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Species richness change across spatial scales

Species richness change across spatial scales
Species richness change across spatial scales
Humans have elevated global extinction rates and thus lowered global scale species richness. However, there is no a priori reason to expect that losses of global species richness should always, or even often, trickle down to losses of species richness at regional and local scales, even though this relationship is often assumed. Here, we show that scale can modulate our estimates of species richness change through time in the face of anthropogenic pressures, but not in a unidirectional way. Instead, the magnitude of species richness change through time can increase, decrease, reverse, or be unimodal across spatial scales. Using several case studies, we show different forms of scale‐dependent richness change through time in the face of anthropogenic pressures. For example, Central American corals show a homogenization pattern, where small scale richness is largely unchanged through time, while larger scale richness change is highly negative. Alternatively, birds in North America showed a differentiation effect, where species richness was again largely unchanged through time at small scales, but was more positive at larger scales. Finally, we collated data from a heterogeneous set of studies of different taxa measured through time from sites ranging from small plots to entire continents, and found highly variable patterns that nevertheless imply complex scale‐dependence in several taxa. In summary, understanding how biodiversity is changing in the Anthropocene requires an explicit recognition of the influence of spatial scale, and we conclude with some recommendations for how to better incorporate scale into our estimates of change.
0030-1299
Chase, Jonathan M.
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Mcgill, Brian J.
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Thompson, Patrick L.
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Antão, Laura H.
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Bates, Amanda E.
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Blowes, Shane A.
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Dornelas, Maria
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Gonzalez, Andrew
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Magurran, Anne E.
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Supp, Sarah R.
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Winter, Marten
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Bjorkman, Anne D.
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Bruelheide, Helge
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Byrnes, Jarrett E. K.
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Cabral, Juliano Sarmento
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Elahi, Robin
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Gomez, Catalina
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Guzman, Hector M.
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Isbell, Forest
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Myers‐smith, Isla H.
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Jones, Holly P.
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Hines, Jes
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Vellend, Mark
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Waldock, Conor
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O'Connor, Mary
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Chase, Jonathan M.
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Mcgill, Brian J.
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Thompson, Patrick L.
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Antão, Laura H.
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Bates, Amanda E.
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Blowes, Shane A.
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Dornelas, Maria
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Gonzalez, Andrew
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Magurran, Anne E.
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Supp, Sarah R.
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Winter, Marten
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Bjorkman, Anne D.
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Bruelheide, Helge
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Byrnes, Jarrett E. K.
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Cabral, Juliano Sarmento
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Elahi, Robin
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Gomez, Catalina
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Guzman, Hector M.
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Isbell, Forest
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Myers‐smith, Isla H.
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Jones, Holly P.
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Hines, Jes
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Vellend, Mark
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Waldock, Conor
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O'Connor, Mary
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Chase, Jonathan M., Mcgill, Brian J., Thompson, Patrick L., Antão, Laura H., Bates, Amanda E., Blowes, Shane A., Dornelas, Maria, Gonzalez, Andrew, Magurran, Anne E., Supp, Sarah R., Winter, Marten, Bjorkman, Anne D., Bruelheide, Helge, Byrnes, Jarrett E. K., Cabral, Juliano Sarmento, Elahi, Robin, Gomez, Catalina, Guzman, Hector M., Isbell, Forest, Myers‐smith, Isla H., Jones, Holly P., Hines, Jes, Vellend, Mark, Waldock, Conor and O'Connor, Mary (2019) Species richness change across spatial scales. Oikos. (doi:10.1111/oik.05968).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Humans have elevated global extinction rates and thus lowered global scale species richness. However, there is no a priori reason to expect that losses of global species richness should always, or even often, trickle down to losses of species richness at regional and local scales, even though this relationship is often assumed. Here, we show that scale can modulate our estimates of species richness change through time in the face of anthropogenic pressures, but not in a unidirectional way. Instead, the magnitude of species richness change through time can increase, decrease, reverse, or be unimodal across spatial scales. Using several case studies, we show different forms of scale‐dependent richness change through time in the face of anthropogenic pressures. For example, Central American corals show a homogenization pattern, where small scale richness is largely unchanged through time, while larger scale richness change is highly negative. Alternatively, birds in North America showed a differentiation effect, where species richness was again largely unchanged through time at small scales, but was more positive at larger scales. Finally, we collated data from a heterogeneous set of studies of different taxa measured through time from sites ranging from small plots to entire continents, and found highly variable patterns that nevertheless imply complex scale‐dependence in several taxa. In summary, understanding how biodiversity is changing in the Anthropocene requires an explicit recognition of the influence of spatial scale, and we conclude with some recommendations for how to better incorporate scale into our estimates of change.

Text
sChange Scale Paper revised2 for Oikos (for open access) - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 20 April 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 14 May 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 431755
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/431755
ISSN: 0030-1299
PURE UUID: 9e9601cb-d9c6-44a9-a86f-b31782db5330

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Date deposited: 14 Jun 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:55

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Contributors

Author: Jonathan M. Chase
Author: Brian J. Mcgill
Author: Patrick L. Thompson
Author: Laura H. Antão
Author: Amanda E. Bates
Author: Shane A. Blowes
Author: Maria Dornelas
Author: Andrew Gonzalez
Author: Anne E. Magurran
Author: Sarah R. Supp
Author: Marten Winter
Author: Anne D. Bjorkman
Author: Helge Bruelheide
Author: Jarrett E. K. Byrnes
Author: Juliano Sarmento Cabral
Author: Robin Elahi
Author: Catalina Gomez
Author: Hector M. Guzman
Author: Forest Isbell
Author: Isla H. Myers‐smith
Author: Holly P. Jones
Author: Jes Hines
Author: Mark Vellend
Author: Conor Waldock
Author: Mary O'Connor

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