Species niches, not traits, determine abundance and occupancy patterns: a multi-site synthesis
Creators
-
Marino, Nicholas1
- Céréghino, Régis2
- Glbert, Benjamin2
- Petermann, Jana2
- Srivastava, Diane2
- de Omena, Paula2
- Bautista, Fabiola2
- Guzman, Laura2
- Romero, Gustavo2
- Trzcinski, Mark2
- Barberis, Ignacio2
- Corbara, Bruno2
- Debastiani, Vanderlei2
- Dézerald, Olivier2
- Kratina, Pavel2
- Leroy, Céline2
- MacDonald, Arthur Andrew2
- Montero, Guillermo2
- Pillar, Valério2
- Richardson, Barbara2
- Riachardson, Michael2
- Talaga, Stanislas2
- Gonçalves, Ana2
- Piccoli, Gustavo2
- Jocque, Merlijn2
- Farjalla, Vinicius2
- 1. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
- 2. ,
Description
Aim: Locally abundant species are usually widespread, and such pattern has been related to properties of the niches and traits of species. However, such explanations fail to account for the potential of traits to determine species niches, and often overlook statistical artifacts. Here we examine how trait distinctiveness determines species abilities to exploit either common habitats (niche position) or a range of habitats (niche breadth), and how niche position and breadth in turn affect abundance and occupancy. We also examine how statistical artifacts moderate these relations.
Location: Sixteen sites in the Neotropics.
Time period: 1993-2014.
Major taxa studied: Aquatic invertebrates from tank bromeliads.
Methods: We measured the environmental niche position and breadth of each species and calculated its trait distinctiveness, as the average trait difference with all other species at each site. Then, we used a combination of Structural Equations Models and a meta-analytic approach to test trait-niche relationships, and a null model to control for statistical artifacts.
Results: The trait distinctiveness of each species was unrelated to its niche properties, abundance, and occupancy. In contrast, niche position was the main predictor of abundance and occupancy; species that used the most common environmental conditions found across bromeliads were locally abundant and widespread. Contributions of niche breadth to such patterns were due to statistical artifacts, indicating that niche breadth effects may have been overestimated in previous studies.
Main conclusions: Our study reveals the generality of niche position in explaining one of the most common ecological patterns. The robustness of this result is underscored by the geographic extent of our study and our control of statistical artifacts. We call for a similar examination across other systems – an essential task to understanding the drivers of commonness across the tree of life.
Notes
| column_name | type | description |
| location | character | name of the field site |
| visit_id | numeric | unique identifier for each sampling visit within a site |
| bwg_name | character | unique identifier for the species name |
| mean_local_abundance | numeric | mean local abundance of the species at occupied bromeliads |
| relative_occupancy | numeric | proportion of occupied bromeliads by the species |
| OMI | numeric | the niche position for a given species at a given site |
| Tol | numeric | the niche breadth for a given species at a given site |
| functional_distinctveness | numeric | the average difference in functional trait composition of a species given all other species in a site |
Funding provided by: Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001665
Award Number: ANR-10-LABX-25-01
Funding provided by: BPE-FAPESP
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number: 2016/01209-9
Funding provided by: Royal Society
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000288
Award Number: NAF\R2\180791
Funding provided by: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003593
Award Number: 301514/2017-8
Funding provided by: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003593
Award Number: 307689/2014-0
Funding provided by: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003593
Award Number: 312770/2014-6
Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001
Award Number: DEB-0218039
Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001
Award Number: DEB-0620910
Funding provided by: USDA IITF
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number: 01-1G11120101-001
Funding provided by: Universidad Nacional de Rosario
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100009573
Award Number: AGR-210
Funding provided by: Universidad Nacional de Rosario
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100009573
Award Number: AGR-290
Funding provided by: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002322
Award Number: 2014/04603-4
Funding provided by: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002322
Award Number: 2016/09699-5
Funding provided by: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002322
Award Number: 2013/0877
Funding provided by: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003593
Award Number: 401345/2014-9
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Additional details
Related works
- Is cited by
- 10.1111/1365-2435.13141 (DOI)
- 10.1111/geb.13029 (DOI)