Priority effects transcend scales and disciplines in biology

J.T. Stroud*, B.M. Delory*, E.M. Barnes, J.M. Chase, L. De Meester, J. Dieskau, T.N. Grainger, F.W. Halliday, P. Kardol, T.M. Knight, E. Ladouceur, C.J. Little, C. Roscher, J.M. Sarneel, V.M. Temperton, T.L.H. van Steijn, C.M. Werner, C.W. Wood, T. Fukami

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Although primarily studied through the lens of community ecology, phenomena consistent with priority effects appear to be widespread across many different scenarios spanning a broad range of spatial, temporal, and biological scales. However, communication between these research fields is inconsistent and has resulted in a fragmented co-citation landscape, likely due to the diversity of terms used to refer to priority effects across these fields. We review these related terms, and the biological contexts in which they are used, to facilitate greater cross-disciplinary cohesion in research on priority effects. In breaking down these semantic barriers, we aim to provide a framework to better understand the conditions and mechanisms of priority effects, and their consequences across spatial and temporal scales.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)677-688
Number of pages12
JournalTrends in ecology & evolution
Volume39
Issue number7
Early online date19 Mar 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd

Funding

We thank Dr Andrea Stephens and three anonymous reviewers for valuable feedback on this manuscript. This paper is a joint effort of the working group sPriority kindly supported by sDiv, the Synthesis Centre of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, funded by the German Research Foundation (FZT 118, 202548816). B.M.D. is supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation (470604360). T.F. was supported by US National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology (1737758). C.J.L. was supported by a Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant. J.M.S. was supported by a Swedish Research council grant 2019-05099. CMW was supported by NSF grant EPS-1655726 and US department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grants 2021-067034-35231 and 2023-03539. F.W.H. was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (PZ00P3_202027). T.N.G. was supported by the NSERC and a Banting Fellowship. L.D.M. acknowledges financial support from KU Leuven Research Council (C16/2023/003) and the Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) start-up fund. J.T.S. B.M.D. and T.F. led the writing of the manuscript; E.M.B. and B.M.D. led the co-citation analysis; all authors contributed substantially to concept development. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

FundersFunder number
National Science Foundation
Deutsches Zentrum für integrative Biodiversitätsforschung Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Synthesis Centre of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen ForschungPZ00P3_202027
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
National Institute of Food and Agriculture2023-03539, 2021-067034-35231
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Division of Environmental Biology1737758
Division of Environmental Biology
Onderzoeksraad, KU LeuvenC16/2023/003
Onderzoeksraad, KU Leuven
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft470604360, 202548816, FZT 118
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Vetenskapsrådet2019-05099, EPS-1655726
Vetenskapsrådet

    Keywords

    • alternative stable states
    • biotic interactions
    • community assembly
    • historical contingency
    • priority effects
    • stochasticity

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