The ecological importance of intraspecific variation
The ecological importance of intraspecific variation
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DOI：
10.1038/s41559-017-0402-5
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发表时间：
2018-01-01
影响因子：
16.8
通讯作者：
Palkovacs, Eric P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Des Roches, Simone;Post, David M.;Palkovacs, Eric P.
人类活动正在导致野生种群经历快速的性状变化和局部灭绝。对种内变异的影响可能对生态过程和生态系统服务产生重大影响。虽然研究人员早就认识到物种间的变异会影响周围环境，但直到最近才积累了物种内变异的生态重要性的证据。我们进行了一项荟萃分析，比较了物种内变异的生态效应（种内效应）与该物种的替代或移除效应（物种效应）。我们评估了直接和间接的生态响应，包括丰度（或生物量）的变化，生态过程的速率和群落组成的变化。我们的研究结果表明，种内效应往往是可比的，有时比，种的影响。直接生态反应（例如通过消费）的物种效应往往较大，而间接反应（例如通过营养级联）的种内效应和物种效应往往相似。当间接相互作用改变群落组成时，种内效应尤其强烈。我们的研究结果总结了第一代研究的数据，研究种内变异的相对生态效应。我们的结论可以帮助为未来实验的设计和量化和保护生物多样性的策略的制定提供信息。
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.