TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wright, Justin P.
A1  - Ames, Gregory M.
A1  - Mitchelll, Rachel M.
T1  - The more things change, the more they stay the same? When is trait variability important for stability of ecosystem function in a changing environment
JF  - Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences
N2  - 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.
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - intraspecific variation
KW  - ecosystem function
KW  - functional traits
KW  - phenotypic plasticity
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0272
SN  - 0962-8436
SN  - 1471-2970
VL  - 371
PB  - Royal Society
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Soliveres, Santiago
A1  - Manning, Peter
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Alt, Fabian
A1  - Arndt, Hartmut
A1  - Baumgartner, Vanessa
A1  - Binkenstein, Julia
A1  - Birkhofer, Klaus
A1  - Blaser, Stefan
A1  - Bluethgen, Nico
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Boehm, Stefan
A1  - Boerschig, Carmen
A1  - Buscot, Francois
A1  - Diekoetter, Tim
A1  - Heinze, Johannes
A1  - Hoelzel, Norbert
A1  - Jung, Kirsten
A1  - Klaus, Valentin H.
A1  - Klein, Alexandra-Maria
A1  - Kleinebecker, Till
A1  - Klemmer, Sandra
A1  - Krauss, Jochen
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Morris, E. Kathryn
A1  - Mueller, Joerg
A1  - Oelmann, Yvonne
A1  - Overmann, Jörg
A1  - Pasalic, Esther
A1  - Renner, Swen C.
A1  - Rillig, Matthias C.
A1  - Schaefer, H. Martin
A1  - Schloter, Michael
A1  - Schmitt, Barbara
A1  - Schoening, Ingo
A1  - Schrumpf, Marion
A1  - Sikorski, Johannes
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Solly, Emily F.
A1  - Sonnemann, Ilja
A1  - Sorkau, Elisabeth
A1  - Steckel, Juliane
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
A1  - Stempfhuber, Barbara
A1  - Tschapka, Marco
A1  - Tuerke, Manfred
A1  - Venter, Paul
A1  - Weiner, Christiane N.
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
A1  - Werner, Michael
A1  - Westphal, Catrin
A1  - Wilcke, Wolfgang
A1  - Wolters, Volkmar
A1  - Wubet, Tesfaye
A1  - Wurst, Susanne
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Allan, Eric
T1  - Locally rare species influence grassland ecosystem multifunctionality
JF  - Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences
N2  - Species diversity promotes the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). However, the relative functional importance of rare and common species in driving the biodiversity multifunctionality relationship remains unknown. We studied the relationship between the diversity of rare and common species (according to their local abundances and across nine different trophic groups), and multifunctionality indices derived from 14 ecosystem functions on 150 grasslands across a land use intensity (LUI) gradient. The diversity of above- and below-ground rare species had opposite effects, with rare above-ground species being associated with high levels of multifunctionality, probably because their effects on different functions did not trade off against each other. Conversely, common species were only related to average, not high, levels of multifunctionality, and their functional effects declined with LUI. Apart from the community level effects of diversity, we found significant positive associations between the abundance of individual species and multifunctionality in 6% of the species tested. Species specific functional effects were best predicted by their response to LUI: species that declined in abundance with land use intensification were those associated with higher levels of multifunctionality. Our results highlight the importance of rare species for ecosystem multifunctionality and help guiding future conservation priorities.
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - common species
KW  - ecosystem function
KW  - identity hypothesis
KW  - land use
KW  - multitrophic
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0269
SN  - 0962-8436
SN  - 1471-2970
VL  - 371
SP  - 3175
EP  - 3185
PB  - Royal Society
CY  - London
ER  -