Perturbations Alter Community Convergence, Divergence, and Formation of Multiple Community States

Houseman, Gregory R.; Mittelbach, Gary G.; Reynolds, Heather L.; Gross, Katherine L.

doi:10.1890/07-1228.1

Cited by 84 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(51 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Scenario C has some support from experiments with fertilized grasslands (25). The plant communities in the fertilization plots were more dissimilar than those in the control plots (figures 4 and 5B in ref.…”

Section: Consistency Between Experimental Results and Theoretical Prementioning

confidence: 88%

“…The plant communities in the fertilization plots were more dissimilar than those in the control plots (figures 4 and 5B in ref. 25), which is most likely because community dispersion increases with the increased productivity that typically results from fertilization (25). Also, our recent GeoChip-based analysis of a long-term grassland fertilization experiment at Rothamstead, England, revealed that the microbial communities from plots fertilized for ∼150 y displayed a greater spread between samples than those from the control plots without fertilization (Fig.…”

Section: Consistency Between Experimental Results and Theoretical Prementioning

confidence: 91%

“…Consequently, over relatively longer time periods and at smaller spatial scales, from the perspective of compositional stochasticity, the dynamic behavior of the biofilm community in a fluidic ecosystem should be similar to the planktonic community. Second, the two types of environmental perturbations could interact with each other to stimulate stochasticity as revealed by Houseman et al (25) in grassland system. The species traits and their interactions with disturbance could also be critical to determining the effects of disturbance on stochasticity.…”

Section: Consistency Between Experimental Results and Theoretical Prementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, environmental perturbations have been classified into two categories (25): (i) increased nutrient input, especially with complex carbon (C) substrates (e.g., nutrient amendment, eutrophication, oil spill) and (ii) disturbances, which increase mortality and decrease biomass (e.g., drought, tillage, toxic chemicals, extreme temperature, salt and pH, predation). The type of environmental perturbation is also thought to influence the relative importance of stochasticity vs. determinism in community assembly (13,22,25).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The type of environmental perturbation is also thought to influence the relative importance of stochasticity vs. determinism in community assembly (13,22,25). Nutrient input is believed to increase compositional stochasticity by enhancing ecological drift (e.g., stochastic processes of birth, death, colonization, and possibly extinction, and random change in species relative abundance) (5), and weakening niche selection by providing more resources (C, energy, nutrients).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Stochasticity, succession, and environmental perturbations in a fluidic ecosystem

Zhou

Deng

Zhang

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

628

555

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Unraveling the drivers of community structure and succession in response to environmental change is a central goal in ecology. Although the mechanisms shaping community structure have been intensively examined, those controlling ecological succession remain elusive. To understand the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic processes in mediating microbial community succession, a unique framework composed of four different cases was developed for fluidic and nonfluidic ecosystems. The framework was then tested for one fluidic ecosystem: a groundwater system perturbed by adding emulsified vegetable oil (EVO) for uranium immobilization. Our results revealed that groundwater microbial community diverged substantially away from the initial community after EVO amendment and eventually converged to a new community state, which was closely clustered with its initial state. However, their composition and structure were significantly different from each other. Null model analysis indicated that both deterministic and stochastic processes played important roles in controlling the assembly and succession of the groundwater microbial community, but their relative importance was time dependent. Additionally, consistent with the proposed conceptual framework but contradictory to conventional wisdom, the community succession responding to EVO amendment was primarily controlled by stochastic rather than deterministic processes. During the middle phase of the succession, the roles of stochastic processes in controlling community composition increased substantially, ranging from 81.3% to 92.0%. Finally, there are limited successional studies available to support different cases in the conceptual framework, but further well-replicated explicit time-series experiments are needed to understand the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes in controlling community succession.community assembly | disturbances | metagenomics | GeoChip | remediation

show abstract

Section: Consistency Between Experimental Results and Theoretical Prementioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Consistency Between Experimental Results and Theoretical Prementioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Consistency Between Experimental Results and Theoretical Prementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Stochasticity, succession, and environmental perturbations in a fluidic ecosystem

