News 2016

[img_assist|nid=424|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=146]The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but focuses on the assessment of status and trends of biodiversity. As an Estonian delegate, Aveliina participated in plenary meeting of IPBES, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 20th to 29th of February. During the plenary, first thematic assessments were approved by 124 participating governments, one focusing on pollination, pollinators and food production, and other on scenarios and modelling that provides tool for policy makers to evaluate the impacts of their decisions related to biodiversity and ecosystems services protection. Additionally, launch of a new global assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services was announced. Global assessment will be completed in 2019.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 2016 Effects of landscape dissimilarity and environmental factors on Myosotis laxa s. lato genetic and phenotypic variability

[img_assist|nid=423|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=150|height=108]Ene, Silvia, Ülle, Marge, Tsipe & Aveliina recently published an article in Annales Botanici Fennici, where they explored how genetic and phenotypic variability of M. laxa s. lat. is affected by landscape structure, environmental conditions and geographic distance between populations. They aimed to reveal if coastal form of M. laxa (M. laxa ssp. baltica) is ecotypic origin arising in the suitable environmental conditions independently or it originates from Åland and SW Archipelago of Finland. They found significant correlation between genetic variability and landscape structure in the 1 km radius around the populations. There was no correlation between genetic variability and geographic distance between populations. So they can conclude that coastal form of M. laxa is ecotypic origin. Unexpectedly, genetic and phenotypic variability in the M. laxa s. lat. was not affected by environmental conditions in the populations. Likely, phenotypic differentiation of the coastal form from the mainland form of M. laxa is caused by epigenetic regulation of life cycle.

Kook E., Pihu S., Reier Ü., Thetloff M., Aavik T., Helm A. (2016) Do landscape dissimilarity and environmental factors affect genetic and phenotypic variability in Myosotis laxa s. lato (Boraginaceae)? Ann. Bot. Fennici 53: 56–66

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 2016 The true meaning of functional diversity indices

[img_assist|nid=422|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=150|height=135]The field of ecology is awash with terminology whose meaning is often nebulous. This creates much confusion amongst ecologists when trying to decipher which interpretation is being used at any time. Robert and Meelis recently teamed up with colleagues from the Czech Republic and Spain to address this topic in an article in a recent special issue of Oecologia. This article sheds light on the true meaning and nature of measures of functional diversity and offers an R function for ecologists to calculate these indices.

de Bello, F., Carmona, C. P., Lepš, J., Szava-Kovats, R., & Pärtel, M. (2016) Functional diversity through the mean trait dissimilarity: resolving shortcomings with existing paradigms and algorithms. Oecologia 1-8.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[img_assist|nid=421|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=150|height=163]January 2016 Articles about the applications of genetic tools in nature conservation

The members of Macroecology workgroup published two outreach articles in Eesti Loodus about the potential applications of genetic tools in nature conservation. Eesti Loodus is an Estonian magazine that features news of nature and nature-related science and research. Tsipe Aavik and Aveliina Helm introduced the importance of genetic diversity for maintaining biodiversity. Tatjana Oja, Ülle Reier, Silvia Pihu and Ene Kook provided an overview about the role of genetic research in the protection of Estonian rare plant species. Both papers are illustrated with various examples about conservation genetic research carried out in Macroecology group and elsewhere.

Aavik, T., Helm, A. (2015) Geneetilised uuringud aitavad loodust kaitsta. Eesti Loodus 12:16-20.
Oja, T., Reier, Ü., Pihu, S., Kook, E. (2016) Geneetilised uuringud haruldaste taimeliikide kaitsel. Eesti Loodus 1:24-28.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 2016 Workshop on dark diversity of mycorrhizal fungi

[img_assist|nid=419|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=260|height=72]On January 24-27, the teams of Plant Ecology and Macroecology organised a workshop on "Dark diversity of co-occurring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and host plants". The workshop had 14 participants, including eight international participants from seven countries and six local participants from the Department of Botany. The workshop included discussions and empirical data analyses on how the applying of concepts of dark diversity and species pool would improve understanding the biodiversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi and its relationships with diversity of host plants. The workshop was funded by New Phytologist Trust. See more at New Phytologist Trust homepage and Twitter.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 2016 New paper in Nature disassembles complex relationships of biodiversity

[img_assist|nid=418|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=300|height=208]There has been a long-lasting debate on how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning might be related. It has been suggested that the highest biodiversity occurs at average productivity values. At the same time, there has been doubt that a general relationship exists. On January 13, Nature published a study which revealed the complex relationships concerning biodiversity. The research was done by an international group led by James Grace, an ecologist from USA. Meelis Pärtel from our workgroup was also part of the team.
The authors used a global grassland dataset and more complex analytical tools. Into a single structural model they included biodiversity values at small scales and in the landscape, as well as data on biomass, productivity, soil and light conditions, and regional environmental conditions, describing the effect of species pool. The integrative model revealed several relationships which were not evident in pairwise examination of same parameters.
One of the most important results is that biodiversity at the landscape level determines ecosystem functioning - more species-rich ecosystems have higher annual productivity. Therefore, it is not enough to have just a handful of different species, as some theory suggests. By contrast, each species contributes to ecosystem welfare. In addition, the study shows that local biodiversity is jointly determined by regional processes (species pool) and competition for light. These two processes work together in all ecosystems. Overall, this study shows that theoretical views and statistical tools have reached a level that allows both understanding and prediction of biodiversity – the challenge we urgently need to cope with global changes. See a commentary about the paper in Nature and news items over here and here.

Grace, J.B., Anderson, T.M., Seabloom, E.W., Borer, E.T., Adler, P.B., Harpole, W.S., Hautier, Y., Hillebrand, H., Lind, E.M., Pärtel, M., Bakker, J.D., Buckley, Y.M., Crawley, M.J., Damschen, E.I., Davies, K.F., Fay, P.A., Firn, J., Gruner, D.S., Hector, A., Knops, J.M.H., MacDougall, A.S., Melbourne, B.A., Morgan, J.W., Orrock, J.L., Prober, S.M. & Smith, M.D. (2016) Integrative modelling reveals mechanisms linking productivity and plant species richness. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature16524

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 2016 New paper disentangles the relationship between plant diversity and invasion

[img_assist|nid=488|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=277]We have a new paper just published in Ecology Letters in which we show that species pools are critical for understanding the relationship between plant diversity and species invasion. This was a large field experiment, led by former postdoc Jonathan Bennett that required a large effort from many current and former members of the Macroecology group.
The authors transplanted hundreds of plants and added thousands of seed into 29 grassland sites in South-East Estonia, while extensively measuring both species pools and local diversity at each site. The study showed that species pools and local diversity (measured as community completeness) affect different life stages of invading plants and that these effects are frequently opposite. Consequently, measuring only species richness poorly explains invasion relative to species pools and completeness. This represents a major step forward in understanding the relationship between diversity and invasion.

Bennett, J. A., Riibak, K., Kook, E., Reier, Ü., Tamme, R., Guillermo Bueno, C., Pärtel, M. (2016) Species pools, community completeness and invasion: disentangling diversity effects on the establishment of native and alien species. Ecology Letters 19, 1496–1505.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 2016 Workgroup autumn/winter seminar

[img_assist|nid=485|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=260|height=195]Macroecology workgroup autumn/winter seminar took place on 8-9th of November at Peetrimõisa guesthouse in Viljandi. Seminar focused on the different aspects of functional diversity this time. In addition to the people of the workgroup our colleague Kalle Olli and previous member Lauri Laanisto participated in the seminar and shared their freshest results and ideas. Let´s hope the seminar was useful and helped to build a good foundation for future collaboration! See also the photo gallery!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 2016 New article about the conservation value of hybrid ecosystems

[img_assist|nid=484|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=195]Liis, Liina and Aveliina together with our former PhD student Krista Takkis and colleague from the Czech Republic, Francesco de Bello, published recently paper in Biodiversity and Conservation. They investigated the changes in plant species richness, and functional and phylogenetic diversity in northern Estonian calcareous (alvar) grasslands resampled after 90 years of land-use change. Although grasslands in the studied region had lost most of their original area (~90 %), species richness had substantially increased due to invasion by more competitive, nutrient-demanding native species. Overall, these grasslands have lost their integrity as calcareous grassland habitat type in the region, because the relative amount of habitat-specific characteristic species has declined significantly. At the same time they suggest that such altered communities that are out of their historical range (i.e. hybrid and novel ecosystems) can still be recognized as important habitats to preserve high local biodiversity and be considered as a target of nature protection.

