Functional traits: The Interface Between The Formation Of Biodiversity and Biodiversity Effects On Ecosystem Functioning

Francesco De Bello
Assistant Professor at the University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic

Functional traits, any characteristic of organism linked to their fitness, provide a powerful means of addressing crucial theoretical and applied ecological questions, through its dual role as an indicator of mechanisms driving differences in species assembly into communities as a predictor of ecosystem-services. Functional traits provide a means of testing mechanisms behind species assembly within communities because environmental filtering, competition and disturbance influence species fitness via their traits. Functional traits also provide a link between species and multiple ecosystem-level processes, such as primary productivity, nutrient fluxes and resilience, since species influence these processes via their traits. The functional trait composition represents therefore the interface between the formation of biodiversity and the effect of biodiversity on ecosystems. This talk will give a highlight on the works we have been developing so far on functional trait composition in communities, covering both biological related questions and mathematical development. These examples aim at showing how functional trait composition could offer a practical means of investigating ecology’s persistent questions.

2ª feira, 21 de Setembro de 2015
FCUL (Edif. C6) – 12.00h-13.00h – Sala 6.2.51