ORCID Profile
0000-0002-6248-3103
Current Organisations
University of Western Australia
,
University of Oxford
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Publisher: Arachology
Date: 03-2016
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 18-04-2019
DOI: 10.1101/611749
Abstract: Invasive insects represent major threats to ecosystems worldwide. Yet their effects on the functional dimension of bio ersity, measured as the ersity and distribution of traits, are overlooked. Such measures often determine the resilience of ecological communities and the ecosystem processes they modulate. The fire ant Solenopsis invicta is a highly problematic invasive species occurring on five continents. Its impacts on the taxonomic ersity of native ant communities have been studied but its impacts on their functional ersity are unknown. Comparing invaded and uninvaded plots in tropical grasslands of Hong Kong, we investigated how the presence of S. invicta affects the ersity and distribution of ant species and traits within and across communities, the functional identities of communities, and functionally unique species. We calculated the functional ersity of in idual species, including the trait variation from intraspecific polymorphisms, and scaled up these values to calculate functional ersity at the community level. Invasion had only limited effects on species richness and functional richness, which were 13% and 8.5% lower in invaded communities respectively. In contrast, invasion had pronounced effects on taxonomic and functional composition due to turnover in species and trait values. Furthermore, invaded communities were functionally more homogeneous, displaying 23% less turnover and 56% more redundancy than uninvaded communities, as well as greater clustering and lower ergence in trait values. Invaded communities had fewer functionally-unique in iduals and were characterized by ant species with narrower heads and bodies and shorter mandibles. Our results suggest that studies based only on taxonomic measures of ersity or indices describing trait variety risk underestimating the full ramifications of invasions. Investigating the ersity and distributions of traits at species, community and landscape levels can reveal the cryptic impacts of alien species which, despite causing little taxonomic change, may substantially modify the structure and functioning of ecological communities.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 18-09-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.09.17.302349
Abstract: Functional ersity assessments are crucial and increasingly used for understanding ecological processes and managing ecosystems. The functional ersity of a community is assessed by s ling traits at one or more scales (in iduals, populations, species) and calculating a summary index of the variation in trait values. However, it remains unclear how the scale at which traits are s led and the indices used to estimate functional ersity may alter the patterns observed and inferences about ecological processes. For 40 plant and 61 ant communities, we assess functional ersity using six methods – encompassing various mean-based and probabilistic methods – chosen to reflect common scenarios where different levels of detail are available in trait data. We test whether including trait variability at different scales (from in iduals to species) alter functional ersity values calculated using volume-based and dissimilarity-based indices, Functional Richness (FRic) and Rao, respectively. We further test whether such effects alter the functional ersity patterns observed across communities and their relationships with environmental drivers such as abiotic gradients and occurrences of invasive species. Intraspecific trait variability strongly determined FRic and Rao. Methods using only species’ mean trait values to calculate FRic (convex hulls) and Rao (Gower-based dissimilarity) distorted the patterns observed when intraspecific trait variability was considered. These distortions generated Type I and Type II errors for the effects of environmental factors structuring the plant and ant communities. The high sensitivity of FRic to in iduals with extreme trait values was revealed in comparisons of different probabilistic methods including among-in idual and among-population trait variability in functional ersity. By contrast, values and ecological patterns in Rao were consistent among methods including different scales of intraspecific trait variability. Decisions about where traits are s led and how trait variability is included in functional ersity can drastically change the patterns observed and conclusions about ecological processes. We recommend s ling the traits of multiple in iduals per species and capturing their intraspecific trait variability using probabilistic methods. We discuss how intraspecific trait variability can be reasonably estimated and included in functional ersity in the common circumstance where only limited trait data are available.
Publisher: PENERBIT UMS
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.20362/AM.015006
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 29-06-2022
Abstract: The assumption that differences in species' traits reflect their different niches has long influenced how ecologists infer processes from assemblage patterns. For instance, many assess the importance of environmental filtering versus classical limiting-similarity competition in driving biological invasions by examining whether invaders’ traits are similar or dissimilar to those of residents, respectively. However, mounting evidence suggests that hierarchical differences between species' trait values can distinguish their competitive abilities (e.g. for the same resource) instead of their niches. Whether such trait-mediated hierarchical competition explains invasions and structures assemblages is less explored. We integrate morphological, dietary, physiological and behavioural trait analyses to test whether environmental filtering, limiting-similarity competition or hierarchical competition explain invasions by fire ants on ant assemblages. We detect both competition mechanisms invasion success is not only explained by limiting similarity in body size and thermal tolerance (presumably allowing the invader to exploit different niches from residents), but also by the invader's superior position in trait hierarchies reflecting competition for common trophic resources. We find that the two mechanisms generate complex assemblage-level functional ersity patterns—overdispersion in some traits, clustering in others—suggesting their effects are likely missed by analyses restricted to a few traits and composite trait ersity measures.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-06-2017
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.3084
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 11-01-2016
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 03-03-2021
Abstract: Disturbances fundamentally alter ecosystem functions, yet predicting their impacts remains a key scientific challenge. While the study of disturbances is ubiquitous across many ecological disciplines, there is no agreed-upon, cross-disciplinary foundation for discussing or quantifying the complexity of disturbances, and no consistent terminology or methodologies exist. This inconsistency presents an increasingly urgent challenge due to accelerating global change and the threat of interacting disturbances that can destabilize ecosystem responses. By harvesting the expertise of an interdisciplinary cohort of contributors spanning 42 institutions across 15 countries, we identified an essential limitation in disturbance ecology: the word ‘disturbance’ is used interchangeably to refer to both the events that cause, and the consequences of, ecological change, despite fundamental distinctions between the two meanings. In response, we developed a generalizable framework of ecosystem disturbances, providing a well-defined lexicon for understanding disturbances across perspectives and scales. The framework results from ideas that resonate across multiple scientific disciplines and provides a baseline standard to compare disturbances across fields. This framework can be supplemented by discipline-specific variables to provide maximum benefit to both inter- and intra-disciplinary research. To support future syntheses and meta-analyses of disturbance research, we also encourage researchers to be explicit in how they define disturbance drivers and impacts, and we recommend minimum reporting standards that are applicable regardless of scale. Finally, we discuss the primary factors we considered when developing a baseline framework and propose four future directions to advance our interdisciplinary understanding of disturbances and their social-ecological impacts: integrating across ecological scales, understanding disturbance interactions, establishing baselines and trajectories, and developing process-based models and ecological forecasting initiatives. Our experience through this process motivates us to encourage the wider scientific community to continue to explore new approaches for leveraging Open Science principles in generating creative and multidisciplinary ideas.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-12-2022
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.14153
Abstract: Human impacts such as habitat loss, climate change and biological invasions are radically altering bio ersity, with greater effects projected into the future. Evidence suggests human impacts may differ substantially between terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, but the reasons for these differences are poorly understood. We propose an integrative approach to explain these differences by linking impacts to four fundamental processes that structure communities: dispersal, speciation, species‐level selection and ecological drift. Our goal is to provide process‐based insights into why human impacts, and responses to impacts, may differ across ecosystem types using a mechanistic, eco‐evolutionary comparative framework. To enable these insights, we review and synthesise (i) how the four processes influence ersity and dynamics in terrestrial versus freshwater communities, specifically whether the relative importance of each process differs among ecosystems, and (ii) the pathways by which human impacts can produce ergent responses across ecosystems, due to differences in the strength of processes among ecosystems we identify. Finally, we highlight research gaps and next steps, and discuss how this approach can provide new insights for conservation. By focusing on the processes that shape ersity in communities, we aim to mechanistically link human impacts to ongoing and future changes in ecosystems.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 07-02-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.02.05.935858
