Differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi-scale theories in macroecology

<p>Ecologists are intrigued by the manner in which colonists from a regional pool of species establish and structure local ecological communities. This has initiated several approaches to identifying the relative roles of regional and local processes. Recently, large-scale data sets and novel...

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Main Authors: Falko Buschke, Luc Brendonck, Bram Vanschoenwinkel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Biogeography Society 2014-12-01
Series:Frontiers of Biogeography
Subjects:
Online Access:http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0bp2c1d0
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author Falko Buschke
Luc Brendonck
Bram Vanschoenwinkel
author_facet Falko Buschke
Luc Brendonck
Bram Vanschoenwinkel
author_sort Falko Buschke
collection DOAJ
description <p>Ecologists are intrigued by the manner in which colonists from a regional pool of species establish and structure local ecological communities. This has initiated several approaches to identifying the relative roles of regional and local processes. Recently, large-scale data sets and novel statistical tools have sparked renewed interest in objectively defined homogeneous species pools. At continental and global scales, these homogenous units are known as biogeographic species pools. Here we argue that the biogeographic species pool is not just a scaled-up version of the regional species pool featured in many foundational ecological theories. Instead, the processes linking local communities and regional species pools differ from those in the biogeographic species pool. To illustrate this, we distinguish between regional and biogeographic species pools by overlaying species distribution data and differentiat- ing between the intersection and union of these distributions. Although patterns in the regional and biogeographic species pools may appear self-similar across scales, the underlying mechanisms differ from those between local communities and the regional species pool. As a consequence, conventional approaches of quantifying the relative role of local and regional process are inappropriate for studying the biogeographic species pool, thus highlighting the need for new multi-scale theories in macroecology.</p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p>
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spelling doaj.art-e9a9b7e60a0044418a31c7842747a3f02022-12-22T03:10:56ZengInternational Biogeography SocietyFrontiers of Biogeography1948-65962014-12-0164ark:13030/qt0bp2c1d0Differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi-scale theories in macroecologyFalko Buschke0Luc Brendonck1Bram Vanschoenwinkel2KU LeuvenKU LeuvenVrije Universiteit Brussels<p>Ecologists are intrigued by the manner in which colonists from a regional pool of species establish and structure local ecological communities. This has initiated several approaches to identifying the relative roles of regional and local processes. Recently, large-scale data sets and novel statistical tools have sparked renewed interest in objectively defined homogeneous species pools. At continental and global scales, these homogenous units are known as biogeographic species pools. Here we argue that the biogeographic species pool is not just a scaled-up version of the regional species pool featured in many foundational ecological theories. Instead, the processes linking local communities and regional species pools differ from those in the biogeographic species pool. To illustrate this, we distinguish between regional and biogeographic species pools by overlaying species distribution data and differentiat- ing between the intersection and union of these distributions. Although patterns in the regional and biogeographic species pools may appear self-similar across scales, the underlying mechanisms differ from those between local communities and the regional species pool. As a consequence, conventional approaches of quantifying the relative role of local and regional process are inappropriate for studying the biogeographic species pool, thus highlighting the need for new multi-scale theories in macroecology.</p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p>http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0bp2c1d0Anuraemergent propertiesextent of occurrencehierarchical spatial scales
spellingShingle Falko Buschke
Luc Brendonck
Bram Vanschoenwinkel
Differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi-scale theories in macroecology
Frontiers of Biogeography
Anura
emergent properties
extent of occurrence
hierarchical spatial scales
title Differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi-scale theories in macroecology
title_full Differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi-scale theories in macroecology
title_fullStr Differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi-scale theories in macroecology
title_full_unstemmed Differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi-scale theories in macroecology
title_short Differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi-scale theories in macroecology
title_sort differences between regional and biogeographic species pools highlight the need for multi scale theories in macroecology
topic Anura
emergent properties
extent of occurrence
hierarchical spatial scales
url http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0bp2c1d0
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AT lucbrendonck differencesbetweenregionalandbiogeographicspeciespoolshighlighttheneedformultiscaletheoriesinmacroecology
AT bramvanschoenwinkel differencesbetweenregionalandbiogeographicspeciespoolshighlighttheneedformultiscaletheoriesinmacroecology