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| Open AccessImpact of biodiversity loss on production in complex marine food webs mitigated by prey-release
Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships are not well characterized for large marine ecosystems. Using a dynamic model of complex marine food webs, Fung et al. find that release of fish from predation, not competition, is the principal mechanism shaping this relationship.
- Tak Fung
- , Keith D. Farnsworth
- & Axel G. Rossberg
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Interdependence of specialization and biodiversity in Phanerozoic marine invertebrates
Biodiversity is thought to be bounded by upper limits, but less is known about what factors may influence these limits. Here, the authors find correlations between the global biodiversity of benthic marine invertebrates in the fossil record, and their degree of habitat specialization.
- Sabine Nürnberg
- & Martin Aberhan
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Bird–flower visitation networks in the Galápagos unveil a widespread interaction release
Vertebrate species on islands may display broader feeding niches than their mainland counterparts in response to poorer diets. Here, Traveset et al. show that almost all Galápagos land birds exploit floral resources across the archipelago in an extensive generalized network.
- Anna Traveset
- , Jens M. Olesen
- & Ruben Heleno
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| Open AccessLimited role of functional differentiation in early diversification of animals
Functional differentiation and taxonomic diversity are related in modern ecosystems. Here, the authors show that functional differentiation lags behind taxonomic diversification early in the evolutionary history of marine animals and that important shifts in this relationship occur at major mass extinction events.
- M.L. Knope
- , N.A. Heim
- & J.L. Payne
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Diverse uncultivated ultra-small bacterial cells in groundwater
Little is known about certain bacterial phyla because of our current inability to grow them in the lab. Here, Luef et al.combine metagenomics and ultrastuctural analyses to show that some of these bacteria have a very small cell size, tightly packed DNA, few ribosomes and diverse pili-like structures.
- Birgit Luef
- , Kyle R. Frischkorn
- & Jillian F. Banfield
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Biophysical mechanisms that maintain biodiversity through trade-offs
Trade-offs between life history traits are key to understanding biodiversity. Here, the authors use population genetics models and experimental microbial evolution to show that trade-off geometry can be deduced from fundamental biological principles, and used to predict biodiversity stability.
- Justin R. Meyer
- , Ivana Gudelj
- & Robert Beardmore
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Long-term nitrogen deposition depletes grassland seed banks
Rising levels of nitrogen deposition represents a major threat to the biodiversity and plant communities worldwide. Here Basto et al. show that increased nitrogen deposition results in reductions in the size and species richness of the seed bank in acid grassland soils.
- Sofía Basto
- , Ken Thompson
- & Mark Rees
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Flooding disturbances increase resource availability and productivity but reduce stability in diverse plant communities
Most studies investigating the biodiversity–stability hypothesis have focused on disturbances that induce productivity losses. Using data from a 200–year flood event in a grassland biodiversity experiment, Wright et al. show that disturbances that increase productivity can also drive decreased stability.
- Alexandra J. Wright
- , Anne Ebeling
- & Nico Eisenhauer
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| Open AccessConsequences of tropical land use for multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
Transformation of natural ecosystems into agricultural land is usually accompanied by extensive biodiversity loss. Calculating multitrophic energy fluxes, Barnes et al.report severe reductions of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning from tropical rainforest to oil-palm plantations.
- Andrew D. Barnes
- , Malte Jochum
- & Ulrich Brose
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Extant diversity of bryophytes emerged from successive post-Mesozoic diversification bursts
The macroevolutionary history of bryophytes is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that, while overall diversification rates of bryophytes are substantially lower than those reported in ferns and angiosperms, they increase over time and become comparable to angiosperms in the most recent lineages.
- B. Laenen
- , B. Shaw
- & A. J. Shaw
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A necessarily complex model to explain the biogeography of the amphibians and reptiles of Madagascar
Inferring evolutionary processes from biogeographic patterns is challenging. Here, the authors present a new method to examine spatial patterns of biodiversity and show that biogeographic patterns of Malagasy amphibians and reptiles are influenced by a combination of diversification processes.
- Jason L. Brown
- , Alison Cameron
- & Miguel Vences
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| Open AccessMiddle-Eastern plant communities tolerate 9 years of drought in a multi-site climate manipulation experiment
Semi-arid and Mediterranean ecosystems are predicted to be vulnerable to climate change. Here, Tielbörger et al. show that plants along a steep climatic gradient in a biodiversity hotspot are resistant to both irrigation and drought in multiple years of experimental rainfall manipulation.
- Katja Tielbörger
- , Mark C. Bilton
- & Marcelo Sternberg
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Phylogenetic measures of biodiversity and neo- and paleo-endemism in Australian Acacia
Assessing spatial patterns of biodiversity using phylogenetic methods is a promising approach for conservation planning. Here, Mishler et al. develop a method to distinguish between recent and old endemism and provide new insights about biodiversity across space and time for the Australian Acacia.
- Brent D. Mishler
- , Nunzio Knerr
- & Joseph T. Miller
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| Open AccessGlobal relationship between phytoplankton diversity and productivity in the ocean
The mechanisms that determine the relationship between diversity and productivity in marine phytoplankton remain unclear. Here, Vallina et al.show that selective predation and transient competitive exclusion determine phytoplankton community composition.
- S. M. Vallina
- , M. J. Follows
- & M. Loreau
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Gains to species diversity in organically farmed fields are not propagated at the farm level
Organic farming is proposed to increase the biodiversity of organisms within a field. In this study, Schneider et al.show that while biodiversity is increased in organically farmed fields compared to conventionally farmed land, these effects are not seen at a greater spatial level.
