Correlations and variance among species traits explain contrasting impacts of fragmentation and habitat loss on function
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Correlations and variance among species traits explain contrasting impacts of fragmentation and habitat loss on functional diversity Andre´s Felipe Sua´rez-Castro . Margaret M. Mayfield . Matthew G. E. Mitchell . Lorenzo Cattarino . Martine Maron . Jonathan R. Rhodes
Received: 31 March 2020 / Accepted: 17 August 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Context Understanding how landscape fragmentation affects functional diversity, defined as the distribution of functional traits in an assemblage, is critical for managing landscapes for biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Despite some scattered evidence, we lack a clear understanding of how patterns of fragmentation drive changes in functional diversity, and its relationship with species richness as habitat is lost from a landscape. Objectives To develop testable predictions about how landscape fragmentation, relative to the effects of habitat loss, impacts functional diversity and its relationship with species richness. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01098-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. A. F. Sua´rez-Castro (&) M. G. E. Mitchell M. Maron J. R. Rhodes Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia e-mail: [email protected] A. F. Sua´rez-Castro M. Maron J. R. Rhodes School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
Methods We used a spatially explicit metacommunity model that evaluates communities that vary in the distribution of response traits (traits involved in species responses to environmental change) and the correlation between response and effect traits (traits associated with species’ effects on ecosystem functioning). Results Compared to effects of habitat loss, relative effects of fragmentation on functional diversity increased as the variance in the distribution of response traits was high and the correlation among traits was high. Functional richness decreased faster than species richness in highly fragmented landscapes as habitat was lost. However, functional diversity remained unchanged or even increased in fragmented landscapes when either response and effect traits were not correlated (or weakly correlated), or when the
M. G. E. Mitchell Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada L. Cattarino Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Imperial College London, London, UK
M. M. Mayfield School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
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Landscape Ecol
proportion of generalist species with high dispersal capacities was high. Conclusions Compared to effects of habitat loss, the relative effects of fragmentation on functional diversity and species richness are more depende
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