Abstract
Community weighted mean trait, i.e., functional composition, has been extensively used for upscaling of individual traits to the community functional attributes and ecosystem functioning in recent years. Yet, the importance of intraspecific trait variation relative to species turnover in determining changes in CWM still remains unclear, especially under nutrient enrichment scenarios. In this study, we conducted a global data synthesis analysis and three nutrient addition experiments in two sites of alpine grassland to reveal the extent to which species turnover and ITV contribute to shift in CWM in response to nutrient enrichment. The results consistently show that the importance of ITV relative to species turnover in regulating CWM in response to nutrient enrichment strongly depends on trait attributes rather than on environmental factors (fertilization type, climatic factors, soil properties, and light transmittance). For whole plant traits (height) and leaf morphological traits, species turnover is generally more important than ITV in determining CWM following most treatments of nutrient addition. However, for leaf nutrient traits, ITV outweighed species turnover in determining shifts in CWM in response to almost all treatments of nutrient addition, regardless of types and gradients of the nutrient addition. Thus, our study not only provides robust evidence for trait-dependent importance of ITV in mediating community functional composition, but also highlights the need to consider the nature of functional traits in linking ITV to community assembly and ecosystem functioning under global nutrient enrichment scenarios.
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Data availability
All datasets used and/or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Used in analysis during this study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the staff of the Research Station of Bayanbulak Grassland Ecosystems, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography and Gansu Gannan Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Lanzhou University for providing invaluable field assistance.
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The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32060285 to ZXL and No 32171519 to NKC).
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Conceptualization: XZ, ZR, KN. Methodology: XZ, LD, YZ, JL, ZR. Formal analysis: XZ, ZR. Data curation: XZ, ZR. Writing—original draft: XZ, KN. Writing—review and editing: XZL ZR, KN. Visualization: XZ.
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Zhou, X., Dong, L., Zhang, Y. et al. Trait-dependent importance of intraspecific variation relative to species turnover in determining community functional composition following nutrient enrichment. Oecologia (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05555-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05555-6