A slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 1251
• Main Authors: Neyret, Margot, Le Provost, Gaëtane, Boesing, Andrea Larissa, Schneider, Florian D., Baulechner, Dennis, Bergmann, Joana, de Vries, Franciska T., Fiore-Donno, Anna Maria, Geisen, Stefan, Goldmann, Kezia, Merges, Anna, Saifutdinov, Ruslan A., Simons, Nadja K., Tobias, Joseph A., Zaitsev, Andrey S., Gossner, Martin M., Jung, Kirsten, Kandeler, Ellen, Krauss, Jochen, Penone, Caterina, Schloter, Michael, Schulz, Stefanie, Staab, Michael, Wolters, Volkmar, Apostolakis, Antonios, Birkhofer, Klaus, Boch, Steffen, Boeddinghaus, Runa S., Bolliger, Ralph, Bonkowski, Michael, Buscot, François, Dumack, Kenneth, Fischer, Markus, Gan, Huei Ying, Heinze, Johannes, Hölzel, Norbert, John, Katharina, Klaus, Valentin H., Kleinebecker, Till, Marhan, Sven, Müller, Jörg, Renner, Swen C., Rillig, Matthias C., Schenk, Noëlle V., Schöning, Ingo, Schrumpf, Marion, Seibold, Sebastian, Socher, Stephanie A., Solly, Emily F., Teuscher, Miriam, van Kleunen, Mark, Wubet, Tesfaye, Manning, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 10.02.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/158/853; 704/158/2445; Availability; Ecological function; Ecosystems; Environmental factors; Environmental Sciences; Flowers & plants; Grasslands; Guilds; Humanities and Social Sciences; Land use; multidisciplinary; Resource availability; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Synchronism; Taxa
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45113-5

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. Although co-occurring species may differ widely in their response traits, coordinated functional trait shifts may emerge at the community level in response to environmental factors. Here, the authors use data from 150 grassland sites to identify a coordinated slow-fast strategy response to land-use intensification across above- and belowground taxa.