Functional traits, the phylogeny of function, and ecosystem service vulnerability

• Autores: Diaz, Sandra Myrna; Purvis, Andy; Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.; Mace, Georgina M.; Donoghue, Michael J.; Ewers, Robert M.; Jordano, Pedro; Pearse, William D.
• Año de publicación: 2013
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Functional traits; Ecosystem services; Phylogenetic conservatism; Specific response function; Biodiversity loss; Ecosystem vulnerability; Specific effect function
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

People depend on benefits provided by ecological systems. Understanding how these ecosystem services – and the ecosystem properties underpinning them – respond to drivers of change is therefore an urgent priority. We address this challenge through developing a novel risk-assessment framework that integrates ecological and evolutionary perspectives on functional traits to determine species’ effects on ecosystems and their tolerance of environmental changes. We define Specific Effect Function (SEF) as the per-gram or per capita capacity of a species to affect an ecosystem property, and Specific Response Function (SRF) as the ability of a species to maintain or enhance its population as the environment changes. Our risk assessment is based on the idea that the security of ecosystem services depends on how effects (SEFs) and tolerances (SRFs) of organisms – which both depend on combinations of functional traits – correlate across species and how they are arranged on the species’ phylogeny. Four extreme situations are theoretically possible, from minimum concern when SEF and SRF are neither correlated nor show a phylogenetic signal, to maximum concern when they are negatively correlated (i.e., the most important species are the least tolerant) and phylogenetically patterned (lacking independent backup). We illustrate the assessment with five case studies, involving both plant and animal examples. However, the extent to which the frequency of the four plausible outcomes, or their intermediates, apply more widely in realworld ecological systems is an open question that needs empirical evidence, and suggests a research agenda at the interface of evolutionary biology and ecosystem ecology.
Fil: Diaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina
Fil: Purvis, Andy. Imperial College London; Reino Unido
Fil: Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Países Bajos
Fil: Mace, Georgina M.. Imperial College London; Reino Unido. University College London; Estados Unidos
Fil: Donoghue, Michael J.. University Of Yale; Estados Unidos
Fil: Ewers, Robert M.. Imperial College London; Reino Unido
Fil: Jordano, Pedro. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Estacion Biologica de Doñana; España
Fil: Pearse, William D.. Imperial College London; Reino Unido