New paper that may be of interest to ecologists studying global change, disturbances, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, or response diversity: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54540-3
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Measures of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning show variable responses to perturbations (white/red areas of heatmap).
We show that this variability itself is predictable (modularity of heatmap) and can even be used to study species’ responses to perturbations and contributions to functions.
We propose a framework, built on geometric arguments, that uses the variability of community-level responses to quantify:
(i) the similarity of functions
(ii) how many species contribute to functions
(iii) the response diversity of communities
(iv) the biomass scaling of perturbations
Using the brilliant dataset produced by Zhenghu Zhou and colleagues (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16881-7), we demonstrate how our framework can provide new insights into species’ contributions to functions and species' response to perturbations using only information about community-level responses.
Here’s a tutorial aimed at empirical ecologists interested in applying our framework to their own data (e.g., from large experiments, syntheses, or biomonitoring programs): https://jamesaorr.github.io/community-properties-tutorial/ - sorry about any typos!
Big thanks to Jeff Arnoldi (at CNRS) who mentored me through this work 🌊
Thanks also to TCD Zoology and @oxfordbiology.bsky.social, to the reviewers for their motivating comments, and to the rest of our team: Jeremy Piggott, @yodacomplex.bsky.social, and @michcjackson.bsky.social!
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We show that this variability itself is predictable (modularity of heatmap) and can even be used to study species’ responses to perturbations and contributions to functions.
(i) the similarity of functions
(ii) how many species contribute to functions
(iii) the response diversity of communities
(iv) the biomass scaling of perturbations
Thanks also to TCD Zoology and @oxfordbiology.bsky.social, to the reviewers for their motivating comments, and to the rest of our team: Jeremy Piggott, @yodacomplex.bsky.social, and @michcjackson.bsky.social!
https://rdcu.be/d1V4O