Biology subjects

Junker, R. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Junker, R. R..

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Introducing entropy-based metrics for quantifying edge- and macro-shape complexity in leaves and beyond

Leaf shape is a fundamental trait of plant ecological strategies, influencing biotic interactions and ecosystem functioning. However, established quantitative metrics fail to capture subtle variations and irregularities, require user-based reference points or are challenging to compare among taxa with broadly different leaf shapes. In addition, established metrics typically conflate (aggregate) leaf edge complexity and macro-shape complexity, despite their independent functional significance and genetic foundations. Here, we introduce an entropy-based framework to quantify two new complexity metrics: edge complexity and macro-shape complexity. Based on three case studies, we show that these metrics outperform aggregate metrics in predicting Quercus robur chemical traits, provide more intuitive interspecific classifications, and strongly align with human perception. In addition, edge and macro-shape complexity show high complementarity, while aggregate metrics are highly redundant and typically strongly related to leaf area. Emerging as the strongest predictor of leaf chemistry and key visual cue for complexity as perceived by humans, the effects of edge complexity highlight the under-appreciated functional significance of leaf margins. Our framework and the proposed entropy-based complexity metrics thus promise to help unlock the potential of growing digital image archives of leaves, including images from herbaria and fossils, and are technically readily applicable to shapes of algae, bacteria, pollen, and beyond. The accompanying package ShapeComplexity enables the broad application of entropy-based metrics, providing a powerful tool to explore how the shape of organisms and biological structures influences ecological strategies, biotic interactions, and ecosystem functioning while tracking spatial and temporal variation.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Intra-individual variation in leaf microbiota matches within-crown environmental heterogeneity and promotes tree performance

Plant-associated microbial communities exhibit pronounced specificity across biological and spatial scales. While the patterns and accompanied functions have been well documented across and within plant species, the functional importance of intra-individual variation remains underexplored. Particularly in trees that experience strong environmental gradients within single crowns, stratum-specific microbiota may significantly contribute to plant performance. We experimentally tested whether variation in microbiota within the crown of Quercus robur is related to host performance. In mesocosm experiments, we transferred microbial communities derived from sun and shade leaves to germ-reduced clonal individuals of the same species and applied UV radiation simulating conditions that matched or mismatched the origin of the microbial inoculum (environmental matching). Our results demonstrate that matching microbiota-environment combinations increased plant performance compared to mismatching combinations. We infer that pronounced intra-individual variation of leaf-associated microbial communities not only reflects environmental heterogeneity along canopy strata but is functionally relevant for the plant host.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Chemodiversity is an independent synecological dimension of plant form and function

Plant trait spaces have advanced ecology by reducing the vast diversity of plant form and function to a few axes of trait variation. Yet, such frameworks remain dominated by autoecological traits related to resource acquisition and growth, while largely overlooking the traits mediating interactions with other organisms. Chemodiversity, the richness, evenness and chemical disparity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by leaves and flowers to attract, deter, or otherwise affect biotic interaction partners, may represent such an overlooked synecological dimension of plant functional variation. By integrating the chemodiversity of floral (n = 859 species) and vegetative (n = 159 species) VOC profiles into the global spectrum of plant form and function, we show that chemodiversity is a) independent from the classical axis of variation in plant size and leaf economics but b) is linked to biotic interactions in organ-specific ways. Flower-visitor richness increases with floral scent chemodiversity, a pattern supported by an analysis of global interaction data and a meta-analysis of the specialization and generalization of flower-animal interactions. Vegetative VOC chemodiversity has context-dependent positive and negative effects on herbivore richness. VOC chemodiversity represents a distinct ecological strategy that defines interaction niches, thereby contributing to ecological differentiation and coexistence among otherwise functionally similar species.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Common, species-specific, and accession-specific responses of foliar phytohormones and morphological traits to drought and herbivory

BackgroundPlants are exposed to various environmental challenges. With ongoing climate change, droughts and insect outbreaks are expected to become more frequent. Thus, a better understanding is needed of how different plant species respond to such single and combined challenges. This study investigated common versus species-specific responses to environmental challenges in three perennial plant species of different growth forms and whether responses differ intraspecifically among accessions. Clones of different accessions of the herbaceous species Tanacetum vulgare, the woody vine Solanum dulcamara, and the tree Populus nigra were subjected to similar control, herbivory, drought, and combined (drought and herbivory) treatments for the same periods. After the exposure, concentrations of foliar phytohormones and various morphological traits were measured. ResultsAcross all species, several foliar phytohormones and one of ten morphological traits responded consistently to the environmental challenges. Jasmonoyl-isoleucine was induced by herbivory and the combined treatment, abscisic acid (ABA) by drought and the combined treatment, and indole acetic acid by the combined treatment in all species. Root mass remained unchanged in all species. However, structural equation models (SEMs) revealed a shared regulatory pathway across species in which ABA connected treatment and root mass, indicating a common hormonal response potentially linking challenges to growth responses. Despite these common patterns, species-specific responses were pronounced. In P. nigra, a unique induction of salicylic acid was found under the combined treatment, while aboveground mass and root-shoot ratio remained unaffected by any treatment, in contrast to the other two species. Species-specific SEMs further indicated distinct phytohormone-mediated pathways underlying morphological variation. Phenotypic plasticity reflected these species-specific patterns, with none of the phytohormones or morphological traits exhibiting uniform plasticity across species. Intraspecific variation further shaped responses, as phytohormone and morphological trait plasticity depended on accession, indicating substantial accession-specific plant responses. ConclusionsOur results indicate that some responses to comparable challenges may be conserved across species, while others are species-specific. The combined treatment elicited the most pronounced responses, and such complex responses may become more frequent under current global change. Our study highlights that comprehensive understanding of plant responses requires systematic comparisons at both interspecific and intraspecific scales.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Metabolism and chemical diversity evolve in response to pollinator availability

Phytochemistry is a core player in shaping plant-pollinator networks and pollination services. Yet, little is known about the dynamic evolution of phytochemical traits in response to limited pollinator access, especially concerning chemical diversity. We combined an evolutionary experiment manipulating pollinator access with predictive metabolomics to uncover evolutionary changes in phytochemical traits of Brassica rapa. Our results unveiled chemical changes in both leaf and flower chemistry. Moreover, plants under selection by limited pollinator access showed a decreased chemical richness and diversity and a modulated primary and specialised metabolism, which could be used to predict pollinator access with 88% accuracy. Chemical indices and metabolites responding to pollinator access were associated with variation in flowering time and performance of outcrossing flowers. Our findings provide key insights into the influence of pollinator access on plant chemistry and indicate a risk of pollinator decline and losses of chemical diversity for plant-pollinator network structure and ecosystem dynamics.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Rationales for microbial conservation: A quantitative global assessment

Despite the foundational role microorganisms play in sustaining life on Earth, they have been largely overlooked in global conservation agendas, driving the emergence of microbial conservation as a critical discipline. While major assessment reports successfully mobilize support for the conservation of macroscopic biodiversity by documenting its value, threats, and intervention effectiveness, comparable evidence for microbes is lacking. I provide this missing evidence by synthesizing 33,297 effect sizes across three second-order meta-analyses. These analyses (1) identified land-use and land-cover change as well as specific pollutants as the primary threats to microbial diversity, function, and community integrity, (2) demonstrated the essential ecosystem services microbes provide, and (3) revealed the insufficient microbial conservation gain achieved by existing interventions. Building on these insights, I revisit the concept of vulnerability to propose targeted microbial conservation strategies that maintain or restore microbial diversity and function. The evidence presented here underscores the urgency of integrating microbes into nature conservation, thereby protecting the very foundation of life and safeguarding ecosystem integrity and planetary health.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Future Range Shifts and Diversity Patterns of Antarctic Lecideoid Lichens Under Climate Change Scenarios

Being uniquely adapted to extreme environmental conditions, rock-dwelling lecideoid lichens are a diverse and major component of terrestrial vegetation in Antarctica. Climate change is reshaping Antarctic ecosystems, forcing cold-adapted species to migrate to maintain their climatic niche. The study surveyed the circum Antarctic lecideoid lichen diversity and modelled the impacts of two climate change scenarios on their distributional range shifts across Antarctica. Myco- and photobiont symbionts of lecideoid lichen species from a circum-Antarctic sampling were classified using classical barcoding methods. The climatic niches of nine common mycobiont species and four photobiont OTUs were modelled, and range shifts were projected across four Antarctic bioregions under two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: (a) SSP1-2.6: sustainable development (2.6 Wm-2, +3{degrees}C) and (b) SSP5-8.5: continued dependence on fossil fuels (8.5 Wm-2, +5.1{degrees}C). DNA barcoding revealed altogether 34 species of lecideoid lichens and 9 photobiont OTUs for the Antarctic continent. In addition to the already known lichen species in Antarctica, three newly detected species of the genus Lecidella could be identified. The calculated climate change scenarios across bioregions predict greater range expansion for mycobiont species and photobiont OTUs than climate-induced habitat loss. While niche contraction is expected in maritime Antarctica, species distributions are expected to expand in continental regions, primarily due to inland shifts. These inland areas may serve as emerging climatic refugia for certain mycobiont species. Overall, these results suggest that, under future warming, lecideoid lichens undergo an overall range expansion, particularly in previously uncolonized inland areas in continental Antarctica.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Response diversity increases functional stability but decreases diversity and compositional stability of grassland communities

The insurance hypothesis of biodiversity assumes that ecosystem stability rises with increasing biodiversity because functionally redundant species respond differently to environmental changes, allowing some species to compensate for the loss of others. We tested this hypothesis by combining extensive field data and a common garden experiment where sods originating from different regions were subjected to land-use treatments. Based on plant species-specific performance-environment relationships with abundance as performance proxy and land-use intensity as environmental variable, we calculated response dissimilarity of species-pairs. The resulting dissimilarity matrix was used to calculate response diversity (functional dispersion) of grass sods before and after land-use treatments. Our results showed that high land-use intensity decreased response diversity of plant communities both in the field as well as in the common garden. Response diversity in grass sods increased functional stability but decreased stability in terms of species diversity and composition as communities with high response diversity lost species without replacement in response to experimental land-use change, while those with low response diversity showed species turnover. We conclude that response diversity is an important component of biodiversity and discuss future research directions to refine and generalize the concept of response diversity and its role in ecosystem stability.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Coexistence despite competition: Bryophyte diversity is buffered against vascular plant dominance over succession.

Vascular plants and bryophytes are among the first colonizers of deglaciated landscapes, thus playing fundamental roles in ecological succession. Understanding biotic interactions between these groups is essential for comprehending the emergence of diverse and complex ecosystems. Set within a 170-year primary succession gradient in a glacier forefield in the Austrian Alps, this study investigates interactions between vascular plants and bryophytes during early ecosystem development. Data on vegetation structural complexity, obtained through high-resolution 3D-laser scanning, were combined with estimates of local substrate diversity, and the taxonomic and functional composition of vascular plants. This integrated approach allowed us to obtain a mechanistic understanding on the competitive interactions shaping bryophyte diversity over the course of primary succession. Competitive interactions between vascular plants and bryophytes were uniquely detected through a metric of vegetation structural complexity, while traditional community metrics of vascular plant cover, richness, composition, and functional diversity, failed to reveal these patterns. Path analysis shows that increasing vegetation structural complexity homogenizes local habitat conditions and constrains the realized ecological niche of bryophyte species, while substrate diversity acts as a buffer against vascular plant dominance. This mechanism was quantified using ecological dispersion, a novel concept introduced in this study that estimates the variability of growth optima within a community. Synthesis: This study highlights the additional value of quantifying the structural properties of plant communities through 3D-laser scanning in explaining ecosystem dynamics. By demonstrating its applicability in grassland ecosystems under field conditions, it underscores the potential of high-resolution remote sensing to advance vegetation structural research. The findings establish vegetation structural complexity as a key factor shaping plant-plant interactions in grasslands, influencing both ecosystem development and biodiversity patterns. These insights may provide valuable guidance for succession-based restoration strategies.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Biological and experimental factors that define the effectiveness of microbial inoculation on plant traits: a meta-analysis

Bacterial and fungal microbiomes associated with plants can significantly affect the hosts phenotype. Inoculating plants with one or multiple bacterial and fungal species can affect specific plant traits, which is exploited in attempts to increase plant performance and stress tolerance by microbiome engineering. Currently, we lack a comprehensive synthesis on the generality of these effects related to different biological (e.g., plant models, plant traits, and microbial taxa) and experimental factors. In a meta-analysis, we showed that the plant trait under consideration and the microbial taxa used to inoculate plants significantly influenced the strength of the effect size. In a methodological context, experiments under sterilized conditions and short-term periods resulted in larger positive effects on plant traits than those of unsterilized and long-term experiments. Based on our results, we propose a comprehensive checklist as a reference for future research to standardize the design, implementation, and reporting of microbial inoculation studies. We recommend that future studies should exploit the full range of the precision-realism continuum involving (short-term) lab experiments with sterilized plants and single inoculants but also and more often (long-term) field or greenhouse experiments with naturally occurring microbial communities associated with the plants and inoculated consortia including both bacteria and fungi.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Tolerance to land-use changes through natural modulations of the plant microbiome

Land-use changes pose a threat to many ecosystems and are a major driver of species loss. Adaptations to altered environments or migration to more suitable habitats are potential mechanisms to resist global change, which can, however, lag behind rapid anthropogenic alterations of the environment. Our data show that rapid natural modulations of the plant microbiome in response to land-use change directly affect plant phenotype and performance, and thus increase plant tolerance to environmental changes. In a common garden experiment, the effects of the microbiome on the plant phenotype were stronger than the direct effects of fertilizer application and mowing. This finding was confirmed in a subsequent controlled laboratory experiment using plants inoculated with land-use-specific microbiomes. Therefore, natural modulations of the plant microbiome may be the key to species persistence and ecosystem stability. A prerequisite for this microbiome-mediated tolerance is the availability of diverse local sources of microorganisms that can function as a resource for rapid modulations in response to change. Thus, conservation efforts must protect microbial diversity, which can help mitigate the effects of global change and facilitate environmental and human health.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Geographic distribution of terpenoid chemotypes in Tanacetum vulgare mediates tansy aphid occurrence and abundance

AimIntraspecific variations of specialized metabolites in plants, such as terpenoids, are used to determine chemotypes. Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L.) exhibits diverse terpenoid profiles, that affect insect communities. However, it is not fully known whether patterns of their chemical composition and associated insects vary on a large scale. Here, we investigated the geographic distribution of mono- and sesquiterpenoid chemotypes in tansy leaves and the effects of these chemotypes on colonization by insect communities across Germany. MethodsWe sampled tansy leaves from 26 sites along a north-south and west-east transect in Germany. Leaves from ten plants with and five plants without aphids was collected from each site. Hexane-extracted metabolites from leaf tissues were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Plant morphological traits, aphid occurrence and abundance, and occurrence of ants were recorded. The effect of plant chemotype, plant morphological parameters, and site parameters such as temperature and precipitation on insect occurrences were analysed. ResultsPlants clustered into four monoterpenoid and four sesquiterpenoid chemotype classes. Monoterpene classes differed in their latitudinal distribution, whereas sesquiterpenes were more evenly distributed across the transect. Aphid and ant occurrence were influenced by monoterpenoids and specific traits. Plants of monoterpenoid class 1 were colonized by Metopeurum fuscoviride and ants significantly more often than expected by chance compared to plants from monoterpenoid class 4. Aphid abundance was negatively affected by host plant height, and increasing average annual temperature positively influenced the occurrence of ants. ConclusionWe found significant geographic differences in the chemodiversity of tansy and show that monoterpenoids affect aphid and ant occurrence, while host plant height can influence aphid abundance. We show that geographic variation in plant chemistry and morphology influences insect communities assemblage on tansy plants.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Understanding the phytochemical diversity of plants: Quantification, variation and ecological function

Plants produce a great number of phytochemical compounds mediating a variety of different functions. Recently, phytochemical diversity (chemodiversity), a way which to quantify the complex phenotype formed by sets of phytochemicals, has been suggested to be important for function. However, no study has systematically examined the potential (in)direct functional importance of chemodiversity on a general level, partly due to a lack of an agreement on how to quantify this aspect of the plant phenotype. This paper has four aims: 1) We discuss how chemodiversity (deconstructed into components of richness, evenness and disparity) may quantify different aspects of the phenotype that are ecologically relevant. 2) We systematically review the literature on chemodiversity to examine methodological practices, explore ecological patterns of variability in diversity across different levels of biological organization, and investigate the functional role of this diversity in interactions between plants and other organisms. 3) We provide a framework facilitating decisions on which measure of chemodiversity is best used in different contexts. 4) We outline open questions and avenues for future research in this area. A more thorough understanding of phytochemical diversity will increase our knowledge on the functional role phytochemical compounds, and how they shape ecological interactions between plants and their environment.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Floral volatiles evoke partially similar responses in both florivores and pollinators and are correlated with non-volatile reward chemicals

BackgroundPlants use floral displays to attract mutualists, but simultaneously need to prevent attacks by antagonists. Chemical displays detectable from a distance include attractive or repellent floral volatile organic compounds (FVOCs). Post-landing, visitors perceive contact chemicals including nutrients, but also deterrent or toxic constituents in pollen and nectar, protecting flowers from overexploitation. The composition of FVOCs and pollen chemistry is well known to vary among and within species. However, we lack knowledge about differences and similarities in the detectability of and behavioural responses towards these compounds for insect flower visitor groups of key importance, i.e., mutualistic pollinators versus antagonistic florivores, as well as the correlation between FVOCs and pollen chemodiversity. ScopeWe reviewed how FVOCs and non-volatile floral chemical displays, i.e., nutrients and toxins of pollen, vary in composition and how they affect the detection and behaviour of insect flower visitors. Moreover, we used a meta-analytic approach to evaluate the detection of and responses towards FVOCs by pollinators vs. florivores within the same plant genera. Furthermore, we tested whether the chemodiversity of FVOCs as well as nutrients and toxins stored in pollen are correlated and hence informative about each other. Key ResultsAccording to the available data, florivores are more likely to detect FVOCs than pollinators. Common FVOCs such as linalool and methyl salicylate were often reported as attractive to pollinators and repellent towards florivores. A higher number of FVOCs was found to be attractive to both mutualists and antagonists compared to shared repellent compounds. Furthermore, a negative correlation between FVOC richness and the number of pollen toxin classes was revealed, besides a trend towards a positive correlation between pollen protein amount and the number of pollen toxins. ConclusionsPlants face critical trade-offs when producing floral chemicals, as these partly mediate the same information, particularly attraction but also repellence or toxicity, to both mutualists and antagonists. Moreover, chemodiversity of different floral parts is partly correlated and thus highly relevant for investigations of flower-insect interactions. Further research is needed on more different wild and cultivated plant species and mutualistic and antagonistic interaction partners to test for generalisation of these patterns.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Quantifying chemodiversity considering biochemical and structural properties of compounds with the R package chemodiv

O_LIPlants produce large numbers of phytochemical compounds affecting plant physiology and interactions with their biotic and abiotic environment. Recently, chemodiversity has attracted considerable attention as an ecologically and evolutionary meaningful way to characterize the phenotype of a mixture of phytochemical compounds. C_LIO_LICurrently used measures of phytochemical diversity, and related measures of phytochemical dissimilarity, generally do not take structural or biosynthetic properties of compounds into account. Such properties can be indicative of the compounds function and inform about their biosynthetic (in)dependence, and should therefore be included in calculations of these measures. C_LIO_LIWe introduce the R package chemodiv, which retrieves biochemical and structural properties of compounds from databases and provides functions for calculating and visualizing chemical diversity and dissimilarity for phytochemicals and other types of compounds. Our package enables calculations of diversity that takes the richness, relative abundance and - most importantly - structural and/or biosynthetic dissimilarity of compounds into account. We illustrate the use of the package with examples on simulated and real datasets. C_LIO_LIBy providing the R package chemodiv for quantifying multiple aspects of chemodiversity, we hope to facilitate investigations of how chemodiversity varies across levels of biological organization, and its importance for the ecology and evolution of plants and other organisms. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Digital whole-community phenotyping to assess morphological and physiological features of plant communities in the field

Traits link observable patterns in plants to ecosystem functions and processes and help to derive general rules and predictions about responses to environmental gradients, global change and perturbations. Ecological field studies often use manual low-throughput methods to assess plant phenotypes and integrate species-specific traits to community-wide indices. In contrast, greenhouse or lab-based studies, mostly in agriculture, employ high-throughput phenotyping for plant individuals to track their growth or fertilizer and water demand. We customized an automated plant phenotyping system (PlantEye F500, Phenospex, Heerlen, The Netherlands) for its mobile application in the field for digital whole-community phenotyping (DWCP). By scanning whole plant communities, we gather, within seconds and non-invasively, multispectral and physiological information while simultaneously capturing the 3-dimensional structure of the vegetation. We demonstrated the potential of DWCP by tracking plant community responses to experimental land-use treatments over two years. DWCP captured short- and long-term changes in morphological and physiological plant community properties in response to mowing and fertilizer treatments and thus reliably informed about changes in land-use. In contrast, manually measured community-weighted mean traits and species composition remained largely unaffected and were not informative about these treatments. Thus, DWCP proved to be an efficient method to measure morphological and physiological characteristics of plant communities, complements other methods in trait-based ecology, provides indicators of ecosystem states, and may help to forecast tipping points in plant communities often associated with irreversible changes in ecosystems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

qad: An R-package to detect asymmetric and directed dependence in bivariate samples

Correlations belong to the standard repertoire of ecologists for quantifying the strength of dependence between two random variables. Classical dependence measures are usually not capable of detecting non-monotonic or non-functional dependencies. Furthermore, they completely fail to detect asymmetry and direction in dependence, which exist in many situations and should not be ignored. In this paper, we present qad (short for quantification of asymmetric dependence), a non-parametric statistical method to quantify directed and asymmetric dependence of bivariate samples. qad is applicable in general situations, is sensitive to noise in data, exhibits a good small sample performance, detects asymmetry in dependence, shows high power in testing for independence, requires no assumptions regarding the underlying distribution of the data, and reliably quantifies the information gain/predictability of quantity Y given knowledge of quantity X, and vice versa (i.e. q(X,Y) = q(Y, X)). Here, we briefly recall the methodology underlying qad, introduce the functions of the R-package qad, which returns estimates for the measures q(X, Y) denoting the directed dependence of Y on X (or, equivalently, the influence of X on Y), q(Y, X) the directed dependence of X on Y, a(X, Y) [colone] q(X, Y) - q(Y, X) the asymmetry in dependence. Furthermore, qad can be used to predict Y given knowledge of X, and vice versa. Additionally, we compare empirical performance of qad with that of seven other well established measures and demonstrate the applicability of qad on ecological datasets. We illustrate that direction and asymmetry in dependence are universal properties of bivariate associations. qad thus provides additional information gain and the avoidance of model bias and will therefore advance and facilitate the understanding of ecological systems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Accuracy of mutual predictions of plant and microbe communities varies along a successional gradient in an alpine glacier forefield

O_LIDue to climate warming, recently deglaciated glacier forefields create virtually uninhabited substrates waiting for initial colonization of bacteria, fungi and plants and serve as an ideal ecosystem for studying transformations in community composition and diversity over time and the interactions between taxonomic groups. C_LIO_LIIn this study, we investigated the composition and diversity of bacteria, and fungi, plants and environmental factors (pH, temperature, plot age and soil nutrients) along a 1.5km glacier forefield. We used random forest analysis to detect how well the composition and diversity of taxonomic groups and environmental factors can be mutually predicted. C_LIO_LICommunity composition and diversity of taxonomic groups predicted each other more accurately than environmental factors predicted the taxonomic groups; within the taxonomic groups bacteria and fungi predicted each other best and the taxas composition was better predicted than diversity indices. Additionally, accuracy of prediction among taxonomic groups and environmental factors considerably varied along the successional gradient. C_LIO_LIAlthough our results are no direct indication of interactions between the taxa investigated and the environmental conditions, the accurate predictions among bacteria, fungi, and plants do provide insights into the concerted community assembly of different taxa in response to changing environments along a successional gradient. C_LI

ecology↗