BiBiCI

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10347/40577

BiBiCI é un grupo de investigación interdepartamental centrado no estudo da diversidade biolóxica. A preservación da biodiversidade require profundar no coñecemento básico sobre os procesos que gobernan a súa xeración e mantemento.

https://www.usc.gal/gl/investigar-na-usc/grupos/bibici

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Control mecánico de la planta invasora Tradescantia fluminensis: efectos sobre la vegetación ribereña y los artrópodos epígeos
(Asociación Española de Ecología Terrestre, 2025-12) González Outeriño, Felipe; García Loira, Aarón; Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén; Rodríguez, Jonatan; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigación en Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS)
Tradescantia fluminensis es una planta herbácea invasora que afecta especialmente a sistemas ribereños. Este estudio tiene como objetivo evaluar el impacto de T. fluminensis sobre la vegetación y los artrópodos epígeos, así como comparar los efectos del corte mecánico y la retirada manual de la invasora sobre estas comunidades. Utilizando un diseño BACI (“Before-After-Control-Impact”) comparamos zonas invadidas y no invadidas “Antes” (marzo) y “Después” (mayo) de los tratamientos. La invasora mostró un impacto negativo sobre la vegetación nativa debido a su alta producción de biomasa aérea, con la que tapiza el sotobosque. No apreciamos impactos en los artrópodos por la invasión Antes, pero el aumento de riqueza y abundancia registrado en zonas no invadidas fue menor en las zonas invadidas Después. La retirada manual redujo la cobertura de T. fluminensis en un 70 %, favoreciendo una sucesión secundaria temprana: la comunidad vegetal recuperó especies propias de zonas no invadidas y aumentó la cobertura de muchas de las ya presentes. Además, la retirada manual aumentó la riqueza y abundancia de artrópodos. En cambio, el corte mecánico no logró reducir la presencia de T. fluminensis ni mejoró la respuesta de la comunidad vegetal o de artrópodos epígeos. Este trabajo supone una primera aproximación a la recuperación de entornos fluviales invadidos por T. fluminensis en la península ibérica. Concluimos que el corte, método comúnmente empleado, no favorece la recuperación de las zonas previamente invadidas, mientras que la retirada manual lo consigue sin afectar negativamente a los artrópodos epígeos.
RecruitNet: A global database of plant recruitment networks
(Wiley Periodicals LLC, 2022-11-25) Verdú, M; Garrido, J. L.; Alcántara, J. M.; Montesinos-Navarro, A.; Aguilar, S.; Aizen, M. A.; Al-Namazi, A.; Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional
Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., what recruits under what) shape the composition, diversity, and structure of plant communities. Despite the huge body of knowledge on the mechanisms underlying recruitment interactions among species, we still know little about the structure of the recruitment networks emerging in ecological communities. Modeling and analyzing the community-level structure of plant recruitment interactions as a complex network can provide relevant information on ecological and evolutionary processes acting both at the species and ecosystem levels. We report a data set containing 143 plant recruitment networks in 23 countries across five continents, including temperate and tropical ecosystems. Each network identifies the species under which another species recruits. All networks report the number of recruits (i.e., individuals) per species. The data set includes >850,000 recruiting individuals involved in 118,411 paired interactions among 3318 vascular plant species across the globe. The cover of canopy species and open ground is also provided. Three sampling protocols were used: (1) The Recruitment Network (RN) protocol (106 networks) focuses on interactions among established plants (“canopy species”) and plants in their early stages of recruitment (“recruit species”). A series of plots was delimited within a locality, and all the individuals recruiting and their canopy species were identified; (2) The paired Canopy-Open (pCO) protocol (26 networks) consists in locating a potential canopy plant and identifying recruiting individuals under the canopy and in a nearby open space of the same area; (3) The Georeferenced plot (GP) protocol (11 networks) consists in using information from georeferenced individual plants in large plots to infer canopy-recruit interactions. Some networks incorporate data for both herbs and woody species, whereas others focus exclusively on woody species. The location of each study site, geographical coordinates, country, locality, responsible author, sampling dates, sampling method, and life habits of both canopy and recruit species are provided. This database will allow researchers to test ecological, biogeographical, and evolutionary hypotheses related to plant recruitment interactions. There are no copyright restrictions on the data set; please cite this data paper when using these data in publications
Láminas. Taxonomía integrativa de las babosas del género Arion (Gastropoda: Arionidae) de la Península Ibérica
(Edicións USC, 2025-02-27) Castillejo Murillo, José; Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Lorenzo Carballa, M. Olalla; Iglesias Piñeiro, Javier; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física
Areas of high biodiversity value evidenced by the spatial scaling of phylogenetic uniqueness
(Wiley, 2025) Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Martín Devasa, Ramiro María; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigación en Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS); Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional
Distinct biological communities have high conservation value because they harbour species that cannot be preserved elsewhere. However, community uniqueness is scale-dependent: irreplaceability depends on whether community dissimilarity emerges at small or large spatial scales. To assess conservation value, here we integrate phylogenetic endemism with the spatial scaling of phylogenetic uniqueness in terrestrial vertebrates. We show that phylogenetic endemism is the most efficient single criterion to maximise global phylogenetic diversity within the smallest land area. Moreover, the spatial scaling of phylogenetic uniqueness allows distinguishing globally distinct but regionally less unique sites ‘(evolutionary hills)’, from highly irreplaceable sites even at small scales ‘(evolutionary islands)’, which support lower local diversity but host species that are both evolutionarily unique and threatened. This approach provides a non-heuristic and stable baseline to identify high-value biodiversity areas and offers a powerful tool for prioritising conservation efforts to safeguard evolutionary heritage effectively.
Láminas de identificación de fauna bentónica de invertebrados en ríos
(2025-06-24) Pérez Vidal, Silvia; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigación en Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS)
Láminas elaboradas para realizar la identificación de macroinvertebrados acuáticos de la práctica de campo de la asignatura Ecología II: Comunidades y Ecosistemas (Grado en Biología, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela).
Differential growth rate, water-use efficiency and climate sensitivity between males and females of Ilex aquifolium in north-western Spain
(Oxford University Press, 2025) Sánchez Vilas, Julia; Hernández-Alonso, Héctor; Rozas, Vicente; Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional
Background and aims Dioecious plant species, i.e. those in which male and female functions are housed in different individuals, are particularly vulnerable to global environmental changes. For long-lived plant species, such as trees, long-term studies are imperative to understand how growth patterns and their sensitivity to climate variability affect the sexes differentially. Methods Here, we explore long-term intersexual differences in wood traits, namely radial growth rates and water-use efficiency quantified as stable carbon isotope abundance of wood cellulose, and their climate sensitivity in Ilex aquifolium trees growing in a natural population in north-western Spain. Key results We found that sex differences in secondary growth rates were variable over time, with males outperforming females in both radial growth rates and water-use efficiency in recent decades. Summer water stress significantly reduced the growth of female trees in the following growing season, whereas the growth of male trees was favoured primarily by cloudy and rainy conditions in the previous autumn and winter combined with low cloud cover and warm conditions in summer. Sex-dependent lagged correlations between radial growth and water availability were found, with a strong association between tree growth and cumulative water availability in females at 30 months and in males at 10 months. Conclusions Overall, our results point to greater vulnerability of female trees to increasing drought, which could lead to sex-ratio biases threatening population viability in the future.
Mammalian herbivory alters structure, composition and edaphic conditions of a grey-dune community
(John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2024) Francés Alcántara, Sandra; Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén; Sánchez Vilas, Julia; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional
Question Mammalian herbivory affects the structure and composition of plant communities, soil characteristics and intraspecific leaf traits. Understanding the effects of this type of herbivory is particularly relevant in grey dunes, a priority habitat type of the European Union Habitats Directive. Location Sálvora island (NW Spain). Methods Vegetation surveys and sampling were carried out in a coastal grey-dune community, comparing the structure and composition of plant communities and soil characteristics in plots with herbivory exclusion and plots with herbivore activity, in autumn and spring. Changes in the specific leaf area (SLA), C/N ratio, δ13C and δ15N of two main plant species were also analysed. Results The differentiation between treatments was low in autumn, in contrast to spring results, which demonstrated seasonal variation in the plant community and herbivore behaviour. Spring results showed lower above-ground dry mass in plots with herbivory due to defoliation, but greater richness and diversity, indicating that intermediate levels of disturbance reduced competition from dominant species. Herbivory treatments were different in terms of species composition, highlighting the positive effects of herbivory on the development of the threatened species Linaria arenaria. Soil temperature and moisture content were higher in herbivory plots because of the suppression of vegetation cover and the effect of trampling, respectively. No differences were detected in the chemical composition of the soil or the SLA, although the variability of these traits was greater in herbivory plots, indicating spatial heterogeneity generated by the activity of herbivores. No differences between treatments were obtained for % C and δ13C, whereas herbivory plots showed lower values of N content and δ15N as an adaptive response to herbivory pressure at the leaf and root level. Conclusion Our findings show that herbivory effects on plant communities vary by season — stronger in spring and weaker in autumn — emphasising the need for seasonal analysis and highlighting disturbance as a driver of spatial heterogeneity.
Effects of simulated climate change on soil characteristics under Carpobrotus edulis invasion in a coastal backdune
(Springer, 2025-04-08) Vieites-Blanco, Cristina; González Campoy, Josefina; Lema Márquez, Margarita; Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén; González Prieto, Serafín Jesús; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional
Background and aims Along coastal habitats worldwide, Carpobrotus edulis is a highly invasive and detrimental species, that acts as an ecosystem engineer by modifying many soil properties for its own benefit. However, the combined effects of C. edulis and climate change on soil characteristics remain largely unknown. Methods To address this knowledge gap, we set up a factorial field experiment with five treatments and eight replicates per treatment: natural vegetation as an uninvaded control under current climate conditions, C. edulis under current climate conditions, and C. edulis subjected to increased temperature (+ 2 ºC), decreased rainfall (- 33%), and both factors combined (+ 2 ºC and - 33% rainfall). The soil 0–5 and 5–10 cm layers were sampled after 14 months and analysed for 21 properties. Results Although the effect of depth on soil characteristics was greater in most cases, the treatments significantly affected soil pHKCl, electrical conductivity, organic δ13C, NH4+-N, NO3−-N and available Al, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, P, and Zn. The discriminant analyses clearly differentiated the invaded from the uninvaded soils, reinforcing the view of C. edulis as an ecosystem engineer and highlighting the significant role of the species in shaping ecosystem dynamics. Besides, the analyses indicated that decreased precipitation had a greater impact on invaded soils than increased temperature, and suggested a synergistic effect of both climatic treatments. Conclusion These findings underline the complex interactions between invasive species and climate change, highlighting the need for specific management strategies to mitigate C. edulis impacts on soil health and ecosystem integrity.
