Extinction and climate change

Arising from F. He & S. P. Hubbell 473, 368-371 (2011). Statistical relationships between habitat area and the number of species observed (species-area relationships, SARs) are sometimes used to assess extinction risks following habitat destruction or loss of climatic suitability. He and Hubbell argue that the numbers of species confined to-rather than observed in-different areas (endemics-area relationships, EARs) should be used instead of SARs, and that SAR-based extinction estimates in the literature are too high. We suggest that He and Hubbell's SAR estimates are biased, that the empirical data they use are not appropriate to calculate extinction risks, and that their statements about extinction risks from climate change do not take into account non-SAR-based estimates or recent observations. Species have already responded to climate change in a manner consistent with high future extinction risks.     

Unified spatial scaling of species and their trophic interactions

Two largely independent bodies of scaling theory address the quantitative relationships between habitat area, species diversity and trophic interactions. Spatial theory within macroecology addresses how species richness scales with area in landscapes, while typically ignoring interspecific interactions. Complexity theory within community ecology addresses how trophic links scale with species richness in food webs, while typically ignoring spatial considerations. Recent studies suggest unifying these theories by demonstrating how spatial patterns influence food-web structure and vice versa. Here, we follow this suggestion by developing and empirically testing a more unified scaling theory. On the basis of power-law species-area relationships, we develop link-area and non-power-law link-species models that accurately predict how trophic links scale with area and species richness of microcosms, lakes and streams from community to metacommunity levels. In contrast to previous models that assume that species richness alone determines the number of trophic links, these models include the species' spatial distribution, and hence extend the domain of complexity theory to metacommunity scales. This generality and predictive success shows how complexity theory and spatial theory can be unified into a much more general theory addressing new domains of ecology.     

Fractals in Spatial Patterns of Vegetation Formations

Introduction The quantification of spatial patterns, a focal subject in ecological research, is used as a foundation for meas-urement and analysis of the quality of habitats and the biodiversity[1]. Historically, the dominant approach has been used to cho…     

How does contemporary climate versus climate change velocity affect endemic plant species richness in China？

Climate change is considered a top threat to biodiversity, but the relative roles of contemporary climate versus the rate of climate change in determining spatial patterns of biodiversity are far from clear. China has a very diverse flora and harbors a high percentage of endemic species, but the mechanisms underlying spatial patterns of plant endemism are poorly understood. This study explores the geographical patterns of a representative sample of 555 endemic seed plant species at the scale of 0.5° latitude × 0.5°longitude. Ordinary least squares and spatial autoregressive models were compared to assess the relationship between richness of endemics and the rate of climate change in the past century, as well as a group of contemporary climate variables. In China, a high level of endemism was associated with high elevation and low rate of climate change. However, contemporary climate had a stronger impact than climate change velocity in the past century on endemic species richness patterns. Specifically,mean annual precipitation and annual range of temperature were important contemporary climatic factors. The rate of change of annual mean temperature, but not that of annual precipitation, also significantly contributed to the spatial pattern of plant endemic species richness. We found no significant relationship between topographic variation and endemic species richness, while temperature variability at multiple time scales was strongly correlated with the species richness pattern. Future work should consider the direction of climate change and incorporate higher-resolution data.     

中国鸟类物种丰富度的地理格局及其与环境因子的关系

基于中国鸟类分布数据和增强型植被指数(EVI)、海拔、气温、降水等环境和地理因子数据, 探讨中国鸟类及其主要类群的物种丰富度的地理格局及可能的影响因素。结果显示, 中国鸟类物种丰富度存在着一定的随纬度增高物种丰富度降低的趋势, 物种丰富度高值地区包括大兴安岭、小兴安岭、长江下游、武夷山、西双版纳、天山西部、喜马拉雅山东南麓至横断山脉等若干地区, 而在青藏高原大部、长江以南部分地区等出现低值, 但线性回归显示, 纬度梯度不明显。相关性分析结果显示, 与物种丰富度的Spearman相关性系数较高的环境因子有EVI、年均温、年平均降水等多种, 说明环境因子对物种丰富度的地理格局存在复杂的共同作用机制。因子分析结果显示, 这些环境因子可以分为能量、海拔变幅、气温稳定性、距最近大型水体的距离等4种主要因子。     

