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Biology subjects

Granville, N. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Granville, N. R..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Stochastic dispersal assembly dominates tropical invertebrate community assembly regardless of land use intensity.

Understanding how community assembly processes drive biodiversity patterns is a central goal of community ecology. While it is generally accepted that ecological communities are assembled by both stochastic and deterministic processes, quantifying their relative importance remains challenging. Few studies have investigated how the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic community assembly processes vary among taxa and along gradients of habitat degradation. Using data on 1,645 arthropod species across seven taxonomic groups in Malaysian Borneo, we quantified the importance of ecological stochasticity and of a suite of community assembly processes across a gradient of logging intensity. The relationship between logging and community assembly varied depending on the specific combination of taxa and stochasticity metric used, but, in general, the processes that govern invertebrate community assembly were remarkably robust to changes in land use intensity.

ecology↗

Mangrove propagules are limited in their capacity to disperse across long distances

Mangroves are subject to rapid and large-scale habitat changes which threaten their unique genetic diversity and provision of critically important ecosystem services. Habitat fragmentation reduces connectivity which can impair dispersal and lead to genetic isolation. However, it is unclear whether fragmentation could impact mangrove genetic isolation, as mangrove propagules can disperse long distances. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies reporting a correlation between geographic distance and genetic distance in mangrove plants. From the 22 studies that met the inclusion criteria, we found a significant isolation-by-distance effect; geographic distance was significantly associated with Neis genetic distance and FST. Our results show that mangrove propagules may be limited in their capacity to disperse across long distances, which highlights the importance of maintaining close proximity between habitat patches and reducing habitat fragmentation.

ecology↗