TY - GEN A1 - Romero-Munoz, Alfredo A1 - Fandos, Guillermo A1 - Benítez-López, Ana A1 - Kuemmerle, Tobias T1 - Habitat destruction and overexploitation drive widespread declines in all facets of mammalian diversity in the Gran Chaco T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Global biodiversity is under high and rising anthropogenic pressure. Yet, how the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional facets of biodiversity are affected by different threats over time is unclear. This is particularly true for the two main drivers of the current biodiversity crisis: habitat destruction and overexploitation. We provide the first long-term assessment of multifaceted biodiversity changes caused by these threats for any tropical region. Focussing on larger mammals in South America's 1.1 million km(2) Gran Chaco region, we assessed changes in multiple biodiversity facets between 1985 and 2015, determined which threats drive those changes, and identified remaining key areas for all biodiversity facets. Using habitat and threat maps, we found, first, that between 1985 and 2015 taxonomic (TD), phylogenetic (PD) and functional (FD) diversity all declined drastically across over half of the area assessed. FD declined about 50% faster than TD and PD, and these declines were mainly driven by species loss, rather than species turnover. Second, habitat destruction, hunting, and both threats together contributed similar to 57%, similar to 37%, and similar to 6% to overall facet declines, respectively. However, hunting pressure increased where TD and PD declined most strongly, whereas habitat destruction disproportionally contributed to FD declines. Third, just 23% of the Chaco would have to be protected to safeguard the top 17% of all three facets. Our findings uncover a widespread impoverishment of mammal species richness, evolutionary history, and ecological functions across broad areas of the Chaco due to increasing habitat destruction and hunting. Moreover, our results pinpoint key areas that should be preserved and managed to maintain all facets of mammalian diversity across the Chaco. More generally, our work highlights how long-term changes in biodiversity facets can be assessed and attributed to specific threats, to better understand human impacts on biodiversity and to guide conservation planning to mitigate them. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1370 KW - biodiversity facets KW - extinction drivers KW - functional diversity KW - functional richness KW - overhunting KW - phylogenetic diversity KW - taxonomic KW - diversity KW - traits Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-567696 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 4 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ehrlich, Elias A1 - Kath, Nadja Jeanette A1 - Gaedke, Ursula T1 - The shape of a defense-growth trade-off governs seasonal trait dynamics in natural phytoplankton T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Theory predicts that trade-offs, quantifying costs of functional trait adjustments, crucially affect community trait adaptation to altered environmental conditions, but empirical verification is scarce. We evaluated trait dynamics (antipredator defense, maximum growth rate, and phosphate affinity) of a lake phytoplankton community in a seasonally changing environment, using literature trait data and 21 years of species-resolved high-frequency biomass measurements. The trait data indicated a concave defense-growth trade-off, promoting fast-growing species with intermediate defense. With seasonally increasing grazing pressure, the community shifted toward higher defense levels at the cost of lower growth rates along the trade-off curve, while phosphate affinity explained some deviations from it. We discuss how low fitness differences of species, inferred from model simulations, in concert with stabilizing mechanisms, e.g., arising from further trait dimensions, may lead to the observed phytoplankton diversity. In conclusion, quantifying trade-offs is key for predictions of community trait adaptation and biodiversity under environmental change. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1390 KW - functional traits KW - community ecology KW - evolution KW - lake KW - mechanisms KW - diversity KW - plankton KW - fitness KW - maintenance KW - coexistence Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-513956 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 6 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Foster, William J. A1 - Garvie, Christopher L. A1 - Weiss, Anna M. A1 - Muscente, A. Drew A1 - Aberhan, Martin A1 - Counts, John W. A1 - Martindale, Rowan C. T1 - Resilience of marine invertebrate communities during the early Cenozoic hyperthermals T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The hyperthermal events of the Cenozoic, including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, provide an opportunity to investigate the potential effects of climate warming on marine ecosystems. Here, we examine the shallow benthic marine communities preserved in the late Cretaceous to Eocene strata on the Gulf Coastal Plain (United States). In stark contrast to the ecological shifts