Following John Weins‘ seminar “Understanding the Origin and Future of Biodiversity Patterns” this week, we are well poised to pursue our first theme: biodiversity. His talk centered on the interplay of phylogeny, ecology, and species richness. In particular, he focused on clade diversity addressing if variation across the clades of life is determined by clade-age hypothesis or the diversification-rate hypothesis. We, however, will take a step back in our papers to look a much earlier perspective of biodiversity in Hutchinson and a contemporary look at changes in biodiversity through a field study by Uchida & Ushimaru.
Biodiversity didn’t surface as a term until the 1980s, with Thomas Lovejoy named as the “Father of Biodiversity”. At this time, the term was often synonymous with species diversity. Of course, ecologists now take a view of several axes of biodiversity: taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional. Also, the early thought of biodiversity limited to primarily animals and plants, with parasites dynamics often unexplored in this context.
Hutchinson’s perspective of biodiversity stems from the hypothesis that resource heterogeneity drive biodiversity patterns. In his “Homage to Santa Rosalia”, he focuses largely on food webs and the mosaic structure of the world. He begins to link life-history traits to diversity patterns, showcasing animal size and habitat range as drivers of diversification (i.e. the more microhabitats an animal population is exposed to the more opportunities for divergence). This agrees with some of the contemporary work Wein’s presented on the importance of microhabitats for clade diversity. That an emergent process (in this case environmental exposures) produce different (more or less diverse) systems. Further, Hutchinson’s talk propels some early though on the yet-unnamed process of autocatalysis in evolution: diversity promotes diversity. This likely leads acts as a natural precursor and inspiration for E.O. Wilson’s theory of biophilia. Ultimately, Hutchinson talk is both grounded in theory as well as promoting the continued exploration of life’s mysteries.
An experimental approach to biodiversity, Uchida and Ushimaru test how agriculture practices in Japan impact plant and insect diversity. Their study supports the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, with the traditionally-managed plots showcasing certain rare species that are lost in both intensively-managed and abandoned plots. Uchida’s study is unique in looking at multiple trophic levels, as well as various relevant agricultural practices in the area. It would be interesting if there are historical records of plant and insect to couple these agriculture practices with pristine areas. With the growing anthropogenic change across the globe, it will become impossible to decouple natural patterns of diversity with the dynamic impacts of change due to agriculture, invasive species, and climate change (to name a few).