Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Open Access Articles

Multiple Facets Of Biodiversity Drive The Diversity-Stability Relationship, Dylan Craven, Nico Eisenhauer, William D. Pearse, Yann Hautier, Christiane Roscher, Forest Isbell, Michael Bahn, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Gerhard Bönisch, Nina Buchmann, Chaeho Byun, Jane A. Catford, Bruno E.L. Cerabolini, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Joseph M. Craine, Enrica De Luca, Anne Ebeling, John N. Griffin, Andy Hector, Jes Hines, Anke Jentsch, Jens Kattge, Jürgen Kreyling, Vojtech Lanta, Nathan Lemoine, Sebastian T. Meyer, Vanessa Minden, Vladimir Onipchenko, H. Wayne Polley, Peter B. Reich, Jasper Van Ruijven, Brandon Schamp, Melinda D. Smith, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, David Tilman, Alexandra Weigelt, Brian Wilsey, Peter Manning

Biology Faculty Publications

A significant body of evidence has demonstrated that biodiversity stabilizes ecosystem functioning over time in grassland ecosystems. However, the relative importance of different facets of biodiversity underlying the diversity–stability relationship remains unclear. Here we used data from 39 biodiversity experiments and structural equation modeling to investigate the roles of species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and both the diversity and community-weighted mean of functional traits representing the ‘fast–slow’ leaf economics spectrum in driving the diversity–stability relationship. We found that high species richness and phylogenetic diversity stabilize biomass production via enhanced asynchrony. Contrary to our hypothesis, low phylogenetic diversity also enhances ecosystem stability …

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Molecular Adaptations For Sensing And Securing Prey And Insight Into Amniote Genome Diversity From The Garter Snake Genome, Blair W. Perry, Daren C. Card, Joel W. Mcglothlin, Giulia I.M. Pasquesi, Richard H. Adams, Drew R. Schield, Nicole R. Hales, Andrew B. Corbin, Jeffery P. Demuth, Federico G. Hoffmann, Michael W. Vandewege, Ryan K. Schott, Nihar Bhattacharyya, Belinda S.W. Chang, Nicholas R. Casewell, Gareth Whiteley, Jacobo Reyes-Velasco, Stephen P. Mackessy, Tony Gamble, Kenneth B. Storey, Kyle K. Biggar, Courtney N. Passow, Chih-Horng Kuo, Suzanne E. Mcgaugh, Anne M. Bronikowski, A.P. Jason De Koning, Scott V. Edwards, Michael E. Pfrender, Patrick Minx, Edmund D. Brodie Jr., Edmund D. Brodie Jr., Wesley C. Warren, Todd A. Castoe

Biology Faculty Publications

Colubridae represents the most phenotypically diverse and speciose family of snakes, yet no well-assembled and annotated genome exists for this lineage. Here, we report and analyze the genome of the garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, a colubrid snake that is an important model species for research in evolutionary biology, physiology, genomics, behavior, and the evolution of toxin resistance. Using the garter snake genome, we show how snakes have evolved numerous adaptations for sensing and securing prey, and identify features of snake genome structure that provide insight into the evolution of amniote genomes. Analyses of the garter snake and other squamate reptile …

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Fern Genomes Elucidate Land Plant Evolution And Cyanobacterial Symbioses, Fay-Wei Li, Paul Brouwer, Lorenzo Carretero-Paulet, Shifeng Cheng, Jan De Vries, Pierre-Marc Delaux, Ariana Eily, Nils Koppers, Li-Yaung Kuo, Zheng Li, Mathew Simenc, Ian Small, Eric Wafula, Stephany Angarita, Michael S. Barker, Andrea Bräutigam, Claude Depamphilis, Sven Gould, Prashant S. Hosmani, Yao-Moan Huang, Bruno Huettel, Yoichiro Kato, Xin Liu, Steven Maere, Rose Mcdowell, Lukas A. Mueller, Klaas G. J. Nierop, Stefan A. Rensing, Tanner A. Robison, Carl J. Rothfels, Erin M. Sigel, Yue Song, Prakash R. Timilsena, Yves Van De Peer, Hongli Wang, Per K. I. Wilhelmsson, Paul G. Wolf, Xun Xu, Joshua P. Der, Henriette Schluepmann, Gane K.-S. Wong, Kathleen M. Pryer

Biology Faculty Publications

Ferns are the closest sister group to all seed plants, yet little is known about their genomes other than that they are generally colossal. Here, we report on the genomes of Azolla filiculoides and Salvinia cucullata (Salviniales) and present evidence for episodic whole-genome duplication in ferns—one at the base of ‘core leptosporangiates’ and one specific to Azolla. One fern-specific gene that we identified, recently shown to confer high insect resistance, seems to have been derived from bacteria through horizontal gene transfer. Azolla coexists in a unique symbiosis with N2-fixing cyanobacteria, and we demonstrate a clear pattern of cospeciation between …

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On The Relationship Between Phylogenetic Diversity And Trait Diversity, Caroline M. Tucker, T. Jonathan Davies, Marc W. Cadotte, William D. Pearse

Biology Faculty Publications

Niche differences are key to understanding the distribution and structure of biodiversity. To examine niche differences, we must first characterize how species occupy niche space, and two approaches are commonly used in the ecological literature. The first uses species traits to estimate multivariate trait space (so‐called functional trait diversity, FD); the second quantifies the amount of time or evolutionary history captured by a group of species (phylogenetic diversity, PD). It is often—but controversially—assumed that these putative measures of niche space are at a minimum correlated and perhaps redundant, since more evolutionary time allows for greater accumulation of trait changes. This …

