Biology subjects

Beccari, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Beccari, E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

A skewed picture of functional diversity in global drylands

Recently, Gross et al. (Nature 632, 808-814) found that plant phenotypic diversity dramatically increases with aridity globally, challenging conventional environmental filtering theories. However, some methodological choices by Gross et al. might overestimate the effect of aridity on phenotypic diversity: (i) We detected a skewed distribution of sampling sites towards the arid end of the analyzed gradient; (ii) We posited that fine-tuning of some statistical parameters might further challenge their estimates. We reanalyzed Gross et al. data accounting for these effects and found a substantially reduced change of phenotypic diversity with increasing aridity. Gross et al. surely represents a cornerstone for future research on trait diversity in a drier world, but their interpretations need to be considered alongside our findings. Importantly, the points raised by our reanalysis provide general guidelines for future research on plant phenotypic diversity changes along environmental gradients.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Mammal life history strategies are strongly associated with environmental realms

Mammalian life history strategies can be characterized by a few axes of variation, which conform a space where species are positioned according to which life history strategies are favoured in the environment they exploit. Yet, we still lack global descriptions of the diversity of realized mammalian life history and of how this diversity is shaped by the environment. We used six life history traits to build a global life history space and explored how major environmental realms (land, air, water) influence mammalian life history strategies. We demonstrate that realms are tightly linked to distinct life history strategies. Predominantly, aquatic and aerial species adhere to slower life history strategies, while terrestrial species tend to exhibit faster life histories. Highly encephalized terrestrial species are a notable exception to these patterns. In addition, species transitioning between the terrestrial and aquatic realms, such as seals, show intermediate life history strategies. Further, different mode-of-life may play a significant role in allowing to expand the set of strategies exploitable in the terrestrial realm. Our results provide compelling evidence of the link between environmental realms and the diversity of life history strategies among mammals. Statement of authorshipP.C.L., R.S-G., and C.P.C. conceived the core ideas behind this paper, all authors provided fundamental inputs for its final development. E.B collected all data and performed the literature search needed to sort species in environmental realms. E.B. analysed the data with fundamental inputs from C.P.C., P.C.L, and R.G-S. All authors contributed to interpretation of the results. E.B. and C.P.C. led the writing of the manuscript which was edited by all authors.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Plant spectral diversity from high-resolution multispectral imagery detects functional diversity patterns in coastal dune communities.

O_LIRemote sensing is a fundamental tool to monitor biodiversity over large spatial extents. However, it is still not clear whether spectral diversity (SD - variation of spectral response across a set of pixels) may represent a fast and reliable proxy for different biodiversity facets such as taxonomic (TD) and functional diversity (FD) across different spatial scales. C_LIO_LIWe used fine resolution (3 cm) multispectral imagery on coastal dune communities in Italy to explore SD patterns across spatial scales and assess SD relationships with TD and FD along the environmental gradient. C_LIO_LIWe measured TD as species richness, while SD and FD were computed using probability densities functions based on pixels and species position in multivariate spaces based on pixel values and traits, respectively. We assessed how SD is related to TD and FD, we compared SD and FD patterns in multivariate space occupation, and we explored diversity patterns across spatial scales using additive partitioning (i.e., plot, transect, and study area). C_LIO_LIWe found a strong correspondence between the patterns of occupation of the functional and spectral spaces and significant relationships were found along the environmental gradient. TD showed no significant relationships with SD. However, TD and SD showed higher variation at broader scale while most of FD variation occurred at plot level. C_LIO_LIBy measuring FD and SD with a common methodological framework, we demonstrate the potential of SD in approximating functional patterns in plant communities. We show that SD can retrieve information about FD at very small scale, which would otherwise require very intensive sampling efforts. Overall, we show that SD retrieved using high resolution images is able to capture different aspects of FD, so that the occupation of the spectral space is analogous to the occupation of the functional space. Studying the occupation of both spectral and functional space brings a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence the distribution and abundance of plant species across environmental gradients. C_LI

ecology↗