Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41037338›Full record

ArticleEcology letters2025

Marine Benthic Community Assembly Is Taxonomically Stochastic but Functionally Deterministic in a Dynamic Coastal Sea.

Milenka Sloots, Oscar Franken, Kasper J Meijer, Tjisse van der Heide, Laura L Govers, Han Olff

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Ecology letters, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Milenka SlootsConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Oscar FrankenConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Kasper J MeijerConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Tjisse van der HeideConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Laura L GoversConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Han OlffConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.

Funding

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek VI.Veni.222.244Waddenfonds Waddentools: habitatheterogeniteit - WF2018-187059
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Understanding the balance between deterministic and stochastic processes in community assembly is crucial for interpreting ecological community dynamics. Moreover, it provides perspective for conservation and management actions, as deterministic processes can be subject to targeted interventions, but stochastic processes are less manageable. Through a spatially explicit macrozoobenthic monitoring campaign consisting of 1323 sampling locations in the Dutch Wadden Sea, we examined the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes, including the role of hydrodynamic disturbance gradients. We found species-based community assembly to be mainly driven by stochastic processes, while trait-based assembly was more deterministic and environmentally driven. Environmental disturbance levels minimally affected the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic processes. For coastal benthic ecosystems, we therefore recommend management actions to target specific desired functional groups rather than specific changes in community composition.

Indexed as

Aquatic OrganismsBiodiversityEcosystemInvertebratesAnimalsModels, BiologicalNetherlandsOceans and SeasPopulation DynamicsStochastic Processesdisturbancefunctional traitsmacrozoobenthosstochastic processesWadden Sea

Identifiers

PMID41037338
PMCPMC12490742

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.