期刊
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
卷 2, 期 1, 页码 57-64出版社
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0402-5
关键词
-
资金
- Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, bioGENESIS, Future Earth, University of California Institute for the Study of Ecological and Evolutionary Climate Impacts
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- National Science Foundation (DEB) [1457333, 1556378]
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1457112] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Human activity is causing wild populations to experience rapid trait change and local extirpation. The resulting effects on intraspecific variation could have substantial consequences for ecological processes and ecosystem services. Although researchers have long acknowledged that variation among species influences the surrounding environment, only recently has evidence accumulated for the ecological importance of variation within species. We conducted a meta-analysis comparing the ecological effects of variation within a species (intraspecific effects) with the effects of replacement or removal of that species (species effects). We evaluated direct and indirect ecological responses, including changes in abundance (or biomass), rates of ecological processes and changes in community composition. Our results show that intraspecific effects are often comparable to, and sometimes stronger than, species effects. Species effects tend to be larger for direct ecological responses (for example, through consumption), whereas intraspecific effects and species effects tend to be similar for indirect responses (for example, through trophic cascades). Intraspecific effects are especially strong when indirect interactions alter community composition. Our results summarize data from the first generation of studies examining the relative ecological effects of intraspecific variation. Our conclusions can help inform the design of future experiments and the formulation of strategies to quantify and conserve biodiversity.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据