A measure for assessing functional diversity in ecological communities

Schmera, Dénes; Erős, Tibor; Podani, János

doi:10.1007/s10452-007-9152-9

Cited by 106 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Using the mentioned biological traits (Table 1), taxa were assigned to unique trait combinations (UTCs, see Erős et al 2009). By definition, an UTC contains taxa with identical values for each modality category of biological traits and the term UTC is equivalent with the term functional unit (Schmera et al 2009a(Schmera et al , 2009b and the term functional species (Ricotta 2005).…”

Section: Environmental Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat filtering determines spatial variation of macroinvertebrate community traits in northern headwater streams

Schmera¹,

Erős²,

Heino³

2013

Community Ecology

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Although our knowledge of the spatial distribution of stream organisms has been increasing rapidly in the last decades, there is still little consensus about traitbased variability of macroinvertebrate communities within and between catchments in near-pristine systems. Our aim was to examine the taxonomic and trait based stability vs. variability of stream macroinvertebrates in three high-latitude catchments in Finland. The collected taxa were assigned to unique trait combinations (UTCs) using biological traits. We found that only a single or a highly limited number of taxa formed a single UTC, suggesting a low degree of redundancy. Our analyses revealed significant differences in the environmental conditions of the streams among the three catchments. Linear models, rarefaction curves and beta-diversity measures showed that the catchments differed in both alpha and beta diversity. Taxon-and trait-based multivariate analyses also indicated that the three catchments were significantly different in terms of macroinvertebrate communities. All these findings suggest that habitat filtering, i.e., environmental differences among catchments, determines the variability of macroinvertebrate communities, thereby contributing to the significant biological differences among the catchments. The main implications of our study is that the sensitivity of trait-based analyses to natural environmental variation should be carefully incorporated in the assessment of environmental degradation, and that further studies are needed for a deeper understanding of trait-based community patterns across near-pristine streams.

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Section: Environmental Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat filtering determines spatial variation of macroinvertebrate community traits in northern headwater streams

Schmera¹,

Erős²,

Heino³

2013

Community Ecology

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“…The evaluation of variation in methodological approaches has been performed for species distribution models (e.g., Diniz-Filho et al 2009;Tessarolo et al 2014), richness estimators (e.g., Brose et al 2003), beta diversity indices (e.g., Anderson et al 2011) and functional diversity indices (e.g., Petchey et al 2004;Schmera et al 2009;Mouchet et al 2010). In this study, we used an approach that enabled us to map the sources of variation (i.e., type of index and linkage method) when calculating functional diversity via dendrograms and to evaluate their relationships with environmental conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While previous studies have compared the performance of different functional diversity indices (e.g., Petchey et al 2004;Schmera et al 2009;Teresa & Casatti 2017), none of these studies were dedicated exclusively to indices based on dendrograms, despite their increased use and occurrence in the scientific literature (for the use of FD see Mouchet et al 2008;. Similarly, there are ample discussions on their methodological issues (Podani & Schmera 2006;Petchey & Gaston 2007), although there is still no general consensus (Mouchet et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the spatial variation of functional diversity estimates based on dendrograms in phytoplankton communities

2017

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Variation in phytoplankton functional diversity is partioned and mapped using several indices and linkage methods based on dendrograms. Th e relationships between diversity metrics and major environmental predictors, including zooplankton density, were assessed in 29 phytoplankton communities of fl oodplain lakes distributed along the Middle Araguaia River in central Brazil. Th e dendrogram-based functional diversity indices were Functional Group Richness, Functional Diversity, Mean Pairwise Distance and Mean Nearest Taxon Distance, whereas seven diff erent hierarchical agglomerative linkage methods we used. Th e performance of indices were compared using ANOVA and their spatial variation in response to major environmental predictors evaluated. Th e results indicate that variation in functional diversity values is primarily a product of the type of index chosen. Th is variation was statistically signifi cant in 90 % of the fl oodplain lakes studied; however, a spatial pattern of variation in index values along the river was not detected. Furthermore, environmental constraints, including zooplankton density, were weak predictors of functional diversity indices. Th erefore, the mathematical characteristics of indices are of primary importance in explaining variation among functional diversity values.

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“…Significance levels are * P B 0.05, ** P B 0.01, *** P B 0.001 needed to conduct extensive surveys but also because there is still no agreement on the method to be used (Gascon et al, 2009). Biodiversity-related measures are the most commonly used estimators (Magurran, 1988), but rarity (Schmera, 2003), endangerment status (Brooks et al, 1999), typicalness (Eyre & Rushton, 1989), endemism (Turpie et al, 2000), functional diversity measures (Schmera et al, 2009) or multimetric indices (Lücke & Johnson, 2009) are also frequently used. Each measure represents a unique aspect of conservation value and measures are not necessarily correlated (Williams et al, 1996;Schmera, 2003;Wilsey et al, 2005;Heino et al, 2007;Gascon et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing a typology system of running waters for conservation planning in Hungary

Schmera

Baur

2011

Hydrobiologia

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Landscape and site classifications are increasingly being used in conservation planning and biodiversity management. We examined the utility of a simple typology system for predicting the conservation value of running-water sites in Hungary using aquatic invertebrates. Aquatic invertebrates (444 species) were collected by kick and sweep sampling technique, in a few cases also with a net, at 317 running-water sites covering the entire area of Hungary. On the basis of three criteria (naturalness, altitude and size of catchment area) we obtained a typology scheme distinguishing five running-water types: artificial lowland stream, natural highland river, natural highland stream, natural lowland river and natural lowland stream. We expressed the conservation value of each site using the numbers of native species, unique native species, redlist species, protected species and alien species.Furthermore, the conservation value of each river type was expressed by a measure of beta diversity. Our results show that any interpretation of the effect of a single criterion might be misleading. Consequently, the use of the whole typology system is recommended. The study revealed that all stream types are valuable to a certain extent because they maintain distinct biological communities. We found that the conservation value of artificial watercourses is comparable to that of natural running-water sites. We identified that natural lowland rivers and artificial lowland streams are the ones mostly exposed to species invasions. These findings are essential in maintaining and protecting conservation values of any freshwater ecosystem, and may contribute to management decisions on running waters in Hungary.

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A measure for assessing functional diversity in ecological communities

Cited by 106 publications

References 43 publications

Habitat filtering determines spatial variation of macroinvertebrate community traits in northern headwater streams

Habitat filtering determines spatial variation of macroinvertebrate community traits in northern headwater streams

Assessing the spatial variation of functional diversity estimates based on dendrograms in phytoplankton communities

Testing a typology system of running waters for conservation planning in Hungary

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