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The biogeography of community assembly: latitude and predation drive variation in community trait distribution in a guild of epifaunal crustaceans.

ABSTRACT: While considerable evidence exists of biogeographic patterns in the intensity of species interactions, the influence of these patterns on variation in community structure is less clear. Studying how the distributions of traits in communities vary along global gradients can inform how variation in interactions and other factors contribute to the process of community assembly. Using a model selection approach on measures of trait dispersion in crustaceans associated with eelgrass (Zostera marina) spanning 30° of latitude in two oceans, we found that dispersion strongly increased with increasing predation and decreasing latitude. Ocean and epiphyte load appeared as secondary predictors; Pacific communities were more overdispersed while Atlantic communities were more clustered, and increasing epiphytes were associated with increased clustering. By examining how species interactions and environmental filters influence community structure across biogeographic regions, we demonstrate how both latitudinal variation in species interactions and historical contingency shape these responses. Community trait distributions have implications for ecosystem stability and functioning, and integrating large-scale observations of environmental filters, species interactions and traits can help us predict how communities may respond to environmental change.

SUBMITTER: Gross CP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8864368 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The biogeography of community assembly: latitude and predation drive variation in community trait distribution in a guild of epifaunal crustaceans.

Gross Collin P CP Duffy J Emmett JE Hovel Kevin A KA Kardish Melissa R MR Reynolds Pamela L PL Boström Christoffer C Boyer Katharyn E KE Cusson Mathieu M Eklöf Johan J Engelen Aschwin H AH Eriksson Britas Klemens BK Fodrie F Joel FJ Griffin John N JN Hereu Clara M CM Hori Masakazu M Hughes A Randall AR Ivanov Mikhail V MV Jorgensen Pablo P Kruschel Claudia C Lee Kun-Seop KS Lefcheck Jonathan J McGlathery Karen K Moksnes Per-Olav PO Nakaoka Masahiro M O'Connor Mary I MI O'Connor Nessa E NE Olsen Jeanine L JL Orth Robert J RJ Peterson Bradley J BJ Reiss Henning H Rossi Francesca F Ruesink Jennifer J Sotka Erik E EE Thormar Jonas J Tomas Fiona F Unsworth Richard R Voigt Erin P EP Whalen Matthew A MA Ziegler Shelby L SL Stachowicz John J JJ

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20220223 1969

While considerable evidence exists of biogeographic patterns in the intensity of species interactions, the influence of these patterns on variation in community structure is less clear. Studying how the distributions of traits in communities vary along global gradients can inform how variation in interactions and other factors contribute to the process of community assembly. Using a model selection approach on measures of trait dispersion in crustaceans associated with eelgrass (<i>Zostera marin ...[more]

PMID: 35193403

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Project description:BackgroundSpatial variation in the risk of many mosquito-borne pathogens is strongly influenced by the distribution of communities of suitable vector mosquitoes. The spatial distributions of such communities have been linked to the abiotic habitat requirements of each constituent mosquito species, but the biotic interactions between mosquitoes and other species are less well understood. Determining which fauna restrict the presence and abundance of key mosquito species in vector communities may identify species which could be employed as natural biological control agents. Whilst biotic interactions have been studied in the laboratory, a lack of appropriate statistical methods has prohibited the identification of key interactions which influence mosquito distributions in the field. Joint species distribution models (JSDMs) have recently been developed to identify biotic interactions influencing the distributions of species from empirical data.MethodsWe apply a JSDM to field data on the spatial distribution of mosquitoes in a UK wetland to identify both abiotic factors and biotic interactions driving the composition of the community.ResultsAs expected, mosquito larval distributions in this wetland habitat are strongly driven by environmental covariates including water depth, temperature and oxidation-reduction potential. By factoring out these environmental variables, we are able to identify species (ditch shrimp of the genus Palaemonetes and fish) as predators which appear to restrict mosquito distributions.ConclusionsJSDMs offer vector ecologists a way to identify potentially important biotic interactions influencing the distributions of disease vectors from widely available field data. This information is crucial to understand the likely effects of habitat management for vector control and to identify species with the potential for use in biological control programmes. We provide an R package BayesComm to enable the wider application of these models.

Dataset Information

The biogeography of community assembly: latitude and predation drive variation in community trait distribution in a guild of epifaunal crustaceans.

Publications

The biogeography of community assembly: latitude and predation drive variation in community trait distribution in a guild of epifaunal crustaceans.

Similar Datasets

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