Functional diversity (FD), the diversity of organism attributes that relates to their interactions with the abiotic and biotic environment, has been increasingly used for the last two decades in ...ecology, biogeography and conservation. Yet, FD has many facets and their estimations are not standardized nor embedded in a single tool. mFD (multifaceted functional diversity) is an R package that uses matrices of species assemblages and species trait values as building blocks to compute most FD indices. mFD is firstly based on two functions allowing the user to summarize trait and assemblage data. Then it calculates trait‐based distances between species pairs, informs the user whether species have to be clustered into functional entities and finally computes multidimensional functional space. To let the user choose the most appropriate functional space for computing multidimensional functional diversity indices, two mFD functions allow assessing and illustrating the quality of each functional space. Next, mFD provides 6 core functions to calculate 16 existing FD indices based on trait‐based distances, functional entities or species position in a functional space. The mFD package also provides graphical functions based on the ggplot library to illustrate FD values through customizable and high‐resolution plots of species distribution among functional entities or in a multidimensional space. All functions include internal validation processes to check for errors in data formatting which return detailed error messages. To facilitate the use of mFD framework, we built an associated website hosting five tutorials illustrating the use of all the functions step by step.
Abstract
Identifying species that are both geographically restricted and functionally distinct, i.e. supporting rare traits and functions, is of prime importance given their risk of extinction and ...their potential contribution to ecosystem functioning. We use global species distributions and functional traits for birds and mammals to identify the ecologically rare species, understand their characteristics, and identify hotspots. We find that ecologically rare species are disproportionately represented in IUCN threatened categories, insufficiently covered by protected areas, and for some of them sensitive to current and future threats. While they are more abundant overall in countries with a low human development index, some countries with high human development index are also hotspots of ecological rarity, suggesting transboundary responsibility for their conservation. Altogether, these results state that more conservation emphasis should be given to ecological rarity given future environmental conditions and the need to sustain multiple ecosystem processes in the long-term.
Species distribution modelling has been widely applied in order to assess the potential impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Many methodological decisions, taken during the modelling process ...and forecasts, may, however, lead to a large variability in the assessment of future impacts. Using measures of species range change and turnover, the potential impacts of climate change on French stream fish species and assemblages were evaluated. Our main focus was to quantify the uncertainty in the projections of these impacts arising from four sources of uncertainty: initial datasets (Data), statistical methods species distribution models (SDM), general circulation models (GCM), and gas emission scenarios (GES). Several modalities of the aforementioned uncertainty sources were combined in an ensemble forecasting framework resulting in 8400 different projections. The variance explained by each source was then extracted from this whole ensemble of projections. Overall, SDM contributed to the largest variation in projections, followed by GCM, whose contribution increased over time equalling almost the proportion of variance explained by SDM in 2080. Data and GES had little influence on the variability in projections. Future projections of range change were more consistent for species with a large geographical extent (i.e., distribution along latitudinal or stream gradients) or with restricted environmental requirements (i.e., small thermal or elevation ranges). Variability in projections of turnover was spatially structured at the scale of France, indicating that certain particular geographical areas should be considered with care when projecting the potential impacts of climate change. The results of this study, therefore, emphasized that particular attention should be paid to the use of predictions ensembles resulting from the application of several statistical methods and climate models. Moreover, forecasted impacts of climate change should always be provided with an assessment of their uncertainty, so that management and conservation decisions can be taken in the full knowledge of their reliability.
Predicting species distributions requires substantial numbers of georeferenced occurrences and access to remotely sensed climate and land cover data. Reliable estimates of the distribution of most ...species are unavailable, either because digitized georeferenced distributional data are rare or not digitized. The emergence of online biodiversity information databases and citizen science platforms dramatically improves the amount of information available to establish current and historical distribution of lesser-documented species. We demonstrate how the combination of museum and online citizen science databases can be used to build reliable distribution maps for poorly documented species. To do so, we investigated the distribution and the potential range expansions of two north-eastern North American spider species (Arachnida: Araneae), the Northern black widow (Latrodectus variolus) and the Black purse-web spider (Sphodros niger). Our results provide the first predictions of distribution for these two species. We also found that the Northern black widow has expanded north of its previously known range providing valuable information for public health education. For the Black purse-web spider, we identify potential habitats outside of its currently known range, thus providing a better understanding of the ecology of this poorly-documented species. We demonstrate that increasingly available online biodiversity databases are rapidly expanding biogeography research for conservation, ecology, and in specific cases, epidemiology, of lesser known taxa.
Reef fishes are closely connected to many human populations, yet their contributions to society are mostly considered through their economic and ecological values. Cultural and intrinsic values of ...reef fishes to the public can be critical drivers of conservation investment and success, but remain challenging to quantify. Aesthetic value represents one of the most immediate and direct means by which human societies engage with biodiversity, and can be evaluated from species to ecosystems. Here, we provide the aesthetic value of 2,417 ray-finned reef fish species by combining intensive evaluation of photographs of fishes by humans with predicted values from machine learning. We identified important biases in species' aesthetic value relating to evolutionary history, ecological traits, and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat status. The most beautiful fishes are tightly packed into small parts of both the phylogenetic tree and the ecological trait space. In contrast, the less attractive fishes are the most ecologically and evolutionary distinct species and those recognized as threatened. Our study highlights likely important mismatches between potential public support for conservation and the species most in need of this support. It also provides a pathway for scaling-up our understanding of what are both an important nonmaterial facet of biodiversity and a key component of nature's contribution to people, which could help better anticipate consequences of species loss and assist in developing appropriate communication strategies.
