Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Elements of metacommunity structure of Paraguayan bats: multiple gradients require analysis of multiple ordination axes

  • Community Ecology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Techniques to evaluate elements of metacommunity structure (EMS; coherence, species turnover and range boundary clumping) have been available for several years. Such approaches are capable of determining which idealized pattern of species distribution best describes distributions in a metacommunity. Nonetheless, this approach rarely is employed and such aspects of metacommunity structure remain poorly understood. We expanded an extant method to better investigate metacommunity structure for systems that respond to multiple environmental gradients. We used data obtained from 26 sites throughout Paraguay as a model system to demonstrate application of this methodology. Using presence–absence data for bats, we evaluated coherence, species turnover and boundary clumping to distinguish among six idealized patterns of species distribution. Analyses were conducted for all bats as well as for each of three feeding ensembles (aerial insectivores, frugivores and molossid insectivores). For each group of bats, analyses were conducted separately for primary and secondary axes of ordination as defined by reciprocal averaging. The Paraguayan bat metacommunity evinced Clementsian distributions for primary and secondary ordination axes. Patterns of species distribution for aerial insectivores were dependent on ordination axis, showing Gleasonian distributions when ordinated according to the primary axis and Clementsian distributions when ordinated according to the secondary axis. Distribution patterns for frugivores and molossid insectivores were best described as random. Analysis of metacommunities using multiple ordination axes can provide a more complete picture of environmental variables that mold patterns of species distribution. Moreover, analysis of EMS along defined gradients (e.g., latitude, elevation and depth) or based on alternative ordination techniques may complement insights based on reciprocal averaging because the fundamental questions addressed in analyses are contingent on the ordination technique that is employed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson S (1997) Mammals of Bolivia, taxonomy and distribution. Bull Am Mus Nat Hist 231:1–652

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloch CP, Higgins CL, Willig MR (2007) Effects of large-scale disturbance on community structure: temporal trends in nestedness. Oikos 116:395–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns KC (2007) Network properties of an epiphyte metacommunity. J Ecol 95:1142–1151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalcraft DR, Williams JW, Smith MD, Willig MR (2004) Scale dependence in the species-richness-productivity relationship: the role of species turnover. Ecology 85:2701–2708

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clements FE (1916) Plant succession: an analysis of the development of vegetation. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Comisión Nacional de Desarrollo Regional Integrado del Chaco (1986) Memoria del Mapa Hidrogeológico de la Republica del Paraguay. Gobierno de la Republica del Paraguay, Asunción

  • Dolan PG (1989) Systematics of middle American mastiff bats of the genus Molossus. Special publications. The Museum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock

  • Fariña Sánchez T (1973) The climate of Paraguay. In: Gorham JR (ed) Paraguay: ecological essays. Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Americas, Miami, pp 33–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Fauth JE, Bernardo J, Camara M, Resetarits WJ, Van Buskirk J, McCollum SA (1996) Simplifying the jargon of community ecology: a conceptual approach. Am Nat 147:282–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gauch HG (1982) Multivariate analysis in community ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauch HG, Whittaker RH, Wentworth TR (1977) A comparative study of reciprocal averaging and other ordination techniques. J Ecol 65:157–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli NJ (2000) Null model analysis of species co-occurrence patterns. Ecology 81:2606–2621

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli NJ, Graves GR (1996) Null models in ecology. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Hausdorf B, Hennig C (2007) Null model tests of clustering of species, negative co-occurrence patterns and nestedness in meta-communities. Oikos 116:818–828

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes FE (1995) Status, distribution, and biogeography of the birds of Paraguay. Monogr Field Ornithol 1:1–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Heino J (2005) Metacommunity patterns of highly diverse stream midges: gradients, chequerboards, and nestedness, or is there only randomness? Ecol Entomol 30:590–599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoagland BW, Collins SL (1997) Gradient models, gradient analysis, and hierarchical structure in plant communities. Oikos 78:23–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofer U, Bersier LF, Borcard D (1999) Spatial organization of a herpetofauna on an elevational gradient revealed by null model tests. Ecology 80:976–988

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holyoak M, Holt RD, Leibold MA (eds) (2005) Metacommunities: spatial dynamics and ecological communities. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang C, Kim S, Altstatt A, Townshend JRG, Davis P, Song K, Tucker CJ, Rodas O, Yanosky A, Clay R, Musinsky J (2007) Rapid loss of Paraguay’s Atlantic forest and the status of protected areas—a landsat assessment. Remote Sens Environ 106:460–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hylander K, Nilsson C, Jonsson BG, Göthner T (2005) Differences in habitat quality explain nestedness in a land snail meta-community. Oikos 108:351–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonsson BG (2001) A null model for randomization tests of nestedness in species assemblages. Oecologia 127:309–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keel S, Gentry AH, Spinzi L (1993) Using vegetation analysis to facilitate the selection of conservation sites in eastern Paraguay. Conserv Biol 7:66–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kusch J, Goedert C, Meyer M (2005) Effects of patch type and food specializations on fine spatial scale community patterns of nocturnal forest associated Lepidoptera. J Res Lepidop 38:67–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Leibold MA, Mikkelson GM (2002) Coherence, species turnover, and boundary clumping: elements of meta-community structure. Oikos 97:237–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leibold MA, Miller TE (2004) From metapopulations to metacommunities. In: Hanski IA, Gaggiotti OE (eds) Ecology, genetics and evolution of metacommunities. Elsevier, Burlington, pp 133–150