Key concepts and a world-wide look at plant recruitment networks
(Wiley, 2025) Alcántara, Julio M.; González Campoy, Josefina; Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén; Zamora, Regino; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional
Plant–plant interactions are major determinants of the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems. There is a long tradition in the study of these interactions, their mechanisms and their consequences using experimental, observational and theoretical approaches. Empirical studies overwhelmingly focus at the level of species pairs or small sets of species. Although empirical data on these interactions at the community level are scarce, such studies have gained pace in the last decade. Studying plant–plant interactions at the community level requires knowledge of which species interact with which others, so an ecological networks approach must be incorporated into the basic toolbox of plant community ecology. The concept of recruitment networks (RNs) provides an integrative framework and new insights for many topics in the field of plant community ecology. RNs synthesise the set of canopy–recruit interactions in a local plant assemblage. Canopy–recruit interactions describe which (“canopy”) species allow the recruitment of other species in their vicinity and how. Here we critically review basic concepts of ecological network theory as they apply to RNs. We use RecruitNet, a recently published worldwide data set of canopy–recruit interactions, to describe RN patterns emerging at the interaction, species, and community levels, and relate them to different abiotic gradients. Our results show that RNs can be sampled with high accuracy. The studies included in RecruitNet show a very high mean network completeness (95%), indicating that undetected canopy–recruit pairs must be few and occur very infrequently. Across 351,064 canopy–recruit pairs analysed, the effect of the interaction on recruitment was neutral in an average of 69% of the interactions per community, but the remaining interactions were positive (i.e. facilitative) five times more often than negative (i.e. competitive), and positive interactions had twice the strength of negative ones. Moreover, the frequency and strength of facilitation increases along a climatic aridity gradient worldwide, so the demography of plant communities is increasingly strongly dependent on facilitation as aridity increases. At network level, species can be ascribed to four functional types depending on their position in the network: core, satellite, strict transients and disturbance-dependent transients. This functional structure can allow a rough estimation of which species are more likely to persist. In RecruitNet communities, this functional structure most often departs from random null model expectation and could allow on average the persistence of 77% of the species in a local community. The functional structure of RNs also varies along the aridity gradient, but differently in shrubland than in forest communities. This variation suggests an increase in the probability of species persistence with aridity in forests, while such probability remains roughly constant along the gradient in shrublands. The different functional structure of RNs between forests and shrublands could contribute to explaining their co-occurrence as alternative stable states of the vegetation under the same climatic conditions. This review is not exhaustive of all the topics that can be addressed using the framework of RNs, but instead aims to present some of the interesting insights that it can bring to the field of plant community ecology.
Climatic niche divergence explains angiosperm diversification across clades in China
(Wiley, 2023) Wu, Guilin; Chen, Dexiang; Zhou, Zhang; Ye, Qing; Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Liu, Hui; Wen, Yin; Nong, Shouqian; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física
Diversification rates are critically important for understanding patterns of species richness among clades. However, the effects of climatic niche width on plant diversification rates remain to be elucidated. Based on the phylogenetic, climatic, and distributional information of angiosperms in China, a total of 26 906 species from 182 families were included in this study. We aimed to test relationships between diversification rate and climatic niche width and climatic niche width related variables (including climatic niche divergence, climatic niche position, geographic extent, and climatic niche evolutionary rate) using phylogenetic methods. We found that climatic niche divergence had the largest unique contribution to the diversification rate, while the unique effects of climatic niche width, climatic niche position, geographic extent, and climatic niche evolutionary rate on the diversification rate were negligible. We also observed that the relationship between diversification rate and climatic niche divergence was significantly stronger than the null assumption (artefactual relationship between diversification and clade-level climatic niche width by sampling more species). Our study supports the hypothesis that wider family climatic niche widths explain faster diversification rates through a higher climatic niche divergence rather than through higher geographic extent, higher climatic niche evolutionary rate, or separated climatic niche position. Hence, the results provide a potential explanation for large-scale diversity patterns within families of plants.
