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Lifting the veil: richness measurements fail to detect systematic biodiversity change over three decades
Corresponding Author
Stefano Larsen
University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, Trento, 38123 Italy
Synthesis Centre (sDiv) of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, Germany
E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorJonathan M. Chase
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, Germany
Department of Computer Sciences, Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany
Search for more papers by this authorIsabelle Durance
Water Research Institute, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX United Kingdom
Search for more papers by this authorSteve J. Ormerod
Water Research Institute, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX United Kingdom
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Stefano Larsen
University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, Trento, 38123 Italy
Synthesis Centre (sDiv) of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, Germany
E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorJonathan M. Chase
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, Germany
Department of Computer Sciences, Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany
Search for more papers by this authorIsabelle Durance
Water Research Institute, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX United Kingdom
Search for more papers by this authorSteve J. Ormerod
Water Research Institute, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX United Kingdom
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
While there is widespread recognition of human involvement in biodiversity loss globally, at smaller spatial extents, the effects are less clear. One reason is that local effects are obscured by the use of summary biodiversity variables, such as species richness, that provide only limited insight into complex biodiversity change. Here, we use 30 yr of invertebrate data from a metacommunity of 10 streams in Wales, UK, combined with regional surveys, to examine temporal changes in multiple biodiversity measures at local, metacommunity, and regional scales. There was no change in taxonomic or functional α-diversity and spatial β-diversity metrics at any scale over the 30-yr time series, suggesting a relative stasis in the system and no evidence for on-going homogenization. However, temporal changes in mean species composition were evident. Two independent approaches to estimate species niche breadth showed that compositional changes were associated with a systematic decline in mean community specialization. Estimates of species-specific local extinction and immigration probabilities suggested that this decline was linked to lower recolonization rates of specialists, rather than greater local extinction rates. Our results reveal the need for caution in implying stasis from patterns in α-diversity and spatial β-diversity measures that might mask non-random biodiversity changes over time. We also show how different but complementary approaches to estimate niche breadth and functional distinctness of species can reveal long-term trends in community homogenization likely to be important to conservation and ecosystem function.
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