云南独龙江地区种子植物物种多样性垂直分布格局和Rapoport法则的验证

物种丰富度沿海拔梯度的分布格局是生物多样性研究的热点之一。以独龙江地区种子植物为对象,利用当地植物志资料,结合数字高程模型(DEM)数据,研究了独龙江地区种子植物物种多样性的垂直分布格局,并对Rapoport法则进行了验证。结果表明：随着海拔的升高,物种丰富度和物种密度均呈线性下降趋势,而物种分布幅度呈明显增大趋势,与Rapoport法则一致;进一步分析表明,物种密度随着物种分布幅度的增大而下降;随着年平均温度的升高,物种密度呈明显上升趋势,而物种分布幅度呈减小趋势。     

甘南高寒草甸物种多样性与生产力的关系

利用甘南高寒草甸植物群落丰富度、多样性、生产力的抽样调查资料,分析了不同空间范围内物种多样性与生产力的关系,探讨了其形成机制.结果显示:丰富度、Shannon-Wiener α多样性指数、Simpson α多样性指数与生产力之问的关系在合作分站和玛曲分站均呈显著正相关,在玛曲县欧拉乡为不相关;Pielou α均匀度指数与生产力的关系在玛曲分站呈显著正相关,在合作分站和玛曲县欧拉乡均为不相关;Whittakerβ多样性指数与生产力的关系在合作分站和玛曲分站均呈负相关,在玛曲县欧拉乡为不相关.综合三个地区的数据分析表明:随着空间范围的扩大,丰富度、三种α多样性指数与生产力趋向于正相关关系,Whittakerβ多样性指数与生产力趋向于负相关关系.如果要改善甘南高寒草甸草场质量、提高草场生产力,那么不仅要保护物种多样性,还要提高物种空间分布的均匀性、减少环境异质性.     

Ecosystem consequences of species richness and composition in pond food webs

Resolving current concerns about the role of biodiversity on ecosystems calls for understanding the separate roles of changes in species numbers and of composition. Recent work shows that primary productivity often, but not always, saturates with species richness within single trophic levels. However, any interpretation of such patterns must consider that variation in biodiversity is necessarily associated with changes in species composition (identity), and that changes in biodiversity often occur across multiple trophic levels. Here we present results from a mesocosm experiment in which we independently manipulated species richness and species composition across multiple trophic levels in pond food webs. In contrast to previous studies that focused on single trophic levels, we found that productivity is either idiosyncratic or increases with respect to species richness, and that richness influences trophic structure. However, the composition of species within richness levels can have equally or more marked effects on ecosystems than average effects of richness per se. Indirect evidence suggests that richness and associated changes in species composition affect ecosystem attributes through indirect effects and trophic interactions among species, features that are highly characteristic of natural, complex ecosystems.     

异速生长关系在生物学中的应用

综述了异速生长关系在动物代谢和植物生长方面的应用．分析了异速生长关系的机理解释模型——代谢生态学理论——在生物学研究中的现状和存在的问题．该理论认为,生物的代谢速率将正比于个体质量3／4次幂,然后将生物体的其他属性同代谢速率相联系,并进行一系列的时间、空间和组织水平的尺度转换,从而代谢生态学理论可以解释个体生长、发育、种群动态、分子进化,以及物种多样性等问题．     

Invariant scaling relations across tree-dominated communities

Organizing principles are needed to link organismal, community and ecosystem attributes across spatial and temporal scales. Here we extend allometric theory-how attributes of organisms change with variation in their size-and test its predictions against worldwide data sets for forest communities by quantifying the relationships among tree size-frequency distributions, standing biomass, species number and number of individuals per unit area. As predicted, except for the highest latitudes, the number of individuals scales as the -2 power of basal stem diameter or as the -3/4 power of above-ground biomass. Also as predicted, this scaling relationship varies little with species diversity, total standing biomass, latitude and geographic sampling area. A simulation model in which individuals allocate biomass to leaf, stem and reproduction, and compete for space and light obtains features identical to those of a community. In tandem with allometric theory, our results indicate that many macroecological features of communities may emerge from a few allometric principles operating at the level of the individual.     

