Species’ distributions are influenced by abiotic and biotic factors but direct comparison of their relative importance is difficult, particularly when working with complex, multi-species datasets. Here, we present a flexible method to compare abiotic and biotic influences at common scales. First, data representing abiotic and biotic factors are collected using a combination of geographic information system, remotely sensed, and species’ functional trait data. Next, the relative influences of each predictor variable on the occurrence of a focal species are compared. Specifically, ‘sample’ data from sites of known occurrence are compared with ‘background’ data (i.e. pseudo-absence data collected at sites where occurrence is unknown, combined with sample data). Predictor variables that may have the strongest influence on the focal species are identified as those where sample data are clearly distinct from the corresponding background distribution. To demonstrate the method, effects of hydrology, physical habitat, and co-occurring fish functional traits are assessed relative to the contemporary (1950 – 1990) distribution of the American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) in six Mid-Atlantic (USA) rivers. We find that Eel distribution has likely been influenced by the functional characteristics of co-occurring fishes and by local dam density, but not by other physical habitat or hydrologic factors.

Plant invasions can ensue when plants are introduced to regions without their specialist enemies (the Enemy Release Hypothesis). This assumes natural enemies limit survival and fecundity in an invader's native range. I tested this assumption for a native invasive species, Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), by excluding natural enemies from seeds, seedlings and adults. At the adult stage, I added disturbance and conspecific density treatments. Protection from herbivores slightly improved performance at the seedling stage only, while disturbance greatly increased survival and fecundity. Increasing conspecific density reduced performance only in disturbed plots. I also tested herbivore tolerance using simulated damage. Heavy (75%) damage did not reduce fecundity; light damage even increased seed production. These results suggest enemies do not limit Ambrosia in its native range, especially compared to the effects of habitat disturbance. While enemy release may have occurred during Ambrosia’s invasions, it is not likely to be their principal cause.

Plant invasions can ensue when plants are introduced to regions without their specialist enemies (the Enemy Release Hypothesis). This assumes natural enemies limit survival and fecundity in an invader's native range. I tested this assumption for a native invasive species, Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), by excluding natural enemies from seeds, seedlings and adults. At the adult stage, I added disturbance and conspecific density treatments. Protection from herbivores slightly improved performance at the seedling stage only, while disturbance greatly increased survival and fecundity. Increasing conspecific density reduced performance only in disturbed plots. I also tested herbivore tolerance using simulated damage. Heavy (75%) damage did not reduce fecundity; light damage even increased seed production. These results suggest enemies do not limit Ambrosia in its native range, especially compared to the effects of habitat disturbance. While enemy release may have occurred during Ambrosia’s invasions, it is not likely to be their principal cause.

No description available.

The Arctic areas are warming more rapidly than other parts of the world. Increasing temperatures are predicted to result in shrubification, higher productivity, declining species diversity and new species invasions to the tundra. Changes in species diversity and plant community composition are likely to alter ecosystem functions with potential consequences for human population also at lower latitudes. Thus, in order to better predict the effects of the rapid arctic warming, we need knowledge on how plant communities respond to a warmer climate. Here, I investigate the effects of climate warming on tundra plant communities and focus on the role of mammalian herbivores in mediating these responses. I examined the role of herbivores by incorporating herbivore manipulations to short- and long-term warming experiments as well as along altitudinal gradients. I measured how individual plants and plant communities respond to warming with and without herbivores. Results of my PhD Thesis illustrate several ways how herbivores modify the responses of plants to warming. I found that herbivores (reindeer, hare, voles, lemmings) may prevent lowland forbs from invading open tundra.  Herbivores might also protect small tundra forbs from being outcompeted by taller and denser vegetation under climate warming. Thus, different herbivore pressures may lead to differing plant abundances and distribution shifts in different areas. Furthermore, my results show that high herbivore pressure can reverse the effects of long-term climate warming very rapidly, even in one year. This finding suggests that well-planned targeted reindeer grazing episodes could potentially be used as a conservation tool to keep selected tundra habitats open. Sudden cessation of grazing may initiate rapid changes in plant community, especially if it coincides with warm temperatures. Taken together, I show that herbivores counteract the effects of climate warming by slowing down or preventing vegetation changes in tundra. Therefore, it is important to consider mammalian herbivores when predicting tundra plant community responses to changing climate.

