Does trait‐based joint species distribution modelling reveal the signature of competition in stream macroinvertebrate communities?
Year of publication
2021
Authors
Elo, Merja; Jyrkänkallio‐Mikkola, Jenny; Ovaskainen, Otso; Soininen, Janne; Tolonen, Kimmo T.; Heino, Jani
Abstract
1. The occupancy and abundance of species are jointly driven by local factors, such as environmental characteristics and biotic interactions, and regional‐scale factors, such as dispersal and climate. Recently, it has been shown that biotic interactions shape species occupancies and abundances beyond local extents. However, for small ectothermic animals, particularly for those occurring in freshwater environments, the importance of biotic interactions remains understudied. Species‐to‐species associations from joint species distribution models (i.e. species associations while controlling for environmental characteristics) are increasingly used to draw hypotheses of which species possibly show biotic interactions. 2. We studied whether species‐to‐species associations from joint species distribution models show signs of competition using a hypothesis testing framework in stream macroinvertebrate communities at regional extent. 3. We sampled aquatic macroinvertebrates from 105 stream sites in western Finland encompassing a latitudinal gradient of ca. 500 kilometers. We hypothesized that if competition drives these associations (H1) functionally similar species are mostly negatively associated, whereas functionally dissimilar species show random associations. We further hypothesized that the relationship between functional dissimilarity and the strength of association is more pronounced (H2) for abundances rather than occupancies, (H3) at small grain (i.e. stream site) rather than at large grain (i.e. river basin), and (H4) among species having weak dispersal ability than among species with high dispersal ability. 4. Stream macroinvertebrates showed both negative and positive species‐to‐species associations while controlling for habitat characteristics. However, the negative associations were mostly at large grain (river basin) rather than at small grain (stream site), in occupancy rather than abundance, and not related to species functional dissimilarity or to their dispersal ability. Thus, all our hypotheses considering possible competition (H1‐H4) were rejected. 5. Competition does not appear to be a major driving force of stream macroinvertebrate communities at the spatial grain sizes considered. The observed positive associations in occupancy at small grain (stream site) may be attributed to species’ similar microhabitat preferences, whereas at large grain (river basin), they may stem from metacommunity dynamics. Our results highlight that species traits were necessary to interpret whether or not species‐to‐species associations from joint species distribution models resulted from biotic interactions.
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Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Original article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A1 Journal article (refereed), original researchPublication channel information
Journal
Parent publication name
Publisher
Volume
90
Issue
5
Pages
1276-1287
ISSN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
2
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
Yes
Open access of publication channel
Partially open publication channel
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Ecology, evolutionary biology
Publication country
United Kingdom
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
Yes
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.1111/1365-2656.13453
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes