The biodiversity in a given area is closely related to the number of ecological niches available, which helps shape the composition of communities across spatial scales. Globally, niche processes inform the broad-scale distribution of species, leading to well-known hotspots of biodiversity which are characterized by a high number of ecological niches. Regionally and locally, niche processes influence the resilience and resistance of communities to disturbance, and can determine the ability of individual species to appropriately respond to stress. Understanding how niche processes affect species’ ranges, co-occurrence patterns, and biodiversity is therefore critical for making informed conservation and restoration management decisions under anthropogenic change.
Despite a long and storied history in ecology, the relative importance of niche processes in shaping biodiversity across scales remains an open question. This paucity of knowledge is largely due to the fact that biodiversity is not solely an artifact of the niche, as it depends also on a myriad of eco-evolutionary processes, such as dispersal and migration barriers, speciation rates, historical disturbance regimes, human influence, and neutral processes. For example, the diversity of mobile taxa might be closely linked to the large-scale availability of habitats across the landscape, while the survival of dispersal-limited species might be more closely connected to local microhabitats or to non-niche processes such as disturbance regimes. Because all of these processes operate at different spatial scales, disentangling the relative importance of niche processes remains challenging, requiring one to look across scales and study systems.
With the present research topic, we invite research on the drivers, patterns, and consequences of niche processes across spatial scales, with a focus on the relationships between the niche and all aspects of ecosystem-level biodiversity (e.g., species, functional, and phylogenetic; alpha, beta, and gamma). We are especially interested in work that integrates core ecological theory with human-related causes and consequences of biodiversity loss or habitat decline. We are welcoming to multi-taxonomic approaches as well as those that focus on a specific group or guild, with the aim of identifying unifying patterns that hold across scales and study systems.
We encourage the submission of original research papers as well as reviews, short communications or letters encompassing, but not limited to, the following topics:
• Biodiversity patterns across different spatial scales
• Preserving ecological niches in global biodiversity hotspots
• The relative importance of biotic vs. abiotic niche processes across scale
• The relationship between niche processes and functional or phylogenetic diversity
• Contrasting effects of spatial scale on different organism groups
• Global drivers of ecological niche availability and biodiversity
• The role that niche processes play in species’ migrations and response to climate change
• The effect of human actions (land use, pollution) on niche quality and quantity
The biodiversity in a given area is closely related to the number of ecological niches available, which helps shape the composition of communities across spatial scales. Globally, niche processes inform the broad-scale distribution of species, leading to well-known hotspots of biodiversity which are characterized by a high number of ecological niches. Regionally and locally, niche processes influence the resilience and resistance of communities to disturbance, and can determine the ability of individual species to appropriately respond to stress. Understanding how niche processes affect species’ ranges, co-occurrence patterns, and biodiversity is therefore critical for making informed conservation and restoration management decisions under anthropogenic change.
Despite a long and storied history in ecology, the relative importance of niche processes in shaping biodiversity across scales remains an open question. This paucity of knowledge is largely due to the fact that biodiversity is not solely an artifact of the niche, as it depends also on a myriad of eco-evolutionary processes, such as dispersal and migration barriers, speciation rates, historical disturbance regimes, human influence, and neutral processes. For example, the diversity of mobile taxa might be closely linked to the large-scale availability of habitats across the landscape, while the survival of dispersal-limited species might be more closely connected to local microhabitats or to non-niche processes such as disturbance regimes. Because all of these processes operate at different spatial scales, disentangling the relative importance of niche processes remains challenging, requiring one to look across scales and study systems.
With the present research topic, we invite research on the drivers, patterns, and consequences of niche processes across spatial scales, with a focus on the relationships between the niche and all aspects of ecosystem-level biodiversity (e.g., species, functional, and phylogenetic; alpha, beta, and gamma). We are especially interested in work that integrates core ecological theory with human-related causes and consequences of biodiversity loss or habitat decline. We are welcoming to multi-taxonomic approaches as well as those that focus on a specific group or guild, with the aim of identifying unifying patterns that hold across scales and study systems.
We encourage the submission of original research papers as well as reviews, short communications or letters encompassing, but not limited to, the following topics:
• Biodiversity patterns across different spatial scales
• Preserving ecological niches in global biodiversity hotspots
• The relative importance of biotic vs. abiotic niche processes across scale
• The relationship between niche processes and functional or phylogenetic diversity
• Contrasting effects of spatial scale on different organism groups
• Global drivers of ecological niche availability and biodiversity
• The role that niche processes play in species’ migrations and response to climate change
• The effect of human actions (land use, pollution) on niche quality and quantity