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Full-Text Articles in Population Biology
Integrating Species Traits Into Species Pools, Marko J. Spasojevic, Christopher P. Catano, Joseph A. Lamanna
Integrating Species Traits Into Species Pools, Marko J. Spasojevic, Christopher P. Catano, Joseph A. Lamanna
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
Despite decades of research on the species‐pool concept and the recent explosion of interest in trait‐based frameworks in ecology and biogeography, surprisingly little is known about how spatial and temporal changes in species‐pool functional diversity (SPFD) influence biodiversity and the processes underlying community assembly. Current trait‐based frameworks focus primarily on community assembly from a static regional species pool, without considering how spatial or temporal variation in SPFD alters the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic assembly processes. Likewise, species‐pool concepts primarily focus on how the number of species in the species pool influences local biodiversity. However, species pools with similar …
Big Brains Stabilize Populations And Facilitate Colonization Of Variable Habitats In Birds, Trevor S. Fristoe, Andrew N. Iwaniuk, Carlos A. Botero
Big Brains Stabilize Populations And Facilitate Colonization Of Variable Habitats In Birds, Trevor S. Fristoe, Andrew N. Iwaniuk, Carlos A. Botero
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
The cognitive buffer hypothesis posits that environmental variability can be a major driver of the evolution of cognition because an enhanced ability to produce flexible behavioural responses facilitates coping with the unexpected. Although comparative evidence supports different aspects of this hypothesis, a direct connection between cognition and the ability to survive a variable and unpredictable environment has yet to be demonstrated. Here, we use complementary demographic and evolutionary analyses to show that among birds, the mechanistic premise of this hypothesis is well supported but the implied direction of causality is not. Specifically, we show that although population dynamics are more …
Negative Density Dependence Mediates Biodiversity–Productivity Relationships Across Scales, Joseph A. Lamanna, R Travis Belote, Laura A. Burkle, Christopher P. Catano, Jonathan A. Myers
Negative Density Dependence Mediates Biodiversity–Productivity Relationships Across Scales, Joseph A. Lamanna, R Travis Belote, Laura A. Burkle, Christopher P. Catano, Jonathan A. Myers
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
Regional species diversity generally increases with primary productivity whereas local diversity–productivity relationships are highly variable. This scale-dependence of the biodiversity–productivity relationship highlights the importance of understanding the mechanisms that govern variation in species composition among local communities, which is known as β-diversity. Hypotheses to explain changes in β-diversity with productivity invoke multiple mechanisms operating at local and regional scales, but the relative importance of these mechanisms is unknown. Here we show that changes in the strength of local density-dependent interactions within and among tree species explain changes in β-diversity across a subcontinental-productivity gradient. Stronger conspecific relative to …
Elevational Gradients In Β-Diversity Reflect Variation In The Strength Of Local Community Assembly Mechanisms Across Spatial Scales, J Sebastián Tello, Jonathan A. Myers, Manuel J. Macia, Alfredo F. Fuentes, Leslie Cayola, Gabriel Arellano, M Isabel Loza, Vania Torrez, Maritza Cornejo, Tatiana B. Miranda, Peter M. Jørgensen
Elevational Gradients In Β-Diversity Reflect Variation In The Strength Of Local Community Assembly Mechanisms Across Spatial Scales, J Sebastián Tello, Jonathan A. Myers, Manuel J. Macia, Alfredo F. Fuentes, Leslie Cayola, Gabriel Arellano, M Isabel Loza, Vania Torrez, Maritza Cornejo, Tatiana B. Miranda, Peter M. Jørgensen
Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations
Despite long-standing interest in elevational-diversity gradients, little is known about the processes that cause changes in the compositional variation of communities (β-diversity) across elevations. Recent studies have suggested that β-diversity gradients are driven by variation in species pools, rather than by variation in the strength of local community assembly mechanisms such as dispersal limitation, environmental filtering, or local biotic interactions. However, tests of this hypothesis have been limited to very small spatial scales that limit inferences about how the relative importance of assembly mechanisms may change across spatial scales. Here, we test the hypothesis that scale-dependent community assembly mechanisms shape …