perspective: The keystone species concept: a critical appraisal

Cottee-Jones, H. Eden W.; Whittaker, Robert J.

doi:10.21425/f5fbg12533

Cited by 38 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Therefore, they may be ‘dual keystones’, i.e. at the same time mutualistic keystones and reverse keystones (sensu Cottee‐Jones and Whittaker ). This entanglement suggests that it may be impossible to understand the extent of ecological and evolutionary pressures exerted by frugivores on plants if one looks only at their mutualistic or antagonistic components.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Duality of interaction outcomes in a plant–frugivore multilayer network

Genrich

Mello

Silveira

et al. 2016

Oikos

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In plant–animal interactions, species are commonly labeled as either mutualists or antagonists, based on the most common, most studied, or most easily observed outcome. Nevertheless, evidence from simple systems comprising 2–4 species suggests that those labels are an oversimplification: individual species often function in both roles, either simultaneously or at different places or times. We include both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions between mammals and seeds in a multilayer network, to explore for the first time the community‐level consequences of the dual roles played by some species. We tested whether negative and positive interactions within a plant–frugivore network are separated into different modules, or whether they overlap due to the presence of frugivores that both kill and disperse seeds. The frugivorous diets of nonvolant small mammals were studied at one dry tropical forest site in southeastern Brazil by analyzing fecal samples from individuals captured in live traps. Seed viability was assessed with a tetrazolium test to determine the outcome of those interactions, as estimated by whether or not seeds survived gut passage. Interactions were analyzed as a weighted multilayer network, subdivided into one potentially mutualistic (live seeds deposited) and one antagonistic (dead seeds deposited) layer. The two layers had similar structure with high overlap between them. Some mammal species exhibited highly central, dual roles, acting both as antagonists and mutualists, in many cases of the same plant species. Dispersal service by most of these small mammals is accompanied by seed destruction, suggesting that the selective pressures exerted by those animals on the plants is much more complex than often assumed. Our results demonstrate that the complexity of plant–frugivore networks can not be fully understood without proper incorporating measures of seed fate following gut passage.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Duality of interaction outcomes in a plant–frugivore multilayer network

Genrich

Mello

Silveira

et al. 2016

Oikos

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“…Ecology is often bedevilled by conceptual imprecision and the inconsistent use of terminology (e.g., Cottee‐Jones & Whittaker, ; Peters, ), and while some ecologists think terminological prescription is either unnecessary or unachievable (e.g., Hodges, , ; Jax & Hodges, ), inconsistent terminology can affect results (e.g., Fraser, Garrard, Rumpff, Hauser, & McCarthy, ) and slow scientific progress (Herrando‐Perez, Brook, & Bradshaw, ). With this in mind, we advocate for the very narrow use of the term “secondary invasion” to be applied in situations conceptually analogous to Wicklow et al.…”

Section: Defining “Secondary Invasion”mentioning

confidence: 99%

Secondary invasion: When invasion success is contingent on other invaders altering the properties of recipient ecosystems

O’Loughlin

Green

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Positive interactions between exotic species may increase ecosystem‐level impacts and potentially facilitate the entry and spread of other exotic species. Invader‐facilitated invasion success—”secondary invasion”—is a key conceptual aspect of the well‐known invasional meltdown hypothesis, but remains poorly defined and empirically underexplored. Drawing from heuristic models and published empirical studies, we explore this form of “secondary invasion” and discuss the phenomenon within the recognized conceptual framework of the determinants of invasion success. The term “secondary invasion” has been used haphazardly in the literature to refer to multiple invasion phenomena, most of which have other more accepted titles. Our usage of the term secondary invasion is akin to “invader‐facilitated invasion,” which we define as the phenomenon in which the invasion success of one exotic species is contingent on the presence, influence, and impacts of one or more other exotic species. We present case studies of secondary invasion whereby primary invaders facilitate the entry or establishment of exotic species into communities where they were previously excluded from becoming invasive. Our synthesis, discussion, and conceptual framework of this type of secondary invasion provides a useful reference to better explain how invasive species can alter key properties of recipient ecosystems that can ultimately determine the invasion success of other species. This study increases our appreciation for complex interactions following invasion and highlights the impacts of invasive species themselves as possible determinants of invasion success. We anticipate that highlighting “secondary invasion” in this way will enable studies reporting similar phenomena to be identified and linked through consistent terminology.

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“…These positive effects are often associated with “keystone species,” those that have a high number of trophic connections, construct niches for other organisms, or provide disturbance at intermediate temporal and spatial scales . Such species can have positive effects on a wide range of other species, so that their removal can cause extensive population extinctions . Keystone species tend to be top predators, super‐generalist omnivores with many weak links to other species .…”

Section: Disturbance and The Ecological Dynamics Of Mobility And Ownementioning

confidence: 99%

Pyrodiversity and the anthropocene: the role of fire in the broad spectrum revolution

Bird¹,

Bird

Codding³

2016

Evolutionary Anthropology

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The Anthropocene colloquially refers to a global regime of human-caused environmental modification of earth systems associated with profound changes in patterns of human mobility, as well as settlement and resource use compared with prior eras. Some have argued that the processes generating the Anthropocene are mainly associated with population growth and technological innovation, and thus began only in the late Holocene under conditions of dense sedentism and industrial agriculture.(1) However, it now seems clear that the roots of the Anthropocene lie in complex processes of intensification that significantly predate transitions to agriculture.(2,3) What intensification is remains less clear. For some it is increasing economic productivity that increases carrying capacity, the drivers of which may be too diverse and too local to generalize.(4,5) For others using Boserup's ideas about agrarian intensification, increasing density in hunter-gatherer populations can produce declines in subsistence efficiency that increase incentives for investing labor to boost yield per unit area, which then elevates Malthusian limits on carrying capacity.(6-8) As Morgan(9) demonstrates in a comprehensive review, the legacy of such Boserupian intensification is alive, well, and controversial in hunter-gatherer archeology. This is a result of its potential for illuminating processes involved in transformations of forager socio-political and economic systems, including those dominated by harvesting more immediate-return resources and high residential mobility as well as those characterized by more delayed-return material economies with reduced residential mobility, a broader spectrum of resources, degrees of storage, and greater social stratification. Here we detail hypotheses about the processes involved in such transitions and explore the way that anthropogenic disturbance of ecosystems, especially the use of landscape fire, could be fundamentally entangled with many broad-spectrum revolutions associated with intensified foraging systems.

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perspective: The keystone species concept: a critical appraisal

Cited by 38 publications

References 38 publications

Duality of interaction outcomes in a plant–frugivore multilayer network

Duality of interaction outcomes in a plant–frugivore multilayer network

Secondary invasion: When invasion success is contingent on other invaders altering the properties of recipient ecosystems

Pyrodiversity and the anthropocene: the role of fire in the broad spectrum revolution

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