Synthesis Project 4: Predicting ecosystem functions from functional diversity and plant-animal interaction networks

生物多样性支持生态系统的功能，并有助于其抵御气候和土地利用变化。许多生态系统功能是由植物-动物相互作用介导的，这些相互作用是在群落范围的相互作用网络中组织起来的。目前尚不清楚植物和动物多样性的变化如何转化为这些网络结构的变化，以及这些变化如何影响由此产生的生态系统功能。本文将沿着气候和土地利用梯度研究乞力马扎罗山植物及其动物传粉者和种子传播者（昆虫、鸟类和蝙蝠）的生物多样性-生态系统功能关系。我们将结合生物多样性、物种特征、动植物相互作用和生态系统功能的数据来解决三个重要问题。首先，我们将测试植物或动物的功能多样性是否驱动相互作用网络的变化，以及相互作用网络是自下而上还是自上而下控制的。其次，我们将研究功能和相互作用多样性的变化与授粉和种子传播生态系统功能的变化之间的关系。第三，我们将相互作用的植物和动物物种的响应特征（关于气候和土地利用）和效应特征（关于互惠的植物-动物网络）联系起来。在此基础上，建立基于性状的动植物相互作用网络生态位模型，模拟气候和土地利用变化对动物生态系统功能的影响。总体而言，该综合项目将揭示乞力马扎罗山生物多样性、动植物相互作用和生态系统功能之间的机制联系，并将量化相互作用的动植物生态群落对气候和土地利用变化的稳健性。

Biodiversity supports the functioning of ecosystems and contributes to their robustness against climate and land-use change. Many ecosystem functions are mediated by plant-animal interactions that are organized in community-wide interaction networks. It is unclear how changes in plant and animal diversity translate into changes in the structure of these networks and how such changes impact the resulting ecosystem functions. Here we will study biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships for plants and their animal pollinators and seed dispersers (insects, birds and bats) along climate and land-use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro. We will combine data on biodiversity, species traits, plant-animal interactions and ecosystem functions to address three important questions. First, we will test whether the functional diversity of plants or animals drives changes in interaction networks and whether interaction networks are bottom-up or top-down controlled. Second, we will examine how changes in functional and interaction diversity are related to changes in the ecosystem functions of pollination and seed dispersal. Third, we will correlate response traits (with respect to climate and land use) and effect traits (with respect to mutualistic plant-animal networks) of the interacting plant and animal species. Based on these empirical data, we will run a trait-based niche model of plant-animal interaction networks to simulate the impacts of climate and land-use change on ecosystem functions of animals. Overall, this synthesis project will reveal mechanistic links between biodiversity, plant-animal interactions and ecosystem functions and will quantify the robustness of ecological communities of interacting plant and animal species to climate and land-use change on Mt. Kilimanjaro.