@article{WrightAmesMitchelll2016,
  author    = {Wright, Justin P. and Ames, Gregory M. and Mitchelll, Rachel M.},
  title     = {The more things change, the more they stay the same? When is trait variability important for stability of ecosystem function in a changing environment},
  series = {Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences},
  volume    = {371},
  journal   = {Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences},
  publisher = {Royal Society},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0962-8436},
  doi       = {10.1098/rstb.2015.0272},
  pages     = {7},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {The importance of intraspecific trait variability for community dynamics and ecosystem functioning has been underappreciated. There are theoretical reasons for predicting that species that differ in intraspecific trait variability will also differ in their effects on ecosystem functioning, particularly in variable environments. We discuss whether species with greater trait variability are likely to exhibit greater temporal stability in their population dynamics, and under which conditions this might lead to stability in ecosystem functioning. Resolving this requires us to consider several questions. First, are species with high levels of variation for one trait equally variable in others? In particular, is variability in response and effects traits typically correlated? Second, what is the relative contribution of local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity to trait variability? If local adaptation dominates, then stability in function requires one of two conditions: (i) individuals of appropriate phenotypes present in the environment at high enough frequencies to allow for populations to respond rapidly to the changing environment, and (ii) high levels of dispersal and gene flow. While we currently lack sufficient information on the causes and distribution of variability in functional traits, filling in these key data gaps should increase our ability to predict how changing biodiversity will alter ecosystem functioning.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WellsO'HaraBoehmetal.2012,
  author    = {Wells, Konstans and O'Hara, R. B. and Boehm, S. M. and Gockel, Sonja and Hemp, Andreas and Renner, S. C. and Pfeiffer, S. and Boehning-Gaese, Katrin and Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.},
  title     = {Trait-dependent occupancy dynamics of birds in temperate forest landscapes fine-scale observations in a hierarchical multi-species framework},
  series = {Animal conservation},
  volume    = {15},
  journal   = {Animal conservation},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {1367-9430},
  doi       = {10.1111/j.1469-1795.2012.00560.x},
  pages     = {626 -- 637},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {Silvicultural practices lead to changes in forest composition and structure and may impact species diversity from the overall regional species pool to stand-level species occurrence. We explored to what extent fine-scale occupancy patterns in differently managed forest stands are driven by environment and ecological traits in three regions in Germany using a multi-species hierarchical model. We tested for the possible impact of environmental variables and ecological traits on occupancy dynamics in a joint modelling exercise while taking possible variation in coefficient estimates over years and plots into account. Bird species richness differed across regions and years, and trends in species richness across years were different in the three regions. On the species level, forest management affected occupancy of species in all regions, but only 35\% of the total assemblage-level variation in occurrence probability was explained by either forest type and successional stage and <?1\% by forest edge. On the assemblage level, bird occurrence decreased with body mass in all regions. Species with smaller breeding ranges had lower occurrence probabilities in one region, while later spring arrival decreased occurrence probabilities in the two other regions. Spatial variation in the effect size of trait covariates such as species phylogeny and breeding strata showed that variation in patch occupancy due to fine-scale differences in forest management is, to some extent, predictable from ecological traits. Our results show that environmental factors and ecological traits jointly predict variation in bird occupancy patterns and their response to forest management. Observations at the fine scale of forest stands, at which conservation efforts can be arranged along with forest management practices in heterogeneous environments, have been shown to provide meaningful insights despite the difficulties involved in monitoring mobile organisms such as birds at the plot level.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WeithoffRochaGaedke2015,
  author    = {Weithoff, Guntram and Rocha, Marcia R. and Gaedke, Ursula},
  title     = {Comparing seasonal dynamics of functional and taxonomic diversity reveals the driving forces underlying phytoplankton community structure},
  series = {Freshwater biology},
  volume    = {60},
  journal   = {Freshwater biology},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {0046-5070},
  doi       = {10.1111/fwb.12527},