Zhou

Deng

Zhang

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

628

555

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Impacts of Indian waterfern (Ceratopteris thalictroides (L.) Brongn.) infestation and removal on macroinvertebrate biodiversity and conservation in spring‐fed streams in the Australian arid zone

Carey

Strachan

Robson

2017

Aquatic Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Removal of invasive macrophytes is a priority for river managers. However, the ecological effects of macrophyte removal on macroinvertebrate diversity are rarely examined but may be of particular significance in conservation reserves and when threatened species are present. This study investigated the macroinvertebrate fauna inhabiting invasive and native macrophytes in spring‐fed channels in the Millstream‐Chichester National Park, Australia. The effects of waterfern management (periodic hand‐weeding) were examined by comparing assemblages at weeded and unweeded reaches on three occasions. Ceratopteris thalictroides harboured a diverse, insect‐dominated macroinvertebrate assemblage, including the endangered damselfly Nososticta pilbara. Total taxon richness was similar between waterfern and native macrophytes, but macroinvertebrate assemblages differed in the dry season. Damselflies (including N. pilbara) were associated with waterfern‐dominated reaches, whereas dragonfly nymphs were more common among native macrophytes. Weeding altered macroinvertebrate assemblage composition. Some weeded reaches developed assemblages indistinguishable from those in native‐dominated reaches, but others did not. Weeded reaches often supported taxa that were rare or absent from waterfern‐dominated reaches, including suspension feeders, found also in native‐dominated reaches. Odonata are particularly diverse at Millstream, with 18 species recorded. Odonate species richness was significantly lower at weeded reaches than unweeded reaches. Nososticta pilbara and other short‐range endemic species were absent from weeded reaches. As most odonates are univoltine, these adverse effects on local population size may affect species persistence. Invasive macrophyte species may support a high diversity of native invertebrates, including endangered and short‐range endemic species. Furthermore, although hand‐weeding appeared to enable a greater diversity of species to co‐exist, the removal of a large biomass of macrophytes appeared to remove whole cohorts of insect populations from stream reaches, including endangered species. Removal of invasive macrophytes should not be implemented without understanding their effects on invertebrate assemblage composition and life‐cycles.

show abstract

Elevated precipitation alters the community structure of spring ephemerals by changing dominant species density in Central Asia

Jia

Sun²,

Zhang

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global climate change is one of the most pressing conservation challenges; in particular, changes in precipitation regimes have already substantially influenced terrestrial ecosystems. However, the mechanisms influencing precipitation changes on individual plants and the plant communities in desert grasslands have yet to be fully elucidated. We therefore examine the influence of increased precipitation on plant community compositions in the Gurbantunggut Desert, Xinjiang, northwestern China, from 2005 to 2009. We found that growth of all plant species and the community productivities increased markedly with enhanced water input. Cover of ephemeral synusia also significantly increased due to increased precipitation, implying that the role of the ephemeral community for stabilization of sand dunes was strengthened by increased precipitation. The response of plant community compositions to increased precipitation was primarily reflected as changes in plant density, while increased precipitation did not affect plant species richness and the diversity index. Dominant species drove the response of plant density to increasing precipitation during the five‐year study period. However, the relative responses of rare species were stronger than those of the dominant species, thereby potentially driving species turnover with long‐term increased precipitation. This finding improved our understanding of how increased precipitation drives the changes in plant community composition in desert grasslands and will help to better predict changes in the community composition of ephemerals under future global climate change scenarios.

show abstract

Perturbations Alter Community Convergence, Divergence, and Formation of Multiple Community States

Cited by 84 publications

References 45 publications

Stochasticity, succession, and environmental perturbations in a fluidic ecosystem

Stochasticity, succession, and environmental perturbations in a fluidic ecosystem

Impacts of Indian waterfern (Ceratopteris thalictroides (L.) Brongn.) infestation and removal on macroinvertebrate biodiversity and conservation in spring‐fed streams in the Australian arid zone

Elevated precipitation alters the community structure of spring ephemerals by changing dominant species density in Central Asia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About