Explaining species diversity in a fractal world

Grant number: DP160102262 | Funding period: 2016 - 2020

Completed

Abstract

This project aims to improve our understanding of landscape-scale patterns of species diversity, particularly invertebrates. A central question in ecology asks how habitat patchiness interacts with dispersal abilities to determine species diversity. Field tests of hypotheses are lacking due to logistic difficulties in quantifying habitat patchiness and dispersal over landscape scales. A new model proposes that fractals (a clever way of measuring environmental complexity) can capture both habitat patchiness and species' responses. Advances in river ecology have solved the logistic problems and will allow tests to compare the three main hypotheses about species diversity. The project aims to i..

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Related publications (14)

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Using Fractals to Describe Ecologically Relevant Patterns in Distributions of Large Rocks in Streams

GK Dwyer, CR Cummings, SP Rice, Jill Lancaster, Barbara J Downes, L Slater, Rebecca E Lester

2021-07-01

Measuring the physical complexity of habitats or ecological resources is often achieved using system-specific methods that make co..

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Hydrological controls on oviposition habitat are associated with egg-laying phenology of some caddisflies

Jill Lancaster, Stephen P Rice, Louise Slater, Rebecca E Lester, Barbara J Downes

2021-04-27

Seasonal variation in resource availability can have strong effects on life histories and population densities. Emergent rocks (ER..

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From Insects to Frogs, Egg-Juvenile Recruitment Can Have Persistent Effects on Population Sizes

Barbara J Downes, Barbara L Peckarsky, Jill Lancaster, William D Bovill, Maria Alp

2021-01-01

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Coexistence of predatory caddisfly species may be facilitated by variations in the morphology of feeding apparatus and diet

Jill Lancaster

2020-12-24

1. The hypothesis of community‐wide character displacement (CWCD) predicts that coexisting species in the same guild should differ..

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Capturing geomorphologial patterns in ecological resources: fractal dimensions describe fluvial rock distributions

Georgia K Dwyer, Stephen P Rice, Jill Lancaster, Barbara J Downes, Louise Slater, Rebecca E Lester

2020-12-02

Oral presentation at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of Australia in December 2020

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Explaining species diversity in a fractal world

Rebecca E Lester, Georgia K Dwyer, Jill Lancaster, Stephen P Rice, Courtney R Cummings, Barbara J Downes

2020-12-01

Oral presentation at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of Australia, Dec 2020

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Avoidance and aggregation create consistent egg distribution patterns of congeneric caddisflies across spatially variable oviposition landscapes.

Jill Lancaster, Barbara J Downes, Rebecca E Lester, Stephen P Rice

2020-02-01

Amongst oviparous animals, the spatial distribution of individuals is often set initially by where females lay eggs, with potentia..

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Terrestrial-aquatic transitions: Local abundances and movements of mature female caddisflies are related to oviposition habits but not flight capability

Jill Lancaster, Barbara J Downes, Georgia K Dwyer

2020-01-09

1. Movement behaviours of adult aquatic insects can produce distinct spatial distribution patterns. Studies of adult abundance wit..

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Where do aquatic insects come from? How population dynamics can be influenced by oviposition behaviours and oviposition habitat requirements

Jill Lancaster

2019-12-03

Keynote presentation at 2019 joint meeting of the Australian Freshwater Sciences Society and the New Zealand Freshwater Sciences S..

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Egg masses of some stream-dwelling caddisflies (Trichoptera: Hydrobiosidae) from Victoria, Australia

Jill Lancaster, Alena Glaister

2019-08-01

Eggs are a largely neglected life stage in most ecological studies of aquatic insects, despite the importance of oviposition behav..

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Dispersal and oviposition of aquatic insects: critical events that link terrestrial and aquatic phases of populations and influence population dynamics

Jill Lancaster

2019-07-02

Keynote presentation at 2019 Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences, Zagreb Croatia

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Explaining species diversity in a fractal world

Rebecca Lester, Jill Lancaster, Stephen Rice, Courtney Cummings, Barbara Downes

2019-01-01

Conference presentation at the Ecological Society of America annual meeting, 2019 Also given at the Australian Freshwater Science..

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Aquatic versus Terrestrial Insects: Real or Presumed Differences in Population Dynamics?

Jill Lancaster, Barbara J Downes

2018-12-01

The study of insect populations is dominated by research on terrestrial insects. Are aquatic insect populations different or are t..

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Using fractal dimension to capture ecologically-relevant physical variation in streams

Rebecca Lester, Jill Lancaster, Courtney Cummings, Stephen Rice, Barbara J Downes

2017-01-01

Abstract of the oral presentation at the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Society for Limnology in 2017.