Riparian plant guilds become simpler and most likely fewer following flow regulation

1. River regulation affects riparian systems worldwide and conservation and restoration efforts are essential to retain biodiversity, and the functioning and services of riverine ecosystems. Effects of regulation on plant species richness have been widely addressed, but the filtering effect of regulation on guilds has received less attention. 2. We used a functional trait approach to identify adaptive plant strategies through regulation-tolerant traits and predict shifts of riparian vegetation communities in response to regulation. We analysed variation in functional diversity across gradients of hydrological alteration in northern Sweden in relation to modified timing and infrequent major floods, along with frequent short-term inundation. 3. Functional richness was similar in all study sites, but species richness declined with increasing intensity of regulation, and the species lost were largely functionally redundant (i.e. co-existing species that have similar contribution to an ecosy...

1. 河流调控影响全球河岸系统，保护与恢复工作对于维持生物多样性、河流生态系统的功能及服务至关重要。调控对植物物种丰富度的影响已得到广泛研究，但调控对功能群的过滤效应却较少受到关注。2. 我们采用功能性状方法，通过耐调控性状识别植物适应策略，并预测河岸植被群落对调控的响应变化。我们分析了瑞典北部水文改变梯度下功能多样性的变化，该变化与洪水时间改变、罕见大洪水及频繁短期淹没相关。3. 所有研究站点的功能丰富度相似，但物种丰富度随调控强度增加而下降，且消失的物种大多具有功能冗余性（即对生态系统贡献相似的共存物种……）