  pages     = {758 -- 767},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {In most biodiversity studies, taxonomic diversity is the measure for the multiplicity of species and is often considered to represent functional diversity. However, trends in taxonomic diversity and functional diversity may differ, for example, when many functionally similar but taxonomically different species co-occur in a community. The differences between these diversity measures are of particular interest in diversity research for understanding diversity patterns and their underlying mechanisms. We analysed a temporally highly resolved 20-year time series of lake phytoplankton to determine whether taxonomic diversity and functional diversity exhibit similar or contrasting seasonal patterns. We also calculated the functional mean of the community in n-dimensional trait space for each sampling day to gain further insights into the seasonal dynamics of the functional properties of the community. We found an overall weak positive relationship between taxonomic diversity and functional diversity with a distinct seasonal pattern. The two diversity measures showed synchronous behaviour from early spring to mid-summer and a more complex and diverging relationship from autumn to late winter. The functional mean of the community exhibited a recurrent annual pattern with the most prominent changes before and after the clear-water phase. From late autumn to winter, the functional mean of the community and functional diversity were relatively constant while taxonomic diversity declined, suggesting competitive exclusion during this period. A further decline in taxonomic diversity concomitant with increasing functional diversity in late winter to early spring is seen as a result of niche diversification together with competitive exclusion. Under these conditions, several different sets of traits are suitable to thrive, but within one set of functional traits only one, or very few, morphotypes can persist. Taxonomic diversity alone is a weak descriptor of trait diversity in phytoplankton. However, the combined analysis of taxonomic diversity and functional diversity, along with the functional mean of the community, allows for deeper insights into temporal patterns of community assembly and niche diversification.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WeithoffGaedke2017,
  author    = {Weithoff, Guntram and Gaedke, Ursula},
  title     = {Mean functional traits of lake phytoplankton reflect seasonal and inter-annual changes in nutrients, climate and herbivory},
  series = {Journal of plankton research},
  volume    = {39},
  journal   = {Journal of plankton research},
  publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0142-7873},
  doi       = {10.1093/plankt/fbw072},
  pages     = {509 -- 517},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Trait-based approaches have become increasingly successful in community ecology. They assume that the distribution of functional traits within communities responds in a predictable way to alterations in environmental forcing and that strong forcing may accelerate such trait changes. We used high frequency measurements of phytoplankton to test these assumptions. We analyzed the seasonal and long-term dynamics of the community trait mean within a multi-dimensional trait space under alternating multifactorial environmental conditions. The community trait mean exhibited a distinct recurrent annual pattern that reflected minor changes in climate, herbivory and nutrients. Independent of early spring conditions, the community trait mean was repeatedly driven into a narrow confined area in the trait space under pronounced herbivory during the clear water phase. The speed of movement was highest at the onset and the relaxation of such strong unidirectional forcing. Thus, our data support the conceptual framework of trait-based ecology that alterations in environmental conditions are systematically tracked by adjustments in the dominant functional trait values and that the speed of trait changes depends on the kind and intensity of the selection pressure. Our approach provides a sensitive tool to detect small functional differences in the community related to subtle differences in forcing.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{TanentzapLeeSchulz2013,
  author    = {Tanentzap, Andrew J. and Lee, William G. and Schulz, Katharina A. C.},
  title     = {Niches drive peaked and positive relationships between diversity and disturbance in natural ecosystems},
  series = {Ecosphere : the magazine of the International Ecology University},
  volume    = {4},
  journal   = {Ecosphere : the magazine of the International Ecology University},
  number    = {11},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {2150-8925},
  doi       = {10.1890/ES13-00102.1},
  pages     = {28},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {A unified understanding of the relationship between disturbance and biodiversity is needed to predict biotic responses to global change. Recent advances have identified the need to deconstruct traditional models of disturbance into intensity and frequency to reconcile empirical studies that appear to generate contradictory associations between species diversity and disturbance. We integrate results from theoretical simulation modelling, field-based surveys of 5176 vegetation plots from 48 transects across 6 sites, and experimental pot-based manipulations of flooding to identify how disturbance drives species diversity within ephemeral wetlands in South Island, New Zealand. We find empirical, hump-shaped and positive relationships between species diversity and both disturbance intensity and frequency, mirroring patterns from a simulation model in which species differed in their demographic responses to disturbance. More generally, our simulations show that the relationships between diversity and disturbance shift from positive to hump-shaped to negative as species that are favored at low disturbance because of their resistance strategies, defined by low mortality and recruitment, decline within communities relative to resilient species. Resilient species with higher mortality and recruitment rates are instead favored as disturbance intensity and frequency intensify. Our theoretical findings suggest that sites must also have a third group of unique species with intermediate resilience and resistance. Analyses of community composition along our disturbance gradients support this prediction, emphasizing that shifts in community-level resistance and resilience drive empirical associations between diversity and disturbance. Overall, terrestrial plants may be unable to resist intense and frequent flooding, even with specialized traits. Only fast-growing species with high regeneration from seed may respond once flooding subsides and dominate community composition in these situations, especially on nutrient-rich soils. However, different strategies can co-occur at intermediate disturbance, ultimately increasing species richness. As disturbances become more pervasive globally, our results suggest that differences in the niches of species, rather than demographic stochasticity, drive biodiversity patterns. These niche-based processes may especially prevail, without accompanying losses in species richness, where sites are initially dominated by resistant taxa or life history strategies that balance resistance and resilience.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{RochaGaedkeVasseur2011,
