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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Convergent structure of multitrophic communities over three continents
Ecology Letters, Volume 16, No. 12, Year 2013
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Description
Astract: Ecological theory predicts that communities using the same resources should have similar structure, but evolutionary constraints on colonisation and niche shifts may hamper such convergence. Multitrophic communities of wasps exploiting fig fruits, which first evolved about 75MYA, do not show long-term 'inheritance' of taxonomic (lineage) composition or species diversity. However, communities on three continents have converged ecologically in the presence and relative abundance of five insect guilds that we define. Some taxa fill the same niches in each community (phylogenetic niche conservatism). However, we show that overall convergence in ecological community structure depends also on a combination of niche shifts by resident lineages and local colonisations of figs by other insect lineages. Our study explores new ground, and develops new heuristic tools, in combining ecology and phylogeny to address patterns in the complex multitrophic communities of insect on plants, which comprise a large part of terrestrial biodiversity. © 2013 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and CNRS.
Authors & Co-Authors
Segar, Simon Tristram
United Kingdom, Reading
University of Reading
Czech Republic, Ceske Budejovice
Jihočeská Univerzita V Českých Budějovicích
Pereira, Rodrigo A.S.
Brazil, Sao Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo
Compton, Steve G.A.
South Africa, Grahamstown
Rhodes University
United Kingdom, Leeds
University of Leeds
Cook, James M.
United Kingdom, Reading
University of Reading
Australia, Penrith
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
Statistics
Citations: 50
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/ele.12183
ISSN:
1461023X
e-ISSN:
14610248