The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities
The relative influence of niche vs. neutral processes in ecosystem dynamics is an on-going debate, but the extent to which they structured the earliest animal communities is unknown. Some of the oldest known metazoan-dominated paleocommunities occur in Ediacaran age (~ 565 million years old) strata...
Published in: | Ecology Letters |
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2019
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1983/5809fc9d-dee3-4bde-a800-dc3e49d0d95f https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/5809fc9d-dee3-4bde-a800-dc3e49d0d95f https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13383 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/218583340/Mitchell_et_al_2019_Ecology_Letters.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073798310&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
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ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/5809fc9d-dee3-4bde-a800-dc3e49d0d95f 2024-02-11T10:05:57+01:00 The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities Mitchell, Emily G. Harris, Simon Kenchington, Charlotte G. Vixseboxse, Philip Roberts, Lucy Clark, Catherine Dennis, Alexandra Liu, Alexander G. Wilby, Philip R. 2019-11-07 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1983/5809fc9d-dee3-4bde-a800-dc3e49d0d95f https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/5809fc9d-dee3-4bde-a800-dc3e49d0d95f https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13383 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/218583340/Mitchell_et_al_2019_Ecology_Letters.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073798310&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Mitchell , E G , Harris , S , Kenchington , C G , Vixseboxse , P , Roberts , L , Clark , C , Dennis , A , Liu , A G & Wilby , P R 2019 , ' The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities ' , Ecology Letters , vol. 22 , no. 12 , pp. 2028-2038 . https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13383 Ecology Ediacaran neutral theory paleoecology paleontology spatial point process analysis article 2019 ftubristolcris https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13383 2024-01-18T23:31:37Z The relative influence of niche vs. neutral processes in ecosystem dynamics is an on-going debate, but the extent to which they structured the earliest animal communities is unknown. Some of the oldest known metazoan-dominated paleocommunities occur in Ediacaran age (~ 565 million years old) strata in Newfoundland, Canada and Charnwood Forest, UK. These comprise large and diverse populations of sessile organisms that are amenable to spatial point process analyses, enabling inference of the most likely underlying niche or neutral processes governing community structure. We mapped seven Ediacaran paleocommunities using LiDAR, photogrammetry and a laser line probe. We found that neutral processes dominate these paleocommunities, with niche processes exerting limited influence, in contrast with the niche-dominated dynamics of modern marine ecosystems. The dominance of neutral processes suggests that early metazoan diversification may not have been driven by systematic adaptations to the local environment, but instead may have resulted from stochastic demographic differences. Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland University of Bristol: Bristol Research Canada Ecology Letters 22 12 2028 2038 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bristol: Bristol Research |
op_collection_id |
ftubristolcris |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology Ediacaran neutral theory paleoecology paleontology spatial point process analysis |
spellingShingle |
Ecology Ediacaran neutral theory paleoecology paleontology spatial point process analysis Mitchell, Emily G. Harris, Simon Kenchington, Charlotte G. Vixseboxse, Philip Roberts, Lucy Clark, Catherine Dennis, Alexandra Liu, Alexander G. Wilby, Philip R. The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities |
topic_facet |
Ecology Ediacaran neutral theory paleoecology paleontology spatial point process analysis |
description |
The relative influence of niche vs. neutral processes in ecosystem dynamics is an on-going debate, but the extent to which they structured the earliest animal communities is unknown. Some of the oldest known metazoan-dominated paleocommunities occur in Ediacaran age (~ 565 million years old) strata in Newfoundland, Canada and Charnwood Forest, UK. These comprise large and diverse populations of sessile organisms that are amenable to spatial point process analyses, enabling inference of the most likely underlying niche or neutral processes governing community structure. We mapped seven Ediacaran paleocommunities using LiDAR, photogrammetry and a laser line probe. We found that neutral processes dominate these paleocommunities, with niche processes exerting limited influence, in contrast with the niche-dominated dynamics of modern marine ecosystems. The dominance of neutral processes suggests that early metazoan diversification may not have been driven by systematic adaptations to the local environment, but instead may have resulted from stochastic demographic differences. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mitchell, Emily G. Harris, Simon Kenchington, Charlotte G. Vixseboxse, Philip Roberts, Lucy Clark, Catherine Dennis, Alexandra Liu, Alexander G. Wilby, Philip R. |
author_facet |
Mitchell, Emily G. Harris, Simon Kenchington, Charlotte G. Vixseboxse, Philip Roberts, Lucy Clark, Catherine Dennis, Alexandra Liu, Alexander G. Wilby, Philip R. |
author_sort |
Mitchell, Emily G. |
title |
The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities |
title_short |
The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities |
title_full |
The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities |
title_fullStr |
The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities |
title_sort |
importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring ediacaran early animal communities |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1983/5809fc9d-dee3-4bde-a800-dc3e49d0d95f https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/5809fc9d-dee3-4bde-a800-dc3e49d0d95f https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13383 https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/218583340/Mitchell_et_al_2019_Ecology_Letters.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073798310&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_source |
Mitchell , E G , Harris , S , Kenchington , C G , Vixseboxse , P , Roberts , L , Clark , C , Dennis , A , Liu , A G & Wilby , P R 2019 , ' The importance of neutral over niche processes in structuring Ediacaran early animal communities ' , Ecology Letters , vol. 22 , no. 12 , pp. 2028-2038 . https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13383 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13383 |
container_title |
Ecology Letters |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
2028 |
op_container_end_page |
2038 |
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1790603305871736832 |