innovation) and evolutionary (diversification rate) attributes.We used Bayesian phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models to disentangle the relative roles of these predictors further, and to determine the extent to which the effects of these predictors varied among different cities.We found that urban birds were more phylogenetically clustered than expected by chance, and were generally characterized by a larger habitat breadth, faster diversification rate, more behavioural innovation and smaller body size. Notably, the relative effects of the attributes in explaining urban bird communities varied with city temperature and elevation, indicating that the filters used to determine urban species were environment dependent.We conclude that, while urban birds are typically small‐sized, generalists, innovative and rapidly diversifying, the key traits that allow them to thrive vary spatially, depending on the climatic and topographic conditions of the city. These findings emphasize the importance of studying species communities within specific cities to better understand the contextual dependencies of key traits that are filtered by urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]