An impressive number of new climate change scenarios have recently become available to assess the ecological impacts of climate change. Among these impacts, shifts in species range analyzed with ...species distribution models are the most widely studied. Whereas it is widely recognized that the uncertainty in future climatic conditions must be taken into account in impact studies, many assessments of species range shifts still rely on just a few climate change scenarios, often selected arbitrarily. We describe a method to select objectively a subset of climate change scenarios among a large ensemble of available ones. Our k-means clustering approach reduces the number of climate change scenarios needed to project species distributions, while retaining the coverage of uncertainty in future climate conditions. We first show, for three biologically-relevant climatic variables, that a reduced number of six climate change scenarios generates average climatic conditions very close to those obtained from a set of 27 scenarios available before reduction. A case study on potential gains and losses of habitat by three northeastern American tree species shows that potential future species distributions projected from the selected six climate change scenarios are very similar to those obtained from the full set of 27, although with some spatial discrepancies at the edges of species distributions. In contrast, projections based on just a few climate models vary strongly according to the initial choice of climate models. We give clear guidance on how to reduce the number of climate change scenarios while retaining the central tendencies and coverage of uncertainty in future climatic conditions. This should be particularly useful during future climate change impact studies as more than twice as many climate models were reported in the fifth assessment report of IPCC compared to the previous one.
Scientists, policy makers, and journalists are three key, interconnected players involved in prioritizing and implementing solutions to mitigate the consequences of anthropogenic pressures on the ...environment. The way in which information is framed and expertise is communicated by the media is crucial for political decisions and for the integrated management of environmental issues. Here we present a comparative study of scientific literature and press articles addressing climate change and biodiversity. We extensively scrutinized the scientific literature, research funding, and press articles from the USA, Canada, and United Kingdom addressing climate change and biodiversity issues between 1991 and 2016. We found that media coverage of climate change was up to eight times higher compared to biodiversity. This discrepancy could not be explained by different scientific output between the two issues. Moreover, climate change media coverage was often related to specific events whereas no such indication of a connection was found in the case of biodiversity. An international communication strategy is urgently required to raise public awareness on biodiversity issues. We discussed several initiatives that scientists could undertake to better communicate major discoveries to the public and policy makers.
Trees play a key role in the structure and function of many ecosystems worldwide. In the Mediterranean Basin, forests cover approximately 22% of the total land area hosting a large number of endemics ...(46 species). Despite its particularities and vulnerability, the biodiversity of Mediterranean trees is not well known at the taxonomic, spatial, functional, and genetic levels required for conservation applications. The WOODIV database fills this gap by providing reliable occurrences, four functional traits (plant height, seed mass, wood density, and specific leaf area), and sequences from three DNA-regions (rbcL, matK, and trnH-psbA), together with modelled occurrences and a phylogeny for all 210 Euro-Mediterranean tree species. We compiled, homogenized, and verified occurrence data from sparse datasets and collated them on an INSPIRE-compliant 10 × 10 km grid. We also gathered functional trait and genetic data, filling existing gaps where possible. The WOODIV database can benefit macroecological studies in the fields of conservation, biogeography, and community ecology.
The sociality of the Arctic fox has been extensively studied during the breeding season, so that its summer territorial and generally monogamous social systems are now well described. A key knowledge ...gap remains, however, during the winter season, when logistic challenges preclude detailed observation of individuals. We have studied the socio-spatial winter dynamics of Arctic fox pairs to determine: (1) winter fidelity of Arctic fox pair mates to their summer home range; (2) the degree to which extraterritorial movements are simultaneous between pair mates; and (3) spatial proximity between pair mates when they perform simultaneous extraterritorial movements. To meet these objectives, 15 Arctic fox pairs from Bylot Island (Nunavut, Canada) were tracked during at least one winter in 2007-2011, using Argos satellite collars, for a total of 21 pair-years. Arctic foxes were generally faithful to their summer home ranges during winter, but some variation occurred among pairs. The degree of territory fidelity was highly correlated between pair mates. When foxes did extraterritorial movements, they performed excursions that were short in duration and generally not synchronized among pair mates. When pair mates were outside the territory at the same time, they did not travel together and rather foraged independently. We discuss some ecological implications of our findings, and suggest that different patterns may be observed in other Arctic fox populations. If such is the case, replicating our study in other parts of the species range will allow productive hypothesis testing regarding the determinants of Arctic fox winter sociality.
The Arctic fox has a circumpolar distribution and is intensively studied because it is adapted to extreme environments and influences the ecology of many other species. We introduce here a collection ...of 12 articles on Arctic fox biology and management. After summarizing the main biological features of the species, we explore the peer-reviewed literature dealing with the Arctic fox through a bibliometric network analysis which identifies clusters of papers sharing a high similarity of cited literature. We visualize with a word cloud analysis 10 clusters comprising 97% of 755 articles published by 1742 authors from 1996-2015. Behavioural and ecological questions, including conservation science, dominate this recent literature. The collection of papers published in the supplement offers an excellent representation of current research dealing with Arctic fox biology and management.
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