Abstract: Interspecific competition, a dominant process structuring ecological communities, acts on species’ phenotypic differences. Species with similar traits should compete intensely (trait-similarity), while those with traits that confer competitive ability should outcompete others (trait-hierarchy). Either or both of these mechanisms may drive competitive exclusion within a community, but their relative importance and interacting effects are rarely studied. We show empirically that spatial associations (pairwise co-occurrences) between an invasive ant Solenopsis invicta and 28 other ant species across a relatively homogenous landscape are explained largely by an interaction of trait-similarity and trait-hierarchy in one morphological trait. We find that increasing trait-hierarchy leads to more negative associations however these effects are counteracted when species are sufficiently dissimilar (by 37-95%) in their trait ranges. We also show that a model of species co-occurrences integrating trait-similarity and trait-hierarchy consolidates predictions of different theoretical assembly rules. This highlights the explanatory potential of the trait-based co-occurrence approach.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 26-01-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.01.25.428088
Abstract: Understanding how species’ phenotypic differences affect competition is key to explaining community assembly and predicting bio ersity responses. Many studies overlook the variable effects that species’ trait differences can have on the direction of competitive exclusion, which reverses depending on the specific mechanism at play. We performed a comprehensive trait-based study of an ant invasion integrating morphological, dietary, physiological and behavioral analyses. We found that trait differences between invasive and resident species were not only associated with niche differences which promoted the coexistence of dissimilar species, but also competitive ability differences which acted in the opposite fashion. Furthermore, competition along separate trait axes led to complex and contrasting patterns in the invaded assemblages, where species were at once similar (clustered) in some traits but also dissimilar (overdispersed) in others. Our results reveal that different aspects of phenotype may distinctly modulate the effect of competition in structuring ecological communities and functional ersity.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2023
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 20-11-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.11.19.469299
Abstract: The ecological and economic impacts of biological invasions are usually highly conspicuous, but these are the outcome of a global, multistage process that is obscured from view. For most taxa, we lack a large-scale picture of the movements of alien species, the biases and barriers that promote or inhibit their spread at each stage, and blind spots in our ability to detect species during their spread. For instance, countries rely heavily on customs interceptions to prevent new species introductions, but their efficacy for detecting invaders remains unclear. To address these gaps, we synthesize and provide data at unprecedented geographic resolution on the global ersity and distribution of alien ants, a pervasive group strongly impacting humans and ecosystems. From ,000 records spanning 602 regions, we identify 522 ant species exhibiting human-mediated spread, doubling recent estimates of their ersity. We show that movements of alien ant species across regions globally are non-random and, moreover, that these flows differ by the extents to which species invade—ranging from arrival to indoor establishment, naturalization, and harmful status. Importantly, we find that almost two-thirds of the 309 species that naturalize globally—most of which are ground- and litter-dwelling—are absent from customs interceptions, which record disproportionately high numbers of arboreal species. Our results illustrate the vast, yet uneven extent of ant invasions globally, and suggest that most alien species bypass biosecurity controls while spreading successfully worldwide. This raises doubts on the efficacy of current customs interceptions procedures and highlights a need for radically new approaches. Biological invasions impact humans and ecosystems tremendously. Invasions are difficult to address because little is known about large-scale patterns of spread, species’ capacities to invade ecosystems, and the efficacy of existing biosecurity measures. This paper tackles these issues for alien ants, one of the most damaging groups of invasive animals. An unprecedented dataset reveals that 522 ant species exhibit human-mediated spread, 270 more than previously known. Species are grouped under four levels of invasion capacity corresponding to different invasion barriers. Geographic sources and sinks for the groups differ globally. Two-thirds of species with naturalization capacity have never been recorded at customs interceptions, which fail to detect many litter-dwelling species. Novel detection and control strategies for inconspicuous alien organisms are needed.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-12-2018
DOI: 10.1111/BRV.12488
Publisher: Museum and Institute of Zoology at the Polish Academy of Sciences
Date: 03-2016
Publisher: Penerbit UMS
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.20362/AM.009007
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-12-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.05505