Rising temperature caused by global warming alters physiology, phenology and/or distribution in a wide array of plant and animal species, which has dramatic knock-on effects at different levels of organisation. This study investigates the individual and interactive effects of temperature (18ᵒC, 22ᵒC and 30ᵒC) and additions of the macroalga Gracilaria gracilis (high and low) on the performance of the seagrass Zostera capensis, which occurs in Langebaan Lagoon, South Africa over a seven-week period. Results from the laboratory experiment revealed that G. gracilis did not significantly affect the performance of Z. capensis although temperature did result in greater leaf width, fouling and senescent biomass, as well as marginally greater leaf area and lower below-ground biomass at 30ᵒC. Increasing temperature also increased G. gracilis biomass, percent cover and fouling by microalgae. In addition, there was no interaction between temperature and the additions of Gracilaria. The overall findings of this study indicate that Z. capensis abundance is likely to decrease while G. gracilis will conversely increase in abundance in response to warming. Changes in abundance of those two ecosystem engineers highlight the possibility of a phase shift from a seagrass- to macroalgal-dominated state in Langebaan Lagoon.

One of the central questions of ecology aims to understand the mechanisms that maintain patterns of species coexistence. Community assembly, the process of structuring communities, occurs in ecological time, is influenced by biotic interactions at local scales, and is thought to help maintain diversity patterns. Species invasions, however, as a result of globalization and intense marine trade, are common in coastal ecosystems, and have the potential to change the outcome of biotic interactions and community structure. Human-induced disturbance also disrupts community structure and coastal habitats are at greater risk due to encroachment of human populations near coasts. Changes in community structure are usually quantified as the number and distribution of species, however, the processes that shape communities act on the traits that allow and optimize species survival. Recently, ecological questions aiming to understand changes in community structure, invasion dynamics, and responses to disturbance are using measures that reflect species’ ecological functions (i.e., traits) and describe the trait composition of communities (i.e., functional structure and diversity).The objectives of my dissertation are to use functional diversity and structure to 1) determine trait responses from predation across latitude while considering interaction histories between native and introduced species with local predators, 2) use functional diversity patterns and changes in functional structure to infer the relative influence of predation and competition on community assembly through time and across latitude, and 3) assess trait responses to physical disturbance, also, through time and across latitude while considering the trait diversity of the system. To achieve these objectives, I used field experiments to grow coastal sessile marine invertebrate communities in treatments that test the influence of biotic interactions or disturbance. Experiments ran for three or twelve months at 12 sites in four regions of the Pacific Coast: Alaska, California, Mexico, and Panama. For my first objective, I found predation driven trait responses mainly occurred at lower latitudes where biotic interactions are expected to be stronger. Additionally, the native and introduced species of focal communities showed opposite trait responses to predation at lower latitudes with traits related to palatability and parental investment being primarily influenced. For my second objective, I found strong competition influenced late-stage assembly across the latitudinal gradient, while predation had a greater influence during early assembly in the tropics. Thus, the relative strength of biotic interactions changes with time and latitude and either predation or competition may serve as primary filters of community assembly. For my third objective, I found fast colonization and regeneration abilities help communities recover from intense disturbance, but only at lower latitudes where communities were most impacted by disturbance. In plant communities, functional traits have been studied quite extensively for several years and have set the stage for exploration in other ecosystems. In marine systems, the link between traits and ecological processes that influence community structure are mostly understudied, and my dissertation is contributing to close this knowledge gap about nearshore communities from across 47 degrees of latitude. / Biology

No description available.

