Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2023 Jun;38(6):554-567. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.01.003. Epub 2023 Feb 15.
Species environmental niches are central to ecology, evolution, and global change research, but their characterization and interpretation depend on the spatial scale (specifically, the spatial grain) of their measurement. We find that the spatial grain of niche measurement is usually uninformed by ecological processes and varies by orders of magnitude. We illustrate the consequences of this variation for the volume, position, and shape of niche estimates, and discuss how it interacts with geographic range size, habitat specialization, and environmental heterogeneity. Spatial grain significantly affects the study of niche breadth, environmental suitability, niche evolution, niche tracking, and climate change effects. These and other fields will benefit from a more mechanism-informed choice of spatial grain and cross-grain evaluations that integrate different data sources.
物种生态位是生态学、进化生物学和全球变化研究的核心，但它们的特征描述和解释取决于其测量的空间尺度（具体来说，就是空间粒度）。我们发现，生态位测量的空间粒度通常不受生态过程的影响，而且变化幅度很大。我们举例说明了这种变化对生态位估计的体积、位置和形状的影响，并讨论了它如何与地理范围大小、栖息地特化和环境异质性相互作用。空间粒度会显著影响生态位宽度、环境适宜性、生态位进化、生态位追踪以及气候变化影响的研究。这些领域和其他领域将受益于更具机制信息的空间粒度选择，以及整合不同数据源的跨粒度评估。
