Species contributions to ecosystem process and function can be population dependent and modified by biotic and abiotic setting.
Species contributions to ecosystem process and function can be population dependent and modified by biotic and abiotic setting.
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2016.2805
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发表时间：
2017-05-31
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Godbold JA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Wohlgemuth D;Solan M;Godbold JA
有明确的证据表明，通过改变功能性状的表达和分布来改变生物多样性，可以对生态系统特性产生巨大影响。然而，基于性状的生物体如何影响生态系统特性的总结通常假设性状在种群内部和种群之间表现出恒定性，并且物种对生态系统功能的贡献不会受到其他物种的存在或非生物条件变化的过度影响。在这里，我们使用一个实验来评估这些假设的有效性，在该实验中，三个地理上不同的潮间带沉积物居住的无脊椎动物种群相互替换。我们发现，这些物种对大量营养素产生的调节在不同种群之间可能有所不同，并且表明生物和/或非生物条件的变化可以进一步改变种群内个体行为的功能性重要方面。我们的结果证明了了解性状如何、何时以及为何表达的重要性，并表明物种功能的这些维度没有得到充分的约束，无法促进准确预测变化的功能后果。有关关键物种的生态作用的信息以及有关物种与环境相互作用的形式的假设亟待完善。
There is unequivocal evidence that altered biodiversity, through changes in the expression and distribution of functional traits, can have large impacts on ecosystem properties. However, trait-based summaries of how organisms affect ecosystem properties often assume that traits show constancy within and between populations and that species contributions to ecosystem functioning are not overly affected by the presence of other species or variations in abiotic conditions. Here, we evaluate the validity of these assumptions using an experiment in which three geographically distinct populations of intertidal sediment-dwelling invertebrates are reciprocally substituted. We find that the mediation of macronutrient generation by these species can vary between different populations and show that changes in biotic and/or abiotic conditions can further modify functionally important aspects of the behaviour of individuals within a population. Our results demonstrate the importance of knowing how, when, and why traits are expressed and suggest that these dimensions of species functionality are not sufficiently well-constrained to facilitate the accurate projection of the functional consequences of change. Information regarding the ecological role of key species and assumptions about the form of species–environment interactions needs urgent refinement.