Trait-matching and mass effect determine the functional response of herbivore communities to land use intensification

1. Trait-based approaches represent a promising way to understand how trophic interactions shape animal communities. The approach relies on the identification of the traits that mediate the linkages between adjacent trophic levels, i.e. “trait-matching”. Yet, how trait-matching explains the abundance and diversity of animal communities has been barely explored. This question may be particularly critical in the context of land use intensification, currently threatening biodiversity and associated ecosystem services.
2. We collected a large dataset on plant and grasshopper traits from communities living in 204 sampled grasslands, in an intensively managed agricultural landscape. We used a multi-trait approach to quantify the relative contributions of trait-matching and land use intensification acting at both local and landscape scales on grasshopper functional diversity. We considered two key independent functional traits: incisor strength and body size of grasshopper species. Incisor st...