Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: McLean, M, Auber, A, Graham, NAJ, et al. Trait structure and redundancy determine sensitivity to disturbance in marine fish communities. Glob Change Biol. 2019; 00: 1– 14. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14662 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.14662 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Accepted author manuscript, 1.05 MB, PDF document
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Trait structure and redundancy determine sensitivity to disturbance in marine fish communities
AU - McLean, M.
AU - Auber, A.
AU - Graham, N.A.J.
AU - Houk, P.
AU - Villéger, S.
AU - Violle, C.
AU - Thuiller, W.
AU - Wilson, S.K.
AU - Mouillot, D.
N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: McLean, M, Auber, A, Graham, NAJ, et al. Trait structure and redundancy determine sensitivity to disturbance in marine fish communities. Glob Change Biol. 2019; 00: 1– 14. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14662 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.14662 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
PY - 2019/5/8
Y1 - 2019/5/8
N2 - Trait diversity is believed to influence ecosystem dynamics through links between organismal traits and ecosystem processes. Theory predicts that key traits and high trait redundancy—large species richness and abundance supporting the same traits—can buffer communities against environmental disturbances. While experiments and data from simple ecological systems lend support, large-scale evidence from diverse, natural systems under major disturbance is lacking. Here, using long-term data from both temperate (English Channel) and tropical (Seychelles Islands) fishes, we show that sensitivity to disturbance depends on communities’ initial trait structure and initial trait redundancy. In both ecosystems, we found that increasing dominance by climatically vulnerable traits (e.g., small, fast-growing pelagics/corallivores) rendered fish communities more sensitive to environmental change, while communities with higher trait redundancy were more resistant. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating the influence of trait structure and redundancy on community sensitivity over large temporal and spatial scales in natural systems. Our results exemplify a consistent link between biological structure and community sensitivity that may be transferable across ecosystems and taxa and could help anticipate future disturbance impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
AB - Trait diversity is believed to influence ecosystem dynamics through links between organismal traits and ecosystem processes. Theory predicts that key traits and high trait redundancy—large species richness and abundance supporting the same traits—can buffer communities against environmental disturbances. While experiments and data from simple ecological systems lend support, large-scale evidence from diverse, natural systems under major disturbance is lacking. Here, using long-term data from both temperate (English Channel) and tropical (Seychelles Islands) fishes, we show that sensitivity to disturbance depends on communities’ initial trait structure and initial trait redundancy. In both ecosystems, we found that increasing dominance by climatically vulnerable traits (e.g., small, fast-growing pelagics/corallivores) rendered fish communities more sensitive to environmental change, while communities with higher trait redundancy were more resistant. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating the influence of trait structure and redundancy on community sensitivity over large temporal and spatial scales in natural systems. Our results exemplify a consistent link between biological structure and community sensitivity that may be transferable across ecosystems and taxa and could help anticipate future disturbance impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
KW - climate change
KW - coral reefs
KW - diversity stability
KW - ecological traits
KW - ecosystem functioning
KW - English Channel
KW - functional diversity
U2 - 10.1111/gcb.14662
DO - 10.1111/gcb.14662
M3 - Journal article
JO - Global Change Biology
JF - Global Change Biology
SN - 1354-1013
ER -