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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Frog community composition-environment relationships vary over time: Are snapshot studies of metacommunity dynamics useful?

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Author(s):
Gomes-Mello, Flavia [1] ; Provete, Diogo B. [2, 3] ; Heino, Jani [4] ; da Silva, Fernando R. [5]
Total Authors: 4
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Programa Posgrad Ecol & Recursos Nat, Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil
[2] Univ Fed Mato Grosso do Sul, Inst Biociencias, Campo Grande, MS - Brazil
[3] Gothenburg Global Biodivers Ctr, Box 100, S-405 Gothenburg - Sweden
[4] Finnish Environm Inst, Freshwater Ctr, Paavo Havaksen Tie 3, FI-90570 Oulu - Finland
[5] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Ciencias Ambientais, Lab Ecol Teor Integrando Tempo Biol & Espaco LET, Sorocaba, SP - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 5
Document type: Journal article
Source: BASIC AND APPLIED ECOLOGY; v. 56, p. 85-96, NOV 2021.
Web of Science Citations: 0
Abstract

There have been important advances in understanding the relative importance of environmental and spatial processes for the variation in species composition across a set of local communities linked by dispersal (i.e. metacommunities). However, community composition-environment relationships change over time, and the mechanisms shaping such temporal variation in metacommunities encompassing large environmental gradients remain poorly understood. If the ability of statistical models to predict community composition-environment relationships depends on the sampling year, snapshot metacommunity studies would have limited implications, both theoretical and applied. Here, we partitioned the variation in compositional data of frog communities and asked if the relative importance of environmental and spatial components change over years at broad spatial scales (hereafter, protected areas in coastal and inland regions) of southeastern Brazil. These regions have marked differences in environmental characteristics as well as the size and composition of their regional species pool. Our results showed that the factors explaining the temporal variability in community composition-environment relationships were congruent for the inland region, which is less productive and characterized by harsh environmental conditions. In contrast, the relative importance of environmental and spatial components changed over years in the coastal region, which has more productive environments and benign conditions. Although snapshot studies will continue to provide important information about metacommunity dynamics, researchers have to be better able to incorporate the temporal variation inherent in community composition-environment relationships, which may be especially important in productive environments. (C) 2021 Gesellschaft fur Okologie. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 13/50714-0 - Influence of ecological and evolutionary processes in structuring amphibian communities at different spatial and temporal scales
Grantee:Fernando Rodrigues da Silva
Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Young Investigators Grants