Trait-based paradise – or only feeding the computer with biology?

Endrédi, Anett; Jordán, Ferenc; Abonyi, András

doi:10.1556/168.2018.19.3.13

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In aquatic ecosystems, trait‐based methods have received intense attention in recent years (Endrédi, Jordán, & Abonyi, ; Wu et al, ) since they can be used independently of ecoregions (Dolédec & Statzner, ) and provide deeper insights into the functional and structural characteristics of communities (Verberk, Noordwijk, & Hildrew, ) through different environmental filters. Trait‐based approaches can provide an easier, faster, and more general understanding (Flynn, Mirotchnick, Jain, Palmer, & Naeem, ) of community organization than traditional taxonomical methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In aquatic ecosystems, trait-based methods have received intense attention in recent years (Endrédi, Jordán, & Abonyi, 2018;Wu et al, 2017) since they can be used independently of ecoregions (Dolédec & Statzner, 2008) and provide deeper insights into the functional and structural characteristics of communities (Verberk, Noordwijk, & Hildrew, 2013) through different environmental filters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trait‐based diatom functional diversity as an appropriate tool for understanding the effects of environmental changes in soda pans

Stenger‐Kovács

Lengyel

Buczkó

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Saline lakes, among the most seriously endangered ecosystems, are threatened due to climate change and human activities. One valuable feature of these environments is that they constitute areas of high biodiversity. Ecologists are, therefore, under great pressure to improve their understanding of the effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on the biodiversity of saline lakes. In this study, a total of 257 samples from 32 soda pans in Central Europe between 2006 and 2015 were examined. The effects of environmental variables and of geographical and limnoecological factors on functional diversity were analyzed. Furthermore, the explanatory power of the trait-based approach was assessed, and the applicability of the indices for biomonitoring purposes was determined. It was found that low habitat heterogeneity and harsh environments lead to the selection of a small number of suitable traits, and consequently, to a naturally low level of functional diversity. Anthropogenic activities enhance diversity at functional level due to the shift toward freshwater characteristics. On the regional scale, the effects of the region and status (natural, degraded, reconstructed) on diatom functional diversity were significant and more pronounced than that of the environmental and other limnoecological factors. The degree of variance found in functional diversity ascribed to environmental variables is five times greater in the case of the application of a trait-based approach, than when a taxonomic one is employed in the literature. Each of the tested functional diversity indices was sensitive to the most important environmental variables. Furthermore, these were type-specific and proved to be more complex indicators than taxonomic metrics. It is possible to suggest four functional diversity indices (FGR, FRic, FDis, and FDiv) which emphasize their independence from substrate and seasonal variations for ecological status assessment and conservation planning. K E Y W O R D Sconservation, diversity indices, ecological status, environmental constrains, saline ecosystems | 321 STENGER-KOVÁCS ET al.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait‐based diatom functional diversity as an appropriate tool for understanding the effects of environmental changes in soda pans

Stenger‐Kovács

Lengyel

Buczkó

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Novel algorithms (e.g., machine learning) can further help in the future to provide quantitative analyses and to reveal hidden patterns. This way, trait-based analyses have a chance to offer more than just rediscovering biological knowledge in silico (Endrédi et al, 2018a). Combinations of traits, as a major future task, can be more informative than looking at them separately.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Is Where in Marine Food Webs? A Trait-Based Analysis of Network Positions

et al. 2021

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Networks of trophic interactions provide a lot of information on the functioning of marine ecosystems. Beyond feeding habits, three additional traits (mobility, size, and habitat) of various organisms can complement this trophic view. The combination of traits and food web positions are studied here on a large food web database. The aim is a better description and understanding of ecological roles of organisms and the identification of the most important keystone species. This may contribute to develop better ecological indicators (e.g., keystoneness) and help in the interpretation of food web models. We use food web data from the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) database for 92 aquatic ecosystems. We quantify the network position of organisms by 18 topological indices (measuring centrality, hierarchy, and redundancy) and consider their three, categorical traits (e.g., for mobility: sessile, drifter, limited mobility, and mobile). Relationships are revealed by multivariate analysis. We found that topological indices belong to six different categories and some of them nicely separate various trait categories. For example, benthic organisms are richly connected and mobile organisms occupy higher food web positions.

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“…Nevertheless, the trait-based concept allows ecologists to directly include biologically important information in statistical models. Furthermore, it helps information sharing and generalization by reducing the taxon and ecosystem dependency of the results (Endrédi et al 2018). McGill et al (2006) suggested a paradigm shift that the main focus of community ecology should be given to functional traits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%