Biology subjects

Brearley, F. Q.

Publications and source records attributed to Brearley, F. Q..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Drivers of individual plant species contributions to β-diversity are scale-dependent

Species introductions and native extirpations are driving biotic homogenisation in plant communities by reducing {beta}-diversity. Individual species vary in their contributions to {beta}-diversity (Species Contribution to {beta}-Diversity; species-{beta}), yet our understanding of how species characteristics shape these contributions remains limited. Additionally, although the ecological processes influencing {beta}-diversity are known to vary with spatial scale, we lack understanding of how species contributions, or their underlying determinants, change across scales. Here, we modelled how plant functional traits, phylogenetic relatedness, and introduction status influence their contributions to {beta}-diversity using plant community data from 429 plots surveyed from 2017-2023 across three nested spatial scales (up to 1 km2) in nine sites spanning four countries. We extended the analysis to broader spatial extents (100 km2 to the entire UK) using GBIF occurrence data. We found that functional traits associated with competitive ability influenced species-{beta}, but the direction and strength of their effects varied with scale. Likewise, phylogenetic novelty increased species-{beta} at small scales but reduced it at larger ones. After accounting for traits and phylogeny, introduced species consistently contributed less to {beta}-diversity than native species--especially at broader spatial extents. These results demonstrate that species ecological and evolutionary characteristics shape their contributions to {beta}-diversity, but that these effects are scale-dependent. Our findings highlight the importance of scale-explicit approaches in understanding both the determinants of {beta}-diversity, and how we can combat its loss to mitigate biotic homogenisation.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Towards understanding diversity, endemicity and global change vulnerability of soil fungi

Fungi play pivotal roles in ecosystem functioning, but little is known about their global patterns of diversity, endemicity, vulnerability to global change drivers and conservation priority areas. We applied the high-resolution PacBio sequencing technique to identify fungi based on a long DNA marker that revealed a high proportion of hitherto unknown fungal taxa. We used a Global Soil Mycobiome consortium dataset to test relative performance of various sequencing depth standardization methods (calculation of residuals, exclusion of singletons, traditional and SRS rarefaction, use of Shannon index of diversity) to find optimal protocols for statistical analyses. Altogether, we used six global surveys to infer these patterns for soil-inhabiting fungi and their functional groups. We found that residuals of log-transformed richness (including singletons) against log-transformed sequencing depth yields significantly better model estimates compared with most other standardization methods. With respect to global patterns, fungal functional groups differed in the patterns of diversity, endemicity and vulnerability to main global change predictors. Unlike -diversity, endemicity and global-change vulnerability of fungi and most functional groups were greatest in the tropics. Fungi are vulnerable mostly to drought, heat, and land cover change. Fungal conservation areas of highest priority include wetlands and moist tropical ecosystems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Wild pigs mediate far-reaching agricultural impacts on tropical forest soil microbial communities

Edge effects, the altered abiotic and biotic conditions on the borders of natural areas, rarely extend more than a few hundred meters. Edge effects have rarely been linked to altered soil biota, which shape ecosystem processes including carbon storage, biogeochemical cycling, and plant performance. Here, we investigated if agriculturally-mediated increased wildlife populations affect soil biotic communities at a distance well over that of estimated edge effects when they move between agriculture and natural habitats using a 22-year fenced exclusion experiment in a primary rainforest in Peninsular Malaysia. We found that the presence of wildlife (mainly native pigs (Sus scrofa) that crop-raid in nearby oil palm plantations) was associated with higher bacterial diversity, and an altered community composition (mediated by changes in soil pH), and reduced abundances of symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi compared to soil in exclosures. There were only minor effects of pigs on soil chemistry or microclimate, so we suggest that changes in soil communities are driven by pigs leaf litter removal and alterations to plant composition. Our study highlights that indirect effects from agriculture can be transferred by wildlife >1 km into protected areas and this could have important repercussions for ecosystem processes and plant-soil feedbacks.

ecology↗