Functional diversity assessment in riparian forests – Multiple approaches and trends: A review

Lozanovska, Ivana; Ferreira, Maria Teresa; Aguiar, Francisca C.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.08.039

Cited by 36 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 160 publications

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“…As several approaches are used in the literature to assess functional redundancy (Lozanovska et al 2018), we carried out two different types of analyses. First, it was assessed with the 'SYNCSA' package as the difference between species diversity and Rao's quadratic entropy based on their functional dissimilarity (de Bello et al 2007, Debastiani andPillar 2012), for each basin separately and for the entire dataset.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drying determines the temporal dynamics of stream invertebrate structural and functional beta diversity

et al. 2019

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Assembly processes shaping ecological communities can vary over time following variations of environmental conditions at different scales. Such temporal dynamism is exacerbated by climate change and increasing extreme events, and recent evidence suggests that, in turn, community composition and functions can vary substantially. However, empirical relationships between the spatio‐temporal dynamics of communities and that extreme events altering ecosystems are poorly investigated. We quantified the temporal dynamics of stream invertebrate communities over two years across 11 river basins prone to drying, covering a large geographical area of France. We tested predictions on the influence of the spatial arrangement and temporal dynamics of drying events across river networks. Combining a high temporal resolution of community description from taxonomic and functional perspectives, we quantified beta diversity over time and space and partitioned them into additive components: replacement of taxa and richness difference. Frequency and duration of drying events were precisely quantified and basins were classified based on the location of the drying events. We found a strong influence of the spatial drying pattern on the dissimilarities of community composition between sites. The high temporal variability of community structure was directly related to the frequency and duration of drying events. This temporal dynamism of communities was also strongly affected by the spatial drying pattern, indicating that fragmentation had a stronger effect on recolonisation processes for upstream‐drying basins. Finally, biological traits were unevenly distributed in space and time, suggesting a lack of functional redundancy that could have strong implications for ecosystem functions and services. The high temporal dynamics of communities highlighted in this study challenge the current definition of reference conditions in intermittent rivers, and the community sensitivity to frequency and duration of drying suggest that climate change might lead community dynamics to be increasingly driven by stochastic environmental variability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drying determines the temporal dynamics of stream invertebrate structural and functional beta diversity

et al. 2019

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“…The selection of functional indexes considerably affects the interpretation of the functional responses of ecosystems following disturbance. However, no consensus has been reached regarding the most appropriate index (Lozanovska et al., 2018). In the present study, the reduction in the number of guilds and FRic suggested that some functional traits were lost.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We determined guild abundance in each site by the summed abundance of species belonging to a guild recorded in each site and compared abundance between UFRZ and NFRZ using the Wilcoxon rank‐sum test ( n = 12). We used functional richness (FRic) and functional dispersion (FDis; see Kuebbing, Maynard, & Bradford, 2018), both of which are the most frequently applied in cases of flow regulation, land use, and species invasions (Lozanovska et al., 2018), to reflect functional diversity changes in UFRZ and NFRZ. A generalised linear model (GLM) and Student t ‐test were applied, respectively, to compare the FRic and FDis between UFRZ and NFRZ ( n = 12).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach was successfully applied to elucidate the adaptive strategies of riparian plants to fluvial disturbance (Aguiar et al., 2018; Bejarano, Nilsson, & Aguiar, 2018; Stromberg & Merritt, 2016). Bruno, Gutiérrez‐Cánovas, Sánchez‐Fernández, Velasco, and Nilsson (2016) and Lozanovska, Ferreira, and Aguiar (2018) quantified these functional changes using functional indices. However, most of these studies exclusively analysed woody species along the downstream‐from‐the‐dam riparian areas, overlooking the responses of herbs upstream from the dam.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unnatural flooding alters the functional diversity of riparian vegetation of the Three Gorges Reservoir

Bejarano

et al. 2020

Freshwater Biology

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The response of riparian vegetation to flow regulation has been a research focus for decades. Several studies have shed light on the effects of flow stabilisation on riparian woody species, but other life forms exposed to intensified inundation have been overlooked. Furthermore, studies from a functional perspective are scarce. We evaluated the functional response of riparian vegetation along the shores of the Three Gorges Reservoir on the Yangtze River in China to unnaturally long annual flooding (>7 months) after the first year of filling. We aimed to answer the following: (1) can we derive well‐defined flow‐response guilds from the riparian zones of the Yangtze River? and (2) which plant traits and guilds are favoured or disfavoured by the unnaturally long flooding environment? Woody and herbaceous species were inventoried in 12 reaches along the shorelines of the Three Gorges Reservoir and another 12 reaches along the free‐flowing Yangtze River. We performed a cluster analysis to derive riparian guilds using abundance data (projective coverage) from 40 riparian plant species and 13 responsive traits. Structural composition and functional diversity of the unnaturally and naturally flooded riparian vegetation were compared. Unnaturally long flooding substantially reduced species richness, but it did not change the riparian vegetation cover. This novel flooding reduced functional diversity, mostly owing to the loss of stress‐tolerant woody species and competitive perennial herbs. However, competitive annual herbs and flood‐tolerant riparian herbs, as the most abundant functional guilds, were favoured even under such long‐term hypoxic conditions. These guilds under regulation revealed a high functional resilience to prolonged flooding along the upstream reaches of the Yangtze River. Flooding tolerance and the capacity to synchronise germination and growth with short‐exposure periods underlie the plant species changes. Our findings are useful for anticipating the effects of long‐lasting inundation on riparian areas triggered by flow regulation or warmer climates. The functional perspective lends confidence that our conclusions can be generalised to other geographical regions despite not sharing the same species pool. Finally, the plant species that showed a high flooding tolerance should be considered for the restoration of riparian areas affected by the Three Gorges Reservoir.

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“…Although expensive and a research-intensive alternative, detailed information on resource use provides more reliable niche dimensions, allowing the comprehension of niche-based processes that drive assemblages' structure (Gonçalves-Souza et al, 2014;Passos et al, 2016). Moreover, hard traits, such as diet composition, have been shown as good predictors of the ecological performance of species, showing fine-scale aspects of habitat selection, physiological response to environmental conditions and shifts in behavior (Violle et al, 2007;Lozanovska et al, 2018).…”

Section: Trait Resolution and Its Impact On Functional Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional Traits of Fish Species: Adjusting Resolution to Accurately Express Resource Partitioning

et al. 2019

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One of the core challenges of functional diversity is the identification of traits that can accurately be linked to ecological processes. Trait-based metrics have been used to detect and quantify the effects of deterministic processes, such as niche filtering and co-occurrence mechanisms. However, most functional studies have simplified the measured attributes, especially for fish species. Here, we aimed to test the influence of trait resolution and surrogates on the accuracy in expressing resource partitioning among tropical fish species. We assessed pairwise species similarity between distinct ways of express resource use by species (through increasing trait resolution), and tested whether differences in resolutions are strong enough to provide different patterns in the functional structure of tropical fish assemblages. Our study shows that distinct ways of expressing resource partitioning among species may provide different ecological interpretations of this process as different resolutions or surrogates can change pairwise species, similarity.

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Functional diversity assessment in riparian forests – Multiple approaches and trends: A review

Cited by 36 publications

References 160 publications

Drying determines the temporal dynamics of stream invertebrate structural and functional beta diversity

Drying determines the temporal dynamics of stream invertebrate structural and functional beta diversity

Unnatural flooding alters the functional diversity of riparian vegetation of the Three Gorges Reservoir

Functional Traits of Fish Species: Adjusting Resolution to Accurately Express Resource Partitioning

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