Species Traits Predict Assemblage Dynamics at Ephemeral Resource Patches Created by Carrion
Species Traits Predict Assemblage Dynamics at Ephemeral Resource Patches Created by Carrion
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0053961
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发表时间：
2013-01-11
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Manning, Adrian D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Barton, Philip S.;Cunningham, Saul A.;Manning, Adrian D.
腐肉是一种短暂且空间分散的资源，支持与营养循环和分解过程相关的多种物种子集。许多研究分别记录了植物、节肢动物和脊椎动物在个体尸体上的多样性变化，但很少有研究探讨不同生物群体的功能特征如何支撑它们对腐肉斑块的反应。我们使用腐肉添加实验来比较尸体上昆虫和植物组合与对照地点的组成和功能特征的变化。我们发现昆虫组合均匀度和异质性的显着变化与物种的扩散特征相关，并且植物组合对随后土壤氮变化的反应在禾本科植物和外来物种中最为明显。在腐肉分解的第一周，尸体上的甲虫是对照地点的甲虫的两倍大，并且翅膀负载也更高。具有高比叶面积的植物对尸体添加的反应更快，与本地占主导地位的草原相比，外来占主导地位的草原中重新定居在尸体中心的物种数量是两倍。这些结果提供了一个例子，说明机会主义物种的特征如何使它们能够利用不完整且动态的资源。这增加了我们对尸体如何驱动生物多样性动态的理解，并对生态系统中腐肉的管理方式产生影响，例如适当考虑腐肉资源的空间和时间连续性，以促进景观中养分循环的异质性和物种多样性。
Carrion is an ephemeral and spatially patchy resource that supports a diverse subset of species linked to nutrient cycling and the decomposition process. A number of studies have separately documented changes in the diversity of plants, arthropods and vertebrates at individual carcasses, but there are few studies that have examined how functional traits of different groups of organisms underpin their responses to carrion patches. We used a carrion addition experiment to compare changes in composition and functional traits of insect and plant assemblages at carcasses compared with control sites. We found that significant changes in insect assemblage evenness and heterogeneity was associated with species' dispersal traits, and that plant assemblage responses to subsequent soil nitrogen changes was most apparent among graminoids and exotic species. Beetles at carcasses were twice as large as their counterparts at control sites during the first week of carrion decomposition, and also had higher wing loadings. Plants with high specific leaf area responded faster to the carcass addition, and twice as many species recolonised the centre of carcasses in exotic-dominated grassland compared with carcasses in native-dominated grassland. These results provide an example of how traits of opportunist species enable them to exploit patchy and dynamic resources. This increases our understanding of how carcasses can drive biodiversity dynamics, and has implications for the way carrion might be managed in ecosystems, such as appropriate consideration of spatial and temporal continuity in carrion resources to promote heterogeneity in nutrient cycling and species diversity within landscapes.