following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, our data show that the early Cenozoic hyperthermals did not have a long-term impact on the generic diversity nor composition of the Gulf Coastal Plain molluscan communities. We propose that these communities were resilient to climate change because molluscs are better adapted to high temperatures than other taxa, as demonstrated by their physiology and evolutionary history. In terms of resilience, these communities differ from other shallow-water carbonate ecosystems, such as reef communities, which record significant changes during the early Cenozoic hyperthermals. These data highlight the strikingly different responses of community types, i.e., the almost imperceptible response of molluscs versus the marked turnover of foraminifera and reef faunas. The impact on molluscan communities may have been low because detrimental conditions did not devastate the entire Gulf Coastal Plain, allowing molluscs to rapidly recolonise vacated areas once harsh environmental conditions ameliorated. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1410 KW - eocene thermal maximum KW - gulf coastal plain KW - climate-change KW - ocean acidification KW - extinction event KW - carbon-cycle KW - heat-stress KW - origination KW - ecosystems KW - diversity Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-516011 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Foster, William J. A1 - Garvie, Christopher L. A1 - Weiss, Anna M. A1 - Muscente, A. Drew A1 - Aberhan, Martin A1 - Counts, John W. A1 - Martindale, Rowan C. T1 - Resilience of marine invertebrate communities during the early Cenozoic hyperthermals JF - Scientific Reports N2 - The hyperthermal events of the Cenozoic, including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, provide an opportunity to investigate the potential effects of climate warming on marine ecosystems. Here, we examine the shallow benthic marine communities preserved in the late Cretaceous to Eocene strata on the Gulf Coastal Plain (United States). In stark contrast to the ecological shifts following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, our data show that the early Cenozoic hyperthermals did not have a long-term impact on the generic diversity nor composition of the Gulf Coastal Plain molluscan communities. We propose that these communities were resilient to climate change because molluscs are better adapted to high temperatures than other taxa, as demonstrated by their physiology and evolutionary history. In terms of resilience, these communities differ from other shallow-water carbonate ecosystems, such as reef communities, which record significant changes during the early Cenozoic hyperthermals. These data highlight the strikingly different responses of community types, i.e., the almost imperceptible response of molluscs versus the marked turnover of foraminifera and reef faunas. The impact on molluscan communities may have been low because detrimental conditions did not devastate the entire Gulf Coastal Plain, allowing molluscs to rapidly recolonise vacated areas once harsh environmental conditions ameliorated. KW - eocene thermal maximum KW - gulf coastal plain KW - climate-change KW - ocean acidification KW - extinction event KW - carbon-cycle KW - heat-stress KW - origination KW - ecosystems KW - diversity Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58986-5 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Huang, Sichao A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike A1 - Pestryakova, Luidmila Agafyevna A1 - Zimmermann, Heike Hildegard A1 - Davydova, Paraskovya A1 - Biskaborn, Boris K. A1 - Shevtsova, Iuliia A1 - Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen Rosemarie T1 - Genetic and morphologic determination of diatom community composition in surface sediments from glacial and thermokarst lakes in the Siberian Arctic JF - Journal of paleolimnolog N2 - Lakes cover large parts of the climatically sensitive Arctic landscape and respond rapidly to environmental change. Arctic lakes have different origins and include the predominant thermokarst lakes, which are small, young and highly dynamic, as well as large, old and stable glacial lakes. Freshwater diatoms dominate the primary producer community in these lakes and can be used to detect biotic responses to climate and environmental change. We used specific diatom metabarcoding on sedimentary DNA, combined with next-generation sequencing and diatom morphology, to assess diatom diversity in five glacial and 15 thermokarst lakes within the easternmost expanse of the Siberian treeline ecotone in Chukotka, Russia. We obtained 163 verified diatom sequence types and identified 176 diatom species morphologically. Although there were large differences in taxonomic assignment using the two approaches, they showed similar high abundances and diversity of Fragilariceae and Aulacoseiraceae. In particular, the genetic approach detected hidden within-lake variations of fragilarioids in glacial lakes and dominance of centric Aulacoseira species, whereas Lindavia ocellata was predominant using morphology. In thermokarst lakes, sequence types and valve counts also detected high diversity of Fragilariaceae, which followed the vegetation