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•Species and genetic diversity restrain litter decomposition in the costal wetland.•Functional diversity could predict decomposition at species and genetic levels.•Specific component ...could affect non-additive effects at species and genetic levels.
With the enhancement of carbon sink capacity and the intensification of biodiversity change in coastal wetlands, previous studies have well studied the relationship between species diversity and litter decomposition, a vital process of carbon cycling. However, previous studies ignored the importance of genetic diversity, which restricted our comprehensive understanding of the effects of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functions. Here, we manipulated different richness levels with litters of eight common species of coastal wetland plants and eight different genotypes of common reed (Phragmites australis) to explore the effects of species and genetic diversity on litter decomposition. We found the litter mass loss of mixtures was significantly lower than the average mass loss of single litters (ANOVA, p < 0.05), suggesting higher species and genetic diversity had negative effects on plant litter decomposition. The negative effects were also supported by the t-test that the observed mass loss was significantly lower than expected at both species and genetic diversity levels, which also identified that antagonistic effects occurred. In addition, the functional diversity of initial litter qualities, such as lignin content and the C/P ratio, had a significant correlation with the negative effects at species and genetic levels, whereas phylogenetic diversity did not reveal such a correlation, implying functional diversity might better predict the effects of diversity changes on litter decomposition in coastal wetlands at both species and genetic levels. Furthermore, the presence of specific species or genotype litters, such as Scorzonera mongolica, Imperata cylindrica and the common reed numbered CN2026, could also predict negative effects. In this study, we found that genetic diversity influenced litter decomposition as much as species diversity, and we provided significant implications for predicting the effect of wetland biodiversity loss or conservation on carbon sink capacity.
The rapid urbanization of the world has significant ecological consequences that shape global biodiversity patterns. The plant communities now common in urban centers may represent new habitats with ...unique dynamics and the potential for highly modified ecological services. This study, joining extensive spatial and floristic data sets, examined current distribution patterns of non-native and native woody plant species in the New York metropolitan region, USA. We joined the New York Metropolitan Flora (NYMF) database of woody species with GIS data of urban land cover for 297 5 km by 5 km landscape blocks. We tested the relationship between urbanization and native and non-native species richness patterns, the extent of non-native species presence in the urban area, and the change in beta diversity across a gradient of urban land cover. We found that across the urban–rural gradient, native plant species richness decreased and non-native species richness increased with increasing urban land cover. Total richness does not change across the urban–rural gradient. Our analyses show that these patterns are highly correlated with urbanization, but vary across the New Jersey landscape. We also found an increase in beta diversity with urbanization; urban areas are not homogenized in plant species composition compared to rural areas. Here we show a species-rich flora dominated by non-native species which are differentiating the urban flora. These results can help guide appropriate conservation decisions for the maintenance of plant biodiversity in cities.
It's time the business world got the actionable, impactful, no-cost strategies needed to increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace Many white leaders want to create change but don't know how ...to do so appropriately and effectively. How do you know where the blind spots are that can create obstacles for people of color? Your intentions may be sincere and heartfelt, but intentions aren't enough. In It's Time to Talk about Race at Work, acclaimed speaker and bestselling author Kelly McDonald delivers a much-needed roadmap for businesspeople. This book will help you successfully create a fair and equitable workplace that recognizes diverse talent and fosters productive and constructive conversations in your organization. It's Time to Talk about Race at Work does not approach diversity from the standpoint of social activism or an HR perspective. Instead, this book shows you exactly what to do and how to do it so that you can make real progress on diversity and inclusion, regardless of the size of your organization. The author's clear, real talk style makes it easy to learn: The costs and risks you're incurring if your organization lacks diversity How people who don't consider themselves to be racist may still have diversity blind spots How to start the hard conversations you may not know how to approach The STARTING Method an eight-step framework that shows you how to ensure your diversity and inclusion efforts are effective How to recognize the excuses people use to avoid taking action on diversity and inclusion How to address the issues and comments that come up when employees feel nervous, resentful, or uncomfortable as you make headway on diversity in your organization Perfect for executives, managers, and leaders in organizations of all types and sizes, It's Time to Talk about Race at Work is also for employees who want to improve their organization by leading by example.
Summary
There are many concepts and measures of beta diversity and related similarity/differentiation indices. The variance framework (derived from the total variance of a community species abundance ...matrix) and diversity decomposition (based on partitioning gamma diversity into alpha and beta components) are two major approaches.
There have been no bridges/links between the two approaches. Here, we establish a bridge by extending and modifying each approach so that both lead to the same classes of similarity/differentiation measures, which range in the interval 0, 1 and which can be compared across multiple sets of communities.
