“…Synecological studies bring together diversity measures at different collection points and integrate them into spatial entities with similar characteristics, such as species number and composition, which is why the methods that examine faunal similarity are applied in ecology as well as in biogeography. Outcome from both is important for providing a robust and stable reference point with biodiversity assessments, particularly for those that have potential impact on decisions of conservation management (e.g., van Jaarsveld et al, 1998;Ji et al, 2013;Floren et al, 2020;Uscanga et al, 2021;Yang et al 2021).…”
Biodiversity patterns are the sum of multiple overlapping species
distributions. Their analysis therefore requires proper species
inference. DNA-based species delimitation has become increasingly
popular for such assessments and their robustness is often measured by
congruence of multiple delimitation approaches. We explore how
contrasting results of different species delimitations translate into
conclusions of synecological studies, exemplified by assemblages of
phytophagous scarab beetles in Sri Lanka from different elevations and
forest types. Particularly, we compared estimates based on complete
assemblages and on cumulated species inventories inferred from
individually analysed subclades. These patterns of assemblage similarity
were analysed across different spatial scales with reference to
morphospecies and haplotypes. Method-related ambiguity of species
estimates, which also included subclade inferences, affected severely
the certainty of apparent biodiversity patterns at most spatial scales.
In this case study of tropical beetle, haplotypes only provided very
little explanatory information, since genetically highly diverse
populations widely lacked shared haplotypes.
“…Synecological studies bring together diversity measures at different collection points and integrate them into spatial entities with similar characteristics, such as species number and composition, which is why the methods that examine faunal similarity are applied in ecology as well as in biogeography. Outcome from both is important for providing a robust and stable reference point with biodiversity assessments, particularly for those that have potential impact on decisions of conservation management (e.g., van Jaarsveld et al, 1998;Ji et al, 2013;Floren et al, 2020;Uscanga et al, 2021;Yang et al 2021).…”
Biodiversity patterns are the sum of multiple overlapping species
distributions. Their analysis therefore requires proper species
inference. DNA-based species delimitation has become increasingly
popular for such assessments and their robustness is often measured by
congruence of multiple delimitation approaches. We explore how
contrasting results of different species delimitations translate into
conclusions of synecological studies, exemplified by assemblages of
phytophagous scarab beetles in Sri Lanka from different elevations and
forest types. Particularly, we compared estimates based on complete
assemblages and on cumulated species inventories inferred from
individually analysed subclades. These patterns of assemblage similarity
were analysed across different spatial scales with reference to
morphospecies and haplotypes. Method-related ambiguity of species
estimates, which also included subclade inferences, affected severely
the certainty of apparent biodiversity patterns at most spatial scales.
In this case study of tropical beetle, haplotypes only provided very
little explanatory information, since genetically highly diverse
populations widely lacked shared haplotypes.
“…Outcome from both is important for providing a robust and stable reference point with biodiversity assessments, particularly for those that have potential impact on decisions of conservation management (e.g. Floren et al, 2020; Ji et al, 2013; Uscanga et al, 2021; van Jaarsveld et al, 1998; Yang et al, 2021).…”
Biodiversity patterns are the sum of multiple overlapping species distributions. Their analysis therefore requires proper species inference. DNA‐based species delimitation has become increasingly popular for such assessments, but their robustness is often problematic due to incongruence between multiple delimitation approaches.
Here, we explored how contrasting results of different species’ delimitations translate into conclusions of synecological studies, exemplified by assemblages of phytophagous scarab beetles in Sri Lanka from different elevations and forest types. Particularly, we compared estimates based on complete assemblages and on cumulated species inventories inferred from individually analysed subclades.
The patterns of assemblage similarity were analysed across different spatial scales with reference to morphospecies, molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) and haplotypes.
Method‐related ambiguity of species (MOTUs) estimates, which also included subclade inferences, severely affected the certainty of apparent biodiversity patterns at most spatial scales. Even more contrasting patterns resulted from individual clade‐wise analyses of faunal similarity or even from cumulated species inventories from individual clade‐wise species delimitation analysis.
In this case study of tropical chafer beetles, haplotypes provided only very little explanatory information, since genetically highly diverse populations widely lacked shared haplotypes. Therefore, searching proper species boundaries should be the ultimate goal of biodiversity assessments to lend an enduring meaning to biodiversity research and its sustainable application.
Our study underlines the need for awareness when synecological observations from different studies are integrated, which use different species delimitation methods for their biodiversity assessment, and its potential impact on conservation management.
“…Soil biomonitoring has greatly advanced recently via the advancement of DNA sequencing approaches, such as metabarcoding which has created an opportunity for rapid generation of soil biota data. This breakthrough has allowed detailed and comprehensive characterization of soil biota across space and time [ 29 , 30 ]. Fig.…”
The size-plasticity hypothesis posits that larger size organisms are less plastic in their metabolic rates and, therefore, are more strongly environmental-filtered than smaller organisms. Many studies have supported this hypothesis by evaluating the relative roles of environmental filtration and dispersal for different taxonomic groups of soil organisms. Most observations are made at large spatial scales, which are assumed to have a wide array of varying habitats. However, since urbanization causes habitat fragmentation at smaller regional scales, testing the size-plasticity hypothesis at this scale would help better understand the spatial assortment of urban soil organisms which, in turn, would help to develop improved management and conservation strategies for urban soil health. Here, we used DNA metabarcoding on five groups of soil biota (bacteria, fungi, protists, nematodes, and invertebrates) to assess the relative importance of dispersal and environmental filters to examine the size-plasticity hypothesis at this spatial scale in an urban environment. We observed strong distance-decay of community similarities associated with higher levels of stochastic changes in bacteria, nematode, and protist communities but not fungal or invertebrate communities. Bacterial communities occupied the widest niche followed by protists and nematodes, potentially because of their higher dispersal abilities compared to the larger soil organisms. Null deviation of communities varied with taxonomic groups where bacteria and nematodes were mainly driven by homogenizing dispersal, protists and fungi by drift, and soil invertebrates by environmental selection. We further identified a small percentage of locally-adapted taxa (2.1%) that could be focal taxa for conservation and restoration efforts by, for example, restoring their habitats and enhancing their regional connectivity. These results support the size-plasticity hypothesis at the relatively unexplored regional scale in an urbanization context, and provide new information for improving urban soil health and sustainable city models.
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