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- Sandom, C. J., et al.
(författare)
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Learning from the past to prepare for the future: felids face continued threat from declining prey
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecography. - : Wiley. - 0906-7590. ; 41:1, s. 140-152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many contemporary species of large-felids (>= 15 kg) feed upon prey that are endangered, raising concern that prey population declines (defaunation) will further threaten felids. We assess the threat that defaunation presents by investigating a late Quaternary (LQ), 'present-natural' counterfactual scenario. Our present-natural counterfactual is based on predicted ranges of mammals today in the absence of any impacts of modern humans Homo sapiens through time. Data from our present-natural counterfactual are used to understand firstly how megafauna extinction has impacted felid communities to date and secondly to quantify the threat to large-felid communities posed by further declines in prey richness in the future. Our purpose is to identify imminent risks to biodiversity conservation and their cascading consequences and, specifically, to indicate the importance of preserving prey diversity. We pursue two lines of enquiry; first, we test whether the loss of prey species richness is a potential cause of large-felid extinction and range loss. Second, we explore what can be learnt from the large-scale large-mammal LQ losses, particularly in the Americas and Europe, to assess the threat any further decline in prey species presents to large-felids today, particularly in Africa and Asia. Large-felid species richness was considerably greater under our present-natural counterfactual scenario compared to the current reality. In total, 86% of cells recorded at least one additional felid species in our present-natural counterfactual, and up to 4-5 more large-felid species in 10% of the cells. A significant positive correlation was recorded between the number of prey species lost and the number of large-felid species lost from a cell. Extant felids most at risk include lion and Sunda clouded leopard, as well as leopard and cheetah in parts of their range. Our results draw attention to the continuation of a trend of megafauna decline that began with the emergence of hominins in the Pleistocene.
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| 2. |
- Chalmandrier, L., et al.
(författare)
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Comparing spatial diversification and meta-population models in the indo-Australian Archipelago
- 2018
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Ingår i: Royal Society Open Science. - : The Royal Society. - 2054-5703. ; 5:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reconstructing the processes that have shaped the emergence of biodiversity gradients is critical to understand the dynamics of diversification of life on Earth. Islands have traditionally been used as model systems to unravel the processes shaping biological diversity. MacArthur and Wilson’s island biogeographicmodel predicts diversity to be based on dynamic interactions between colonization and extinction rates, while treating islands themselves as geologically static entities. The current spatial configuration of islands should influence meta-population dynamics, but long-term geological changes within archipelagos are also expected to have shaped island biodiversity, in part by driving diversification. Here, we compare two mechanistic models providing inferences on species richness at a biogeographic scale: a mechanistic spatial-temporal model of species diversification and a spatial meta-population model. While the meta-population model operates over a static landscape, the diversification model is driven by changes in the size and spatial configuration of islands through time.We compare the inferences of both models to floristic diversity patterns among land patches of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Simulation results from the diversification model better matched observed diversity than a meta-population model constrained only by the contemporary landscape. The diversification model suggests that the dynamic repositioning of islands promoting land disconnection and reconnection induced an accumulation of particularly high species diversity on Borneo, which is central within the island network. By contrast, the meta-population model predicts a higher diversity on the mainlands, which is less compatible with empirical data. Our analyses highlight that, by comparing models with contrasting assumptions, we can pinpoint the processes that are most compatible with extant biodiversity patterns. © 2018 The Authors.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Onstein, R. E., et al.
(författare)
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To adapt or go extinct? The fate of megafaunal palm fruits under past global change
- 2018
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 285:1880
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Past global change may have forced animal-dispersed plants with megafaunal fruits to adapt or go extinct, but these processes have remained unexplored at broad spatio-temporal scales. Here, we combine phylogenetic, distributional and fruit size data for more than 2500 palm (Arecaceae) species in a time-slice diversification analysis to quantify how extinction and adaptation have changed over deep time. Our results indicate that extinction rates of palms with megafaunal fruits have increased in the New World since the onset of the Quaternary (2.6 million years ago). In contrast, Old World palms show a Quaternary increase in transition rates towards evolving small fruits from megafaunal fruits. We suggest that Quaternary climate oscillations and concurrent habitat fragmentation and defaunation of megafaunal frugivores in the New World have reduced seed dispersal distances and geographical ranges of palms with megafaunal fruits, resulting in their extinction. The increasing adaptation to smaller fruits in the Old World could reflect selection for seed dispersal by ocean-crossing frugivores (e.g. medium-sized birds and bats) to colonize Indo-Pacific islands against a background of Quaternary sea-level fluctuations. Our macro-evolutionary results suggest that megafaunal fruits are increasingly being lost from tropical ecosystems, either due to extinctions or by adapting to smaller fruit sizes.
