Species pools and environmental sorting control different aspects of plant diversity and functional trait composition in recovering grasslands

Succession theory argues that the taxonomic and functional structure of assembling communities is regulated by the interplay of local environmental conditions and regional factors such as available species pools or landscape configurations that moderate dispersal. Yet, the relative importance of these factors and whether they control different aspects of community structure, for example species diversity or the composition of plant traits, is not well understood. This limits predictions of spatial variation in successional outcomes.
We explored patterns of species diversity and traits in recovering calcareous grasslands that varied in environmental conditions, age, past and present spatial landscape configuration, as well as in the propagule pressure they receive from historical grasslands that have large and functionally distinct species pools. Mixed-effects modelling and multimodel inference were used to dissect the leading drivers of species diversity and functional composition.
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演替理论（Succession theory）认为，集合群落（assembling communities）的分类学与功能结构受局域环境条件与区域因素（如可利用物种库（available species pools）或调节扩散的景观格局（landscape configurations））的相互作用调控。然而，这些因素的相对重要性，以及它们是否调控群落结构的不同方面（如物种多样性或植物性状组成），目前尚未得到充分理解。这限制了对演替结果空间变异的预测。

我们探究了恢复中的钙质草原的物种多样性与性状模式，这些草原在环境条件、年龄、过去与当前的空间景观格局、以及从具有大型且功能独特物种库的历史草原接收的繁殖体压力（propagule pressure）等方面存在差异。我们采用混合效应模型（Mixed-effects modelling）与多模型推断（multimodel inference），剖析物种多样性与功能组成的主导驱动因素。

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