gradient along the treeline. Ordination analyses of the genetic data from glacial and thermokarst lakes suggest that concentrations of sulfate (SO42-), an indicator of the activity of sulfate-reducing microbes under anoxic conditions, and bicarbonate (HCO3-), which relates to surrounding vegetation, have a significant influence on diatom community composition. For thermokarst lakes, we also identified lake depth as an important variable, but SO42- best explains diatom diversity derived from genetic data, whereas HCO3- best explains the data from valve counts. Higher diatom diversity was detected in glacial lakes, most likely related to greater lake age and different edaphic settings, which gave rise to diversification and endemism. In contrast, small, dynamic thermokarst lakes are inhabited by stress-tolerant fragilarioids and are related to different vegetation types along the treeline ecotone. Our study demonstrated that genetic investigations of lake sediments can be used to interpret climate and environmental responses of diatoms. It also showed how lake type affects diatom diversity, and that such genetic analyses can be used to track diatom community changes under ongoing warming in the Arctic. KW - diatoms KW - diversity KW - glacial lakes KW - sedimentary DNA KW - Siberian arctic KW - thermokarst Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-020-00133-1 SN - 0921-2728 SN - 1573-0417 VL - 64 IS - 3 SP - 225 EP - 242 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehrlich, Elias A1 - Kath, Nadja Jeanette A1 - Gaedke, Ursula T1 - The shape of a defense-growth trade-off governs seasonal trait dynamics in natural phytoplankton JF - The ISME journal N2 - Theory predicts that trade-offs, quantifying costs of functional trait adjustments, crucially affect community trait adaptation to altered environmental conditions, but empirical verification is scarce. We evaluated trait dynamics (antipredator defense, maximum growth rate, and phosphate affinity) of a lake phytoplankton community in a seasonally changing environment, using literature trait data and 21 years of species-resolved high-frequency biomass measurements. The trait data indicated a concave defense-growth trade-off, promoting fast-growing species with intermediate defense. With seasonally increasing grazing pressure, the community shifted toward higher defense levels at the cost of lower growth rates along the trade-off curve, while phosphate affinity explained some deviations from it. We discuss how low fitness differences of species, inferred from model simulations, in concert with stabilizing mechanisms, e.g., arising from further trait dimensions, may lead to the observed phytoplankton diversity. In conclusion, quantifying trade-offs is key for predictions of community trait adaptation and biodiversity under environmental change. KW - coexistence KW - community ecology KW - diversity KW - evolution KW - fitness KW - functional traits KW - lake KW - maintenance KW - mechanisms KW - plankton Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-020-0619-1 SN - 1751-7362 SN - 1751-7370 VL - 14 IS - 6 SP - 1451 EP - 1462 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Romero-Munoz, Alfredo A1 - Fandos, Guillermo A1 - Benítez-López, Ana A1 - Kuemmerle, Tobias T1 - Habitat destruction and overexploitation drive widespread declines in all facets of mammalian diversity in the Gran Chaco JF - Global change biology N2 - Global biodiversity is under high and rising anthropogenic pressure. Yet, how the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional facets of biodiversity are affected by different threats over time is unclear. This is particularly true for the two main drivers of the current biodiversity crisis: habitat destruction and overexploitation. We provide the first long-term assessment of multifaceted biodiversity changes caused by these threats for any tropical region. Focussing on larger mammals in South America's 1.1 million km(2) Gran Chaco region, we assessed changes in multiple biodiversity facets between 1985 and 2015, determined which threats drive those changes, and identified remaining key areas for all biodiversity facets. Using habitat and threat maps, we found, first, that between 1985 and 2015 taxonomic (TD), phylogenetic (PD) and functional (FD) diversity all declined drastically across over half of the area assessed. FD declined about 50% faster than TD and PD, and these declines were mainly driven by species loss, rather than species turnover. Second, habitat destruction, hunting, and both threats together contributed similar to 57%, similar to 37%, and similar to 6% to overall facet declines, respectively. However, hunting pressure increased where TD and PD declined most strongly, whereas habitat destruction disproportionally contributed to FD declines. Third, just 23% of the Chaco would have to be protected to safeguard the top 17% of all three facets. Our findings uncover a widespread impoverishment of mammal species richness, evolutionary history, and ecological functions across broad areas of the Chaco due to increasing habitat destruction and hunting. Moreover, our results pinpoint key areas that should be preserved and managed to maintain all facets of mammalian