Coral communities are regionally enriched along an oceanic biodiversity gradient

Ecological communities are influenced by processes operating at multiple scales. Thus, a better understanding of how broad- as well as local-scale processes affect species diversity and richness is increasingly becoming a central focus in modern community ecology. Here, in a study of unprecedented geographical scope, we show significant regional and local variation in the species richness of coral assemblages across an oceanic biodiversity gradient. The gradient that we sampled extends 10,000 km eastwards from the world's richest coral biodiversity hotspot in the central Indo-Pacific. Local richness and the size of regional species pools decline significantly across 15 islands spanning the gradient. In addition, richness declines across three adjacent habitats (reef slopes, crests and flats). In each habitat, a highly consistent linear relationship between local and regional species richness indicates strong regional enrichment. Thus, even on the most diverse coral reefs in the world, local coral assemblages are profoundly affected by regional-scale processes. Understanding these historical and biogeographical influences is essential for the effective management and preservation of these endangered communities.     

云南杜鹃属植物多样性的空间分布格局

目的：杜鹃属（Rhododendron）植物具有极高的欣赏价值,同时,也具有一定的经济价值。因此,对该属植物多样性空间分布格局的研究具有重要的现实和理论意义。方法：利用文献资料,采用相关分析的方法,探讨了不同地理梯度上云南杜鹃属植物多样性的分布格局。结果：在海拔梯度上,随海拔的升高,该属植物多样性呈先增加后下降的偏峰分布格局,符合“中间膨胀效应”理论;在度梯度上,物种丰富度随度的升高呈单调递增格局,这可能与该属植物的区系起源和生态特性有关;在经度梯度上,从东到西,物种丰富度呈单调递增趋势。结论：研究区域内杜鹃属植物的分布主要集中在高纬度、中高海拔（2500～4000m）左右的滇北地区。     

两种不同起源华北落叶松林空间点格局及植物多样性

【目的】分析山西省黑茶山国家级自然保护区两种不同起源类型落叶松人工林和天然林径级和林层特征,并对落叶松种群空间分布点格局特征和种群对邻域物种多样性的影响效应进行研究。【方法】 采用g(r)函数点格局方法对优势种群落叶松不同生长阶段个体(小树、中树和大树)的空间分布点格局进行研究; 用单物种-面积关系模型(mISAR模型)分析样地中乔木树种对局域群落多样性的影响。【结果】两种不同起源的落叶松林内落叶松种群呈正态分布,根据林木胸径(DBH)将落叶松分为小(5 cm≤DBH<10 cm)、中(10 cm≤DBH<30 cm)、大(DBH≥30 cm)3个阶段。人工林和天然林小、中、大3个不同阶段的株数比分别为10:3:4和10:3:6,树种多样性分别为0.96、0.54、0.52和1.27、0.94、0.63。两种起源落叶松林空间点格局分布总体均表现为小尺度上的聚集分布和中大尺度上的随机分布。此外,两种起源的落叶松林内物种在调查尺度范围内均表现为单物种所有个体对邻域全部树种的丰富度起到促进作用。【结论】研究区长期的干扰使两种起源类型的落叶松林具有较为相似的水平结构和垂直结构,中径级林木个体多但小径级和大径级较少,种群难以实现世代交替。     