Our extension/modification in each approach is based on the following major differences between the two approaches. (i) In the decomposition approach, a diversity order q that controls sensitivity to species abundances is used, whereas there is no such order involved in the variance approach. (ii) Transformations of raw abundances are typically used in the variance approach, whereas abundances are not transformed in diversity decomposition. (iii) The variance‐based beta for non‐transformed data is implicitly related to (and constrained by) alpha, gamma and total abundance. Namely, the attained maximum value of this beta when communities are completely distinct (no shared species) is not a fixed constant; the maximum varies with alpha, gamma and total abundance. By contrast, the beta component obtained from the multiplicative decomposition is not constrained by alpha, gamma and total abundance.
To construct the bridge, we extend the variance of community data to a class of divergence measures (parameterized by an order q) and use normalization to remove these measures' constraints by alpha, gamma and total abundance. The resulting normalized divergence measures are legitimate differentiation measures. In the decomposition approach, we adopt a modified multiplicative decomposition scheme; the resulting beta component can be transformed to quantify compositional similarity/differentiation among communities. Then, the similarity/differentiation measures obtained from the extended variance framework turn out to be identical to those from the modified diversity decomposition, establishing the bridge.
Other types of similarity/differentiation measures (e.g. N‐community Bray–Curtis type) and extension to phylogenetic and functional versions are discussed. A real example using corals is given for illustration.
► We identify seven impediments to invertebrate conservation. ► Three dilemmas: public, political and scientific. ► Four shortfalls: Linnean, Wallacean, Prestonian and Hutchinsonian. ► We present ...possible solutions for each impediment.
Despite their high diversity and importance for humankind, invertebrates are often neglected in biodiversity conservation policies. We identify seven impediments to their effective protection: (1) invertebrates and their ecological services are mostly unknown to the general public (the public dilemma); (2) policymakers and stakeholders are mostly unaware of invertebrate conservation problems (the political dilemma); (3) basic science on invertebrates is scarce and underfunded (the scientific dilemma); (4) most species are undescribed (the Linnean shortfall); (5) the distribution of described species is mostly unknown (the Wallacean shortfall); (6) the abundance of species and their changes in space and time are unknown (the Prestonian shortfall); (7) species ways of life and sensitivities to habitat change are largely unknown (the Hutchinsonian shortfall).
Numerous recent developments in taxonomy, inventorying, monitoring, data compilation, statistical analysis and science communication facilitate overcoming these impediments in both policy and practice. We suggest as possible solutions for the public dilemma: better public information and marketing. For the political dilemma: red-listing, legal priority listing and inclusion in environmental impact assessment studies. For the scientific dilemma: parataxonomy, citizen science programs and biodiversity informatics. For the Linnean shortfall: biodiversity surrogacy, increased support for taxonomy and advances in taxonomic publications. For the Wallacean shortfall: funding of inventories, compilation of data in public repositories and species distribution modeling. For the Prestonian shortfall: standardized protocols for inventorying and monitoring, widespread use of analogous protocols and increased support for natural history collections. For the Hutchinsonian shortfall: identifying good indicator taxa and studying extinction rates by indirect evidence.
Urbanization has been shown to cause biodiversity loss. However, its effects on butterfly taxonomic and functional diversity still need to be studied, especially in urban waterfront green spaces ...where mechanisms of impact still need to be explored. We used butterflies as indicators to study how urbanization affects their taxonomic and functional diversity and identify indicator species in different urban ecological gradient areas. From July to September 2022, we surveyed 10 urban waterfront green spaces in Fuzhou City, China. We recorded 1163 butterflies of 28 species from 6 families. First, we explored the effects of urbanization on butterfly communities and made pairwise comparisons of different urban ecological gradients (α-diversity); secondly, we looked for differences between butterfly communities across urban ecological gradients (β-diversity); finally, we investigated differences in the response of butterfly functional groups to different urban ecological gradient areas and identified ecological indicative species. This study found the following: (1) Urbanization has led to the simplification of butterfly community structure, but there are also favorable factors that support the survival of individual butterflies; (2) Urbanization has led to significant differences in butterfly communities and plant-feeding polyphagous butterfly groups; (3) Urbanization has led to differences in the functional diversity of butterfly diet and activity space groups; (4) We identified five eco-indicator species in different urban ecological gradients.