diversity across the Chaco. More generally, our work highlights how long-term changes in biodiversity facets can be assessed and attributed to specific threats, to better understand human impacts on biodiversity and to guide conservation planning to mitigate them. KW - biodiversity facets KW - extinction drivers KW - functional diversity KW - functional richness KW - overhunting KW - phylogenetic diversity KW - taxonomic KW - diversity KW - traits Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15418 SN - 1354-1013 SN - 1365-2486 VL - 27 IS - 4 SP - 755 EP - 767 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - GEN A1 - Zimmermann, Heike Hildegard A1 - Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen Rosemarie A1 - Kruse, Stefan A1 - Müller, Juliane A1 - Stein, Ruediger A1 - Tiedemann, Ralf A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Changes in the composition of marine and sea-ice diatoms derived from sedimentary ancient DNA of the eastern Fram Strait over the past 30 000 years T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The Fram Strait is an area with a relatively low and irregular distribution of diatom microfossils in surface sediments, and thus microfossil records are scarce, rarely exceed the Holocene, and contain sparse information about past richness and taxonomic composition. These attributes make the Fram Strait an ideal study site to test the utility of sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) metabarcoding. Amplifying a short, partial rbcL marker from samples of sediment core MSM05/5-712-2 resulted in 95.7 % of our sequences being assigned to diatoms across 18 different families, with 38.6 % of them being resolved to species and 25.8 % to genus level. Independent replicates show a high similarity of PCR products, especially in the oldest samples. Diatom sedaDNA richness is highest in the Late Weichselian and lowest in Mid- and Late Holocene samples. Taxonomic composition is dominated by cold-water and sea-ice-associated diatoms and suggests several reorganisations – after the Last Glacial Maximum, after the Younger Dryas, and after the Early and after the Mid-Holocene. Different sequences assigned to, amongst others, Chaetoceros socialis indicate the detectability of intra-specific diversity using sedaDNA. We detect no clear pattern between our diatom sedaDNA record and the previously published IP25 record of this core, although proportions of pennate diatoms increase with higher IP25 concentrations and proportions of Nitzschia cf. frigida exceeding 2 % of the assemblage point towards past sea-ice presence. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1195 KW - last glacial maximum KW - surface temperatures KW - species composition KW - greenland shelf KW - Disko Bay KW - phytoplankton KW - communities KW - variability KW - diversity KW - Svalbard Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-525154 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zimmermann, Heike Hildegard A1 - Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen Rosemarie A1 - Kruse, Stefan A1 - Müller, Juliane A1 - Stein, Ruediger A1 - Tiedemann, Ralf A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Changes in the composition of marine and sea-ice diatoms derived from sedimentary ancient DNA of the eastern Fram Strait over the past 30 000 years JF - Ocean Science N2 - The Fram Strait is an area with a relatively low and irregular distribution of diatom microfossils in surface sediments, and thus microfossil records are scarce, rarely exceed the Holocene, and contain sparse information about past richness and taxonomic composition. These attributes make the Fram Strait an ideal study site to test the utility of sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) metabarcoding. Amplifying a short, partial rbcL marker from samples of sediment core MSM05/5-712-2 resulted in 95.7 % of our sequences being assigned to diatoms across 18 different families, with 38.6 % of them being resolved to species and 25.8 % to genus level. Independent replicates show a high similarity of PCR products, especially in the oldest samples. Diatom sedaDNA richness is highest in the Late Weichselian and lowest in Mid- and Late Holocene samples. Taxonomic composition is dominated by cold-water and sea-ice-associated diatoms and suggests several reorganisations – after the Last Glacial Maximum, after the Younger Dryas, and after the Early and after the Mid-Holocene. Different sequences assigned to, amongst others, Chaetoceros socialis indicate the detectability of intra-specific diversity using sedaDNA. We detect no clear pattern between our diatom sedaDNA record and the previously published IP25 record of this core, although proportions of pennate diatoms increase with higher IP25 concentrations and proportions of Nitzschia cf. frigida exceeding 2 % of the assemblage point towards past sea-ice presence. KW - last glacial maximum KW - surface temperatures KW - species composition KW - greenland shelf KW - Disko Bay KW - phytoplankton KW - communities KW - variability KW - diversity KW - Svalbard Y1 - 2019 VL - 16 IS - 5 PB - Springer CY - Tokyo ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stiegler, Jonas A1 - von Hoermann, Christian