Multidecadal changes in functional diversity lag behind the recovery of taxonomic diversity

作者：Nathan Jay Baker, Francesca Pilotto, Phillip J. Haubrock, Burkhard Beudert, Peter Haase · 发表于：Ecology and Evolution · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1002/ece3.8381 · 被引用次数：74 · 研究领域：Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology、Aquatic Invertebrate Ecology and Behavior、Species Distribution and Climate Change

While there has been increasing interest in how taxonomic diversity is changing over time, less is known about how long-term taxonomic changes may affect ecosystem functioning and resilience. Exploring long-term patterns of functional diversity can provide key insights into the capacity of a community to carry out ecological processes and the redundancy of species' roles. We focus on a protected freshwater system located in a national park in southeast Germany. We use a high-resolution benthic macroinvertebrate dataset spanning 32 years (1983-2014) and test whether changes in functional diversity are reflected in taxonomic diversity using a multidimensional trait-based approach and regression analyses. Specifically, we asked: (i) How has functional diversity changed over time? (ii) How functionally distinct are the community's taxa? (iii) Are changes in functional diversity concurrent with taxonomic diversity? And (iv) what is the extent of community functional redundancy? Resultant from acidification mitigation, macroinvertebrate taxonomic diversity increased over the study period. Recovery of functional diversity was less pronounced, lagging behind responses of taxonomic diversity. Over multidecadal timescales, the macroinvertebrate community has become more homogenous with a high degree of functional redundancy, despite being isolated from direct anthropogenic activity. While taxonomic diversity increased over time, functional diversity has yet to catch up. These results d...