Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 281, Issue 1776, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.2498
Keywords
ecosystem function; microbial diversity; multifunctional redundancy; accumulation curve; orthologue richness; species loss
Categories
Funding
- National Taiwan University
- National Science Council, Taiwan [NSC101-2621-B-002-004-MY3, NSC100-2621-M-002-027-MY3]
- Kinki University [SR-03, RK20-041]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Ecosystems have a limited buffering capacity of multiple ecosystem functions against biodiversity loss (i.e. low multifunctional redundancy). We developed a novel theoretical approach to evaluate multifunctional redundancy in a microbial community using the microbial genome database (MBGD) for comparative analysis. In order to fully implement functional information, we defined orthologue richness in a community, each of which is a functionally conservative evolutionary unit in genomes, as an index of community multifunctionality (MF). We constructed a graph of expected orthologue richness in a community (MF) as a function of species richness (SR), fit the power function to SR (i.e. MF = cSR(a)), and interpreted the higher exponent a as the lower multifunctional redundancy. Through a microcosm experiment, we confirmed that MF defined by orthologue richness could predict the actual multiple functions. We simulated random and non-random community assemblages using full genomic data of 478 prokaryotic species in the MBGD, and determined that the exponent in microbial communities ranged from 0.55 to 0.75. This exponent range provided a quantitative estimate that a 6.6-8.9% loss limit in SR occurred in a microbial community for an MF reduction no greater than 5%, suggesting a non-negligible initial loss effect of microbial diversity on MF.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available