Thermophilization and reshuffling of montane leaf beetle communities over a two decade period
(Wiley, 2024) Rodríguez Pacheco, Alba; Formoso Freire, Victoria; Lorenzo Carballa, M. Olalla; Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigación en Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS); Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física
Given the sensitivity of mountain biodiversity to human pressure, it is essential to quantify changes inmontane biological communities and contrast them with expectations based on potential drivers of change. Thisneed is particularly pressing for biological groups representing important but little‐studied fractions ofbiodiversity, such as insects. We analyze the temporal changes (between 1998 and 2015) of leaf beetlecommunities in an altitudinal gradient in the Sierra de Ancares (NW Spain). Our results show temporal changes inthe composition of local communities, with a tendency to assemblage thermophilization, as well as ahomogenization of the spatial turnover pattern, mostly driven by an increased similarity between communities atthe lower and intermediate altitudes. These temporal changes in community composition and in the spatialstructure of biodiversity were associated with upward shifts of the upper altitudinal limit of warm‐adaptedspecies and with downward shifts of the lower altitudinal limit of cold‐adapted species. While this upward shift isconsistent with expectations of climate change eﬀects, the observed downward shift suggests a land‐use changeeﬀect. Our results point to the joint eﬀect of multiple factors (climate and land‐use change) behind temporalchanges of these leaf beetle communities, which result in compositional reorganization and biotichomogenization, rather than a mere coherent displacement toward higher altitudes. More generally, we showthat understanding temporal change of biodiversity requires assessing multiple community‐level metrics (e.g.,variation in assemblage composition and/or changes in spatial turnover) for the detection of tendencies amongthe species‐speciﬁc signals (e.g., altitudinal range shifts)
Dissimilarity measures affected by richness differences yield biased delimitations of biogeographic realms
(Nature, 2018-11-30) Castro-Insua, Adrián; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física
Marked Variability in Distance-Decay Patterns Suggests Contrasting Dispersal Ability in Abyssal Taxa
(Wiley, 2025) Erik Simon-Lledó; Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Jones, Daniel O. B.; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigación en Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS)
We assess the role of spatial distance and depth difference in shaping beta diversity patterns across abyssal seascape regions. We measured the decrease of faunistic similarity across the northeast Pacific seafloor, to test whether species turnover rates differ between deep and shallow-abyssal biogeographical provinces and whether these patterns vary across functionally or taxonomically different biotic groups.
Low impact of Carpobrotus edulis on soil microbiome after manual removal from a climate change field experiment
(Pensoft, 2024-08-28) Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén; González Campoy, Josefina; Rodríguez-Echeverría, Susana; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física
Synergic effects between climate change and invasive species may alter soil microbial diversity and functioning, as well as cause major shifts in physicochemical properties. Moreover, some of these ecological impacts may manifest even after the removal of the invasive species. We have conducted a f ield experiment to assess such effects on soil microbial communities (fungi and bacteria) and physicochemical properties seven months after the removal of Carpobrotus edulis (L.), an invasive plant of coastal dune ecosystems. C. edulis grew on the experimental plots for 14 months under current (“invasive species treatment”) and increased warming and drought conditions (“combined treatment”). T hen, all plant parts (above and belowground biomass) were removed with a non-aggressive eradication method and soil samples were collected seven months later in the experimental and control plots (no invasive species and current climatic conditions). We predicted a general compositional shift in microbial communities in response to the presence of the invasive species. Moreover, given that water is the most limiting factor in this type of ecosystem, we also predicted a more pronounced compositional shift in the treatment combining invader presence and climate change. While species richness was similar amongst treatments, we observed some taxonomic and functional variation in soil microbial communities. Notably, fungal and bacterial communities exhibited contrasting responses. The species composition of bacteria differed significantly between the “invasive species” and “control” treatments, while, in the case of fungi, the most substantial difference occurred between the “invasive species” treatment and the combined treatment of “invasive species and climate change”. Some chemical properties, such as carbon and nitrogen content or pH, strongly differed amongst treatments, with the “invasive species” showing a different response compared to the other two treatments. Overall, our study suggests smaller short-term effects on the microbial community compared to soil chemical properties. Furthermore and contrary to our initial expectations, the potential impact on the soil microbiome seemed to be weaker in the face of rising temperatures and drought conditions predicted by climate change. This outcome highlights the remarkable complexity of the impact of invasive species and climate change on belowground microbial communities.
A reappraisal of the family status of Neotropical Protoneuridae (Odonata: Zygoptera) using morphological and molecular information
(Oxford University Press, 2025) Pessacq, Pablo; Anjos-Santos, Danielle; Cordero Rivera, Adolfo; Lorenzo Carballa, M. Olalla; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física
Several comprehensive studies have greatly contributed to the clarification of Odonata phylogeny, paying special attention to the damselflies (Zygoptera). Nearly half of the species of Zygoptera are included in the family Coenagrionidae, but the status of some previously recognized families is still debated. Here, we present the results of phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear and mitochondrial sequences and morphological data of 10 of the 15 Neotropical genera formerly included within the Neotropical family Protoneuridae, with the goal to test their monophyly and phylogenetic position within the Coenagrionidae sensu lato. Our analyses support the polyphyly of Protoneuridae, with Proneura prolongata and Junix elumbis falling within the ‘core’ Coenagrionidae, whereas the remaining Neotropical Protoneuridae included in our analyses form a monophyletic clade, sister to the ridged frons Coenagrionidae. Our results differ from previous analyses that suggested that the Protoneuridae were members of the ridged frons Coenagrionidae clade, most likely because our dataset has a wider coverage of the group, both in terms of taxa and data sources. We propose the redefinition of the Protoneuridae (excluding Proneura, Junix, and all the previously included Old-World genera) and its re-establishment as a redefined Protoneuridae family, which is characterized by several morphological and biological unique attributes.
A diatom functional-based approach to assess changing environmental conditions in temporary depressional wetlands
(Elsevier, 2017) Riato, Luisa; Della Bella, Valentina; Leira Campos, Antón Manoel; Taylor, J.C.; Oberholster, P.J.; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional
Functional-based assessments to identify the effects of human-induced disturbances on diatom communities are increasingly used. However, information on the response of functional groups to natural disturbances in temporary depressional wetlands is limited although important for the development of temporary wetland biological assessments. We assessed how diatom life-form and ecological guilds responded to a seasonal hydrological and hydrochemical gradient in three least human-disturbed, temporary depressional wetlands. We assigned species to their respective life-form and ecological guild groups and compared metric composition along the gradient. Overall, temporal variability in alkalinity and ionic composition, essentially Na+, as well as hydrological factors, wetland depth and total relative evapotranspiration (ETo), were good predictors of diatom species and functional group composition. Low profile guilds dominated by pioneer life-forms showed the strongest relationship with higher disturbance levels (i.e. increasing Na+, alkalinity with a decrease in depth). Similarly, the planktonic guild and tube-living, rosette and adnate life-forms dominated at higher disturbance levels whereas the high profile diatoms displayed the reverse trend. Our study shows the effectiveness of functional-based assessments beyond traditional species-based approaches for understanding and predicting community responses to temporal changes in environmental conditions. We also highlight the benefit of using both life-forms and ecological guilds where a broad set of metrics can enhance our understanding of the mechanisms relating diatom composition to environmental stressors and provide signs of underlying ecological processes.
Genetic divergence and aggressiveness within a supercolony of the invasive ant Linepithema humile
(Pensoft, 2022) Sanmartín Villar, Iago; Cruz da Silva, Everton; Chiara, Violette; Cordero Rivera, Adolfo; Lorenzo Carballa, M. Olalla; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física
Análisis de la diversidad beta para entender patrones macroecológicos
(2024) Martínez Santalla, Sara; Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Escola de Doutoramento Internacional (EDIUS)
El descenso de la similitud biótica con la distancia (distancedecay) es un patrón universal de diversidad beta. Se modeliza analizando la relación entre matrices de similitud biótica y matrices de distancia. En estas matrices, cada observación no es independiente porque se origina de comparar dos comunidades, y cada comunidad está implicada en varias observaciones. Esta dependencia sesga el cálculo de varianzas y compromete la aplicación de contrastes de hipótesis. Esta tesis desarrolla métodos para modelos no lineales de distancedecay que tienen en cuenta esa dependencia, culminando en un contraste de significación y un método bootstrap por bloques de localidad para estimar la varianza de los parámetros de los modelos.Los nuevos métodos se aplican al estudio de los patrones de distance-decay en coleópteros europeos.
