2020 ESA Annual Meeting (August 3 - 6)

OOS 54 - Data Challenges in Biodiversity Science

Monday, August 3, 2020: 1:00 PM-1:30 PM
Organizer:
Bernhard Schmid
Co-organizer:
Xiaojuan Liu
Moderator:
Bernhard Schmid
This session uses biodiversity science as a case study to illustrate different aspects of the ecological data revolution and how it can be harnessed. These aspects range from the complexity of relatively small data sets arising form designed experiments (first two talks), to the heterogeneity and size of data sets from large-scale observational (third, fourth and fifth talk) and macroecological studies (sixth talk). A common theme of this session is the interdisciplinary character of biodiversity data, which originate from diverse groups of organisms, are affected by diverse drivers and are relevant to diverse stakeholders. This session deliberately combines data challenges from different frontiers of biodiversity science to create opportunities for mutual learning between currently widely separated approaches. The first two presentations are concerned with new analyses of large biodiversity experiments, the first going into interactions between community-, population- and individual-level processes in subtropical forests and the second revealing the contribution to ecosystem functioning of rapid evolution in grassland communities. The next three presentations deal with large-scale data issues from observational and quasi-experimental studies. With improved sensors on drones, planes and satellites, spectral signals from vegetation can be used to assess plant traits and their variation between and within species. Using spatial statistics, functional diversity can be mapped continuously across different scales and these maps can be used to predict ecosystem functioning, integrating transfer functions derived e.g. from biodiversity experiments. Using plot-selection designs that make sure co-variates are orthogonal to explanatory diversity variables allows one to use quasi-experimental approaches in data analysis as illustrated in an example of positive diversity–functioning relationships at landscape level. The final contribution illustrates challenges in the analysis of biodiversity information at even larger scales in space and time. Combining various data about plant species distributions and traits across continents, biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships can be expanded to the macroecological scale, enabling the reconstruction of past and future climates and biomes. Overall, the six contributions of this session should inspire a discussion about new ways of producing and analyzing biodiversity data and exchanging experiences from experimental, large-scale observational, quasi-experimental and macroecological approaches. For example, where can experiments benefit from methods developed for observation and where can observation be treated as (quasi-)experiments (fifth talk)? Transgressing boundaries between frontiers in biodiversity science will also increase its potential to address applied questions and inform policy makers and the public at large about the intricate interdependence between nature and humans.
1:00 PM
Analysis of complex survival data from a large forest biodiversity experiment
Xiaojuan Liu, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Bernhard Schmid, University of Zurich; Nadia Castro-Izaguirre, University of Zurich; Yuanyuan Huang, University of Zurich; Shan Li, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Helge Bruelheide, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg; Franca Bongers, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Lei Chen, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Keping Ma, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
1:15 PM
The contribution of rapid evolution to ecosystem functioning in a grassland biodiversity experiment
Sofia Van Moorsel, University of Zurich, McGill University; Debra Zuppinger-Dingley, University of Zurich; Cameron Wagg, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Bernhard Schmid, University of Zurich
1:30 PM
Biodiversity monitoring from space – Towards large-scale mapping of functional diversity with imaging spectroscopy and lidar
Fabian Schneider, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; Philip Townsend, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Ryan P. Pavlick, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; Ting Zheng, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Michael E. Schaepman, University of Zurich; Steven Hancock, University of Maryland; Antonio Ferraz, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; Laura Duncanson, University of Maryland; Ralph Dubayah, University of Maryland; David S. Schimel, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
1:45 PM
Predicting ecosystem consequences of biodiversity using remotely detected diversity and functional traits
Laura J. Williams, University of Minnesota; Jeannine Cavender-Bares, University of Minnesota; Philip Townsend, University of Wisconsin-Madison; John J. Couture, Purdue University; Zhihui Wang, University of Wisconsin; Artur Stefanski, University of Minnesota; Christian Messier, Institut des Sciences de la Forêt Tempérée, Université du Québec en Outaouais; Peter B. Reich, University of Minnesota
2:00 PM
Using quasi-experimental designs to study biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships in real-world landscapes
Pascal Niklaus, University of Zurich; Jacqueline Oehri, University of Zurich; Florian Altermatt, University of Zurich; Merin Reij Chacko, University of Zurich; Sarah Mayor, University of Zurich; Michael E. Schaepman, University of Zurich; Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, University of Zurich; Bernhard Schmid, University of Zurich
2:15 PM
Detecting biodiversity effects from large-scale macroecological data of plant traits
Zhiheng Wang, Peking University; Yaoqi LI, Peking University; Bernhard Schmid, University of Zurich; Peter B. Reich, University of Minnesota, University of Western Sydney; Brian Enquist, University of Arizona, The Santa Fe Institute