- Manuel K. Schneider
- , Gisela Lüscher
- & Felix Herzog
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Loss of frugivore seed dispersal services under climate change
Seed dispersal can determine the ability of plant species to track shifting climates; therefore, it can influence future biodiversity outcomes. Here, the authors model seed dispersal by fruit-eating vertebrates across the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest and find that it is projected to markedly decrease for many plant species.
- Karel Mokany
- , Soumya Prasad
- & David A. Westcott
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Global meta-analysis reveals low consistency of biodiversity congruence relationships
For comprehensive biodiversity conservation efforts, knowledge of the number and distribution of species is required. Here, Westgate et al.perform a meta-analysis to show that studies of cross-taxon congruence rarely give consistent results between different locations, undermining the assumption that a subset of taxa can be representative of biodiversity.
- Martin J. Westgate
- , Philip S. Barton
- & David B. Lindenmayer
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Temporal niche promotes biodiversity during adaptive radiation
Environmental fluctuation is known to promote biodiversity on ecological timescales, but its consequences for the evolution of biodiversity are unknown. Here, the authors report that alternations in environmental conditions help maintain evolved biodiversity in rapidly diversifying bacterial populations.
- Jiaqi Tan
- , Colleen K. Kelly
- & Lin Jiang
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Crocodylian diversity peak and extinction in the late Cenozoic of the northern Neotropics
Modern crocodylian diversity is in decline and sympatry is rare, with usually no more than two or three species occurring in the same geographic area. Here Scheyer et al. identify a diversity peak in sympatric occurrence of at least seven new and previously characterized crocodylian species during the Miocene in South America.
- T. M. Scheyer
- , O. A. Aguilera
- & M. R. Sánchez-Villagra
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Whole-community DNA barcoding reveals a spatio-temporal continuum of biodiversity at species and genetic levels
A correlation between species and genetic diversity has been suggested. Here Baselga et al.provide evidence of a concordant decrease in beetle community similarity at species and genetic levels with geographic distance, suggesting a macroecological pattern which may follow neutral evolutionary processes.
- Andrés Baselga
- , Tomochika Fujisawa
- & Alfried P. Vogler
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Turnover of soil bacterial diversity driven by wide-scale environmental heterogeneity
In microbial biogeography, little is known about processes involved in soil bacterial diversity turnover. By conducting a wide-scale investigation, this study shows that dispersal limitation and environmental selection of bacteria are not mutually exclusive, highlighting the importance of landscape diversity.
- L. Ranjard
- , S. Dequiedt
- & P. Lemanceau
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Climate change patterns in Amazonia and biodiversity
The long-term hydroclimate variability in Amazonia and its influence on biodiversity remain poorly understood. Here, new speleothem oxygen isotope records characterize spatial–temporal changes in precipitation and provide new insights to understanding the west–east contrasting pattern of biodiversity in Amazonia.
- Hai Cheng
- , Ashish Sinha
- & Augusto S. Auler
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Predator richness increases the effect of prey diversity on prey yield
The functioning of bacterial communities is affected by selection, but the role of predation by single or multiple predators is unclear. In a study of 465 bacterial microcosms, Saleem et al.find that multiple predation causes positive bacterial diversity effects due to increased evenness among bacterial species.
- Muhammad Saleem
- , Ingo Fetzer
- & Antonis Chatzinotas
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Regional boreal biodiversity peaks at intermediate human disturbance
Human influence on an ecosystem generates a predictable pattern in biodiversity. In a study of boreal plant communities, Mayoret al.show that the species richness of native vascular plants fits the predicted hump-shaped relationship to human disturbance, reaching a maximum when half of the landscape is disturbed.
- S.J. Mayor
- , J.F. Cahill Jr
- & S. Boutin
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Dinosaur morphological diversity and the end-Cretaceous extinction
Dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago due to volcanism and a bolide impact, but whether their numbers were already declining is still not clear. This study calculates the morphological disparity of seven dinosaur subgroups, showing that at least some groups were in a long-term decline before the extinction.
- Stephen L. Brusatte
- , Richard J. Butler
- & Mark A. Norell
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Rapid microbial response to the presence of an ancient relic in the Antarctic Dry Valleys
It is thought that turnover in soil microbiota occurs very slowly in the Antarctic Dry Valleys due to the extreme cold and aridity. Now, Tiaoet al. show that a transformation of microbial communities can happen in a matter of years in soils altered by the presence of a mummified seal.
- Grace Tiao
- , Charles K. Lee
- & S. Craig Cary
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Contemporary and historical separation of transequatorial migration between genetically distinct seabird populations
Migratory segregation presents a hypothesized barrier to gene flow among seabirds, but its mechanisms are unclear. Rayneret al. find that migratory habitat specialization, associated with breeding asynchrony and philopatry, restricts gene flow between two seabird populations migrating across the Pacific Ocean.
- Matt J. Rayner
- , Mark E. Hauber
- & Scott A. Shaffer
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Unexpected layers of cryptic diversity in wood white Leptidea butterflies
The cryptic Wood White butterflies,Leptidea sinapis and Leptidea reali, represent a model for the study of speciation. Dincă et al. use DNA and chromosome data to show that this group, in fact, consists of a triplet of species, a result that provides a new perspective on cryptic biodiversity.
- Vlad Dincă
- , Vladimir A. Lukhtanov
- & Roger Vila
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| Open AccessSecond-generation environmental sequencing unmasks marine metazoan biodiversity
Recent developments in sequencing technologies have provided the opportunity to investigate the biodiversity of ecosystems. Such a metagenomic approach, combined with taxon clustering, is used here to demonstrate that the species richness of a marine community in Scotland is much greater than anticipated.
- Vera G. Fonseca
- , Gary R. Carvalho
- & Simon Creer