More Like this

1. Interaction diversity explains the maintenance of phytochemical diversity

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13736  

   Whitehead, Susan R.; Bass, Ethan; Corrigan, Alexsandra; Kessler, André; Poveda, Katja (June 2021, Ecology Letters)

   Bardgett, Richard (Ed.)
2. Data from: Interaction diversity explains the maintenance of phytochemical diversity

   https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4586759  

   R., Susan Whitehead (January 2021, Zenodo)

   {"Abstract":["Original data and R code to accompany the manuscript: "Interaction diversity explains the maintenance of phytochemical diversity" by Susan R. Whitehead, Ethan Bass, Alexsandra Corrigan, André Kessler, and Katja Poveda Accepted for publication in Ecology Letters<\/p>\n\nAbstract: The production of complex mixtures of secondary metabolites is a ubiquitous feature of plants. Several evolutionary hypotheses seek to explain how phytochemical diversity is maintained, including the synergy hypothesis, the interaction diversity hypothesis, and the screening hypothesis. We experimentally tested predictions derived from these hypotheses by manipulating the richness and structural diversity of phenolic metabolites in the diets of eight plant consumers. Across 3940 total bioassays, there was clear support for the interaction diversity hypothesis over the synergy or screening hypotheses. The number of consumers affected by a particular phenolic composition increased with increasing richness and structural diversity of compounds. Furthermore, the bioactivity of phenolics was consumer-specific. All compounds tested reduced the performance of at least one consumer, but no compounds affected all consumers. These results show how phytochemical diversity may be maintained in nature by a complex selective landscape exerted by diverse communities of plant consumers.<\/p>\n\nhttps://github.com/WhiteheadLabVT/Phytochemical-Diversity-Experiment/releases/tag/v1.0.0<\/p>"]} 

   more » « less
3. Global conservation of phylogenetic diversity captures more than just functional diversity

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08600-8  

   Owen, Nisha R.; Gumbs, Rikki; Gray, Claudia L.; Faith, Daniel P. (December 2019, Nature Communications)
4. Contrasting responses of functional diversity to major losses in taxonomic diversity

   Edie, S.M.; Jablonski, D.; Valentine, J. W. (January 2018, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America)

   Taxonomic diversity of benthic marine invertebrate shelf species declines at present by nearly an order of magnitude from the tropics to the poles in each hemisphere along the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), most steeply along the western Pacific where shallow-sea diversity is at its tropical maximum. In the Bivalvia, a model system for macroevolution and macroecology, this taxonomic trend is accompanied by a decline in the number of functional groups and an increase in the evenness of taxa distributed among those groups, with maximum functional evenness (FE) in polar waters of both hemispheres. In contrast, analyses of this model system across the two era-defining events of the Phanerozoic, the Permian–Triassic and Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinctions, show only minor declines in functional richness despite high extinction intensities, resulting in a rise in FE owing to the persistence of functional groups. We hypothesize that the spatial decline of taxonomic diversity and increase in FE along the present-day LDG primarily reflect diversity-dependent factors, whereas retention of almost all functional groups through the two mass extinctions suggests the operation of diversity-independent factors. Comparative analyses of different aspects of biodiversity thus reveal strongly contrasting biological consequences of similarly severe declines in taxonomic diversity and can help predict the consequences for functional diversity among different drivers of past, present, and future biodiversity loss. 

   more » « less
5. The Drivers of Diversity: Integrated genetic and hormonal cues regulate neural diversity

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2022.07.007  

   Hamid, Aisha; Gutierrez, Andrew; Munroe, Jordan; Syed, Mubarak Hussain (June 2023, Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology)