Biology subjects

Matias, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Matias, L..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Monitoring biodiversity in the global change era: The importance of herbaria and genetic diversity

Climate change is having far-reaching consequences on all living beings, altering ecosystems, habitats, and biodiversity worldwide. Species distributions are shifting or decreasing, with alpine plant species being particularly threatened. Natural population monitoring allows the assessment of the impact of human-induced global changes. However, traditional monitoring strategies based on individual counts may produce delayed signals of biodiversity loss. These approaches overlook the fact that genetic diversity is the fundamental basis for evolutionary processes, as it enables populations to adapt to environmental changes, including those caused by climate change. Here, we draw attention to the use of genetic diversity in monitoring schemes to anticipate negative trends in biodiversity and propose two fundamental methodologies: genomics and the use of herbarium specimens. Firstly, in contrast to genetic markers conventionally used to quantify genetic diversity, such as microsatellite markers, genomic approaches provide a vast amount of data that does not require previous knowledge of the studied organism, making them suitable for the study of non-model species. Secondly, herbaria worldwide serve as excellent sources of plant material for comparative studies across time with their precise chronologically recorded collection data. The accuracy of genetic diversity estimates increases with sample size, therefore a large number of vouchers is ideally required. However, the availability of specimens from the same species and populations in public herbaria is limited. Different strategies to quantify genetic diversity are proposed depending on the number of specimens available and their geographic distribution. Finally, we illustrate the potential of this approach in the most restrictive scenario, where only a few individuals are available, and there is no conspecific reference genome. Even in this restrictive scenario, there are signs of genetic depauperation in an alpine species with a narrow distribution, but not in a widely distributed congeneric.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Fin whale singalong: evidence of song conformity

Mechanisms driving song learning and conformity are still poorly known yet fundamental to understand the behavioural ecology of animals. Broadening the taxonomic range of these studies and interpreting song variation under the scope of cultural evolution will increase our knowledge on vocal learning strategies. Here, we analysed changes in fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) songs recorded over two decades across the Central and Northeast Atlantic Ocean. We found a rapid (over 4 years) replacement of fin whale song types (different inter-note intervals - INIs) that co-existed with hybrid songs during the transition period and showed a clear geographic pattern. We also revealed gradual changes in INIs and note frequencies over more than a decade with all males adopting both rapid and gradual changes. These results provide evidence of vocal learning of rhythm in fin whale songs and conformity in both song rhythm and note frequencies.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2019

A mechanistic path to maximize biomass productivity while maintaining diversity.

With ongoing biodiversity loss, it is important to understand how the mechanisms that promote coexistence relate to those that increase functioning in diverse communities. Both coexistence and biodiversity functioning research have unified their mechanisms into two classes. However, despite seeming similarities, theory suggests that coexistence and biodiversity mechanisms do not necessarily map onto each other, yet direct empirical evidence for this prediction is lacking. We coupled field-parameterized models of competition between 10 plants with a biodiversity-functioning experiment measuring biomass production, litter decomposition, and soil nutrient content under contrasting environmental conditions. We related biodiversity mechanisms (complementarity and selection effects), to coexistence mechanisms (niche and fitness differences). As predicted by theory, complementarity effects were positively correlated with niche differences and differences in selection effects were correlated with fitness differences. However, we also found that niche differences contributed to selection effects and fitness differences to complementarity effects. Despite this complexity more stably coexisting communities (i.e. those in which niche differences offset fitness differences) produced more biomass, particularly under drought. This relationship was weaker for litter decomposition rates and soil nutrient acquisition, showing that the mechanisms promoting plant coexistence may differ from those promoting high levels of functions that are less directly related to plant performance. We provide the first empirical evidence that the mechanisms promoting stable coexistence correlate with those driving high biomass production. These findings establish a link between stable coexistence and functioning, which could allow better predictions of how diversity loss induced by global change translates to changes in ecosystem function.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

Functional traits and phenotypic plasticity modulate species coexistence across contrasting environments

Functional traits are expected to modulate plant competitive dynamics. However, how traits and their plasticity in response to contrasting environments connect with the mechanisms determining species coexistence remains poorly understood. Here, we coupled field experiments under two contrasted climatic conditions to a plant population model describing competitive dynamics between 10 annual plant species in order to evaluate the associations of niche and fitness differences with 19 functional traits covering physiological, morphological and reproductive characteristics. We found a rich diversity of univariate and multidimensional relationships, in which outstand the primary role of traits related to water- and light-use-efficiency in modulating the determinants of competitive outcomes. Importantly, such traits and their plasticity promoted species coexistence across climatic conditions by enhancing stabilizing niche differences and by generating competitive trade-offs between species. Our study represents a significant advance showing how leading dimensions of plant form and function connect to the mechanisms determining the maintenance of biodiversity.

ecology↗