云南楚雄小百草岭鸟类多样性空间格局

【目的】探究云南楚雄小百草岭地区鸟类空间分布格局的特征,分析不同生境及海拔段鸟类多样性差异,为该地区鸟类资源保护措施的制定提供基础资料。【方法】采用样线法对云南省楚雄州小百草岭地区鸟类资源开展了一个完整年度的调查研究,通过计算各生境和海拔段的鸟类多样性指数,进行空间分布格局分析。【结果】在小百草岭地区共记录到鸟类122种,隶属10目43科,包括国家Ⅱ级重点保护鸟类17种。其中,留鸟110种(占90.16%),夏候鸟5种(占4.10%),冬候鸟6种(占4.92%),旅鸟1种(占0.82%)。在115种繁殖鸟类(留鸟和夏候鸟)中,以东洋界物种为主(占50.43%)。季节变化中,鸟类物种丰富度指数由大到小依次为夏季(112)、春季(104)、秋季(79)、冬季(76)。春季鸟类科-属多样性指数最高(0.772),冬季最低(0.662);小百草岭3种生境中,林地的鸟类物种丰富度(117)和科-属多样性指数(0.739)均最高,耕地的鸟类物种丰富度(48)和科-属多样性指数(0.549)最低。鸟类物种丰富度在≥2 100～2 600 m的中海拔地区最高,物种丰富度垂直分布格局为峰值位于中海拔的单...     

古尔班通古特沙漠植物分布的中域特征

探讨物种丰富度格局的中域特征是宏观生态学和保护生物学研究的热点问题,本文以具有代表性的温带沙漠-古尔班通古特沙漠南部为研究区域,结合调查实测的植物物种丰富度数据及样地间等距插值数据,分析了该区物种多样性分别沿纬向方向和经向方向上分布特点,探讨沙漠植物丰富度和密度格局的中域特征。结果显示,植物物种丰富度和密度格局在纬向和经向方向上形成不同的分布格局,中域特征不明显。在纬向方向上,呈现右半边驼形峰的格局模式,随着纬度的增加,物种丰富度和密度格局呈下降趋势;在经向方向上,分布格局呈现单调递增的趋势,但是趋势不明显。综合研究出现此现象的原因,认为本研究区尺度较小,纬向跨度为1.5°,经向跨度为4.5°,物种多样性受边界生境强烈影响。在纬向方向上,物种多样性受到绿洲小气候的影响,靠近绿洲地区的物种多样性较远离绿洲边缘的区域丰富度高;而在经向方向上,由西向东海拔逐渐增高,在降水随之增加影响下形成了物种多样性单向梯度变化,未能形成单峰的中域格局。由此可知,古尔班通古特沙漠研究区过小,植物多样性的中域特性不明显,在干旱区中域特征同样表现在大尺度上。     

Scale effects and human impact on the elevational species richness gradients

Despite two centuries of effort in characterizing environmental gradients of species richness in search of universal patterns, surprisingly few of these patterns have been widely acknowledged. Species richness along altitudinal gradients was previously assumed to increase universally from cool highlands to warm lowlands, mirroring the latitudinal increase in species richness from cool to warm latitudes. However, since the more recent general acceptance of altitudinal gradients as model templates for testing hypotheses behind large-scale patterns of diversity, these gradients have been used in support of all the main diversity hypotheses, although little consensus has been achieved. Here we show that when resampling a data set comprising 400,000 records for 3,046 Pyrenean floristic species at different scales of analysis (achieved by varying grain size and the extent of the gradients sampled), the derived species richness pattern changed progressively from hump-shaped to a monotonic pattern as the scale of extent diminished. Scale effects alone gave rise to as many conflicting patterns of species richness as had previously been reported in the literature, and scale effects lent significantly different statistical support to competing diversity hypotheses. Effects of scale on current studies may be affected by human activities, because montane ecosystems and human activities are intimately connected. This interdependence has led to a global reduction in natural lowland habitats, hampering our ability to detect universal patterns and impeding the search for universal diversity gradients to discover the mechanisms determining the distribution of biological diversity on Earth.     