Abstract: Interspecific competition, a dominant process structuring ecological communities, is influenced by species' phenotypic differences. Limiting similarity theory holds that species with similar traits should compete intensely (‘trait‐similarity'). In contrast, competing theories including modern coexistence theory emphasize that species with traits conferring competitive advantages should outcompete others (‘trait‐hierarchy'). Either or both of these mechanisms may drive competitive exclusion, but their relative importance and interacting effects are rarely studied. Here, we explore empirically whether trait‐similarity and trait‐hierarchy can explain fine‐scale spatial associations observed between invasive and native ant species in a tropical assemblage. We find that pairwise co‐occurrences between the invasive red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta and 28 other species across relatively homogenous grasslands can be explained largely by an interaction of trait‐similarity and trait‐hierarchy in a single morphological trait, relative pronotum width. Specifically, higher trait‐hierarchy values are associated with negative co‐occurrences however, these effects are counteracted when species are increasingly dissimilar in their trait ranges. These findings are consistent with the notion that limiting similarity and competitive hierarchies are interactive rather than discrete mechanisms driving competitive exclusion.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-01-2020
DOI: 10.1111/OIK.06870
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 27-06-2016
DOI: 10.3897/JHR.50.8652
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-05-2023
Abstract: Early naturalists such as Humboldt observed that changes in topography and anthropogenic disturbances influenced vegetation structure and the composition of animal communities. This holistic view of community assembly continues to shape conservation and restoration strategies in an era of landscape degradation and bio ersity loss. Today, remote sensing affords ecologists the tools for obtaining rapid and precise measures of topography, disturbance history and vegetation structure. Nonetheless, the capacity of such measures to predict the structure of erse and functionally important insect communities has not been fully explored. We s led ground‐dwelling ant assemblages with pitfall traps along a successional gradient (15 grasslands, 21 shrublands and 44 forests) in subtropical Asia, and measured the taxonomic (TD) and functional ersity (FD). We used airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and aerial photography—to measure topography, anthropogenic‐fire history and vegetation structure at each site. Using structural equation models, we tested the hypothesis that vegetation structure mediated the effects of topography and anthropogenic‐fire history on ant assemblage TD and FD, with stronger effects on the latter. We found that low elevation and anthropogenic‐fire history promoted ant TD, and by mediating vegetation structure, these factors further controlled ant FD. Specifically, assemblages of ant species occupying more similar niches—as indicated by their lower FD—were found in secondary forests that had more structurally homogeneous vegetation. These sites also had low insolation and high water moisture content, and were not recently burned as revealed by LiDAR‐derived metrics and aerial images. Furthermore, remotely sensed vegetation structures were closely associated with in idual ant traits, such as body size and eye length, which reflect species' preferences for habitat structure. Synthesis . Our study uncovers the interactive effects of topography, disturbance history and vegetation structure in determining the TD and FD of ant assemblages in subtropical landscapes. Moreover, it demonstrates that remote sensed data can be leveraged to efficiently elucidate the complex effects of environmental change and disturbances on vegetation structure and consequently insect bio ersity, representing ecological proxies to refine ground investigation plans and support appropriate conservation and restoration measures for degraded landscapes.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 19-09-2022
Abstract: Knowledge on the distribution and abundance of organisms is fundamental to understanding their roles within ecosystems and their ecological importance for other taxa. Such knowledge is currently lacking for insects, which have long been regarded as the “little things that run the world”. Even for ubiquitous insects, such as ants, which are of tremendous ecological significance, there is currently neither a reliable estimate of their total number on Earth nor of their abundance in particular biomes or habitats. We compile data on ground-dwelling and arboreal ants to obtain an empirical estimate of global ant abundance. Our analysis is based on 489 studies, spanning all continents, major biomes, and habitats. We conservatively estimate total abundance of ground-dwelling ants at over 3 × 10 15 and estimate the number of all ants on Earth to be almost 20 × 10 15 in iduals. The latter corresponds to a biomass of ∼12 megatons of dry carbon. This exceeds the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals and is equivalent to ∼20% of human biomass. Abundances of ground-dwelling ants are strongly concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions but vary substantially across habitats. The density of leaf-litter ants is highest in forests, while the numbers of actively ground-foraging ants are highest in arid regions. This study highlights the central role ants play in terrestrial ecosystems but also major ecological and geographic gaps in our current knowledge. Our results provide a crucial baseline for exploring environmental drivers of ant-abundance patterns and for tracking the responses of insects to environmental change.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Mark K L Wong.