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Fungi are one of the most diverse taxonomic groups on the planet, but much of their diversity and community organization remains unknown, especially at local scales. Indeed, a consensus on how fungal communities change across spatial or temporal gradients—beta diversity—remains nascent. Here, we use a data set of plant-associated fungal communities (leaf, root, and soil) across multiple land uses from a New Zealand–wide study to look at fungal community turnover at small spatial scales (<1 km). Using hierarchical Bayesian beta regressions and Hill-number–based diversity profiles, we show that fungal communities are often markedly dissimilar at even small distances, regardless of land use. Moreover, diversity profile plots indicate that leaf, root, and soil-associated communities show different patterns in the dominance or rarity of dissimilar species. Leaf-associated communities differed from site to site in their low-abundance species, whereas root-associated communities differed between sites in the dominant species; soil-associated communities were intermediate. Land-use differences were largely driven by the lower turnover between high-productivity grassland sites. Further, we discuss the implications and benefits of using diversity profile plots of turnover to draw inferences into the mechanisms of how communities are structured across spatial gradients.

Reference conditions are difficult to find in the Anthropocene but essential for effective biodiversity conservation. Aquatic ecosystems in the Andes‐Amazon transition zone of Colombia are now at high risk due to expanded human activities after peace agreements in 2016 ended armed conflict because lands formerly controlled by FARC and other armed groups are now prone to agricultural and urban expansion. Particularly, expanding human land use may reduce fish diversity across the altitudinal gradient, especially in the premontane streams (i.e., <500 m a.s.l.) because lands are more amenable to human use than at greater altitudes. We evaluated fish α‐diversity (measured as species richness, total abundance, and effective species number) and β‐diversity (spatial and temporal) in 12 sites over 8 years bracketing the end of armed conflict. All α‐diversity and β‐diversity analyses were evaluated relative to categorical altitude (< or >500 m) and continuous altitude. Strong differences in fish community structure among sites occurred as a function of altitude. Fish communities exhibit altitudinal biodiversity gradients that are consistent in space and time, and that need to be accounted for conservation and management considerations. Our results provide a reference to identify short‐ and long‐term changes due to impending human land use at a critical moment for the conservation of tropical fish diversity. Similar studies in other areas of the upper Amazon Basin are needed to evaluate effects of subsequent human activities on diversity patterns and our study area to compare to reference conditions reported here. Aquatic ecosystems in the Andes‐Amazon transition zone of Colombia are now at high risk due to expanded human activities after peace agreements in 2016 ended armed conflict. Fish communities exhibit altitudinal biodiversity gradients that are consistent in space and time, and that need to be accounted for conservation and management considerations. Our results provide a baseline to identify short‐term and long‐term changes due to impending human land use at a critical moment for the conservation of tropical fish diversity.

To understand patterns of alpha, beta and gamma diversities in fragmented landscapes we need to explore the three scale components in relation to potential drivers in a scale-dependent manner. Often, the drivers themselves can be partitioned to alpha, beta and gamma diversities. Thus, one can hypothesize that the scale-components of species diversity and drivers’ diversity match, i.e., that species alpha diversity is mainly explained by drivers’ alpha diversity, beta by beta and gamma by gamma. Here, we explore this ‘scale-matching’ hypothesis for spiders in two fragmented agricultural landscapes. In each landscape, we sampled spiders and their potential prey in 12 patches. Then, we sub-sampled pseudo-landscapes in which we calculated spider alpha, beta and gamma diversities using multiplicative diversity-partitioning. Next, we used variance partitioning analysis to explore the relative contribution of eleven explanatory variables from five thematic groups (sampling intensity, area, connectivity, habitat diversity and prey diversity), while further partitioning the habitat and prey diversities to their corresponding alpha, beta and gamma diversities. We found considerable evidence for scale-matching, with spiders’ alpha and beta diversities explained mostly by the corresponding alpha and beta diversities (respectively) of prey and/or habitat. We further found a strong effect of connectivity on spider beta diversity, but not on alpha and gamma diversities. For spiders gamma diversity, a cross-scale effect was observed. Our results suggest that multiple drivers from multiple scales interact in structuring patterns of spider alpha, beta and gamma diversities in agro-ecosystems, yet the strongest effects are of those drivers that match in scale.