Kasari, L., Saar, L., de Bello, F., Takkis, K., Helm, A. (2016) Hybrid ecosystems can contribute to local biodiversity conservation. Biodiv Conserv, doi:10.1007/s10531-016-1218-3.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 2016 Aveliina spoke about nature conservation in national television

[img_assist|nid=487|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=260|height=147]Estonian Public Broadcasting nature program Osoon (Ozone) visited our senior researcher Aveliina Helm in her home to talk about nature conservation and importance of sheep and native flowers in preserving biodiversity of landscapes. Aveliina has recently introduced the idea of "Everybody's nature conservation", a concept emphasizing that we all should take action to halt the biodiversity loss. See the clip (in Estonian).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 2016 Three new postdoctoral researchers joined our workgroup

[img_assist|nid=448|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=150|height=173]Carlos Pérez Carmona is a Spanish postdoctor, whose current research focuses on merging approaches considering habitat-specific species pools and dark diversity with those based on the functional diversity of communities. He is particularly interested in incorporating within-species trait variability into trait-based approaches, and for that he combines the development of analytical tools with experimental approaches.

[img_assist|nid=447|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=150|height=173]Aurèle Toussaint is a postdoctor from France. He is interested in understanding species distribution patterns and comparison of functional diversity distribution of different taxa at large spatial scales. Aurèle aims to develop statistical models, combining development of biodiversity indices in R software and its application on traits and spatial databases.

[img_assist|nid=457|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=150|height=153]Norbertas Noreika comes from Lithuania. His research at macroecology workgroup aims to disentangle the biodiversity-productivity relationship in forests considering various taxonomic groups (plants, soil organisms, carabids). Norbertas is participating also in alvar grassland restoration project where they look at how various aspects of biodiversity are changed due to degradation and restoration of this highly valuable and unique ecosystem.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 2016 Ene Kook and Argo Ronk received a PhD degree!

[img_assist|nid=453|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=197]On the 5th of September, Ene Kook successfully defended her thesis “Genetic diversity and evolution of Pulmonaria angustifolia L. and Myosotis laxa sensu lato (Boraginaceae)“ and was awarded with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Botany and Mycology. Ene was supervised by Silvia and Ülle, and the official opponent during the defence was Professor Jan Kirschner, Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.



[img_assist|nid=476|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=260|height=347]









On the 15th of September, soon after Ene´s defence, Argo Ronk also defended his Ph.D thesis “Plant diversity patterns across Europe: observed and dark diversity”. Argo was supervised by Meelis and the official opponent during the defence was Professor Jens-Christian Svenning from University of Aarhus in Denmark.
Argo will continue his scientific work in the Professor Brenda Casper´s lab at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Congratulations, Dr. Kook and Dr. Ronk!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 2016 Fieldwork on Saaremaa and Muhu

[img_assist|nid=478|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=173]At the end of the summer, Marge and Iris (who’s a master student) carried out fieldwork on Muhu and Saaremaa alvar grasslands, collecting Mountain Clover (Trifolium montanum) seeds. During the fieldwork they were also monitoring environmental conditions, such as soil moisture, light conditions, population size and soil depth etc, and recorded sites’ status to get more information about the effect of landscape structure on genetic diversity and fitness within plant populations.









--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 2016 Aveliina and Tsipe attended 10th European Conference on Ecological Restoration

[img_assist|nid=460|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=260|height=173]The 10th European Conference on Ecological Restoration took place on 22-26 August in Freising, Germany. The conference gave an overview about the latest developments in the theory and practice of different restoration techniques of various types of ecosystems. Aveliina gave a talk on the recent progress in biodiversity monitoring of the alvar grassland sites of „LIFE to Alvars“ project. She also presented her ideas in the session dedicated to the potential of soil seed banks and seed dispersal in restoration. Tsipe gave a talk about the potential genetic and fitness consequences of using commercially produced wildflower seed mixes in restoration. They also attended an interesting excursion, which took them to one of the seed companies producing seeds for restoration projects.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 2016 Field work in Pärnu and Viljandi county, and Southern Estonia for the „Smart protection of the biodiversity“ project

[img_assist|nid=480|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=195]The aim of the project is to reveal the optimal diversity measures and management strategies for Estonian forests. For finding it out Kersti, Ülle, Ene, Liis, Madli, Norbertas, Aveliina and Meelis carried out extensive field work describing the plant diversity in old-growth forests. In spring they selected 100 forest sites, with the least anthropogenic disturbance, and marked the study plots. Then, during summer, they collected data about the species composition and coverage of each species in all layers of forest vegetation (mosses on the ground, herbs/dwarf shrubs, shrubs, trees). In addition they estimated the forest regeneration, and stand volume and structure. For investigating soil nutrient content and species composition of mycorrhizal fungi they collected soil samples and measured the extent of soil horizons (O, A). Investigations of lichenised fungi and mosses on the trees and on the dead wood are still in progress, directed by Tiina Randlane from department of mycology.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 2016 New article about dark diversity at large scale

[img_assist|nid=479|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=260|height=295]Argo Ronk and Meelis Pärtel together with colleagues from the Czech Republic, Francesco de Bello and Pavel Fibich, published a new paper about dark diversity in Ecology and Evolution. In this work the authors used two mathematical methods in order to estimate the size and composition of dark diversity at the European scale. They found that both methods showed similar results, but both methods also carried a unique part, therefore authors applied a semi-quantitative approach to dark diversity estimates – consensus and composite dark diversity, i.e. whether support was from both or only one method. Consensus dark diversity has greater confidence; it could be preferred for nature conservation to decide whether a particular species should be included in the dark diversity of a site. By contrast, composite dark diversity could be used for analyses of large-scale diversity patterns as it contains all information from both methods. A new perspective in dark diversity studies entails a combination of different methods.

Ronk, A., de Bello, F., Fibich, P., Pärtel, M. (2016) Large-scale dark diversity estimates: new perspectives with combined methods. Ecol Evol, doi:10.1002/ece3.2371.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 2016 New paper about the effects of soil heterogeneity on species coexistence

[img_assist|nid=434|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=184]Our former PhD student Riin Tamme together with Meelis Pärtel and past lab members Antonio Gazol, Jodi Price and Inga Hiiesalu published a new paper in Journal of Vegetation Science. This is the third paper from our heterogeneity experiment and focuses on individual species’ responses to small-scale soil patchiness. Growing 15 grassland species in heterogeneous and homogeneous soils they found that only a few dominant species benefit from heterogeneity and produce more biomass in heterogeneous conditions. This alters competitive interactions and excludes smaller plants from communities. Their findings help to explain the negative heterogeneity-diversity relationship found in several small-scale studies.

Tamme, R., Gazol, A., Price, J. N., Hiiesalu, I. and Pärtel, M. (2016) Co-occurring grassland species vary in their responses to fine-scale soil heterogeneity. Journal of Vegetation Science, doi: 10.1111/jvs.12431.

See also previous papers from this experiment exploring the effects of heterogeneity on species diversity and plant traits.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 2016 Madli attended the Island Biology 2016 conference

[img_assist|nid=433|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=260|height=260]Ph. D student Madli attended the Island Biology 2016 conference on 18.-22. July on Terceira Island in Azores archipelago. During the five days many inspiring talks about island ecology, evolution and conservation were held. Among the others, well-known ecologists Robert J Whittaker, Daniel Simberloff, Rosemary Gillespie and Lawrence R. Heaney gave a talk.

Madli presented a poster about her work on computer simulations that copy the development of island species diversity and got a lot of interesting feedback.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 2016 New paper about the macroecology of biodiversity

[img_assist|nid=477|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=153]Meelis together with Jon Bennett (our former postdoctor) and Martin Zobel (head of the Plant Ecology Laboratory) published a short, timely focussed review (Tansley insight) about the importance of macroecological perspective at regional as well as at local scale. They claim that a full understanding of local biodiversity drivers, including human impact, demands that regional processes be taken into account. Macroecology of biodiversity is currently advancing quickly owing to an unprecedented accumulation of biodiversity data, new sampling techniques and analytical methods, all of which better equip us to face current and future challenges in ecology and biodiversity conservation.