  author    = {Rocha, Marcia R. and Gaedke, Ursula and Vasseur, David A.},
  title     = {Functionally similar species have similar dynamics},
  series = {The journal of ecology},
  volume    = {99},
  journal   = {The journal of ecology},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {0022-0477},
  doi       = {10.1111/j.1365-2745.2011.01893.x},
  pages     = {1453 -- 1459},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {1. Improving the mechanistic basis of biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships requires a better understanding of how functional traits drive the dynamics of populations. For example, environmental disturbances or grazing may increase synchronization of functionally similar species, whereas functionally different species may show independent dynamics, because of different responses to the environment. Competition for resources, on the other hand, may yield a wide range of dynamic patterns among competitors and lead functionally similar and different species to display synchronized to compensatory dynamics. The mixed effect of these forces will influence the temporal fluctuations of populations and, thus, the variability of aggregate community properties. 2. To search for a relationship between functional and dynamics similarity, we studied the relationship between functional trait similarity and temporal dynamics similarity for 36 morphotypes of phytoplankton using long-term high-frequency measurements. 3. Our results show that functionally similar morphotypes exhibit dynamics that are more synchronized than those of functionally dissimilar ones. Functionally dissimilar morphotypes predominantly display independent temporal dynamics. This pattern is especially strong when short time-scales are considered. 4. Negative correlations are present among both functionally similar and dissimilar phytoplankton morphotypes, but are rarer and weaker than positive ones over all temporal scales. 5. Synthesis. We demonstrate that diversity in functional traits decreases community variability and ecosystem-level properties by decoupling the dynamics of individual morphotypes.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ReegStriglJeltsch2022,
  author    = {Reeg, Jette and Strigl, Lea and Jeltsch, Florian},
  title     = {Agricultural buffer zone thresholds to safeguard functional bee diversity},
  series = {Ecology and Evolution},
  volume    = {12},
  journal   = {Ecology and Evolution},
  edition   = {3},
  publisher = {Wiley Online Library},
  address   = {Hoboken, New Jersey, USA},
  issn      = {2045-7758},
  doi       = {10.1002/ece3.8748},
  pages     = {1 -- 17},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Wild bee species are important pollinators in agricultural landscapes. However, population decline was reported over the last decades and is still ongoing. While agricultural intensification is a major driver of the rapid loss of pollinating species, transition zones between arable fields and forest or grassland patches, i.e., agricultural buffer zones, are frequently mentioned as suitable mitigation measures to support wild bee populations and other pollinator species. Despite the reported general positive effect, it remains unclear which amount of buffer zones is needed to ensure a sustainable and permanent impact for enhancing bee diversity and abundance. To address this question at a pollinator community level, we implemented a process-based, spatially explicit simulation model of functional bee diversity dynamics in an agricultural landscape. More specifically, we introduced a variable amount of agricultural buffer zones (ABZs) at the transition of arable to grassland, or arable to forest patches to analyze the impact on bee functional diversity and functional richness. We focused our study on solitary bees in a typical agricultural area in the Northeast of Germany. Our results showed positive effects with at least 25\% of virtually implemented agricultural buffer zones. However, higher amounts of ABZs of at least 75\% should be considered to ensure a sufficient increase in Shannon diversity and decrease in quasi-extinction risks. These high amounts of ABZs represent effective conservation measures to safeguard the stability of pollination services provided by solitary bee species. As the model structure can be easily adapted to other mobile species in agricultural landscapes, our community approach offers the chance to compare the effectiveness of conservation measures also for other pollinator communities in future.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MendesFerreiraDammhahnEccard2022,
  author    = {Mendes Ferreira, Clara and Dammhahn, Melanie and Eccard, Jana},
  title     = {Forager-mediated cascading effects on food resource species diversity},
  series = {Ecology and Evolution},
  volume    = {12},
  journal   = {Ecology and Evolution},
  number    = {11},
  publisher = {John Wiley \& Sons},
  issn      = {2045-7758},
  doi       = {10.1002/ece3.9523},
  pages     = {13},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Perceived predation risk varies in space and time. Foraging in this landscape of fear alters forager-resource interactions via cascading nonconsumptive effects. Estimating these indirect effects is difficult in natural systems. Here, we applied a novel measure to quantify the diversity at giving-up density that allows to test how spatial variation in perceived predation risk modifies the diversity of multispecies resources at local and regional spatial levels. Furthermore, we evaluated whether the nonconsumptive effects on resource species diversity can be explained by the preferences of foragers for specific functional traits and by the forager species richness. We exposed rodents of a natural community to artificial food patches, each containing an initial multispecies resource community of eight species (10 items each) mixed in sand. We sampled 35 landscapes, each containing seven patches in a spatial array, to disentangle effects at local (patch) and landscape levels. We used vegetation height as a proxy for perceived predation risk. After a period of three nights, we counted how many and which resource species were left in each patch to measure giving-up density and resource diversity at the local level (alpha diversity) and the regional level (gamma diversity and beta diversity). Furthermore, we used wildlife cameras to identify foragers and assess their species richness. With increasing vegetation height, i.e., decreasing perceived predation risk, giving-up density, and local alpha and regional gamma diversity decreased, and patches became less similar within a landscape (beta diversity increased). Foragers consumed more of the bigger and most caloric resources. The higher the forager species richness, the lower the giving-up density, and alpha and gamma diversity. Overall, spatial variation of perceived predation risk of foragers had measurable cascading effects on local and regional resource species biodiversity, independent of the forager species. Thus, nonconsumptive predation effects modify forager-resource interactions and might act as an equalizing mechanism for species coexistence.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{KrauseLeRouxNiklausetal.2014,
  author    = {Krause, Sascha and Le Roux, Xavier and Niklaus, Pascal A. and Van Bodegom, Peter M. and Lennon, Jay T. and Bertilsson, Stefan and Grossart, Hans-Peter and Philippot, Laurent and Bodelier, Paul L. E.},
  title     = {Trait-based approaches for understanding microbial biodiversity and ecosystem functioning},
  series = {Frontiers in microbiology},
  volume    = {5},
  journal   = {Frontiers in microbiology},
  publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation},
  address   = {Lausanne},
  issn      = {1664-302X},
  doi       = {10.3389/fmicb.2014.00251},
  pages     = {10},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {In ecology, biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEE) research has seen a shift in perspective from taxonomy to function in the last two decades, with successful application of trait-based approaches. This shift offers opportunities for a deeper mechanistic understanding of the role of biodiversity in maintaining multiple ecosystem processes and services. In this paper, we highlight studies that have focused on BEE of microbial communities with an emphasis on integrating trait-based approaches to microbial ecology. In doing so, we explore some of the inherent challenges and opportunities of understanding BEE using microbial systems. For example, microbial biologists characterize communities using gene phylogenies that are often unable to resolve functional traits. Additionally, experimental designs of existing microbial BEE studies are often inadequate to unravel BEE relationships. We argue that combining eco-physiological studies with contemporary molecular tools in a trait-based framework can reinforce our ability to link microbial diversity to ecosystem processes. We conclude that such trait-based approaches are a promising framework to increase the understanding of microbial BEE relationships and thus generating systematic principles in microbial ecology and more generally ecology.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KerneckerFienitzNendeletal.2022,
  author    = {Kernecker, Maria and Fienitz, Meike and Nendel, Claas and Paetzig, Marlene and Walzl, Karin Pirhofer and Raatz, Larissa and Schmidt, Martin and Wulf, Monika and Zscheischler, Jana},
  title     = {Transition zones across agricultural field boundaries for integrated landscape research and management of biodiversity and yields},
  series = {Ecological solutions and evidence},
  volume    = {3},
  journal   = {Ecological solutions and evidence},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {2688-8319},
  doi       = {10.1002/2688-8319.12122},
  pages     = {7},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Biodiversity conservation and agricultural production have been largely framed as separate goals for landscapes in the discourse on land use. Although there is an increasing tendency to move away from this dichotomy in theory, the tendency is perpetuated by the spatially explicit approaches used in research and management practice. Transition zones (TZ) have previously been defined as areas where two adjacent fields or patches interact, and so they occur abundantly throughout agricultural landscapes. Biodiversity patterns in TZ have been extensively studied, but their relationship to yield patterns and social-ecological dimensions has been largely neglected. Focusing on European, temperate agricultural landscapes, we outline three areas of research and management that together demonstrate how TZ might be used to facilitate an integrated landscape approach: (i) plant and animal species' use and response to boundaries and the resulting effects on yield, for a deeper understanding of how landscape structure shapes quantity and quality of TZ; (ii) local knowledge on field or patch-level management and its interactions with biodiversity and yield in TZ, and (iii) conflict prevention and collaborative management across land-use boundaries.},
  language  = {en}
}