Joint analysis of species and genetic variation to quantify the role of dispersal and environmental constraints in community turnover
(Wiley, 2022) Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Araújo, Miguel B.; Castro Insua, Adrián; Arenas, Miguel; Posada, David; Vogler, Alfried P.; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Instituto Interdisciplinar de Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS)
Spatial turnover of biological communities is determined by both dispersal and environmental constraints. However, we lack quantitative predictions about how these factors interact and influence turnover across genealogical scales. In this study, we have implemented a predictive framework based on approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to quantify the signature of dispersal and environmental constraints in community turnover. First, we simulated the distribution of haplotypes, intra-specific lineages and species in biological communities under different strengths of dispersal and environmental constraints. Our simulations show that spatial turnover rate is invariant across genealogical scales when dispersal limitation determines the species ranges. However, when environmental constraint limits species ranges, spatial turnover rates vary across genealogical scales. These simulations were used in an ABC framework to quantify the role of dispersal and environmental constraints in 16 empirical biological communities sampled from local to continental scales, including several groups of insects (both aquatic and terrestrial), molluscs and bats. In seven datasets, the observed genealogical invariance of spatial turnover, assessed with distance–decay curves, suggests a dispersal-limited scenario. In the remaining datasets, the variance in distance–decay curves across genealogical scales was best explained by various combinations of dispersal and environmental constraints. Our study illustrates how modelling spatial turnover at multiple genealogical scales (species and intraspecific lineages) provides relevant insights into the relative role of dispersal and environmental constraints in community turnover.
Mountain passes are higher at low latitudes for madicolous insect communities of the Neotropical region
(Wiley, 2023) Shimabukuro, Erika Mayumi; Gómez Rodríguez, Carola; Lamas, Carlos José E.; Baselga Fraga, Andrés; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Bioloxía Funcional; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Instituto Interdisciplinar de Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS)
Aim: To test whether spatial turnover patterns of mountain madicolous insect com- munities in the Southern Hemisphere support the ‘mountain passes are higher in the Tropic’ hypothesis (MPHT). To do this, we compared madicolous communities in the Amazon Mountains (equator) and the Atlantic Forest Mountains (23°S). Location: Brazil. Methods: We characterized madicolous insect communities in two elevational gradi- ents between 90 to 3000 m a.s.l. separated by 23° of latitude, totalling 108 sampling sites. Since the MPHT predicts a more intense turnover along elevational gradients at lower latitudes than at higher latitudes, we evaluated beta diversity in the Amazon mountains, at the equator, and in the Atlantic Forest mountains, in the subtropical region. We quantified multiple-site abundance-based dissimilarity to assess whether beta diversity was different between both regions. We also performed constrained ordination (db-RDA) analyses to assess whether community dissimilarity (balanced variation in abundances) was uniquely or jointly explained by environmental, spatial and/or elevational predictors. Additionally, we independently assessed the relation- ship between community dissimilarity and altitudinal difference in each region and tested for differences in model parameters between regions. Results: Although we found high species turnover in both regions, the community variation explained by environmental factors and altitude was higher in the Amazon than in the Atlantic Forest, as evidenced by db-RDA and altitudinal difference mod- els. In general, communities were remarkably constrained by spatial predictors, which result from low dispersion capacity of most madicolous insects and low connectivity of madicolous systems. Consequently, the composition of madicolous insects notably diverged between regions, highlighting the complementarity and high conservation value of both systems. Main Conclusions: Our results indicate that the MPHT explains, at the community level, the differences between low- and high-latitude mountain systems in community turnover along elevational gradients, even within a relatively short latitudinal distance in the Southern Hemisphere.

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