Nature Communications (Feb 2024)
A slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification
- Margot Neyret,
- Gaëtane Le Provost,
- Andrea Larissa Boesing,
- Florian D. Schneider,
- Dennis Baulechner,
- Joana Bergmann,
- Franciska T. de Vries,
- Anna Maria Fiore-Donno,
- Stefan Geisen,
- Kezia Goldmann,
- Anna Merges,
- Ruslan A. Saifutdinov,
- Nadja K. Simons,
- Joseph A. Tobias,
- Andrey S. Zaitsev,
- Martin M. Gossner,
- Kirsten Jung,
- Ellen Kandeler,
- Jochen Krauss,
- Caterina Penone,
- Michael Schloter,
- Stefanie Schulz,
- Michael Staab,
- Volkmar Wolters,
- Antonios Apostolakis,
- Klaus Birkhofer,
- Steffen Boch,
- Runa S. Boeddinghaus,
- Ralph Bolliger,
- Michael Bonkowski,
- François Buscot,
- Kenneth Dumack,
- Markus Fischer,
- Huei Ying Gan,
- Johannes Heinze,
- Norbert Hölzel,
- Katharina John,
- Valentin H. Klaus,
- Till Kleinebecker,
- Sven Marhan,
- Jörg Müller,
- Swen C. Renner,
- Matthias C. Rillig,
- Noëlle V. Schenk,
- Ingo Schöning,
- Marion Schrumpf,
- Sebastian Seibold,
- Stephanie A. Socher,
- Emily F. Solly,
- Miriam Teuscher,
- Mark van Kleunen,
- Tesfaye Wubet,
- Peter Manning
Affiliations
- Margot Neyret
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre
- Gaëtane Le Provost
- INRAE, Bordeaux Sciences Agro, ISVV, SAVE
- Andrea Larissa Boesing
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre
- Florian D. Schneider
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre
- Dennis Baulechner
- Justus Liebig University, Department of Animal Ecology
- Joana Bergmann
- Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)
- Franciska T. de Vries
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam
- Anna Maria Fiore-Donno
- Terrestrial Ecology, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne
- Stefan Geisen
- Laboratory of Nematology, Wageningen University and Research
- Kezia Goldmann
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Soil Ecology Department
- Anna Merges
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre
- Ruslan A. Saifutdinov
- A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences
- Nadja K. Simons
- Ecological Networks, Technical University Darmstadt
- Joseph A. Tobias
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London
- Andrey S. Zaitsev
- Justus Liebig University, Department of Animal Ecology
- Martin M. Gossner
- Forest Entomology, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
- Kirsten Jung
- Institut of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University
- Ellen Kandeler
- Department of Soil Biology, Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim
- Jochen Krauss
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg
- Caterina Penone
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
- Michael Schloter
- Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis
- Stefanie Schulz
- Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis
- Michael Staab
- Ecological Networks, Technical University Darmstadt
- Volkmar Wolters
- Justus Liebig University, Department of Animal Ecology
- Antonios Apostolakis
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry
- Klaus Birkhofer
- Department of Ecology, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg
- Steffen Boch
- Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
- Runa S. Boeddinghaus
- Department of Soil Biology, Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim
- Ralph Bolliger
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
- Michael Bonkowski
- Terrestrial Ecology, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne
- François Buscot
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Soil Ecology Department
- Kenneth Dumack
- Terrestrial Ecology, Institute of Zoology, University of Cologne
- Markus Fischer
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
- Huei Ying Gan
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironments Tübingen (SHEP)
- Johannes Heinze
- Department of Biodiversity, Heinz Sielmann Foundation
- Norbert Hölzel
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster
- Katharina John
- Justus Liebig University, Department of Animal Ecology
- Valentin H. Klaus
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich
- Till Kleinebecker
- Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management (ILR), Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen
- Sven Marhan
- Department of Soil Biology, Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim
- Jörg Müller
- Department of Nature Conservation, Heinz Sielmann Foundation
- Swen C. Renner
- Ornithology, Natural History Museum Vienna
- Matthias C. Rillig
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology
- Noëlle V. Schenk
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
- Ingo Schöning
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry
- Marion Schrumpf
- Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry
- Sebastian Seibold
- Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences
- Stephanie A. Socher
- Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Department Environment and Biodiversity
- Emily F. Solly
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Computation Hydrosystems Department
- Miriam Teuscher
- University of Göttingen, Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use
- Mark van Kleunen
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Taizhou University
- Tesfaye Wubet
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena-
- Peter Manning
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45113-5
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 15,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 23
Abstract
Abstract Organismal functional strategies form a continuum from slow- to fast-growing organisms, in response to common drivers such as resource availability and disturbance. However, whether there is synchronisation of these strategies at the entire community level is unclear. Here, we combine trait data for >2800 above- and belowground taxa from 14 trophic guilds spanning a disturbance and resource availability gradient in German grasslands. The results indicate that most guilds consistently respond to these drivers through both direct and trophically mediated effects, resulting in a ‘slow-fast’ axis at the level of the entire community. Using 15 indicators of carbon and nutrient fluxes, biomass production and decomposition, we also show that fast trait communities are associated with faster rates of ecosystem functioning. These findings demonstrate that ‘slow’ and ‘fast’ strategies can be manifested at the level of whole communities, opening new avenues of ecosystem-level functional classification.
