Trends in Ecology & Evolution
ReviewWinner–Loser Species Replacements in Human-Modified Landscapes
Section snippets
Biodiversity Responses to Human Disturbances
Community assembly at multiple spatial scales has been a central topic in community ecology [1,2], but has become increasingly relevant because the provision of ecosystem services (see Glossary) may crucially depend on which and how species coexist at local to landscape scales. This is particularly true for ecosystems that are intensely exposed to human disturbances, including land-use change and overharvesting of natural resources. For instance, the functional composition of plant assemblages
Land-Use Intensification and WLRs
Tropical forests worldwide are experiencing land-use intensification through similar trajectories involving conversion of old-growth forest into human-modified landscapes. We define here human-modified landscapes as mosaics typically composed of (i) a few remaining patches of old-growth forest, (ii) myriad small edge-dominated forest fragments of varying sizes, (iii) second-growth stands of varying age, and (iv) exotic tree plantations and agroforest patches. All of these are typically embedded
Mechanisms of Population Decline or Proliferation
WLRs involve population declines particularly as a result of (i) ecological filtering of forest-dependent species because physiological constraints prevent the use of open, highly illuminated, and desiccated edge-affected habitats [30,51,52], and (ii) reduced availability of key resources associated with old-growth forests [53], such as large trees [54] and their flowers and fruits [55]. Population depletion via direct overexploitation of forest products represents a complementary and often
WLRs and Community (Re)Assembly
WLRs reorganize local assemblages in terms of species richness and abundance [31,63], taxonomic and ecological composition [25,55], and phylogenetic structure [64,65]. However, because disturbance-adapted species can be diverse, WLRs do not necessarily result in impoverished or homogenous communities, at least at the landscape scale. Human-modified landscapes can support, at least temporarily, diverse and distinct assemblages, with alpha and beta diversity scores similar to those of old-growth
Functional Transitions, Ecosystem Services and Disservices
WLRs represent a widespread phenomenon across temperate and tropical landscapes that are (i) becoming increasingly hyper-disturbed, (ii) recovering many of their baseline conditions, or/and (iii) experiencing climate change, particularly higher temperatures [71,72]. In sum, the findings examined here highlight the emergence of novel tropical forest that are functionally distinct, but are not necessarily more impoverished for some taxa. This diffuse biotic reorganization largely relies on a
Concluding Remarks
Globally it is unlikely that hyper-fragmented landscapes across consolidated agricultural regions will soon return to higher levels of forest cover, habitat connectivity, and habitat heterogeneity; in other words, the conditions that are necessary to retain species assemblages closer to historical arrangements (reviewed in [38]). Furthermore, many tropical landscapes can gradually accumulate forest cover because of societal demographic transitions such as rural–urban migration [76]. Finally, we
Acknowledgments
This review was funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES, Finance code 001), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, grants 403770/2012-2, 441386/2016-4), the Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE, grant APQ-0138-2.05/14), and a Newton Fund Institutional Partnership Award between the University of East Anglia and the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. B.K.C.F. thanks the CNPq for a
Declaration of Interests
No interests are declared.
Glossary
- Agroforestry
- land use management system in which forests coexist with crops or pastureland.
- Biotic homogenization
- the systematic replacement of high-diversity biotas by low-diversity and more similar biotas.
- CO2 fertilization
- the increased rate of photosynthesis in plants that results from increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
- Ecosystem services
- direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human well-being.
- Edge-affected habitats
- forest habitats containing high amounts of forest edges but
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