Anthropized landscapes play a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, as they encompass about 90% of the remaining tropical forest. Effective conservation strategies require a deep understanding of how anthropic disturbances determine diversity patterns across these landscapes. Here, we evaluated how attributes and assembly mechanisms of dung beetle communities vary across the Selva El Ocote Biosphere Reserve (REBISO) landscape. Community attributes (species diversity, abundance, and biomass) were assessed at the landscape scale, using spatial windows and vegetation classes. Windows were categorized as intact, variegated, or fragmented based on their percent cover of tropical forest. The vegetation classes analyzed were tropical forest, second-growth forest, and pastures. We collected 15,457 individuals and 55 species. Variegated windows, tropical forests, and second-growth forests showed the highest diversity values, while the lowest values were found in intact windows and pastures. Landscape fragmentation was positively and strongly related to dung beetle diversity and negatively related to their abundance; biomass was positively associated with forest cover. Beta diversity was the primary driver of the high dung beetle diversity in the landscape analyzed. The landscape heterogeneity and its biodiversity-friendly matrix facilitate the complementarity of dung beetle assemblages in the Selva El Ocote Biosphere Reserve. Random processes govern beta diversity patterns in intact and variegated windows. Therefore, vegetation cover in the region is sufficient to maintain a continuous flow of dung beetles between forested landscape segments. However, intense anthropic disturbances acted as deterministic environmental filters in fragmented windows and pastures sites, leading to biotic homogenization processes. Our results suggest that increasing habitat variegation in highly fragmented sites is an effective strategy to prevent or buffer homogenization processes in the REBISO landscape.

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether the impact of effectiveness of diversity training on affective commitment is different for men versus women and whether affective commitment mediates the relationship between effectiveness of diversity training and employee outcomes of turnover intention and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from 134 employees working in an Australian manufacturing organization by using an employee survey. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data using AMOS. Findings The results of this study support the proposed hypotheses, demonstrating a significant, indirect effect of effective diversity training on job satisfaction and turnover intention via affective commitment. Moreover, gender moderates the relationship between effective diversity training and affective commitment. Practical implications The findings suggest that organizations can enhance affective commitment and job satisfaction and reduce turnover intention by providing effective diversity training to employees. Gender of employees should also be considered when evaluating the effectiveness of training. Originality/value This study provides pioneering evidence of the following relationships: diversity training effectiveness and turnover intention via affective commitment; diversity training effectiveness and job satisfaction via affective commitment; and diversity training effectiveness and affective commitment for men versus women.

Recently there have been major theoretical advances in the quantification and partitioning of diversity within and among communities, regions, and ecosystems. However, applying those advances to real data remains a challenge. Ecologists often end up describing their samples rather than estimating the diversity components of an underlying study system, and existing approaches do not easily provide statistical frameworks for testing ecological questions. Here we offer one avenue to do all of the above using a hierarchical Bayesian approach. We estimate posterior distributions of the underlying “true” relative abundances of each species within each unit sampled. These posterior estimates of relative abundance can then be used with existing formulae to estimate and partition diversity. The result is a posterior distribution of diversity metrics describing our knowledge (or beliefs) about the study system. This approach intuitively leads to statistical inferences addressing biologically motivated hypotheses via Bayesian model comparison. Using simulations, we demonstrate that our approach does as well or better at approximating the “true” diversity of a community relative to naïve or ad-hoc bias-corrected estimates. Moreover, model comparison correctly distinguishes between alternative hypotheses about the distribution of diversity within and among samples. Finally, we use an empirical ecological dataset to illustrate how the approach can be used to address questions about the makeup and diversities of assemblages at local and regional scales.