A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Benbow, Mark Eric A1 - Heurich, Marco T1 - Carcass provisioning for scavenger conservation in a temperate forest ecosystem JF - Ecosphere N2 - Carrion plays an essential role in shaping the structure and functioning of ecosystems and has far‐reaching implications for biodiversity conservation. The change in availability and type of carcasses throughout ecosystems can involve negative effects for scavenging communities. To address this issue, there have been recent conservation management measures of carrion provision in natural systems. However, the optimal conditions under which exposing carcasses to optimize conservation outcomes are still limited. Here, we used camera traps throughout elevational and vegetational gradients to monitor the consumption of 48 deer carcasses over a study period of six years by evaluating 270,279 photographs resulting out of 15,373 trap nights. We detected 17 species visiting carcass deployments, including five endangered species. Our results show that large carcasses, the winter season, and a heterogeneous surrounding habitat enhanced the frequency of carcass visits and the species richness of scavenger assemblages. Contrary to our expectations, carcass species, condition (fresh/frozen), and provision schedule (continuous vs single exposure) did not influence scavenging frequency or diversity. The carcass visitation frequency increased with carcass mass and lower temperatures. The effect of large carcasses was especially pronounced for mesopredators and the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx ). Lynx were not too influenced in its carrion acquisition by the season, but exclusively preferred remote habitats containing higher forest cover. Birds of prey, mesopredators, and top predators were also positively influenced by the visiting rate of ravens (Corvus corax ), whereas no biotic or abiotic preferences were found for wild boars (Sus scrofa ). This study provides evidence that any ungulate species of carrion, either in a fresh or in previously frozen condition, attracts a high diversity of scavengers especially during winter, thereby supporting earlier work that carcass provisions may support scavenger communities and endangered species. KW - anthropogenic food subsidies KW - carrion ecology KW - diversity KW - nature conservation KW - necrobiome KW - vertebrate scavenger KW - wildlife management Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3063 SN - 2150-8925 VL - 11 IS - 4 PB - ESA CY - Ithaca, NY ER - TY - GEN A1 - Stiegler, Jonas A1 - von Hoermann, Christian A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Benbow, Mark Eric A1 - Heurich, Marco T1 - Carcass provisioning for scavenger conservation in a temperate forest ecosystem T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Carrion plays an essential role in shaping the structure and functioning of ecosystems and has far‐reaching implications for biodiversity conservation. The change in availability and type of carcasses throughout ecosystems can involve negative effects for scavenging communities. To address this issue, there have been recent conservation management measures of carrion provision in natural systems. However, the optimal conditions under which exposing carcasses to optimize conservation outcomes are still limited. Here, we used camera traps throughout elevational and vegetational gradients to monitor the consumption of 48 deer carcasses over a study period of six years by evaluating 270,279 photographs resulting out of 15,373 trap nights. We detected 17 species visiting carcass deployments, including five endangered species. Our results show that large carcasses, the winter season, and a heterogeneous surrounding habitat enhanced the frequency of carcass visits and the species richness of scavenger assemblages. Contrary to our expectations, carcass species, condition (fresh/frozen), and provision schedule (continuous vs single exposure) did not influence scavenging frequency or diversity. The carcass visitation frequency increased with carcass mass and lower temperatures. The effect of large carcasses was especially pronounced for mesopredators and the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx ). Lynx were not too influenced in its carrion acquisition by the season, but exclusively preferred remote habitats containing higher forest cover. Birds of prey, mesopredators, and top predators were also positively influenced by the visiting rate of ravens (Corvus corax ), whereas no biotic or abiotic preferences were found for wild boars (Sus scrofa ). This study provides evidence that any ungulate species of carrion, either in a fresh or in previously frozen condition, attracts a high diversity of scavengers especially during winter, thereby supporting earlier work that carcass provisions may support scavenger communities and endangered species. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 955 KW - anthropogenic food subsidies KW - carrion ecology KW - diversity KW - nature conservation KW - necrobiome KW - vertebrate scavenger KW - wildlife management Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-471099 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 955 ER -