Environmental changes in biodiversity hotspot ecosystems of
South Ecuador: RESPonse and feedback effECTs (FOR2730)

Abstract:

Biodiversity and ecosystem functions are highly threatened by global change. It has been proposed that geodiversity can be used as an easy-to-measure surrogate of biodiversity to guide conservation management. However, so far, there is mixed evidence to what extent geodiversity can predict biodiversity and ecosystem functions at the regional scale relevant for conservation planning. Here, we analyse how geodiversity computed as a compound index is suited to predict the diversity of four taxa and associated ecosystem functions in a tropical mountain hotspot of biodiversity and compare the results with the predictive power of environmental conditions and resources (climate, habitat, soil). We show that combinations of these environmental variables better explain species diversity and ecosystem functions than a geodiversity index and identified climate variables as more important predictors than habitat and soil variables, although the best predictors differ between taxa and functions. We conclude that a compound geodiversity index cannot be used as a single surrogate predictor for species diversity and ecosystem functions in tropical mountain rain forest ecosystems and is thus little suited to facilitate conservation management at the regional scale. Instead, both the selection and the combination of environmental variables are essential to guide conservation efforts to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem functions.

Abstract:

Plant communities in tropical mountains host a high diversity of species’ morphological traits. Many tropical plant species exhibit a wide range of colored fleshy fruits mainly dispersed by animals. Fruits display a variety of shapes including, for instance, capsules with arillate seeds, drupes with fibrous pulp, and juicy berries. These fruits can enclose just one or many tiny seeds which are dispersed by animals. In the tropical mountains of the southeast of Ecuador, seed size can vary from less than 1 mm (e.g., Miconia sp.) to large seeds with a size of almost 10 cm. Despite the high diversity of fleshy-fruited species and the relevance in plant regeneration, there is very little information that facilitates the identification of even the most common fruits and seeds in tropical mountains. The pronounced endemism in the Andes and the constant description of new plant species increase the necessity to foster local publications including these unique species. This project aims to produce an identification guide as a scientific tool to ease the taxonomic determination of seeds dispersed by animals and to speed up the identification process in the mountain forests of the southeast of Ecuador. This field guide will be a source of consultation for future research units at the San Francisco Scientific Station, and will also contribute to public outreach.

Abstract:

Tropical mountain ecosystems are threatened by climate and land-use changes. Their diversity and complexity make projec- tions how they respond to environmental changes challenging. A suitable way are trait-based approaches, by distinguishing between response traits that determine the resistance of species to environmental changes and efect traits that are relevant for species’ interactions, biotic processes, and ecosystem functions. The combination of those approaches with land surface models (LSM) linking the functional community composition to ecosystem functions provides new ways to project the response of ecosystems to environmental changes. With the interdisciplinary project RESPECT, we propose a research framework that uses a trait-based response-efect-framework (REF) to quantify relationships between abiotic conditions, the diversity of functional traits in communities, and associated biotic processes, informing a biodiversity-LSM. We apply the framework to a megadiverse tropical mountain forest. We use a plot design along an elevation and a land-use gradient to collect data on abiotic drivers, functional traits, and biotic processes. We integrate these data to build the biodiversity- LSM and illustrate how to test the model. REF results show that aboveground biomass production is not directly related to changing climatic conditions, but indirectly through associated changes in functional traits. Herbivory is directly related to changing abiotic conditions. The biodiversity-LSM informed by local functional trait and soil data improved the simulation of biomass production substantially. We conclude that local data, also derived from previous projects (platform Ecuador), are key elements of the research framework. We specify essential datasets to apply this framework to other mountain ecosystems.

Abstract:

Climate and vegetation structure are important predictors of biodiversity along mountain slopes. The drivers of elevational biodiversity gradients are not yet fully resolved. For instance, there is little understanding of how direct and indirect effects of elevation shape species communities along mountain slopes. In this study, we identify the main drivers of bird diversity along an elevational gradient spanning 2000 m in the Ecuadorian Andes. We simultaneously tested the direct and indirect effects of elevation, temperature, precipitation and vegetation structure on overall bird diversity and on frugivorous and insectivorous birds, using structural equation models (SEMs). We found that elevation was mostly indirectly associated with bird diversity, mediated via abiotic (i.e., temperature, precipitation) and biotic (i.e., vegetation structure) factors. We found consistent positive effects of temperature and vegetation structure and negative effects of precipitation on overall bird diversity and on frugivorous and insectivorous birds. In addition, elevation was directly, positively associated with insectivore richness and abundance, but not with that of frugivores. Our results show that climatic factors and vegetation structure jointly shape the richness of bird communities on tropical mountains. However, other factors, such as biotic interactions or different evolutionary histories of lowland and highland communities, may additionally contribute to elevational patterns in bird diversity. Thus, species communities across tropical mountain slopes are shaped by a multitude of abiotic and biotic factors that need to be studied simultaneously for a mechanistic understanding of patterns in biodiversity.

Abstract:

Plant–animal interactions are fundamentally important in ecosystems, but have often been ignored by studies of climate-change impacts on biodiversity. Here, we present a trait-based framework for predicting the responses of interacting plants and animals to climate change. We distinguish three pathways along which climate change can impact interacting species in ecological communities: (i) spatial and temporal mismatches in the occurrence and abundance of species, (ii) the formation of novel interactions and secondary extinctions, and (iii) alterations of the dispersal ability of plants. These pathways are mediated by three kinds of functional traits: response traits, matching traits, and dispersal traits. We propose that incorporating these traits into predictive models will improve assessments of the responses of interacting species to climate change.

Abstract:

Tropical forests harbor diverse ecological communities of plants and animals that are organized in complex interaction networks. The diversity and structure of plant–animal interaction networks may change along elevational gradients and in response to human-induced habitat fragmentation. While previous studies have analyzed the effects of elevation and forest fragmentation on species interaction networks in isolation, to our knowledge no study has investigated whether the effects of forest fragmentation on species interactions may differ along elevational gradients. In this study, we analyzed main and interaction effects of elevation and forest fragmentation on plant–frugivore interaction networks at plant and bird species level. Over a period spanning two years, we recorded plant–frugivore interactions at three elevations (1000, 2000 and 3000 m a.s.l.) and in two habitat types (continuous and fragmented forest) in tropical montane forests in southern Ecuador. We found a consistent effect of elevation on the structure of plant–frugivore networks. We observed a decrease in the number of effective bird partners of plants and, thus, a decline in the redundancy of bird species with increasing elevation. Furthermore, bird specialization on specific plant partners increased towards high elevations. Fragmentation had a relatively weak effect on the interaction networks for both plant and bird species, but resulted in a significant increase in bird specialization in fragmented forests at high elevations. Our results indicate that forest fragmentation may have stronger effects on plant–frugivore interaction networks at high compared to low elevations because bird species richness declined more steeply towards high elevations than plant species richness. We conclude that conservation efforts should prioritize the maintenance of consumer diversity, for instance by maintaining stretches of continuous forest. This applies in particular to species-poor communities, such as those at high elevations, as the ecological processes in these communities seem most sensitive towards forest fragmentation.