The Functional Ecology and Diversity of Tropical Tree Assemblages through Space and Time: From Local to Regional and from Traits to Transcriptomes

Tropical tree biodiversity motivates an extremely large amount of research and some of the most passionate debates in ecology and evolution. Research into tropical tree biodiversity generally has been very biased towards one axis of biodiversity-species diversity. Less work has focused on the functional diversity of tropical trees and I argue that this has greatly limited our ability to not only understand the species diversity in tropical tree assemblages, but their distributions through space and time. Increasingly plant ecologists have turned to measuring plant functional traits to estimate functional diversity and to uncover the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying the distribution and dynamics of tropical trees. Here I review much of the recent work on functional traits in tropical tree community ecology. I will highlight what I believe are the most important findings and which research directions are not likely to progress in the future. I also argue that functionally based investigations of tropical trees are likely to be revolutionized in the coming years through the incorporation of functional genomic approaches. The paper ends with a discussion of three major research areas or areas in need of focus that could lead to rapid advances in functionally based investigations of tropical trees.

Download Full-text

Functional Diversity: An Epistemic Roadmap

BioScience ◽

10.1093/biosci/biz089 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 69 (10) ◽

pp. 800-811 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Christophe Malaterre ◽

Antoine C Dussault ◽

Sophia Rousseau-Mermans ◽

Gillian Barker ◽

Beatrix E Beisner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Functional Diversity ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Ecological Management ◽

Diversity Studies

Abstract Functional diversity holds the promise of understanding ecosystems in ways unattainable by taxonomic diversity studies. Underlying this promise is the intuition that investigating the diversity of what organisms actually do (i.e., their functional traits) within ecosystems will generate more reliable insights into the ways these ecosystems behave, compared to considering only species diversity. But this promise also rests on several conceptual and methodological (i.e., epistemic) assumptions that cut across various theories and domains of ecology. These assumptions should be clearly addressed, notably for the sake of an effective comparison and integration across domains, and for assessing whether or not to use functional diversity approaches for developing ecological management strategies. The objective of this contribution is to identify and critically analyze the most salient of these assumptions. To this aim, we provide an epistemic roadmap that pinpoints these assumptions along a set of historical, conceptual, empirical, theoretical, and normative dimensions.

Download Full-text

Fungal functional ecology: Bringing a trait-based approach to plant-associated fungi

10.32942/osf.io/a7f6g ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Amy E. Zanne ◽

Kessy Abarenkov ◽

Michelle E. Afkhami ◽

Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros ◽

Scott Bates ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Water ◽

Functional Diversity ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Quantitative Trait ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Functional Ecology ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

Detection And Identification ◽

Technological Advances ◽

Identification Of Fungi

Fungi play many essential roles in ecosystems. They facilitate plant access to nutrients and water, serve as decay agents that cycle carbon and nutrients through the soil, water and atmosphere, and are major regulators of macro-organismal populations. Although technological advances are improving the detection and identification of fungi, there still exist key gaps in our ecological knowledge of this kingdom, especially related to function. Trait-based approaches have been instrumental in strengthening our understanding of plant functional ecology and, as such, provide excellent models for deepening our understanding of fungal functional ecology in ways that complement insights gained from traditional and -omics-based techniques. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge of fungal functional ecology, taxonomy and systematics and introduce a novel database of fungal functional traits (FunFun). FunFun is built to interface with other databases to explore and predict how fungal functional diversity varies by taxonomy, guild, and other evolutionary or ecological grouping variables. To highlight how a quantitative trait-based approach can provide new insights, we describe multiple targeted examples and end by suggesting next steps in the rapidly growing field of fungal functional ecology.

Download Full-text

The effect of trampling disturbance on functional traits, species diversity, and functional diversity of alpine meadows in Bitahai Nature Reserve

Acta Ecologica Sinica ◽

10.5846/stxb201803300657 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 39 (6) ◽

Author(s):

何淑嫱 HE Shuqiang ◽

李伟 LI Wei ◽

程希平 CHENG Xiping ◽

谭芮 TAN Rui ◽

松卫红 SONG Weihong

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Functional Diversity ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Nature Reserve ◽

Alpine Meadows ◽

Trampling Disturbance

Download Full-text

Environmental filtering structures tree functional traits combination and lineages across space in tropical tree assemblages

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-017-00166-z ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Mengesha Asefa ◽

Min Cao ◽

Guocheng Zhang ◽

Xiuqin Ci ◽

Jie Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Traits ◽

Environmental Filtering ◽

Tropical Tree ◽

Tree Assemblages

Download Full-text

Choosing and using multiple traits in functional diversity research

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892914000307 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 104-107 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

JONATHAN S. LEFCHECK ◽

VINICIUS A. G. BASTAZINI ◽

JOHN N. GRIFFIN

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Total Variation ◽

Functional Diversity ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Best Practice ◽

Redundant Information ◽

Multiple Traits ◽

Conservation Science ◽

Diversity Research

SUMMARYSpecies are different, but they are not equally different. Yet many indices of biodiversity assume species vary to identical degrees. This notion does not meet with intuition: some species vary greatly in terms of their morphology, behaviour and ecology, while others vary only a little. One way to reconcile the dissimilarity between species is by collecting information on their functional traits (FTs), descriptors of how organisms interact with their environment and each other. Functional diversity (FD) is the total variation in one or more FTs across all species within a community, and provides a powerful complement to species diversity. There are several challenges facing the application of FD to conservation science, including lack of rigorous trait data for many organisms, and sparse details on how to select available traits to generate meaningful inferences for the various summary metrics of FD. This Comment provides a brief discussion on choosing and using FTs, and recommendations for best practice. Ultimately, researchers need to consider using a variety of traits when hypotheses are multifaceted or could potentially evolve, at the same time thinking critically about trait selection to avoid redundant information.

Download Full-text

DIVERSIDADE FUNCIONAL DE COMUNIDADES DE PEIXES DE RIACHO

Oecologia Australis ◽

10.4257/oeco.2021.2502.12 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 25 (02) ◽

pp. 415-432

Author(s):

Fabrício Barreto Teresa ◽

◽

Carlos Alberto Sousa Rodrigues-Filho ◽

Rafael Pereira Leitão ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Diversity ◽

Environmental Gradients ◽

Functional Trait ◽

Functional Approach ◽

Functional Ecology ◽

Stream Fish ◽

Applied Ecology ◽

Research Areas ◽

Diversity Studies ◽

Key Questions

In the last decade there was a remarkable increase in the number of studies incorporating species functional traits to quantify the diversity of communities (i.e., functional diversity). The functional approach has contributed to advances in theoretical and applied ecology. Studies developed in Brazil represent a significant portion of the world's scientific production on stream fish functional diversity. However, there is a clear bias, with most studies assessing communities' response to natural and anthropogenic environmental gradients. Other research areas such as conservation and the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning are still scarce. Here we highlight the conceptual and methodological bases of the functional approach in ichthyology. We discuss key questions such as functional trait selection for stream fish, the main facets of functional diversity and indices to calculate them, general notions on functional composition, functional beta diversity and null models. We also address the state of the art of functional diversity studies in Brazil and raised the main gaps and perspectives for advancing the knowledge of stream fish functional ecology.

Download Full-text