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One of the main goals of community ecology is to measure the relative importance of environmental filters to understand patterns of species distribution at different temporal and spatial scales. Likewise, the identification of factors that shape symbiont metacommunity structures is important in disease ecology because resulting structures drive disease transmission. We tested the hypothesis that distributions of virus species and viral families from rodents and bats are defined by shared responses to host phylogeny and host functional characteristics, shaping the viral metacommunity structures at four spatial scales (Continental, Biogeographical, Zoogeographical, and Regional). The contribution of host phylogeny and host traits to the metacommunity of viruses at each spatial scale was calculated using a redundant analysis of canonical ordering (RDA). For rodents, at American Continental scale the coherence of viral species metacommunity increased while the spatial scale decreased and Quasi-Clementsian structures were observed. This pattern suggests a restricted distribution of viruses through their hosts, while in the Big Mass (Europe, Africa, and Asia), the coherence decreased as spatial scale decreased. Viral species metacommunities associated with bats was dominated by random structures along all spatial scales. We suggest that this random pattern is a result of the presence of viruses with high occupancy range such as rabies (73%) and coronavirus (27%), that disrupt such structures. At viral family scale, viral metacommunities associated with bats showed coherent structures, with the emergence of Quasi- Clementsian and Checkerboard structures. RDA analysis indicates that the assemblage of viral diversity associated with rodents and bats responds to phylogenetic and functional characteristics, which alternate between spatial scales. Several of these variations could be subject to the spatial scale, in spite of this, we could identify patterns at macro ecological scale. The application of metacommunity theory at symbiont scales is particularly useful for large-scale ecological analysis. Understanding the rules of host-virus association can be useful to take better decisions in epidemiological surveillance, control and even predictions of viral distribution and dissemination.
Previous studies have suggested that the attenuation of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) cyclic dynamics with decreasing latitude may be the consequence of a reduced specialization on the lynx’s primary prey, snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus). However, intraguild competitive interactions remain largely unexplored in situations where the temporal dynamics of food resources is pronounced, and lynx populations in the south of their distribution may be negatively affected by interspecific competition with other carnivores. In this paper, we used spectral analysis of fur harvest data collected at the state (US) and province (Canada) level to explore the spatial gradient of cyclic dynamics in lynx. Although some patterns were consistent with the ‘diet specialization’ hypothesis, we found that temporal variance of cycling propensity peaked at mid-latitudes, where transient, non-cyclic periods, coexisted with regular 10-year cycles. In these mid-latitude zones, non-cyclic periods did not coincide with loss of snowshoe hare cycling as demonstrated by historical records, and were not more frequent in recent decades as could be expected under a ‘climatic forcing’ scenario. Instead, we show that non-cyclic periods tended to coincide with periods of high coyote (Canis latrans) abundance and periods when coyotes apparently tracked snowshoe hare abundance as suggested by significant 10-year cycles lagging one or two years behind hare peaks. We used landscape-scale (trapline) fur harvest returns from five provinces in Canada to further probe the importance of interspecific competition in Canada lynx population dynamics. Accounting for coyote distribution and abundance did not bring additional explanatory and predictive power to models based solely on environmental and autecological predictors, suggesting that competition with coyote is not a force driving population abundance and cyclicity among lynx. We discuss the possible factors behind the apparent lack of consistency across spatial scales and recommend that further studies examine species interactions at a smaller (local) scale.
Gering, J.C., T.O. Crist and J.A. Veech. 2003. Additive partitioning of species diversity across multiple spatial scales: implications for regional conservation of biodiversity. Cons. Biol. 17: 488–499. Veech
Three indirect light measurement methods were compared in mixed deciduous and coniferous forests with heterogeneous stand structure: tRAYci — a spatially explicit light model calculating percentage of above canopy light (PACL); LAI-2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer measuring diffuse non-interceptance (D1FN); and spherical densiometer estimating canopy openness (CO). Correlations between the different light variables were analyzed at several spatial scales (at 5 × 5, 10 × 10, 15 × 15, 20 × 20 and 30 × 30 m 2 ). Relationships between light variables and the cover of alight flexible plant, blackberry ( Rubus fruticosus agg.), as a potentially sensitive response variable for light conditions were also investigated. LAI-2000 (D1FN) and tRAYci (PACL) seemed the most appropriate for the description of the light environment in the investigated stands. D1FN and PACL had stronger correlations with each other and with blackberry cover than CO. Spatial heterogeneity of light (expressed with coefficient of variation) showed much stronger correlations than mean values both between the methods and between light intensity and Rubus cover. The correlation values between the methods increased towards coarser scales (from 5 × 5 to 30 × 30 m 2 ), while the correlation between light intensity and blackberry cover had a maximal response at the scale of 20 × 20 m 2 if a lower resolution of light estimation was used, and had also a maximum at smaller scales if the light was calculated for more points per plot by tRAYci. LAI-2000 can be recommended for the comparison of different stands, however, for fine scale description of light conditions of a stand tRAYci seems to be more appropriate.