Pärtel, M., Bennett, J.A. & Zobel, M. (2016) Macroecology of biodiversity: disentangling local and regional effects. New Phytologist 211: 404–410.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 2016 Meelis gave an interview to The IAVS Bulletin

[img_assist|nid=432|title=|desc=|link=url|url=http://iavs.org/getattachment/96e1c1c1-ac38-43ec-9bce-614d7aae33f9/IAVS-Bulletin-June2016-FINAL-060116.aspx|align=right|width=260|height=145]

From the June issue of The IAVS Bulletin you’ll find an interview with Meelis who is not only the leader of the macroecology workgroup but also a chief editor of two prominent IAVS journals (Journal of Vegetation Science and Applied Vegetation Science). The IAVS Bulletin asked him how he became a chief editor, what are the best things about being a journal editor and, last but not least, how to relax from work. He also shares his ideas on good reviews, inspiring scientific literature and on his own scientific work.
The newsletter of the International Association for Vegetation Science contains items of potential interest to the membership and serves as the official record of IAVS meetings and activities. It is published in digital format with four issues per year.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 2016 Blog post “What is Dark Diversity?“ has reached in top 10 in just over one week!

[img_assist|nid=430|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=260|height=224]

Dr. Rob Lewis and Meelis Pärtel launched recently a blog post about the concept, estimation methods, and application of dark diversity in the official blog of Methods of Ecology and Evolution. The compendious post is easy to read, comprising many illustrative figures; links to previously published dark diversity papers are included as well. We are happy that the followers of the blog have appreciated the writing - it was listed in the top 10 blog posts of 2016 in just over one week!












--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 2016 Macroecology workgroup spring seminar in Laelatu

[img_assist|nid=429|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=260|height=195]Macroecology workgroup spring seminar took place on 14-15th of April at Laelatu field station in West-Estonia. In addition to the people of our workgroup, the previous members Dr. Rob Lewis and Jon Bennett, and colleagues from Martin Zobel´s workgroup also participated in the seminar. Let´s hope that those two days filled with talks and discussions were useful and helped to build a good foundation for future collaboration! See also the photo gallery!












--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 2016 New paper about utilizing dark diversity concept in nature conservation

[img_assist|nid=428|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=150|height=195]Dr. Rob Lewis, the previous member of our workgroup, published recently an essay in Conservation Biology, discussing how the dark diversity concept can be used in nature conservation. The article developed from a workshop discussion between Estonian and Czech-based ecologists and examines in depth the potential benefits resulting from utilizing the dark diversity concept (together with existing ecological metrics, concepts and conservation tools) to facilitate habitat prioritization, habitat restoration and the management and mitigation of ecological invasions. Read more about the new paper and about Rob´s earlier studies in our blog.

Lewis, R. J., Bello, F., Bennett, J. A., Fibich, P., Finerty, G. E., Götzenberger, L., Hiiesalu, I., Kasari, L., Lepš, J., Májeková, M., Mudrák, O., Riibak, K., Ronk, A., Rychtecká, T., Vitová, A., and Pärtel, M. (2016) Applying the dark diversity concept to nature conservation. Conservation Biology, doi:10.1111/cobi.12723.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 2016 Exciting workshops on the Open Doors Day

[img_assist|nid=427|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=260|height=173]On the 23rd of March, Department of Botany introduced the secret life of plants and fungi on the Open Doors Day. School students had an opportunity to participate in several workshops encompassing mycology, plant physiology, genetics, and ecology. Our Ph.D student Marge Thetloff demonstrated how to extract banana´s DNA. Kersti Riibak (together with Taavi Paal from Kristjan Zobel´s workgroup) guided how to estimate seed dispersal distances by using plant traits and modelling tools. See also the photo gallery.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 2016 Goodbye, Jon!

[img_assist|nid=431|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=150|height=200]Jon Bennett spent two and half years in our workgroup as a post-doctoral researcher. Now he has returned to Canada and is working at the University of British Columbia. During his post-doc in Estonia, Jon launched a major experimental project in collaboration with other people from our workgroup to test how community completeness may affect invasion success by using abandoned agricultural fields in Southern Estonia as a model system. In addition, Jon managed to set up a pot-experiment to investigate the reciprocal relationship between competition and trait variation. Jon published six papers and several more are in preparation.

We wish you all the best, Jon, and hope to see you soon!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 2016 Aveliina participated in IPBES plenary meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia