Distance decay 2.0 – A global synthesis of taxonomic and functional turnover in ecological communities

2022-07

Graco‐Roza, Caio

Aarnio, Sonja

Abrego, Nerea

Acosta, Alicia T R

Alahuhta, Janne

Altman, Jan

Angiolini, Claudia

Aroviita, Jukka

Attorre, Fabio

Baastrup‐Spohr, Lars

Barrera‐Alba, José J

Belmaker, Jonathan

Biurrun, Idoia

Bonari, Gianmaria

Bruelheide, Helge

Burrascano, Sabina

Carboni, Marta

Cardoso, Pedro

Carvalho, José C

Castaldelli, Giuseppe

Christensen, Morten

Correa, Gilsineia

Dembicz, Iwona

Dengler, Jürgen

Dolezal, Jiri

Domingos, Patricia

Erös, Tibor

Ferreira, Carlos E L

Filibeck, Goffredo

Floeter, Sergio R

Friedlander, Alan M

Gammal, Johanna

Gavioli, Anna

Gossner, Martin M

Granot, Itai

Guarino, Riccardo

Gustafsson, Camilla

Hayden, Brian

He, Siwen

Heilmann‐Clausen, Jacob

Heino, Jani

Hunter, John T

Huszar, Vera L M

Janišová, Monika

Jyrkänkallio‐Mikkola, Jenny

Kahilainen, Kimmo K

Kemppinen, Julia

Kozub, Łukasz

Kruk, Carla

Kulbiki, Michel

Kuzemko, Anna

Christiaan le Roux, Peter

Lehikoinen, Aleksi

Teixeira de Lima, Domênica

Lopez‐Urrutia, Angel

Lukács, Balázs A

Luoto, Miska

Mammola, Stefano

Marinho, Marcelo M

Menezes, Luciana S

Milardi, Marco

Miranda, Marcela

Moser, Gleyci A O

Mueller, Joerg

Niittynen, Pekka

Norkko, Alf

Nowak, Arkadiusz

Ometto, Jean P

Ovaskainen, Otso

Overbeck, Gerhard E

Pacheco, Felipe S

Pajunen, Virpi

Palpurina, Salza

Picazo, Félix

Prieto, Juan A C

Rodil, Iván F

Sabatini, Francesco M

Salingré, Shira

De Sanctis, Michele

Segura, Angel M

da Silva, Lucia H S

Stevanovic, Zora D

Swacha, Grzegorz

Teittinen, Anette

Tolonen, Kimmo T

Tsiripidis, Ioannis

Virta, Leena

Wang, Beixin

Wang, Jianjun

Weisser, Wolfgang

Xu, Yuan

Soininen, Janne

Journal Article

en

Publication

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd

United Kingdom

10.1111/geb.13513

une:1959.11/53314

Aim: Understanding the variation in community composition and species abundances (i.e., β-diversity) is at the heart of community ecology. A common approach to examine β-diversity is to evaluate directional variation in community composition by measuring the decay in the similarity among pairs of communities along spatial or environmental distance. We provide the first global synthesis of taxonomic and functional distance decay along spatial and environmental distance by analysing 148 data-sets comprising different types of organisms and environments.
Location: Global.
Time period: 1990 to present.
Major taxa studied: From diatoms to mammals.
Method: We measured the strength of the decay using ranked Mantel tests (Mantel r) and the rate of distance decay as the slope of an exponential fit using generalized linear models. We used null models to test whether functional similarity decays faster or slower than expected given the taxonomic decay along the spatial and environmental distance. We also unveiled the factors driving the rate of decay across the datasets, including latitude, spatial extent, realm and organismal features.
Results: Taxonomic distance decay was stronger than functional distance decay along both spatial and environmental distance. Functional distance decay was random given the taxonomic distance decay. The rate of taxonomic and functional spatial distance decay was fastest in the datasets from mid-latitudes. Overall, datasets covering larger spatial extents showed a lower rate of decay along spatial distance but a higher rate of decay along environmental distance. Marine ecosystems had the slowest rate of decay along environmental distances.
Main conclusions: In general, taxonomic distance decay is a useful tool for biogeographical research because it reflects dispersal-related factors in addition to species responses to climatic and environmental variables. Moreover, functional distance decay might be a cost-effective option for investigating community changes in heterogeneous environments.

link

Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31(7), p. 1399-1421

1466-8238

1466-822X

1399

1421

Attribution 4.0 International