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Leibold MA, Chase JM, Shurin JB, Downing AL (1997) Species turnover and the regulation of trophic structure. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 28:467–494

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leibold MA, Holyoak M, Mouquet M, Amarasekare P, Chase JM, Hoopes MF, Holt RD, Shurin JB, Law R, Tilman D, Loreau M, Gonzalez A (2004) The metacommunity concept: a framework for multi-scale community ecology. Ecol Lett 7:601–613

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López-González C (1998) Systematics and zoogeography of the bats of Paraguay. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Texas Tech University, Lubbock

  • López-González C (2004) Ecological zoogeography of the bats of Paraguay. J Biogeogr 31:33–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López-González C (2005) Murciélagos del Paraguay. Comité Español MAB y Red Ibero MAB, México DF

  • Mares MA, Willig MR, Streilein KE, Lacher TE (1981) The mammals of northeastern Brazil: a preliminary assessment. Ann Carnegie Mus 50:81–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Morisita M (1971) Composition of the I-index. Res Popul Ecol 13:1–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers P (1982) Origins and affinities of the mammal fauna of Paraguay. In: Mares MA, Genoways HH (eds) Mammalian biology in south America. Special publications series, Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, pp 85–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Norberg UM, Rayner JMV (1987) Ecological morphology and flight in bats (Mammalia; Chiroptera): wing adaptations, flight performance, foraging strategy and echolocation. Philos Trans Roy Soc B 316:335–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peet RK (1974) The measurement of species diversity. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 5:285–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pielou EC (1984) The interpretation of ecological data: a primer on classification and ordination. Wiley, Hoboken

    Google Scholar 

  • Redford KH, Eisenberg JF (1992) Mammals of the Neotropics: the southern Cone, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, vol 2. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

  • Ríos E, Zardini E (1989) Conservation of biological diversity in Paraguay. Conserv Biol 3:118–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simmons NB (2005) Order Chiroptera. In: Wilson DE, Reeder DM (eds) Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference, vol 1, 3rd edn. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp 312–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens RD (2004) Untangling latitudinal richness gradients at higher taxonomic levels: familial perspectives on the diversity of New World bat communities. J Biogeogr 31:665–674

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens RD, Cox SB, Strauss RE, Willig MR (2003) Patterns of functional diversity across an extensive environmental gradient: vertebrate consumers, hidden treatments and latitudinal trends. Ecol Lett 6:1099–1108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens RD, Willig MR, Gamarra de Fox I (2004) Comparative community ecology of bats in eastern Paraguay: taxonomic, ecological, and biogeographic perspectives. J Mammal 85:698–707

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens RD, López-González C, Presley SJ (2007) Geographical ecology of Paraguayan bats: spatial integration and metacommunity structure of interacting assemblages. J Anim Ecol 76:1086–1093

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2005) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. ISBN 3-900051-07-0, URL http://www.R-project.org

  • Veech JA, Summerville KS, Crist TO, Gering JC (2002) The additive partitioning of species diversity: recent revival of an old idea. Oikos 99:3–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werner EE, Skelly DK, Relyea RA, Yurewicz KL (2007) Amphibian species richness across environmental gradients. Oikos 116:1697–1712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willig MR, Presley SJ, Owen RD, López-González C (2000) Composition and structure of bat assemblages in Paraguay: a subtropical-temperate interface. J Mammal 81:386–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson DE (1973) Bat faunas: a trophic comparison. Syst Zool 22:14–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright DH, Reeves JH (1992) On the meaning and measurement of nestedness of species assemblages. Oecologia 92:416–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright DH, Patterson BD, Mikkelson GM, Cutler A, Atmar W (1998) A comparative analysis of nested subset patterns of species composition. Oecologia 113:1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman MS (2006) Predator communities associated with brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans) prey: patterns in body size. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 63:297–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

S. J. P. was supported by the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of Connecticut during preparation of this manuscript. An exclusivity grant from COFAA-IPN and project SIP (2008-0193) supported C. L. G. during the development of this manuscript. Data collection was supported by the National Science Foundation via grants DEB-9400926, DEB-9741543 and DEB-9741134 to R. Owen and M. Willig, and by a Grant-in-aid from the American Society of Mammalogists to C. L. G. We thank curators and collection managers at The Museum of Texas Tech University, Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Estación Biológica de Doñana, University of Connecticut, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History, Museum of Comparative Zoology and American Museum of Natural History for granting access to their collections. Matlab script files were written by R. Strauss and C. Higgins. All research complied with the current laws of Paraguay. The exposition of the manuscript was improved as a consequence of comments provided by M. Leibold and an anonymous reviewer.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 3107 Horsebarn Hill Road, Storrs, CT, 06269-4210, USA

    Steven J. Presley

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX, 76402, USA

    Christopher L. Higgins

  3. CIIDIR, Unidad Durango, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Sigma s/n Fracc. 20 de Noviembre II, 34220, Durango, Durango, Mexico

    Celia López-González

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Richard D. Stevens

Authors
  1. Steven J. Presley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christopher L. Higgins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Celia López-González
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Richard D. Stevens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven J. Presley.

Additional information

Communicated by Elisabeth Kalko.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Presley, S.J., Higgins, C.L., López-González, C. et al. Elements of metacommunity structure of Paraguayan bats: multiple gradients require analysis of multiple ordination axes. Oecologia 160, 781–793 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1341-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1341-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation