Data from: Shifts and linkages of functional diversity between above and belowground compartments along a flooding gradient

1. Trait-based approaches have the potential to reveal general and predictive relationships between organisms and ecosystem functioning. However the mechanisms underlying the functional structure of communities are still unclear. Within terrestrial ecosystems several studies have shown that many ecological processes are controlled by the interacting above and belowground compartments. However, few studies have used traits to reveal functional relationships between plants and soil fauna. Mostly, research combining plants and soil fauna solely used the traits of one assemblage in predictive studies.

2. Above (plants) and belowground (Collembola) compartments were sampled over a flooding gradient in northern France along the Seine River. First, we measured the effect of flooding on functional and taxonomic assembly within both communities. We then considered the linkages between plant and Collembolan species richness, community traits and assessed whether traits of both compartments converged at high flooding intensity (abiotic filtering) and diverged when this constraint is released (biotic filter).

3. Species richness of both taxa followed the same bell-shaped pattern along the gradient while a similar significant pattern of functional richness was only observed for plants. Further analyses revealed a progressive shift from trait convergence to divergence for plants but not for Collembola as constraints intensity decreased.. Instead, our results highlighted that Collembola traits were mainly linked to variations in plant traits. This lead, within Collembola assemblages, to convergence of a subset of perception and habitat-related traits for which the relationship with plant traits was assessed.

4. Synthesis: Using a trait-based approach, our study highlighted that functional relationships occur between above and belowground compartments. We underlined that plant communities functional composition plays a key role in structuring Collembola assemblages in addition to the role of abiotic variables. Our study clearly shows that functional diversity provides a new approach to link the above and belowground compartments and might, therefore, be further considered when studying ecological processes at the interface between both compartments.