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https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/19548
Title: | Functional identity and diversity of animals predict ecosystem functioning better than species-based indices | Contributor(s): | Gagic, Vesna (author); Bartomeus, Ignasi (author); Tscharntke, Teja (author); Weisser, Wolfgang (author); Bommarco, Riccardo (author); Jonsson, Tomas (author); Taylor, Astrid (author); Winqvist, Camilla (author); Fischer, Christina (author); Slade, Eleanor M (author); Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf (author); Emmerson, Mark (author); Potts, Simon G (author) | Publication Date: | 2015 | Open Access: | Yes | DOI: | 10.1098/rspb.2014.2620 | Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/19548 | Abstract: | Drastic biodiversity declines have raised concerns about the deterioration of ecosystem functions and have motivated much recent research on the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem functioning. A functional trait framework has been proposed to improve the mechanistic understanding of this relationship, but this has rarely been tested for organisms other than plants. We analysed eight datasets, including five animal groups, to examine how well a trait-based approach, compared with a more traditional taxonomic approach, predicts seven ecosystem functions below- and above-ground. Trait-based indices consistently provided greater explanatory power than species richness or abundance. The frequency distributions of single or multiple traits in the community were the best predictors of ecosystem functioning. This implies that the ecosystem functions we investigated were underpinned by the combination of trait identities (i.e. single-trait indices) and trait complementarity (i.e. multi-trait indices) in the communities. Our study provides new insights into the general mechanisms that link biodiversity to ecosystem functioning in natural animal communities and suggests that the observed responses were due to the identity and dominance patterns of the trait composition rather than the number or abundance of species per se. | Publication Type: | Journal Article | Source of Publication: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1801), p. 1-8 | Publisher: | The Royal Society Publishing | Place of Publication: | United Kingdom | ISSN: | 1471-2954 0962-8452 |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 060208 Terrestrial Ecology 060202 Community Ecology (excl. Invasive Species Ecology) |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 310308 Terrestrial ecology 310302 Community ecology (excl. invasive species ecology) |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 960805 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales 960806 Forest and Woodlands Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity 960804 Farmland, Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 180606 Terrestrial biodiversity | Peer Reviewed: | Yes | HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal |
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Appears in Collections: | Journal Article |
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