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| 5. |
- Faurby, Sören, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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PHYLACINE 1.2: The Phylogenetic Atlas of Mammal Macroecology
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 99:11, s. 2626-2626
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Data needed for macroecological analyses are difficult to compile and often hidden away in supplementary material under non-standardized formats. Phylogenies, range data, and trait data often use conflicting taxonomies and require ad hoc decisions to synonymize species or fill in large amounts of missing data. Furthermore, most available data sets ignore the large impact that humans have had on species ranges and diversity. Ignoring these impacts can lead to drastic differences in diversity patterns and estimates of the strength of biological rules. To help overcome these issues, we assembled PHYLACINE, The Phylogenetic Atlas of Mammal Macroecology. This taxonomically integrated platform contains phylogenies, range maps, trait data, and threat status for all 5,831 known mammal species that lived since the last interglacial (similar to 130,000 years ago until present). PHYLACINE is ready to use directly, as all taxonomy and metadata are consistent across the different types of data, and files are provided in easy-to-use formats. The atlas includes both maps of current species ranges and present natural ranges, which represent estimates of where species would live without anthropogenic pressures. Trait data include body mass and coarse measures of life habit and diet. Data gaps have been minimized through extensive literature searches and clearly labelled imputation of missing values. The PHYLACINE database will be archived here as well as hosted online so that users may easily contribute updates and corrections to continually improve the data. This database will be useful to any researcher who wishes to investigate large-scale ecological patterns. Previous versions of the database have already provided valuable information and have, for instance, shown that megafauna extinctions caused substantial changes in vegetation structure and nutrient transfer patterns across the globe.
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| 6. |
- Jacobsen, Carsten Suhr, et al.
(författare)
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Inter-laboratory testing of the effect of DNA blocking reagent G2 on DNA extraction from low-biomass clay samples
- 2018
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here we show that a commercial blocking reagent (G2) based on modified eukaryotic DNA significantly improved DNA extraction efficiency. We subjected G2 to an inter-laboratory testing, where DNA was extracted from the same clay subsoil using the same batch of kits. The inter-laboratory extraction campaign revealed large variation among the participating laboratories, but the reagent increased the number of PCR-amplified16S rRNA genes recovered from biomass naturally present in the soils by one log unit. An extensive sequencing approach demonstrated that the blocking reagent was free of contaminating DNA, and may therefore also be used in metagenomics studies that require direct sequencing.
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| 7. |
- Kozma, Radoslav, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Past and potential future population dynamics of three grouse species using ecological and whole genome coalescent modeling
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2045-7758. ; 8:13, s. 6671-6681
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studying demographic history of species provides insight into how the past has shaped the current levels of overall biodiversity and genetic composition of species, but also how these species may react to future perturbations. Here we investigated the demographic history of the willow grouse (Lagopus lagopus), rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), and black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) through the Late Pleistocene using two complementary methods and whole genome data. Species distribution modeling (SDM) allowed us to estimate the total range size during the Last Interglacial (LIG) and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) as well as to indicate potential population subdivisions. Pairwise Sequentially Markovian Coalescent (PSMC) allowed us to assess fluctuations in effective population size across the same period. Additionally, we used SDM to forecast the effect of future climate change on the three species over the next 50years. We found that SDM predicts the largest range size for the cold-adapted willow grouse and rock ptarmigan during the LGM. PSMC captured intraspecific population dynamics within the last glacial period, such that the willow grouse and rock ptarmigan showed multiple bottlenecks signifying recolonization events following the termination of the LGM. We also see signals of population subdivision during the last glacial period in the black grouse, but more data are needed to strengthen this hypothesis. All three species are likely to experience range contractions under future warming, with the strongest effect on willow grouse and rock ptarmigan due to their limited potential for northward expansion. Overall, by combining these two modeling approaches, we have provided a multifaceted examination of the biogeography of these species and how they have responded to climate change in the past. These results help us understand how cold-adapted species may respond to future climate changes.
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