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Evolution Of Mammalian Migrations For Refuge, Breeding, And Food, Gitanjali E. Gnanadesikan, William D. Pearse, Allison K. Shaw

Biology Faculty Publications

Many organisms migrate between distinct habitats, exploiting variable resources while profoundly affecting ecosystem services, disease spread, and human welfare. However, the very characteristics that make migration captivating and significant also make it difficult to study, and we lack a comprehensive understanding of which species migrate and why. Here we show that, among mammals, migration is concentrated within Cetacea and Artiodactyla but also diffusely spread throughout the class (found in 12 of 27 orders). We synthesize the many ecological drivers of round-trip migration into three types of movement—between breeding and foraging sites, between breeding and refuge sites, and continuous tracking of …

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Beyond The Urban Stream Syndrome: Organic Matter Budget For Diagnostics And Restoration Of An Impaired Urban River, Dave M. Epstein, Julia E. Kelso, Michelle A. Baker

Biology Faculty Publications

In response to water quality standard violations linked to excessive organic matter (OM) and a lack of sampling data informing the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), an organic matter budget was created to quantify and identify sources of OM in the lower Jordan River (Salt Lake City, UT). By sampling dissolved, fine and coarse particulate OM, as well as measuring ecosystem metabolism at seven different sites, the researchers aimed to identify the origin of excess OM, and understand pathways by which different size classes of the OM pool are generated. The dissolved fraction (DOM; 94 %) was found to be …

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Comparing Process-Based And Constraint-Based Approaches For Modeling Macroecological Patterns, Xiao Xiao

Biology Faculty Publications

Ecological patterns arise from the interplay of many different processes, and yet the emergence of consistent phenomena across a diverse range of ecological systems suggests that many patterns may in part be determined by statistical or numerical constraints. Differentiating the extent to which patterns in a given system are determined statistically, and where it requires explicit ecological processes, has been difficult. We tackled this challenge by directly comparing models from a constraint-based theory, the Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology (METE) and models from a process-based theory, the size-structured neutral theory (SSNT). Models from both theories were capable of characterizing the …

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Introduction Effort, Climate Matching And Species Traits As Predictors Of Global Establishment Success In Non-Native Reptiles, Peter J. Mahoney, Karen H. Beard, Andrew M. Durso, Aimee G. Tallian, Arin Lexine Long, Ryan J. Kindermann, Nicole E. Nolan, Daniel Kinka, Harrison E. Mohn

Biology Faculty Publications

Non-native reptiles are often detrimental to native communities and ecosystems and can be extremely difficult to manage once established. Thus, there is considerable interest in predicting the likelihood of establishment of nonnative reptiles. We assessed three hypotheses describing possible factors contributing to the successful establishment of introduced reptiles in an effort to better identify potential invaders.

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Stem Nematode Counteracts Plant Resistance Of Aphids In Alfalfa, Medicago Sativa, Ricardo A. Ramirez, John M. Stark

Biology Faculty Publications

Plants are exploited by a diverse community of insect herbivores and phytopathogens that interact indirectly through plant-mediated interactions. Generally, plants are thought to respond to insects and pathogens through different defensive signaling pathways. As plants are selected for resistance to one phytophagous organism type (insect vs. pathogen) in managed systems, it is not clear how this selection may affect community interactions. This study examined the effect of nematode-resistant varieties on aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) suppression, and then determined how infection by the stem nematode, Ditylenchus dipsaci, mediated ecological effects on aphids and on plant defense proteins. Four alfalfa (Medicago sativa) varieties …

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Effects Of Range Size On Species–Area Relationships, Andrew P. Allen, Ethan P. White

Biology Faculty Publications

It has been known for some time that the slope of the species–area relationship increases asymptotically at broad spatial scales when richness is plotted against area on logarithmic axes. At continental to global scales, species–area relationships are determined to a large extent by the abundance and size distribution of species ranges. Here we present an analytical model that explicitly quantifies the effects of range size on species–area relationships. The model shows how range size and plot area interact to control the form of species–area relationships at broad spatial scales. It also demonstrates how changes in spatial scale affect biodiversity patterns …

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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Biology Faculty Publications

Biology Faculty Publications

Biology Faculty Publications

On The Relationship Between Phylogenetic Diversity And Trait Diversity, Caroline M. Tucker, T. Jonathan Davies, Marc W. Cadotte, William D. Pearse

Biology Faculty Publications

Evolution Of Mammalian Migrations For Refuge, Breeding, And Food, Gitanjali E. Gnanadesikan, William D. Pearse, Allison K. Shaw

Biology Faculty Publications

Beyond The Urban Stream Syndrome: Organic Matter Budget For Diagnostics And Restoration Of An Impaired Urban River, Dave M. Epstein, Julia E. Kelso, Michelle A. Baker

Biology Faculty Publications

Comparing Process-Based And Constraint-Based Approaches For Modeling Macroecological Patterns, Xiao Xiao

Biology Faculty Publications

Introduction Effort, Climate Matching And Species Traits As Predictors Of Global Establishment Success In Non-Native Reptiles, Peter J. Mahoney, Karen H. Beard, Andrew M. Durso, Aimee G. Tallian, Arin Lexine Long, Ryan J. Kindermann, Nicole E. Nolan, Daniel Kinka, Harrison E. Mohn

Biology Faculty Publications

Stem Nematode Counteracts Plant Resistance Of Aphids In Alfalfa, Medicago Sativa, Ricardo A. Ramirez, John M. Stark

Biology Faculty Publications

Effects Of Range Size On Species–Area Relationships, Andrew P. Allen, Ethan P. White

Biology Faculty Publications