Habitat filtering determines the functional niche occupancy of plant communities worldwide

Author(s):Show less -

Li, Yuanzhi ^{[1, 2]} ; Shipley, Bill ^[1] ; Price, Jodi N. ^{[3, 4]} ; Dantas, Vinicius de L. ^[5] ; Tamme, Riin ^{[6, 7]} ; Westoby, Mark ^[8] ; Siefert, Andrew ^[9] ; Schamp, Brandon S. ; Spasojevic, Marko J. ^[10] ; Jung, Vincent ^[11] ; Laughlin, Daniel C. ^[12] ; Richardson, Sarah J. ^[13] ; Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Yoann ^{[14, 15]} ; Schob, Christian ^[16] ; Gazol, Antonio ^[17] ; Prentice, Honor C. ^[18] ; Gross, Nicolas ^{[15, 19, 20]} ; Overton, Jake ^[21] ; Cianciaruso, Marcus V. ^[22] ; Louault, Frederique ^[23] ; Kamiyama, Chiho ^[24] ; Nakashizuka, Tohru ^[25] ; Hikosaka, Kouki ^[25] ; Sasaki, Takehiro ^[26] ; Katabuchi, Masatoshi ^[27] ; Dussault, Cedric Frenette ^[1] ; Gaucherand, Stephanie ^[28] ; Chen, Ning ^[2] ; Vandewalle, Marie ^[29] ; Batalha, Marco Antonio ^[30]

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Univ Sherbrooke, Dept Biol, Sherbrooke, PQ - Canada

^[2] Lanzhou Univ, State Key Lab Grassland Agroecosyst, Sch Life Sci, Lanzhou, Gansu - Peoples R China

^[3] Univ Western Australia, Sch Plant Biol, Perth, WA - Australia

^[4] Charles Sturt Univ, Inst Land Water & Soc, Albury, NSW - Australia

^[5] Fed Univ Uberlandia UFU, Inst Geog, Uberlandia, MG - Brazil

^[6] Univ Tartu, Inst Ecol & Earth Sci, Tartu - Estonia

^[7] Univ New South Wales, Evolut & Ecol Res Ctr, Sch Biol Earth & Environm Sci, Sydney, NSW - Australia

^[8] Macquarie Univ, Dept Biol Sci, Sydney, NSW - Australia

^[9] Univ Calif Davis, Dept Ecol & Evolut, Davis, CA 95616 - USA

^[10] Univ Calif Riverside, Dept Biol, Riverside, CA 92521 - USA

^[11] Univ Rennes 1, CNRS UMR 6553, ECOBIO, Rennes - France

^[12] Univ Wyoming, Dept Bot, Laramie, WY 82071 - USA

^[13] Landcare Res, Lincoln - New Zealand

^[14] Univ South Bohemia, Dept Bot, Ceske Budejovice - Czech Republic

^[15] Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Area Biodiversidad & Conservac, Escuela Super Ciencias Expt & Tecnol, Dept Biol & Geol Fis & Quim Inorgan, Mostoles - Spain

^[16] Univ Zurich, Dept Evolutionary Biol & Environm Studies, Zurich - Switzerland

^[17] CSIC, IPE, Zaragoza - Spain

^[18] Lund Univ, Dept Biol, Lund - Sweden

^[19] CNRS, INRA, USC 1339, Ctr Etud Biol Chize, Villiers En Bois - France

^[20] Univ Rochelle, Ctr Etud Biol Chize, CNRS, UMR 7372, Villiers En Bois - France

^[21] Landcare Res, Hamilton - New Zealand

^[22] Univ Fed Goias, Dept Ecol, Goiania, Go - Brazil

^[23] VetAgroSup, UMR Ecosyst Prairial, INRA, Clermont Ferrand - France

^[24] United Nations Univ, Inst Adv Study Sustainabil, Shibuya - Japan

^[25] Tohoku Univ, Grad Sch Life Sci, Sendai, Miyagi - Japan

^[26] Chiba Univ, Dept Biol, Fac Sci, Chiba - Japan

^[27] Univ Florida, Dept Biol, Gainesville, FL - USA

^[28] RSTEA, Unite Rech Ecosyst Montagnards, St Martin Dheres - France

^[29] Helmholtz Ctr Environm Res UFZ Permoserstr, Dept Conservat Biol, Leipzig - Germany

^[30] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Bot, Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY; v. 106, n. 3, p. 1001-1009, MAY 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 12

Abstract

How the patterns of niche occupancy vary from species-poor to species-rich communities is a fundamental question in ecology that has a central bearing on the processes that drive patterns of biodiversity. As species richness increases, habitat filtering should constrain the expansion of total niche volume, while limiting similarity should restrict the degree of niche overlap between species. Here, by explicitly incorporating intraspecific trait variability, we investigate the relationship between functional niche occupancy and species richness at the global scale. We assembled 21 datasets worldwide, spanning tropical to temperate biomes and consisting of 313 plant communities representing different growth forms. We quantified three key niche occupancy components (the total functional volume, the functional overlap between species and the average functional volume per species) for each community, related each component to species richness, and compared each component to the null expectations. As species richness increased, communities were more functionally diverse (an increase in total functional volume), and species overlapped more within the community (an increase in functional overlap) but did not more finely divide the functional space (no decline in average functional volume). Null model analyses provided evidence for habitat filtering (smaller total functional volume than expectation), but not for limiting similarity (larger functional overlap and larger average functional volume than expectation) as a process driving the pattern of functional niche occupancy.Synthesis. Habitat filtering is a widespread process driving the pattern of functional niche occupancy across plant communities and coexisting species tend to be more functionally similar rather than more functionally specialized. Our results indicate that including intraspecific trait variability will contribute to a better understanding of the processes driving patterns of functional niche occupancy. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/50169-1 - Towards an understanding of tipping points within tropical South American biomes
• Grantee: Ricardo da Silva Torres
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research Partnership for Technological Innovation - PITE
• FAPESP's process: 14/06453-0 - Towards an understanding of tipping points within tropical South American biomes
• Grantee: Vinicius de Lima Dantas
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 10/01835-0 - Environmental filters and phylogenetic structure of Cerrado and semideciduous forest (Emas National Park, GO)
• Grantee: Vinicius de Lima Dantas
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate