Spatial insurance in multi‐trophic metacommunities

Limberger, Romana; Pitt, Alexandra; Hahn, Martin W.; Wickham, Stephen A.

doi:10.1111/ele.13365

Cited by 21 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Simulation models that included spatial dynamics also accurately represented realistic patterns in focal systems like pitcher-plant communities (Baiser et al, 2013). Dispersal in metacommunities has also been demonstrated, both theoretically and empirically, to provide a sort of "spatial insurance" that buffers communities against perturbations by promoting rescue effects and resource complementarity (Loreau et al, 2003;Limberger et al, 2019), and experiments have confirmed that these same spatial insurance effects can lower the invasibility of local communities when invasive species are the "perturbation" (Howeth, 2017). Intermediate levels of dispersal in a metacommunity also maximize food web linkages and species diversity, the latter of which has been shown to be a deterrent for invaders (Beaury et al, 2020).…”

Section: Metacommunity Perspectivementioning

confidence: 97%

Rethinking Biological Invasions as a Metacommunity Problem

Brown

Barney

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Perhaps more than any other ecological discipline, invasion biology has married the practices of basic science and the application of that science. The conceptual frameworks of population regulation, metapopulations, supply-side ecology, and community assembly have all to some degree informed the regulation, management, and prevention of biological invasions. Invasion biology needs to continue to adopt emerging frameworks and paradigms to progress as both a basic and applied science. This need is urgent as the biological invasion problem continues to worsen. The development of metacommunity theory in the last two decades represents a paradigm-shifting approach to community ecology that emphasizes the multi-scale nature of community assembly and biodiversity regulation. Work on metacommunities has demonstrated that even relatively simple processes at local scales are often heavily influenced by regional-scale processes driven primarily by the dispersal of organisms. Often the influence of dispersal interacts with, or even swamps, the influence of local-scale drivers like environmental conditions and species interactions. An emphasis on dispersal and a focus on multi-scale processes enable metacommunity theory to contribute strongly to the advancement of invasion biology. Propagule pressure of invaders has been identified as one of the most important drivers facilitating invasion, so the metacommunity concept, designed to address how dispersal-driven dynamics affect community structure, can directly address many of the central questions of invasion biology. Here we revisit many of the important concepts and paradigms of biological invasions—propagule pressure, biotic resistance, enemy release, functional traits, neonative species, human-assisted transport,—and view those concepts through the lens of metacommunity theory. In doing so, we accomplish several goals. First, we show that work on metacommunities has generated multiple predictions, models, and the tools that can be directly applied to invasion scenarios. Among these predictions is that invasibility of a community should decrease with both local controls on community assembly, and the dispersal rates of native species. Second, we demonstrate that framing biological invasions in metacommunity terms actually unifies several seemingly disparate concepts central to invasion biology. Finally, we recommend several courses of action for the control and management of invasive species that emerge from applying the concepts of metacommunity theory.

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Section: Metacommunity Perspectivementioning

confidence: 97%

Rethinking Biological Invasions as a Metacommunity Problem

Brown

Barney

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…Several studies have experimentally controlled connectivity and shown that it affects diversity, EF and stability (France & Duffy 2006;Staddon et al 2010;Haddad et al 2015;Thompson et al 2015;Guelzow et al 2017;Limberger et al 2019). One BEF experiment that explicitly assessed scale while controlling dispersal in a metacommunity.…”

Section: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence is accruing that the manipulation of horizontal and vertical network diversity affects stability and ecosystem function (Srivastava & Bell 2009;Thibaut et al 2012;Fornoff et al 2019;Zhao et al 2019), but few studies have incorporated scale. Experiments have shown that the magnitude and stability of BEF is modified by changes in food web diversity and spatial scale (France & Duffy 2006;Staddon et al 2010;Limberger et al 2019). These studies connected habitat patches via dispersal to study the emergent relationships between B and EF across patches in a metacommunity.…”

Section: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling‐up biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research

et al. 2020

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A rich body of knowledge links biodiversity to ecosystem functioning (BEF), but it is primarily focused on small scales. We review the current theory and identify six expectations for scale dependence in the BEF relationship: (1) a nonlinear change in the slope of the BEF relationship with spatial scale; (2) a scale‐dependent relationship between ecosystem stability and spatial extent; (3) coexistence within and among sites will result in a positive BEF relationship at larger scales; (4) temporal autocorrelation in environmental variability affects species turnover and thus the change in BEF slope with scale; (5) connectivity in metacommunities generates nonlinear BEF and stability relationships by affecting population synchrony at local and regional scales; (6) spatial scaling in food web structure and diversity will generate scale dependence in ecosystem functioning. We suggest directions for synthesis that combine approaches in metaecosystem and metacommunity ecology and integrate cross‐scale feedbacks. Tests of this theory may combine remote sensing with a generation of networked experiments that assess effects at multiple scales. We also show how anthropogenic land cover change may alter the scaling of the BEF relationship. New research on the role of scale in BEF will guide policy linking the goals of managing biodiversity and ecosystems.

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“…More variable community composition might also decrease the predictability of ecosystem attributes (e.g., ecosystem respiration) at finer scales of ecological organization (McGrady-Steed et al 1997). Conversely, increased variability could also contribute to improved ecosystem function if species migration patterns and recolonization dynamics in disturbed landscapes are consistent with the spatial insurance hypothesis (Loreau et al 2003;Wang and Loreau 2014;Limberger et al 2019). The spatial insurance hypothesis describes an ecological scenario where dispersal among ecosystems in a spatially and temporally variable landscape allows for the coexistence of functionally complementary species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warming Rates Alter Sequence of Disassembly in Experimental Communities

Walberg

Green

2021

The American Naturalist

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The frequency, intensity, and duration of periods of extreme environmental warming are expected to rise over the next hundred years and play an increasing role in species loss resulting from climate change, and yet we know little about their potential future effects on variability in the composition of communities. This study analyzed patterns of species loss in a community of four rotifers and six ciliates exposed to different rates of extreme warming. Temperature of loss was positively correlated with warming rates for all species, consistent with theoretical frameworks suggesting that lower rates of warming increase exposure time and cumulative thermal stress at each temperature.The sequence of species loss during extreme warming depended on the environmental warming rate (i.e., warming rates had the capacity to drive reversals in the relative thermal tolerances of species), and changes in the sequence of species loss driven by warming rate resulted in substantial variability in community composition. The results suggest differences in warming rates across space and time may increase variability in community composition in ecosystems increasingly disturbed by extreme temperature, potentially altering interspecific interactions, the abiotic environment, and ecosystem function. Several ecological mechanisms may be responsible, singly or together, for changes in sequence of species loss at different rates of warming, including a) differences among species in their sensitivity to the intensity and duration of heat exposure, b) the effects of warming rates on temperature-dependent interspecific interactions, and c) differences in opportunities for evolution among species and across warming rates.

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Spatial insurance in multi‐trophic metacommunities

Cited by 21 publications

References 59 publications

Rethinking Biological Invasions as a Metacommunity Problem

Rethinking Biological Invasions as a Metacommunity Problem

Scaling‐up biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research

Warming Rates Alter Sequence of Disassembly in Experimental Communities

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