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1. Integrating species traits into species pools

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2220  

   Spasojevic, Marko J. ; Catano, Christopher P. ; LaManna, Joseph A. ; Myers, Jonathan A. ( June 2018 , Ecology)
2. Common, showy, and perennial species dominate a restoration species pool

   https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13969  

   Kaul, Andrew D. ; Barash, Michael ; Albrecht, Matthew A. ( June 2023 , Restoration Ecology)

   Native seed vendors are a primary source of germplasm for restoration projects; however, most plant species are not commercially available. Preferences in the types of species that vendors grow and sell may limit the similarity between reference communities and reconstructed ones established from seed mixes. We tested whether a restoration species pool shows preference for certain groups of species, focusing on the Ozark Highland Ecoregion (midcontinent United States). We identified the pool of 1,082 candidate herbaceous plant species appropriate for restoration projects on upland habitats in this region, and then surveyed nine regional seed vendors to assess their commercial availability. Commercially available species were more likely to be forbs over graminoids, perennials over annuals, and common species with larger ranges and moderate conservatism scores. Within forbs, taller species and those with longer bloom durations were favored. Species with affinity to open habitats (e.g. grassland) were more likely to be available from multiple vendors than those from woodlands and forests. Encouragingly, 454 (42%) of the species in this regional pool were available. However, this means that most species in the region are not likely to be included in seed mixes, unless they are hand‐collected from remnant populations. This restoration pool favors common and showy species, which is consistent with previous studies showing these kinds of species tend to dominate seed mixes and restored plant communities. We identified 39 species that were not available from any of the vendors surveyed, which we recommend as candidates for expansion of the Ozark restoration species pool.

    

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3. Homogenization of species composition and species association networks are decoupled

   https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12825  

   Li, Daijiang ; Poisot, Timothée ; Waller, Donald M. ; Baiser, Benjamin ( October 2018 , Global Ecology and Biogeography)
4. Demystifying dominant species

   https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15789  

   Avolio, Meghan L. ; Forrestel, Elisabeth J. ; Chang, Cynthia C. ; La Pierre, Kimberly J. ; Burghardt, Karin T. ; Smith, Melinda D. ( May 2019 , New Phytologist)

   The pattern of a few abundant species and many rarer species is a defining characteristic of communities worldwide. These abundant species are often referred to as dominant species. Yet, despite their importance, the term dominant species is poorly defined and often used to convey different information by different authors. Based on a review of historical and contemporary definitions we develop a synthetic definition of dominant species. This definition incorporates the relative local abundance of a species, its ubiquity across the landscape, and its impact on community and ecosystem properties. A meta‐analysis of removal studies shows that the loss of species identified as dominant by authors can significantly impact ecosystem functioning and community structure. We recommend two metrics that can be used jointly to identify dominant species in a given community and provide a roadmap for future avenues of research on dominant species. In our review, we make the case that the identity and effects of dominant species on their environments are key to linking patterns of diversity to ecosystem function, including predicting impacts of species loss and other aspects of global change on ecosystems.

    

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5. Species Diversity Associated with Foundation Species in Temperate and Tropical Forests

   https://doi.org/10.3390/f10020128  

   Ellison, Aaron ; Buckley, Hannah ; Case, Bradley ; Cardenas, Dairon ; Duque, Álvaro ; Lutz, James ; Myers, Jonathan ; Orwig, David ; Zimmerman, Jess ( February 2019 , Forests)

   Foundation species define and structure ecological communities but are difficult to identify before they are declining. Yet, their defining role in ecosystems suggests they should be a high priority for protection and management while they are still common and abundant. We used comparative analyses of six large forest dynamics plots spanning a temperate-to-tropical gradient in the Western Hemisphere to identify statistical “fingerprints” of potential foundation species based on their size-frequency and abundance-diameter distributions, and their spatial association with five measures of diversity of associated woody plant species. Potential foundation species are outliers from the common “reverse-J” size-frequency distribution, and have negative effects on alpha diversity and positive effects on beta diversity at most spatial lags and directions. Potential foundation species also are more likely in temperate forests, but foundational species groups may occur in tropical forests. As foundation species (or species groups) decline, associated landscape-scale (beta) diversity is likely to decline along with them. Preservation of this component of biodiversity may be the most important consequence of protecting foundation species while they are still common. 

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