Jones, Faith
- University of British Columbia
- University of St Andrews
Sammanfattning
As pressures on biodiversity increase, a better understanding of how assemblages are responding is needed. Because rare species, defined here as those that have locally low abundances, make up a high proportion of assemblage species lists, understanding how the number of rare species within assemblages is changing will help elucidate patterns of recent biodiversity change. Here, we show that the number of rare species within assemblages is increasing, on average, across systems. This increase could arise in two ways: species already present in the assemblage decreasing in abundance but with no increase in extinctions, or additional species entering the assemblage in low numbers associated with an increase in immigration. The positive relationship between change in rarity and change in species richness provides evidence for the second explanation, i.e. higher net immigration than extinction among the rare species. These measurable changes in the structure of assemblages in the recent past underline the need to use multiple biodiversity metrics to understand biodiversity change.
Nyckelord
rarity; biodiversity change; immigration; invasive species
Publicerad i
Royal Society Open Science
2020, volym: 7, nummer: 7, artikelnummer: 192045
Utgivare: The Royal Society
SLU författare
UKÄ forskningsämne
Ekologi
Publikationens identifierare
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.192045
Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/127614