Shifts in functional trait-based community structure across space and taxonomic groups (FunShift)

• Applicant: Professor Bertrand Fournier, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions ; Ecology of Land Use
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 463547830

The human environmental footprint continues to grow with profound implications for global biodiversity. However, the consequences for local biodiversity are unclear. This is a serious concern given the intrinsic value of biodiversity and its importance for the provision of ecosystem functions and services that underpin human well-being.The main goal of the project is to better understand the mechanisms driving local biodiversity. The project uses functional trait-based approaches to assess the mechanisms related to species dispersal and local community assembly from a pool of potential colonist species. It focuses on 6 taxonomic groups (bees, birds, butterflies, carabid beetles, gastropods, and spiders) in Switzerland. These groups have contrasted movement capacities and ecological needs which makes their comparison pertinent to understand how ecological strategies influence the spatial patterns and drivers of local biodiversity. We propose to use a large multi-taxa occurrence and trait database to (1) evaluate and map species potential movement among localities (potential landscape functional connectivity), (2) to quantify and map spatial functional trait shifts and identify their drivers, and (3) to evaluate the relative importance of dispersal limitations, and abiotic and biotic constraints and identify the species and functional traits associated with each of these processes. The project is structured in three work packages: work package 1 investigates the functional connectivity among local communities, work package 2 focuses on the quantification of trait shifts in space, and work package 3 identifies the mechanisms responsible for these changes.The project will develop and test new methods to improve our understanding of the spatial variations in community assembly processes of multiple taxonomic groups, provide country-scale maps of ecological processes, and identify functional trait syndromes associated with these processes. Contrary to most studies in landscape ecology, the project will adopt a trait-based multi-species approach to infer potential connectivity among localities from biodiversity and environmental data. It will also go beyond classic studies of community assembly by combining a trait-based approach and a spatially-dynamic definition of the species pool which will reduce ecological idiosyncrasies and lead to a more mechanistic and general understanding of local biodiversity dynamics. Generally, the project will improve our understanding of community assembly mechanisms facilitating the anticipation and management of local biodiversity changes.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants