Dataset Information

Low functional ?-diversity despite high taxonomic ?-diversity among tropical estuarine fish communities.

ABSTRACT: The concept of ?-diversity, defined as dissimilarity among communities, has been widely used to investigate biodiversity patterns and community assembly rules. However, in ecosystems with high taxonomic ?-diversity, due to marked environmental gradients, the level of functional ?-diversity among communities is largely overlooked while it may reveal processes shaping community structure. Here, decomposing biodiversity indices into ? (local) and ? (regional) components, we estimated taxonomic and functional ?-diversity among tropical estuarine fish communities, through space and time. We found extremely low functional ?-diversity values among fish communities (<1.5%) despite high dissimilarity in species composition and species dominance. Additionally, in contrast to the high ? and ? taxonomic diversities, ? and ? functional diversities were very close to the minimal value. These patterns were caused by two dominant functional groups which maintained a similar functional structure over space and time, despite the strong dissimilarity in taxonomic structure along environmental gradients. Our findings suggest that taxonomic and functional ?-diversity deserve to be quantified simultaneously since these two facets can show contrasting patterns and the differences can in turn shed light on community assembly rules.

SUBMITTER: Villeger S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3392234 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Low functional β-diversity despite high taxonomic β-diversity among tropical estuarine fish communities.

Villéger Sébastien S Ramos Miranda Julia J Flores Hernandez Domingo D Mouillot David D

PloS one 20120709 7

The concept of β-diversity, defined as dissimilarity among communities, has been widely used to investigate biodiversity patterns and community assembly rules. However, in ecosystems with high taxonomic β-diversity, due to marked environmental gradients, the level of functional β-diversity among communities is largely overlooked while it may reveal processes shaping community structure. Here, decomposing biodiversity indices into α (local) and γ (regional) components, we estimated taxonomic and ...[more]

PMID: 22792395

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Dataset Information

Low functional ?-diversity despite high taxonomic ?-diversity among tropical estuarine fish communities.

Publications

Low functional β-diversity despite high taxonomic β-diversity among tropical estuarine fish communities.

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