University of Turin, Department of Life Science and Systems Biology, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin, Italy; SLU, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology, Ulls väg 16, 756 51 Uppsala, Sweden.
University of Turin, Department of Life Science and Systems Biology, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2018 Mar;616-617:1440-1448. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.171. Epub 2017 Oct 22.
Rapid biodiversity loss has emphasized the need to understand how biodiversity affects the provisioning of ecological functions. Of particular interest are species and communities with versatile impacts on multiple parts of the environment, linking processes in the biosphere, lithosphere, and atmosphere to human interests in the anthroposphere (in this case, cattle farming). In this study, we examine the role of a specific group of insects - beetles feeding on cattle dung - on multiple ecological functions spanning these spheres (dung removal, soil nutrient content and greenhouse gas emissions). We ask whether the same traits which make species prone to extinction (i.e. response traits) may also affect their functional efficiency (as effect traits). To establish the link between response and effect traits, we first evaluated whether two traits (body mass and nesting strategy, the latter categorized as tunnelers or dwellers) affected the probability of a species being threatened. We then tested for a relationship between these traits and ecosystem functioning. Across Scandinavian dung beetle species, 75% of tunnelers and 30% of dwellers are classified as threatened. Hence, nesting strategy significantly affects the probability of a species being threatened, and constitutes a response trait. Effect traits varied with the ecological function investigated: density-specific dung removal was influenced by both nesting strategy and body mass, whereas methane emissions varied with body mass and nutrient recycling with nesting strategy. Our findings suggest that among Scandinavian dung beetles, nesting strategy is both a response and an effect trait, with tunnelers being more efficient in providing several ecological functions and also being more sensitive to extinction. Consequently, functionally important tunneler species have suffered disproportionate declines, and species not threatened today may be at risk of becoming so in the near future. This linkage between effect and response traits aggravates the consequences of ongoing biodiversity loss.
生物多样性的迅速丧失强调了人们需要了解生物多样性如何影响生态功能的提供。特别感兴趣的是那些对环境的多个部分具有多功能影响的物种和群落，将生物圈、岩石圈和大气层中的过程与人类对人类圈（在这种情况下，养牛）的利益联系起来。在这项研究中，我们研究了一组特定的昆虫 - 以牛粪为食的甲虫 - 在跨越这些领域的多个生态功能中的作用（粪便清除、土壤养分含量和温室气体排放）。我们询问使物种容易灭绝的相同特征（即反应特征）是否也会影响其功能效率（作为效应特征）。为了在反应特征和效应特征之间建立联系，我们首先评估了两个特征（体重和筑巢策略，后者分为隧道和居住者）是否会影响物种受到威胁的概率。然后，我们测试了这些特征与生态系统功能之间的关系。在斯堪的纳维亚粪甲虫物种中，75%的隧道和 30%的居住者被归类为受到威胁。因此，筑巢策略显着影响物种受到威胁的概率，并且构成反应特征。效应特征因所研究的生态功能而异：密度特异性粪便清除受筑巢策略和体重的影响，而甲烷排放则受体重影响，养分回收则受筑巢策略影响。我们的研究结果表明，在斯堪的纳维亚粪甲虫中，筑巢策略既是反应特征又是效应特征，隧道者在提供几种生态功能方面更有效，并且对灭绝的敏感性更高。因此，功能重要的隧道者物种遭受了不成比例的减少，而今天没有受到威胁的物种可能在不久的将来面临威胁的风险。这种效应特征和反应特征之间的联系加剧了生物多样性持续丧失的后果。
