TY - JOUR
T1 - Global change community ecology beyond species-sorting
T2 - a quantitative framework based on mediterranean-biome examples
AU - Guerin, Greg R.
AU - Martín-Forés, Irene
AU - Biffin, Ed
AU - Baruch, Zdravko
AU - Breed, Martin F.
AU - Christmas, Matthew J.
AU - Cross, Hugh B.
AU - Lowe, Andrew J.
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - Aim: Species-sorting predicts the influences of the environment on ecosystem composition across heterogeneous landscapes. It assumes that extinction and adaptation are negligible at ecological scales. Meanwhile, shifts associated with global change have been observed in metacommunity composition (species pools affected by extinctions and introductions) and in phenotypes. This suggests that predictions of future composition must move beyond re-sorting present-day species with fixed traits. We extend plant species-sorting concepts to consider biogeography and demography. We give an empirical context, highlighting the influences of biogeography, species-sorting and adaptation on community composition. Location: Global; case studies focus on the terrestrial mediterranean biome. Methods: We review case studies of empirical approaches that have examined community composition at various scales. We develop a mathematical model based on community mechanics that incorporates species-sorting with shifting phenotypes and species pools. Results: As illustrated by real examples, community composition is influenced by factors such as history, modern extinction risk, species-sorting, biotic interactions, adaptation and ecological drift. There is ample evidence that species pools and phenotypes are not constant at ecological scales in the context of global change. Any implicit assumption in community analysis that they are constant should therefore be revisited. Our model breaks down shifting community constraints into intraspecific components - including genotype sorting, selection and plasticity - and interspecific components, including changes in relative abundance and species replacement from a shifting metacommunity. Main conclusions: Predictions of community composition could benefit from extending species-sorting, to allow species pools and species traits to shift through time, as dealt with explicitly in our framework. The model predicts that responses to a shifting community constraint can be more diverse than deterministic species re-sorting. Consequently, the rate of species replacement depends on factors such as species adaptive capacity, competition, physical disturbance and habitat fragmentation.
AB - Aim: Species-sorting predicts the influences of the environment on ecosystem composition across heterogeneous landscapes. It assumes that extinction and adaptation are negligible at ecological scales. Meanwhile, shifts associated with global change have been observed in metacommunity composition (species pools affected by extinctions and introductions) and in phenotypes. This suggests that predictions of future composition must move beyond re-sorting present-day species with fixed traits. We extend plant species-sorting concepts to consider biogeography and demography. We give an empirical context, highlighting the influences of biogeography, species-sorting and adaptation on community composition. Location: Global; case studies focus on the terrestrial mediterranean biome. Methods: We review case studies of empirical approaches that have examined community composition at various scales. We develop a mathematical model based on community mechanics that incorporates species-sorting with shifting phenotypes and species pools. Results: As illustrated by real examples, community composition is influenced by factors such as history, modern extinction risk, species-sorting, biotic interactions, adaptation and ecological drift. There is ample evidence that species pools and phenotypes are not constant at ecological scales in the context of global change. Any implicit assumption in community analysis that they are constant should therefore be revisited. Our model breaks down shifting community constraints into intraspecific components - including genotype sorting, selection and plasticity - and interspecific components, including changes in relative abundance and species replacement from a shifting metacommunity. Main conclusions: Predictions of community composition could benefit from extending species-sorting, to allow species pools and species traits to shift through time, as dealt with explicitly in our framework. The model predicts that responses to a shifting community constraint can be more diverse than deterministic species re-sorting. Consequently, the rate of species replacement depends on factors such as species adaptive capacity, competition, physical disturbance and habitat fragmentation.
KW - Biogeography
KW - Community composition
KW - Functional traits
KW - Global change
KW - Mediterranean biome
KW - Metacommunity
KW - Regional extinction
KW - Species-sorting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908495811&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP110100721
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FS110200051
U2 - 10.1111/geb.12184
DO - 10.1111/geb.12184
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84908495811
VL - 23
SP - 1062
EP - 1072
JO - Global Ecology and Biogeography
JF - Global Ecology and Biogeography
SN - 1466-822X
IS - 10
ER -