生物多样性 ›› 2024, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (4): 23378.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2023378  cstr: 32101.14.biods.2023378

所属专题: 美丽中国建设

• 综述 • 上一篇    下一篇

基于元素组的生物地球化学生态位及其在不同生态系统中的应用

曲锐1, 左振君1, 王有鑫2, 张良键1, 吴志刚3, 乔秀娟4, 王忠1,2,*()()   

  1. 1.武汉大学生命科学学院梁子湖湖泊生态系统国家野外科学观测研究站, 武汉 430072
    2.西藏大学生态环境学院, 青藏高原生物多样性与生态环境保护教育部重点实验室, 拉萨 850000
    3.中国科学院水生生物研究所水生生物分子与细胞生物学研究中心, 武汉 430072
    4.中国科学院武汉植物园, 植物多样性与特色经济作物全国重点实验室, 武汉 430074
  • 收稿日期:2023-10-09 接受日期:2024-02-20 出版日期:2024-04-20 发布日期:2024-04-08
  • 通讯作者: * E-mail: wangzhong@whu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金(32360287);国家自然科学基金(32171536)

The biogeochemical niche based on elementome and its applications in different ecosystems

Rui Qu1, Zhenjun Zuo1, Youxin Wang2, Liangjian Zhang1, Zhigang Wu3, Xiujuan Qiao4, Zhong Wang1,2,*()()   

  1. 1 The National Field Station of Freshwater Ecosystems of Liangzi Lake, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072
    2 Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Environment on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Education, School of Ecology and Environment, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000
    3 Center for Molecular and Cellular Biology of Aquatic Organisms, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072
    4 State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074
  • Received:2023-10-09 Accepted:2024-02-20 Online:2024-04-20 Published:2024-04-08
  • Contact: * E-mail: wangzhong@whu.edu.cn

摘要:

生态位作为解决群落如何构建、物种如何共存的探索, 从其最初定性描述物种在生境中的空间分割, 到反映物种在群落中功能上的分异, 再到从多维空间和资源利用等方面进行的定量分析, 生态位理论逐渐发展。然而, 在非随机过程影响下物种生态位的大小, 尤其是在不同环境条件下生态位的位移、收缩或扩张等变化过程的量化, 需要进一步研究。元素是组成生物有机体的基本物质, 生物体内元素含量及其比例(元素组, elementome)具有物种特异性, 同时也反映了物种对其生存环境的适应性。随着生态化学计量学的发展, 生物元素组在生态学各个研究尺度中的应用愈加广泛。在群落生态学研究中, 生物元素组及其在环境梯度上的变异为量化群落中物种生态位分化、预测环境变化条件下生态位的变化提供了极佳指标。生物地球化学生态位使用生物元素组及生态位多维超体积的概念, 对物种生态位进行了量化。基于文献检索结果, 本文阐述了生物地球化学生态位假说的理论框架, 对其在不同生物分类群(植物、动物和微生物)中的研究进展进行了综述, 最后对其在不同生态系统中的研究进行了展望, 以期对该假说的适用性进行检验并推动生态位理论研究的发展。

关键词: 多维超体积模型, 内稳性, 群落构建, 生态化学计量学, 生物地球化学生态位, 物种共存, 进化历史, 物种竞争

Abstract

Background & Aims: All biological organisms are constructed with a specific range and ratio of bioelements—namely the elementome. Organisms integrate multiple elements in optimal ratios to adapt to environmental heterogeneity. Biological elementome is assumed to be species-specific, which is determined by evolutionary history (phylogenetic distances) and controlled by inter-species competition and homeostasis. In community ecology, bioelemental composition and the variations in elementome provide an ideal indicator for quantifying the niche segregation of certain species in a community and predicting the possible responses of niche (displacement, expansion or concentration) to changes in environmental conditions. Biogeochemical niche (BN) quantifies species niches using the concept of elementome and n-dimensional hypervolume. On the basis of a brief summary of niche theory and ecological stoichiometry, we introduced the theoretical framework and the confirmatory studies of biogeochemical niche hypothesis (BNH) in this review. The prospects of its applications in different ecosystems were also discussed.

Review results: According to the BNH, the biogeochemical niche of certain species is defined as a function of phylogenetic distances (taxonomy), species sympatry (inter-species competitive pressure) and homeostasis/plasticity (the ability to maintain a stable elemental composition). This theory applies not only to plants, but also to animals and microbes. Using “biogeochemical niche(s)”, “metabolomic niche(s)”, “stoichiometric niche(s)” as key words, we conducted literature searches utilizing Web of Science (WoS) and CNKI, and manually picked out 84 relevant studies in November 2023. The studies mainly focused on C, N and P, and the most common keywords were “ecological stoichiometry” and “elemental composition”. In terms of taxa, the main taxa concerned in the studies were plants (54 articles), followed by animals (14 articles) and microorganisms (14 articles). We review the recent progress of BNH by taxa in this article.

Prospects & Suggestions: We suggest that the study of BNH be extended from C, N and P to more bioelements, to identify the species niche more accurately in higher dimensions. In different ecosystems, especially in stressful habitats, organisms should change their elementome to adapt to varied environments. More studies focusing on additional taxa (aquatic plants, plankton, fish, etc.) or certain habitats (freshwater or saline lake, river, high mountain, desert, etc.) are likely to help validate the universality of BNH. Furthermore, we propose to study the variations in biogeochemical niche at different life history stages of living beings, and bridge BN and population dynamics, to provide evidence for mechanism of species coexistence.

Key words: n-dimensional hypervolume, homeostasis, community assembly, ecological stoichiometry, biogeochemical niche, species coexistence, evolutionary history, species competition