Spatial organization of multiple plant species in arid ecosystems:linking patterns and processes

Spatial organization of multiple plant species that appears as a non-random distribution of vegetative patches is one of the mostly observed spatial patterns in arid ecosystems. Yet understanding of ecological processes allowing this spatial pattern to emerge through interspecific interactions is still lacking. With a proposed conceptual model involving interspecific trade-offs between species competitive ability and colonization ability, we have argued that within patch abundance dynamics regulated by the mechanisms of competition are strongly influenced by the between patches colonization dynamics that are maintained via this trade-offs and it holds a positive, intraspecific occupancy-abundance relationship, in which increased patch occupancy increases species density within inhabiting patches. In a constant environment, while local abundance dynamics approach toward a stable equilibrium point, a fixed spatial arrangement of species can be retained through this coupled dynamics. However, in fluctuating environments where existence of such stable equilibriums is highly uncertain, it may involve continuous transitions from one community state to another as species re-organized themselves over space through the rapid changes in local species abundances. While some of the inhabiting patches are destroyed exogenously or endogenously, or species responses to increasing environmental fluctuations vary increasingly with time, discontinuous transitions into an abrupt, irreversible state of the community dynamics may occur, as with this effect the inherent positive relationship between occupancy and abundance of species is no longer maintained.

Colonization–competition dynamics of basal species shape food web complexity in island metacommunities

Exploring how food web complexity emerges and evolves in island ecosystems remains a major challenge in ecology.Food webs assembled from multiple islands are commonly recognized as highly complex trophic networks that are dynamic in both space and time.In the context of global climate change,it remains unclear whether food web complexity will decrease in a monotonic fashion when undergoing habitat destruction(e.g.,the inundation of islands due to sea-level rise).Here,we develop a simple yet comprehensive patch-dynamic framework for complex food web metacommunities subject to the competition-colonization tradeof between basal species.We found that oscillations in food web topological complexity(characterized by species diversity,mean food chain length and the degree of omnivory)emerge along the habitat destruction gradient.This outcome is robust to changing parameters or relaxing the assumption of a strict competitive hierarchy.Having oscillations in food web complexity indicates that small habitat changes could have disproportionate negative efects on species diversity,thus the success of conservation actions should be evaluated not only on changes in biodiversity,but also on system robustness to habitat alteration.Overall,this study provides a parsimonious mechanistic explanation for the emergence of food web complexity in island ecosystems,further enriching our understanding of metacommunity assembly.