The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Realistic losses of rare species disproportionately impact higher trophic levels
Abstract
Ecology Letters (2012) 15 : 461–467 Predicting the consequences of changes in biodiversity requires understanding both species’ susceptibility to extirpation and their functional roles in ecosystems. However, few studies have evaluated the effects of realistic, non‐random biodiversity losses, severely limiting the applicability of biodiversity research to conservation. Here, we removed sessile species from a rocky shore community in a way that deliberately mimicked natural patterns of species loss. We found that the rarest species in the system act from the bottom up to disproportionately impact the diversity and abundance of consumers. Realistic losses of rare species in a diverse assemblage of seaweeds and sessile invertebrates, collectively comprising <10% of sessile biomass, resulted in a 42–47% decline in consumer biomass. In contrast, removal of an equivalent biomass of dominant sessile species had no effect on consumers. Our results highlight the ‘cornerstone’ role that rare species can play in shaping the structure of the community they support.
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Cites
Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived?
Barnosky, A. D., Matzke, N., Tomiya, S., Wogan, G. O. U., Swartz, B., Quental, T. B., Marshall, C., McGuire, J. L., Lindsey, E. L., Maguire, K. C., et al. (2011) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09678 · Cited by 4,400 · cited 1×
“Given global threats to biodiversity (Butchart et al. 2010; Barnosky et al. 2011), understanding the consequences of biodiversity loss is of utmost importance.”
BackgroundEffects of biodiversity on the functioning of trophic groups and ecosystems
Cardinale, B. J., Srivastava, D. S., Emmett Duffy, J., Wright, J. P., Downing, A. L., Sankaran, M., & Jouseau, C. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05202 · Cited by 1,871
Food Webs: Linkage, Interaction Strength and Community Infrastructure
Paine, R. T. (1980) · The Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.2307/4220 · Cited by 1,824
A note on trophic complexity and community stability.
Paine, R. T. (1969) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/282586 · Cited by 1,796
Biodiversity-ecosystem function research: Is it relevant to conservation?
Srivastava, D. S., & Vellend, M. (2005) · Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics · doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.36.102003.152636 · Cited by 712
Realistic species losses disproportionately reduce grassland resistance to biological invaders
Zavaleta, E. S., & Hulvey, K. B. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1102643 · Cited by 366
Cited by
Phylogenetic diversity and nature conservation: where are we?
Winter, M., Devictor, V., & Schweiger, O. (2013) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2012.10.015 · Cited by 648
Rare species contribute disproportionately to the functional structure of species assemblages
Leitão, R. P., Zuanon, J., Villéger, S., Williams, S. E., Baraloto, C., Fortunel, C., Mendonça, F. P., & Mouillot, D. (2016) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.0084 · Cited by 499
Marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: what's known and what's next?
Gamfeldt, L., Lefcheck, J. S., Byrnes, J. E. K., Cardinale, B. J., Duffy, J. E., & Griffin, J. N. (2015) · Oikos · doi:10.1111/oik.01549 · Cited by 297
Camenzind, T., Hempel, S., Homeier, J., Horn, S., Velescu, A., Wilcke, W., & Rillig, M. C. (2014) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/gcb.12618 · Cited by 263
Metadata
- Authors
- Bracken, M. E. S., & Low, N. H. N.
- Venue
- Ecology Letters
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-03-02
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 461-467
- ISSN
- 1461-023X (ISSN-L)
- 1461-0248
- OpenAlex
- W2146534781
- Cited by
- 166
- References
- 6
- FWCI
- 10.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Bracken, M. E. S., & Low, N. H. N. (2012). Realistic losses of rare species disproportionately impact higher trophic levels. Ecology Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01758.x
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