Clusters of ant colonies and robust criticality in a tropical agroecosystem

Although sometimes difficult to measure at large scales, spatial pattern is important in natural biological spaces as a determinant of key ecological properties such as species diversity, stability, resiliency and others. Here we demonstrate, at a large spatial scale, that a common species of tropical arboreal ant forms clusters of nests through a combination of local satellite colony formation and density-dependent control by natural enemies, mainly a parasitic fly. Cluster sizes fall off as a power law consistent with a so-called robust critical state. This endogenous cluster formation at a critical state is a unique example of an insect population forming a non-random pattern at a large spatial scale. Furthermore, because the species is a keystone of a larger network that contributes to the ecosystem function of pest control, this is an example of how spatial dynamics at a large scale can affect ecosystem service at a local level.     

内蒙古灌木群落物种丰富度与气候的关系

为了验证几种重要的物种多样性地理格局假说(水分能量动态假说、生产力假说、寒冷忍耐假说、生态学代谢假说)在干旱、半干旱地区灌木群落中的适用性, 对内蒙古中西部地区1100 km样线内的灌木群落进行调查, 结合气候数据、植被归一化指数研究不同气候或生产力因子对群落物种丰富度的解释能力。同时研究了不同功能型的植物在物种多样性?气候关系方面的差异, 包括不同的生活型(木本、草本)、水分生态型(旱生、中旱生、中生)。结果表明: 1) 水分能量动态假说能较好地解释本研究区灌木群落多样性的地理格局, 植物能获得的有效水分是影响物种丰富度的主要因素; 2) 研究结果与代谢假说的预测相反, 该假说无法解释干旱、半干旱区的群落多样性格局, 结果不支持寒冷忍耐假说在研究区的适用性, 而生产力也只能解释部分功能型的物种丰富度; 3) 不同功能型的植物对气候、 生产力梯度的响应表现出很大的差异, 物种的生态特性以及种间相互作用对物种丰富度格局有着重要的影响, 深入理解群落的构建机制可能是理解生物多样性的地理格局所必需的。     

Species interactions can explain Taylor's power law for ecological time series

One of the few generalities in ecology, Taylor's power law, describes the species-specific relationship between the temporal or spatial variance of populations and their mean abundances. For populations experiencing constant per capita environmental variability, the regression of log variance versus log mean abundance gives a line with a slope of 2. Despite this expectation, most species have slopes of less than 2 (refs 2, 3-4), indicating that more abundant populations of a species are relatively less variable than expected on the basis of simple statistical grounds. What causes abundant populations to be less variable has received considerable attention, but an explanation for the generality of this pattern is still lacking. Here we suggest a novel explanation for the scaling of temporal variability in population abundances. Using stochastic simulation and analytical models, we demonstrate how negative interactions among species in a community can produce slopes of Taylor's power law of less than 2, like those observed in real data sets. This result provides an example in which the population dynamics of single species can be understood only in the context of interactions within an ecological community.     

Spatial patterns in species distributions reveal biodiversity change

Interpretation of global biodiversity change is hampered by a lack of information on the historical status of most species in most parts of the world. Here we show that declines and increases can be deduced from current species distributions alone, using spatial patterns of occupancy combined with distribution size. Declining species show sparse, fragmented distributions for their distribution size, reflecting the extinction process; expanding species show denser, more aggregated distributions, reflecting colonization. Past distribution size changes for British butterflies were deduced successfully from current distributions, and former distributions had some power to predict future change. What is more, the relationship between distribution pattern and change in British butterflies independently predicted distribution change for butterfly species in Flanders, Belgium, and distribution change in British rare plant species is similarly related to spatial distribution pattern. This link between current distribution patterns and processes of distribution change could be used to assess relative levels of threat facing different species, even for regions and taxa lacking detailed historical and ecological information.