Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Summary Range migrations in response to climate change, invasive species and the emergence of novel ecosystems highlight the importance of temporal turnover in community composition as a fundamental part of global change in the Anthropocene. Temporal turnover is usually quantified using a variety of metrics initially developed to capture spatial change. However, temporal turnover is the consequence of unidirectional community dynamics resulting from processes such as population growth, colonisation and local extinction. Here, we develop a framework based on community dynamics and propose a new temporal turnover measure. A simulation study and an analysis of an estuarine fish community both clearly demonstrate that our proposed turnover measure offers additional insights relative to spatial context‐based metrics. Our approach reveals whether community turnover is due to shifts in community composition or in community abundance and identifies the species and/or environmental factors that are responsible for any change.
Source: Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Institution: University of St Andrews
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
Funders: Royal Society, Scottish Funding Council
Award: G7191047789
OpenAlex ID: W1675280824