Land use and corresponding habitat loss are major drivers of local species extinctions. Orthoptera as important grassland herbivores showed different responses to land‐use intensity in different studies, and the susceptibility of this group remains unclear. We sampled annually for seven years 150 temperate grassland sites across three regions in Germany, for which land‐use gradients were quantified as mowing, grazing, and fertilization intensity. We analyzed the effects of land‐use intensity on orthopteran diversity and community abundance. To describe species‐specific responses to environmental gradients, we employed a new approach termed “niche model,” coupled with a randomization procedure, which is sensitive even for rare species for which trends may otherwise be difficult to detect. Based on abundance‐weighted means for each species, we quantified the species' occurrence along land‐use gradients and identified potential losers and winners of intensive land use. Overall, high land‐use intensity negatively affected orthopteran diversity across years and regions, corresponding to decreases with high fertilization, mowing, and grazing intensity. Intensive mowing and grazing negatively affected abundance. Diversity and abundance increased with the time after the last cut. The niche model detected 15 of 29 Orthoptera species as losers of land use, showing significantly higher abundance in grasslands with low‐intensity land use. Two species were winners of high land‐use intensity, whereas the remaining 12 were assigned as opportunists. Most species were losers of high fertilization intensity, followed by frequent mowing. Grazing intensity was least detrimental at the species level. Omnivorous, herbivorous, and graminivorous species did not differ in their response to land‐use intensity, whereas bryovorous/lichenivorous Tetrix species showed consistently negative responses to intensive land use. Our highly replicated, long‐term and large‐scale survey suggests that further land‐use intensification threatens many Orthoptera and causes a consistent diversity loss. Low intensity of fertilization, infrequent mowing, and variable grazing will help to maintain a high diversity of orthopterans. The generality of our niche model approach advances studies on species' susceptibility in various study systems.

Los escarabajos de la subfamilia Scarabaeinae son considerados importantes para estudios de diversidad biológica y conservación de ecosistemas. Realizan una variedad de funciones y son sensibles a las perturbaciones ambientales. Chiapas es una de las regiones con mayor número de registros de Scarabaeinae en México, pero aún existen extensas zonas con poco conocimiento sobre este grupo de insectos, incluyendo algunas áreas naturales protegidas, como es el caso de la Reserva de la Biosfera Selva El Ocote. Se analizaron los ensambles de escarabajos copronecrófagos, producto de cinco muestreos sistemáticos realizados durante 2011 y 2012, en tres hábitats representativos de la reserva. Las recolecciones se realizaron mediante trampas de caída utilizando calamar, estiércol de cerdo y estiércol vacuno como atrayentes. Se recolectaron 5421 escarabajos de seis tribus, 12 géneros y 37 especies. La cobertura del muestreo fue cercana al 100 % y las evaluaciones indican que la Selva tuvo la riqueza más cercana a la estimada mientras que el cultivo de café es el hábitat con mayor posibilidad de adicionar especies al inventario. Los valores de diversidad beta sugieren que las faunas de los tres hábitats forman parte de una sola comunidad de escarabajos, pero la composición de los gremios tróficos es diferente en todos ellos. La fauna obtenida constituye el 31,1 % de las especies registradas en Chiapas. Este trabajo representa el primer estudio mediante muestreos sistemáticos en la Reserva de la Biosfera Selva El Ocote.

Cloud blockage in Japan area is analyzed with the long-term ground-based observation data to find candidate sites for the site diversity scheme. First, the period in which both ground-based observation data and satellite-based observation data are available is confirmed. Next, from the viewpoint of the average cloud amount, and in consideration of the installation conditions of the optical ground station, some appropriate candidate sites are selected. Finally, the cloud amount correlation values among the selected sites are obtained, and the final candidate site combinations are listed.

This chapter contains sections titled: Summary and recommendations for research and practice Introduction Who should represent the community? How can community involvement be supported? What messages and strategies to use? Responding to community needs Conclusion References