An evolutionary approach to ecosystem functioning

Tilman, David

doi:10.1073/pnas.211430798

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…selection and species sorting processes, biodiversity, and ecosystem dynamics. These approaches are being incorporated into empirical work, and, hence, the development of related theoretical approaches is greatly needed (Tilman, 2001;Reich et al, 2003bReich et al, , 2004McGill et al, 2006;Shipley et al, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such traits could be the lowest level of resources that sustain positive growth (zero net growth isoclines) (Tilman, 1982), the ability to avoid predation (Chase et al, 2000), the optimal temperature for growth (Cunningham and Read, 2003), or specific leaf area (Reich et al, 2003a). Trait-based approaches (Chesson, 1994;Tilman et al, 1997;Norberg et al, 2001;Chesson et al, 2002;Loreau et al, 2003;Leibold and Norberg, 2004;Norberg, 2004;Tilman, 2004) are especially useful for modeling these sorts of dynamics and for predicting the interactions between environmental fluctuations and ecosystem responses (Tilman, 2001;McGill et al, 2006). The generality of trait-based approaches allows for the modeling of systems that experience disparate environmental conditions and that are comprised of a broad assortment of organisms and interactions (e.g., predator-prey and competition).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Understanding ecosystem dynamics often requires detailed knowledge of multiple traits (Tilman, 2001;Reich et al, 2003bReich et al, , 2004McGill et al, 2006;Shipley et al, 2006), yet few, if any, studies have explicitly considered correlations among these traits and their environmental drivers. Such correlations must be ubiquitous in nature and can be induced by interactions among species and individuals, e.g., competition, as well as epistatic effects at the genome level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A general multi-trait-based framework for studying the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning

Savage

Webb

Norberg

2007

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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Environmental change is as multifaceted as are the species and communities that respond to these changes. Current theoretical approaches to modeling ecosystem response to environmental change often deal only with single environmental drivers or single species traits, simple ecological interactions, and/or steady states, leading to concern about how accurately these approaches will capture future responses to environmental change in real biological systems. To begin addressing this issue, we generalize a previous trait-based framework to incorporate aspects of frequency dependence, functional complementarity, and the dynamics of systems composed of species that are defined by multiple traits that are tied to multiple environmental drivers. The framework is particularly well suited for analyzing the role of temporal environmental fluctuations in maintaining trait variability and the resultant effects on community response to environmental change. Using this framework, we construct simple models to investigate two ecological problems. First, we show how complementary resource use can significantly enhance the nutrient uptake of plant communities through two different mechanisms related to increased productivity (over-yielding) and larger trait variability. Over-yielding is a hallmark of complementarity and increases the total biomass of the community and, thus, the total rate at which nutrients are consumed. Trait variability also increases due to the lower levels of competition associated with complementarity, thus speeding up the rate at which more efficient species emerge as conditions change. Second, we study systems in which multiple environmental drivers act on species defined by multiple, correlated traits. We show that correlations in these systems can increase trait variability within the community and again lead to faster responses to environmental change. The methodological advances provided here will apply to almost any function that relates species traits and environmental drivers to growth, and should prove useful for studying the effects of climate change on the dynamics of biota.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A general multi-trait-based framework for studying the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning

Savage

Webb

Norberg

2007

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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“…The recent advances in quantitative traits‐based approaches have been touted as both bringing a predictive basis to community ecology and providing stronger theoretical linkages between community and ecosystem ecology. Such hopeful claims for the potential of traits include moving toward a `new synthesis of evolutionary, community and ecosystem perspectives’ (Tilman 2001) and even uncovering potential laws in ecology (McGill et al. 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A structured and dynamic framework to advance traits‐based theory and prediction in ecology

et al. 2010

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Predicting changes in community composition and ecosystem function in a rapidly changing world is a major research challenge in ecology. Traits-based approaches have elicited much recent interest, yet individual studies are not advancing a more general, predictive ecology. Significant progress will be facilitated by adopting a coherent theoretical framework comprised of three elements: an underlying trait distribution, a performance filter defining the fitness of traits in different environments, and a dynamic projection of the performance filter along some environmental gradient. This framework allows changes in the trait distribution and associated modifications to community composition or ecosystem function to be predicted across time or space. The structure and dynamics of the performance filter specify two key criteria by which we judge appropriate quantitative methods for testing traits-based hypotheses. Bayesian multilevel models, dynamical systems models and hybrid approaches meet both these criteria and have the potential to meaningfully advance traits-based ecology.

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“…Recent theoretical advances indicate that biodiversity as a phenomenon may affect ecosystem functions such as productivity and resilience (e.g., species richness and composition; see Tilman et al 1996;Yachi and Loreau 1999;Tilman 2000Tilman , 2001Kennedy et al 2002;Bond and Chase 2002;Loreau et al 2003). Moreover, in some places assemblages of several groups were stable through time (see Brown et al 2001;; even through the dramatic Holocene climate changes (see Rodríguez 2004).…”

Section: Theoretical Advantagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A synecological framework for systematic conservation planning

Hortal

Lobo

2006

Biodiv. Inf.

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Abstract.− Biodiversity conservation design, though difficult with fragmentary or insufficient biological data, can be planned and evaluated with several methods. One of them, the complementarity criterion, is commonly used to account for the distributions of a number of species (i.e., an autoecological approach). At the same time, the patchiness and spatial bias of available distribution data has also been dealt with through distribution modelling. However, both the uncertainty of the ranges estimated and the changes in species' distributions in response to changing climates, limit the potential of single-species distributions as the biodiversity attribute to be used in complementarity strategies. Several technical and theoretical advantages of composite biodiversity variables (i.e., a synecological approach) may, however, make them ideal biodiversity indicators for conservation area selection. The drawbacks associated with current biodiversity data are discussed herein, along with the possible advantages and disadvantages of conservation planning through a synecological or autoecological approach.

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An evolutionary approach to ecosystem functioning

Cited by 17 publications

References 17 publications

A general multi-trait-based framework for studying the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning

A general multi-trait-based framework for studying the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning

A structured and dynamic framework to advance traits‐based theory and prediction in ecology

A synecological framework for systematic conservation planning

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