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1. Species loss drives ecosystem function in experiments, but in nature the importance of species loss depends on dominance

   https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13137  

   Genung, Mark_A; Fox, Jeremy; Winfree, Rachael; Simova, ed., Irena (June 2020, Global Ecology and Biogeography)

   Abstract AimDecades of experimental research have conclusively shown a positive relationship between species richness and ecosystem function. However, authoritative reviews find no consensus on how species loss affects function in natural communities. We analyse experimental and observational data in an identical way and test whether they produce similar results. LocationNorth America and Europe (experimental communities); global (natural communities). Time periodExperimental communities: 1998–2013; natural communities: 1982–2018. Major taxa studiedExperimental communities: temperate grassland plants; natural communities: temperate grassland plants, tropical forest trees, kelp forest producers and native bees. MethodsWe used an approach inspired by the Price equation to analyse 129 datasets from experimental and natural communities worldwide. We tested how the effects of species loss on ecosystem function varied with dominance and the non‐randomness of species loss and, in turn, how these two factors differed between experiments and observations. ResultsStudies carried out in experimental and natural communities reached different conclusions regarding the effects of species loss. First, species loss had greater effects on ecosystem function in experiments than in nature. Second, the importance of species loss was negatively correlated with dominance in nature because as dominance increased, lost species were increasingly those contributing little to ecosystem function. Although experimental and natural communities exhibited similar levels of dominance, an analogous relationship was not possible in experiments because the order of species loss was randomized by design. Main conclusionsSpecies loss was sometimes, but not always, the major driver of loss of function in nature. Variation in the importance of species loss was not messy and context dependent; instead, it was predicted by functional dominance. Although results from experimental and natural communities were similar in several key ways, they differed in that species loss was a consistent predictor of ecosystem function in experiments and not in nature. 

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2. US lakes are monitored disproportionately less in communities of color

   https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2803  

   Díaz_Vázquez, Jessica; McCullough, Ian M; Haite, Maggie; Soranno, Patricia A; Cheruvelil, Kendra Spence (September 2024, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment)

   Local‐scale environmental justice studies of freshwaters have found that marginalized populations are more likely than others to be burdened with poor‐quality waters. However, studies have yet to examine whether monitoring data are sufficient to determine the generality of such results at the national scale. We analyzed racial and ethnic community composition surrounding lakes and the presence of one‐time and long‐term (≥15 years) water‐quality data across the conterminous US. Relative to lakes in White and non‐Hispanic communities, lakes in communities of color and Hispanic communities were three times less likely to be monitored at least once. Moreover, as compared to lakes in White communities, lakes in communities of color were seven times less likely to have long‐term monitoring data; similarly, as compared to lakes in non‐Hispanic communities, lakes in Hispanic communities were nineteen times less likely to have long‐term monitoring data. Given this evidence, assessing the current water quality of and temporal changes in lakes in communities of color and Hispanic communities is extremely difficult. To achieve equitable management outcomes for people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, freshwater monitoring programs must expand their sampling and revise their designs. 

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3. Drivers of bacterial and fungal root endophyte communities: understanding the relative influence of host plant, environment, and space

   https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiad034  

   Brigham, Laurel M.; Bueno de Mesquita, Clifton P.; Spasojevic, Marko J.; Farrer, Emily C.; Porazinska, Dorota L.; Smith, Jane G.; Schmidt, Steven K.; Suding, Katharine N. (March 2023, FEMS Microbiology Ecology)

   Abstract Bacterial and fungal root endophytes can impact the fitness of their host plants, but the relative importance of drivers for root endophyte communities is not well known. Host plant species, the composition and density of the surrounding plants, space, and abiotic drivers could significantly affect bacterial and fungal root endophyte communities. We investigated their influence in endophyte communities of alpine plants across a harsh high mountain landscape using high-throughput sequencing. There was less compositional overlap between fungal than bacterial root endophyte communities, with four ‘cosmopolitan’ bacterial OTUs found in every root sampled, but no fungal OTUs found across all samples. We found that host plant species, which included nine species from three families, explained the greatest variation in root endophyte composition for both bacterial and fungal communities. We detected similar levels of variation explained by plant neighborhood, space, and abiotic drivers on both communities, but the plant neighborhood explained less variation in fungal endophytes than expected. Overall, these findings suggest a more cosmopolitan distribution of bacterial OTUs compared to fungal OTUs, a structuring role of the plant host species for both communities, and largely similar effects of the plant neighborhood, abiotic drivers, and space on both communities. 

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4. Climate change, water change and the critical role of community resilience

   https://doi.org/10.56367/OAG-045-11487  

   Krantzberg, Gail; Johns, Carolyn; Shankland, Amanda (January 2025, Open Access Government)

   Climate change, water change and the critical role of community resilienceDr. Amanda Shankland, Dr. Carolyn Johns, and Gail Krantzberg, explore climate change resilience, water change, and the critical role of climate-ready communities. Climate change is impacting communities across the globe. For many communities, climate change manifests as water change in the form of floods, droughts, shoreline erosion, water quality degradation, water insecurity, and uncertainty. According to the United Nations, 153 countries have territory and communities within at least one of the 286 transboundary rivers, lake basins, and 592 transboundary aquifer systems (UN Water 2024). Communities worldwide are grappling with water governance challenges induced by climate change – inherently local, complex, and transboundary. 

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5. Energy pathways modulate the resilience of stream invertebrate communities to drought

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13490  

   Nelson, Daniel; Busch, Michelle H.; Kopp, Darin A.; Allen, Daniel C. (April 2021, Journal of Animal Ecology)

   Abstract While climate change is altering ecosystems on a global scale, not all ecosystems are responding in the same way. The resilience of ecological communities may depend on whether food webs are producer‐ or detritus‐based (i.e. ‘green’ or ‘brown’ food webs, respectively), or both (i.e. ‘multi‐channel’ food web).Food web theory suggests that the presence of multiple energy pathways can enhance community stability and resilience and may modulate the responses of ecological communities to disturbances such as climate change. Despite important advances in food web theory, few studies have empirically investigated the resilience of ecological communities to climate change stressors in ecosystems with different primary energy channels.We conducted a factorial experiment using outdoor stream mesocosms to investigate the independent and interactive effects of warming and drought on invertebrate communities in food webs with different energy channel configurations. Warming had little effect on invertebrates, but stream drying negatively impacted total invertebrate abundance, biomass, richness and diversity.Although resistance to drying did not differ among energy channel treatments, recovery and overall resilience were higher in green mesocosms than in mixed and brown mesocosms. Resilience to drying also varied widely among taxa, with larger predatory taxa exhibiting lower resilience.Our results suggest that the effects of drought on stream communities may vary regionally and depend on whether food webs are fuelled by autochthonous or allochthonous basal resources. Communities inhabiting streams with large amounts of organic matter and more complex substrates that provide refugia may be more resilient to the loss of surface water than communities inhabiting streams with simpler, more homogeneous substrates. 

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