Les insectes sont encore aujourd’hui peu pris en compte dans les programmes de conservation de la biodiversité, malgré leur rôle majeur dans le fonctionnement des écosystèmes terrestres. Du fait de leur grande diversité, et d’une grande méconnaissance des patrons de structuration des communautés, la conservation de ces organismes se heurte à des problématiques liées à l’évaluation et à la hiérarchisation des enjeux ainsi qu’à l’estimation de la richesse spécifique des communautés. Parce qu’ils constituent deux groupes d’insectes particulièrement impactés par les changements environnementaux, les Rhopalocères et les Odonates constituent une part importante des insectes protégés en Europe. Dans ce contexte de faible prise en compte de la diversité entomologique en biologie de la conservation, cette thèse a eu pour objectifs (1) de mesurer les dynamiques récentes (déclin, stabilité ou essor) de ces deux taxa en France, et d’identifier les facteurs climatiques et écologiques susceptibles de les conditionner, (2) pour les Rhopalocères, d’utiliser une description fine des réseaux d’interaction entre les larves et leurs plantes-nourricières pour questionner les statuts de conservation selon une approche systémique (3) et enfin, dans un objectif résolument opérationnel, d’évaluer les liens entre les gains d’informations et les efforts/coûts d’échantillonnage mobilisés au cours des études d’impacts.L’étude comparative des dynamiques temporelles des populations de ces deux taxons a été réalisée à l’échelle de trois pays d’Europe de l’Ouest grâce à une analyse diachronique des patrons de répartition des espèces sur un pas de temps de 35 ans. Ce travail a mis en évidence une forte corrélation entre l’artificialisation des paysages (urbanisation, intensification agricole, régression des zones humides) et le déclin de nombreuses espèces, majoritairement caractérisées par des exigences écologiques strictes et actuellement non protégées. A cette même échelle, l’analyse de l’architecture du réseau d’interactions entre les larves de Rhopalocères et leurs plantes nourricières a quant à elle révélé une structure modulaire en relation avec la taxonomie des partenaires, ainsi qu’un lien entre le degré de spécialisation et la vulnérabilité des espèces (sans que la similarité du régime alimentaire des espèces ne semble conditionner leur statut de conservation). Une dernière partie a été ciblée sur l’évaluation du degré d’exhaustivité des inventaires entomologiques réalisés lors d’études d’impact réalisées en amont d’aménagements. Une procédure de repasse systématique et calibrée, sur des sites échantillonnés en garrigue méditerranéenne, a permis de mettre en évidence les limites des protocoles actuels, en termes d’estimation de la richesse spécifique et de détection d’espèces à enjeux. Sur cette base, des recommandations sont formulées pour optimiser les protocoles d’échantillonnage à mettre en œuvre pour la détection des espèces à enjeux.Cette thèse contribue à l’articulation entre problématiques fondamentale et besoins opérationnels, en permettant à la fois une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes de structuration des communautés d’insectes et la formulation de recommandations pour une meilleure application locale des politiques de conservation. / Insects are still poorly considered in biodiversity conservation programs, despite their major role in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Because of their great diversity, and a great lack of knowledge of community structuring patterns, the conservation of these organisms faces major challenges related to the evaluation and prioritization of issues as well as the estimation of the species richness of communities. Because they constitute two groups of insects particularly impacted by environmental changes, butterflies and dragonflies are an important part of protected insects in Europe. In this context of low consideration of entomological diversity in conservation biology, this thesis aims to (1) measure the recent dynamics (decline, stability or expansion) of these two taxa in France, and to identify the climatic and ecological factors likely to condition them, (2) for butterflies, to use a fine description of the interactions network between the larvae and their hostplants to question the conservation status according to a systemic approach (3) and finally, with a clearly operational objective, to evaluate the links between the information gains and the efforts / sampling costs mobilized during environmental impact assessments.The comparative study of the temporal dynamics of the populations of these two taxa was carried out at the scale of three countries of Western Europe through a diachronic analysis of the species distribution patterns on a time step of 35 years. This work has highlighted a strong correlation between the artificialisation of landscapes (urbanization, agricultural intensification, regression of wetlands) and the decline of many species, mainly characterized by strict ecological requirements and currently unprotected. On this same scale, the analysis of the architecture of the interactions network between butterfly larvae and their food plants revealed a modular structure in relation to the taxonomy of the partners, as well as a link between the degree specialization and species vulnerability (although the similarity of the species' diet did not seem to condition their conservation status). A final part was focused on the evaluation of the completeness of entomological surveys carried out during environmental impact assessments. A systematic and calibrated return procedure, on sites sampled in Mediterranean scrublands, allowed highlighting the limits of the current protocols in the estimation of species richness and the detection of protected or vulnerable species.This thesis contributes to the articulation between fundamental issues and operational needs, by allowing both a better understanding of the structuring mechanisms of insect communities and the formulation of recommendations for a better local application of conservation policies.

Background: Tropical sand dunes are ideal systems for understanding drivers of community assembly as dunes are subject to both deterministic and stochastic processes. However, studies that evaluate the factors that mediate plant community assembly in these ecosystems are few. Aims: We evaluated phylogenetic community structure to elucidate the role of deterministic and stochastic processes in mediating the assembly of plant communities along the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Methods: We used plastid genetic markers to evaluate phylogenetic relationships in 16 sand-dune communities. To evaluate the role of climate in shaping plant community structure we carried out linear regressions between climatic variables and mean phylogenetic distance. We estimated the Net Relatedness Index and Nearest Taxon Index to identify ecological processes mediating community assembly. Results: Observed phylogenetic structure was not different from random, suggesting that stochastic processes are the major determinants of community assembly. Climate was slightly correlated with phylogenetic diversity suggesting that abiotic environment plays a minimal role in community assembly. Conclusions: Random assembly appears to be the primary factor structuring the studied sand dune plant communities. Environmental filters may represent a secondary factor contributing to the observed phylogenetic structure. Thus, both processes may act simultaneously to mediate the assembly of sand-dune plant communities.