Seasonality of primary production explains the richness of pioneering benthic communities

A pattern of increasing species richness from the poles to the equator is frequently observed in many animal taxa. Ecological limits, determined by the abiotic conditions and biotic interactions within an environment, are one of the major factors influencing the geographical distribution of species diversity. Energy availability is often considered a crucial limiting factor, with temperature and productivity serving as empirical measures. However, these measures may not fully explain the observed species richness, particularly in marine ecosystems. Here, through a global comparative approach and standardised methodologies, such as Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) and DNA metabarcoding, we show that the seasonality of primary production explains sessile animal richness comparatively or better than surface temperature or primary productivity alone. A Hierarchical Generalised Additive Model (HGAM) is validated, after a model selection procedure, and the prediction error is compared, following a cross-validation approach, with HGAMs including environmental variables commonly used to explain animal richness. Moreover, the linear effect of production magnitude on species richness becomes apparent only when considered jointly with seasonality, and, by identifying world coastal areas characterized by extreme values of both, we postulate that this effect may result in a positive relationship in environments with lower seasonality.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2024-09-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52673-z
Citations
10
Primary Topic
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.59

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article

Seasonality of primary production explains the richness of pioneering benthic communities

Matteo Cecchetto, Małgorzata Zbawicka, Gentile Francesco Ficetola, Maciej Chełchowski et al.
10 citations
Nature Communications
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
4.59
article

Seasonality of primary production explains the richness of pioneering benthic communities

Matteo Cecchetto, Małgorzata Zbawicka, Gentile Francesco Ficetola, Maciej Chełchowski, Marc Eléaume, Matthias Obst, Agnès Dettaı̈, Katrina Exter, Magdalena Małachowicz, Diego Fontaneto, Stefano Schiaparelli, Henning Reiss, Anita Poćwierz‐Kotus, Cyril Gallut, Piotr Bałazy, Piotr Kukliński, Christina Pavloudi
article en
10 citations

Abstract

A pattern of increasing species richness from the poles to the equator is frequently observed in many animal taxa. Ecological limits, determined by the abiotic conditions and biotic interactions within an environment, are one of the major factors influencing the geographical distribution of species diversity. Energy availability is often considered a crucial limiting factor, with temperature and productivity serving as empirical measures. However, these measures may not fully explain the observed species richness, particularly in marine ecosystems. Here, through a global comparative approach and standardised methodologies, such as Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) and DNA metabarcoding, we show that the seasonality of primary production explains sessile animal richness comparatively or better than surface temperature or primary productivity alone. A Hierarchical Generalised Additive Model (HGAM) is validated, after a model selection procedure, and the prediction error is compared, following a cross-validation approach, with HGAMs including environmental variables commonly used to explain animal richness. Moreover, the linear effect of production magnitude on species richness becomes apparent only when considered jointly with seasonality, and, by identifying world coastal areas characterized by extreme values of both, we postulate that this effect may result in a positive relationship in environments with lower seasonality.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 15(1)
Flanders Marine Institute (BE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR), University of Milan (IT), Nord University (NO), Sorbonne Université (FR), Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (FR), National Biodiversity Institute (CR), Instytut Oceanologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk (PL), National Research Council (IT), European Marine Biological Resource Centre (FR), University of Genoa (IT), University of Gothenburg (SE), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
European Commission, Conseil Régional de Bretagne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, European Regional Development Fund, Interreg
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
4.59
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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