A key driver of biodiversity loss is human landscape transformation. Change detection and trajectory analysis are frequently applied methods for studying landscape change. We studied to what degree habitat-specific change detection and trajectory analysis provide different information on landscape change compared to the analysis with land-cover statistics. Our research was carried out at two spatial scales (regional, 1800 km2, 360 random points; local, 23 km2, polygon-based maps) in the Kiskunság, Hungary. Spatio-temporal databases were prepared using historical maps, aerial photos and satellite images from 1783, 1883, 1954, and 2009. Local expert knowledge of landscape history and recent vegetation was used during the historical reconstructions. We found large differences at both scales between land-cover based and habitat-specific analyses. Habitat-specific change detection revealed that grassland loss was not continuous in the different habitats, as land-cover based analysis implied. Ploughing affected open sand grasslands and sand steppes differently in the periods studied. It was only apparent from the habitat-specific analyses that from the grasslands only mesotrophic and Molinia meadows were relatively constant, up until the 1950s. The gradual increase in forest area revealed by land-cover CHD analyses was split into natural and anthropogenic processes by habitat-specific analyses. Habitat specific trajectory analysis also revealed ecologically important historical differences between habitats. Afforestation affected especially the open sand grasslands, whereas wetland habitats were relatively stable. The most important trajectory was the one in which closed sand steppes were ploughed during the 19th century, and remained arable fields until present. Fifty percent of the regional trajectories of 18th century open sand grasslands terminated in tree plantations at present, though 82% of the current open sand grasslands of the local site can be regarded as ancient. We concluded that dividing land-cover categories into finer habitat categories offered an opportunity for a more precise historical analysis of key habitats, and could reveal important ecological processes that cannot be reconstructed with land-cover based analyses. It also highlighted habitat-specific processes making natural and social drivers better interpretable. Information on the diversity of habitat-histories may serve as a basis for spatially more explicit conservation management.
Similarity in species composition among different areas plays an essential task in biodiversity management and conservation since it allows the identification of those environmental gradients that functionally operate in determining variation in species composition across spatial scale. The decay of compositional similarity with increasing spatial or environmental distance derives from: 1) the presence of spatial constraints which create a physical separation among habitats, or 2) the decrease in environmental similarity with increasing distance. Even if the distance decay of compositional similarity represents a well known pattern characterising all types of biological communities, few attempts were made to examine this pattern at small spatial scales with respect to both grain and extent. Aim of this work was to test whether the distance decay of similarity 1) can be observed at a local scale in situations where environmental conditions are relatively homogeneous and ecological barriers are absent, and 2) is dependent on the grain size at which plant community data are recorded. We selected two urban brownfields located at Bremen university campus, Germany, of 40 m × 20 m each, systematically divided in nested plots with an increasing spatial scale of 0.25 m2, 1 m2, 4 m2 and 16 m2. Both plant species composition and soil variables were recorded in each cell. Linear and logarithmic least squares regression models were applied in order to examine the decay of similarity due to spatial distance (calculated as the Euclidean distance among pairs of plots) and environmental distance (calculated as the Euclidean distance among PCA-transformed soil variables). A general lack of distance decay was observed, irrespective of the type of distance (spatial or environmental) or the grain size. We argue that this is probably due to a random variation both of the important environmental parameters and of the local distribution patterns of individual species, the latter mainly caused by the high dispersal abilities of the majority of species occurring in the brownfields.
spatial scale in species assemblages. Abstracta Botanica 17: 37–51. Bartha S. Pattern, area and diversity: the importance of spatial scale in species assemblages
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Abstracta Botanica 22 49 66 Campetella, G. and R. Canullo. 2001. Structure and spatial scale in woodland
