Data from: The functional syndrome: linking individual trait variability to ecosystem functioning

Phenotypic variability is increasingly assessed through functional response and effect traits, which provide a mechanistic framework for investigating how an organism responds to varying ecological factors and how these responses affect ecosystem functioning. Covariation between response and effect traits has been poorly examined at the intraspecific level, thus hampering progress in understanding how phenotypic variability alters the role of organisms in ecosystems. Using a multi-trait approach and a nine-month longitudinal monitoring of individual red-swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), we demonstrated that most of the measured response and effect traits were partially stable during the ontogeny of individuals. Suites of response and effect traits were associated with a response syndrome and an effect syndrome, respectively, which were correlated to form a functional syndrome. Using a bioenergetic model, we predicted that differences in the response syndrome composition of hypothetical populations had important ecological effects on a key ecosystem process (i.e. whole-lake litter decomposition) to a level similar to those induced by doubling population size. Demonstrating the existence of a functional syndrome is likely to improve our understanding of the ecological impacts of phenotypic variation among individuals in wild populations across levels of biological organization, and the linkage between ecosystem and evolutionary ecology.表型变异（phenotypic variability）的评估正日益通过功能响应性状与效应性状（functional response and effect traits）展开，二者为解析生物体如何响应多变的生态因子，以及这些响应如何影响生态系统功能提供了机制性框架。目前，响应性状与效应性状间的协变关系在种内水平上的研究仍较为匮乏，这阻碍了学界对表型变异如何改变生物体在生态系统中作用的理解。本研究采用多性状研究方法，对红沼泽螯虾（Procambarus clarkii，red-swamp crayfish）个体开展了为期9个月的纵向监测，结果显示多数被测的响应性状与效应性状在个体发育过程中呈现部分稳定性。多组响应性状与效应性状分别对应响应综合征（response syndrome）与效应综合征（effect syndrome），二者相互关联进而形成功能综合征（functional syndrome）。本研究借助生物能学模型（bioenergetic model）预测，假想种群的响应综合征组成差异对关键生态系统过程（即全湖凋落物分解）的生态影响程度，与种群规模翻倍所带来的影响相当。证实功能综合征的存在，有助于我们深化对野生种群内个体间表型变异的生态影响的理解，该影响可跨越不同生物组织层级，同时也能促进学界对生态系统与进化生态学之间关联的认识。