Differences in beta diversity between exotic and native grasslands vary with scale along a latitudinal gradient

Martin, Leslie; Wilsey, Brian J.

doi:10.1890/14-0772.1

Cited by 28 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Similar to our results, in India, the United States and Chile, grassland homogenization has been driven by the spread of widespread non‐native species in response to habitat fragmentation and human settlement (MacDougall et al. ; Dar & Reshi ; Martin & Wilsey ; Fisher et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Biotic homogenization in an increasingly urbanized temperate grassland ecosystem

Zeeman

McDonnell

Kendal

et al. 2017

J Vegetation Science

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Question How does urbanization and associated declines in fire frequency alter the floristic composition of native temperate grasslands? Does it lead to: (1) biotic homogenization, i.e. compositional similarity between remnants increases; (2) biotic differentiation, whereby similarity between remnants declines, or; (3) clustered differentiation, where similarity between remnants remains unchanged, but composition shifts from the historical state? Location Victoria, Australia. Methods Using site‐level surveys, we examined changes in the floristic similarity of 29 urban grasslands from 1992 to 2013 and compared these changes to those of 63 rural grasslands from 1989 to 2014. Community‐level changes in the representation of key functional traits were also examined in urban grasslands, with traits advantaged following disturbance regime change and urban fragmentation predicted to increase in frequency. Results Our results supported the biotic homogenization hypothesis in urban grasslands. Compositional similarity between grasslands increased principally because of an increase in commonly shared non‐native species, with change in native composition comparatively minor. However, no evidence of biotic homogenization was found in rural grasslands, with no significant change in overall composition identified. The most urbanized sites had the highest number of non‐native species in both the current and historical data sets, yet non‐native composition over the past two decades changed the most in sites on the urban fringe, becoming more similar to sites closer to the urban core. As expected, following declines in fire frequency and increased urbanization, the overall composition of urban grasslands shifted to taller plant species, while native species capable of vegetative reproduction and exotic species with an annual life span increased in frequency. Conclusion Urbanization was an important driver of biodiversity change in the investigated system, with increasing competition intensity in response to disturbance regime change a likely cause of biotic homogenization. Our results demonstrate that non‐native species are a key driver of biotic homogenization, emphasizing the importance of managing non‐native immigration and maintaining historical disturbance processes once native ecosystems become urbanized.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Biotic homogenization in an increasingly urbanized temperate grassland ecosystem

Zeeman

McDonnell

Kendal

et al. 2017

J Vegetation Science

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“…That taxonomic homogenization of grassland communities at the focal spatial scale, i.e. within a locality, may occur as a result of exotic species proliferation is also supported by studies examining exoticdominated prairie grasslands, which-when compared to native grasslands-reveal lower beta-diversity locally (Martin & Wilsey, 2015).…”

Section: Beta-diversitymentioning

confidence: 83%

Local biodiversity erosion in south Brazilian grasslands under moderate levels of landscape habitat loss

Staude

Vélez‐Martin

Andrade

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, exerting negative effects on the ecological viability of natural vegetation remnants. The south Brazilian grasslands belong to one of the largest temperate grassland regions in the world, but have lost 50% of their natural extent in the past 35 years. To date, there is no empirical evidence for the effects of habitat loss on these grasslands' biological diversity, undermining their conservation. Using data from a large‐scale biodiversity survey, we asked if local plant communities respond to levels of habitat loss representative of the entire region (≤50%). Vegetation in grassland remnants was sampled in 24 landscapes at three localities each, using nine plots per locality. To investigate whether species losses were a consequence of stochastic or nonrandom local extinctions and whether plant communities became more homogenized, we evaluated species richness, beta‐diversity components (spatial turnover and nestedness), and phylogenetic diversity, in respect to landscape change. In part of the landscapes, arthropods were sampled to investigate if loss of plant diversity had a cascading effect on other trophic levels. We evaluated generic richness of ants, an omnivore group with high levels of plant associations, in respect to a plant community's phylogenetic diversity. Local plant communities in landscapes with less grassland cover had fewer species, less spatial turnover, increased nestedness and lower phylogenetic diversity. Our results suggest that the observed species loss can be linked to taxonomic homogenization and is nonrandom, decreasing evolutionary diversity within the community. Furthermore, ant richness declined by 50% in plant communities with the lowest phylogenetic diversity, suggesting that effects of habitat loss propagate to higher trophic levels. Policy implications. We conclude that the biological diversity of south Brazilian grasslands, at the producer and consumer level, is at risk under the current rate of land‐use conversion, even at habitat losses below 50%. To avoid substantial biodiversity loss, conservation and more restrictive policies for conversion of native grasslands to different land uses in South Brazil are urgently needed.

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“…Some studies have found that a high Gram negative : positive ratio is indicative of a higher environment stress (Clark et al 2009, Feng andSimpson 2009), and this is consistent with our finding that the Gram negative : positive ratio increased with increasing latitude, and high-latitude sites had lower temperatures and less precipitation. Exotic species may homogenize biota, or lower beta diversity, at a variety of spatial scales Reshi 2015, Martin andWilsey 2015). In native communities, composition of soil communities at continental and global scales should reflect geographic variation in abiotic condition, soil types, and other dominant species that influence the soil community, resulting in high beta diversity at geographic scales (Wu et al 2016, Price et al 2018, Ren et al 2018.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Invasive species, particularly plants, can cause changes in species richness, edaphic factors, hydrological factors, and nutrient cycling in the invaded ranges (Vil a et al 2011, Hughes et al 2016. Through these changes, they can cause biotic homogenization, in which beta diversity decreases and local plant and animal communities become increasingly similar (McKinney and La Sorte 2007, Lambdon et al 2008, Martin and Wilsey 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic homogenization of wetland nematode communities by exotic Spartina alterniflora in China

Zhang

Pennings

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Introduced species may homogenize biotic communities. Whether this homogenization can erase latitudinal patterns of species diversity and composition has not been well studied. We examined this by comparing nematode and microbial communities in stands of native Phragmites australis and exotic Spartina alterniflora in coastal wetlands across 18°of latitude in China. We found clear latitudinal clines in nematode diversity and functional composition, and in microbial composition, for soils collected from native P. australis. These latitudinal patterns were weak or absent for soils collected from nearby stands of the exotic S. alterniflora. Climatic and edaphic variables varied across latitude in similar ways in both community types. In P. australis there were strong correlations between community structure and environmental variables, whereas in S. alterniflora these correlations were weak. These results suggest that the invasion of S. alterniflora into the Chinese coastal wetlands has caused profound biotic homogenization of soil communities across latitude. We speculate that the variation in P. australis nematode and microbial communities across latitude is primarily driven by geographic variation in plant traits, but that such variation in plant traits is largely lacking for the recently introduced exotic S. alterniflora. These results indicate that widespread exotic species can homogenize nematode communities at large spatial scales.

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Differences in beta diversity between exotic and native grasslands vary with scale along a latitudinal gradient

Cited by 28 publications

References 55 publications

Biotic homogenization in an increasingly urbanized temperate grassland ecosystem

Biotic homogenization in an increasingly urbanized temperate grassland ecosystem

Local biodiversity erosion in south Brazilian grasslands under moderate levels of landscape habitat loss

Biotic homogenization of wetland nematode communities by exotic Spartina alterniflora in China

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