Exploring and describing biodiversity and the mechanisms structuring it is fundamental to advancing ecology. This is particularly pertinent in understudied biogeographical regions, such as the ...Afrotropics, that are characterised by strong seasonal climatic shifts. We investigated the characteristics of stream biodiversity in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, a tropical biodiversity hotspot, by examining patterns in 20 stream invertebrate communities across both the wet and dry seasons. For this, we took a multi-faceted approach accounting for the three levels of biodiversity (α, β and γ), including partitioning the nestedness and turnover components of β diversity, regional occupancy-abundance patterns, niche characteristics, and the environmental drivers of community structure. α diversity was low in these streams, with strong turnover between sites leading to high β diversity contributing to regional biodiversity, but there was little variation in communities between seasons. The proportion of sites occupied by taxa declined with increasing niche position, and decreasing niche breadth. Occupancy was predicted well by a combination of these two factors (niche position and breadth), but not mean local abundance, as the abundance-occupancy link was an upper-limit unimodal relationship. On average, community structure was linked more strongly to environmental variables in the wet season. Our findings demonstrate the clear role of spatial, but not temporal, turnover in assemblages, which likely reflects the environmental heterogeneity of this region. This is further supported by the fact that regional occupancy was mostly related to niche characteristics, particularly niche position. We emphasise the importance of continued basic and applied ecological work in this important biogeographic region to enable better protection of its biodiversity.
Landscape structure is one of the main drivers of biodiversity, especially in agricultural landscapes. However, only a few studies explored its effect on the gamma functional diversity of plants. ...Yet, research questions at this scale are important to better understand and effectively preserve biodiversity.
Using a large‐scale sampling design with 30 landscape windows, we investigated the effects of habitat amount (i.e. grassland and hedgerow amounts), compositional heterogeneity (i.e. land use diversity) and configurational heterogeneity (i.e. land use spatial complexity) on the gamma functional diversity of plants in two habitat types: hedgerows and grasslands. We also investigated the same effects on the contribution of each functional trait related to different stages of the plant regeneration cycle to the overall functional diversity of plants.
Habitat amount had contrasted effects on the functional diversity of both habitat types: a negative effect on grassland plant assemblages and a positive effect on hedgerow plant assemblages. Landscape heterogeneity only affected the functional diversity of hedgerow plants: configurational heterogeneity favoured functional dispersion but reduced functional evenness, and compositional heterogeneity affected trait contribution especially by shifting phenological and establishment strategies. Because they are linear habitats, hedgerows are indeed more likely to be influenced by edge effects than grasslands and thus displayed a strong response to landscape heterogeneity. Landscape variables influenced all stage of regeneration, and especially had a strong effect on traits related to establishment and dispersal.
Synthesis. We demonstrated that landscape structure can both affect functional diversity and select particular trait syndromes related to plant dispersal, phenology and competitiveness. These results are important because they highlight that functional diversity must be studied at the gamma scale, to better understand the effects of land management and to preserve more effectively the associated ecosystem functioning.
Résumé
La structure du paysage est l'un des principaux moteurs de la biodiversité, en particulier dans les paysages agricoles. Cependant, seules quelques études ont exploré ses effets sur la diversité fonctionnelle gamma des plantes. Pourtant, les questions de recherche à cette échelle sont importantes pour mieux comprendre et préserver efficacement la biodiversité.
Grâce à un plan d'échantillonnage à grande échelle utilisant 30 fenêtres paysagères, nous avons étudié les effets indépendants de la quantité d'habitat, de l'hétérogénéité de composition et de configuration sur la diversité fonctionnelle gamma des plantes de deux types d'habitat: les haies et les prairies. Nous avons également étudié ces effets sur la contribution de chaque trait lié aux différentes étapes du cycle de régénération des plantes sur la diversité fonctionnelle globale.
La quantité d'habitat a eu un effet contrasté sur la diversité fonctionnelle des deux types de végétation, avec un effet négatif sur les assemblages de prairies mais un effet positif sur les assemblages de haies. L'hétérogénéité du paysage n'a affecté que la diversité fonctionnelle des plantes de haies: l'hétérogénéité de configuration a favorisé la dispersion fonctionnelle mais a réduit l'équitabilité fonctionnelle, et l'hétérogénéité de composition a affecté la contribution des traits en modifiant les stratégies phénologiques et d'établissement. La structure du paysage a eu un effet très important sur les différentes étapes du cycle de régénération des plantes, en particulier sur les traits liés à l'établissement et à la dispersion.
Synthèse. Nous avons démontré que la structure du paysage peut à la fois affecter la diversité fonctionnelle et sélectionner des syndromes de traits particuliers liés à la dispersion, la phénologie et la compétitivité des plantes. Ces résultats sont importants car ils soulignent que la diversité fonctionnelle doit être étudiée à l'échelle gamma, afin de mieux comprendre les effets de la gestion des terres et de préserver plus efficacement le fonctionnement des écosystèmes associés.
Landscape structure is one of the main drivers of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. We investigated the effects of habitat amount, compositional and configurational heterogeneity on the gamma functional diversity of plants in two habitat types: hedgerows and grasslands. We demonstrated that landscape structure can both affect functional diversity and select particular trait syndromes related to plant dispersal, phenology and competitiveness.
Introduce your students to a selective but broad view of cultural management.Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 4th edition, demonstrates a combination of classical and contemporary thinking ...around cultural management in one text, boasting new case study material that covers a wider range of cultures and more non-Western examples.
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