Contrasting trait assembly patterns in plant and bird communities along environmental and human-induced land-use gradients

Human-driven environmental changes can induce marked shifts in the functional structure of biological communities with possible repercussion on important ecosystem functions and services. At the same time it remains unclear to which extent these changes may differently affect various types of organisms. We investigated species richness and community functional structure of species assemblages at the landscape scale (1km2 plots) for two contrasting model taxa, i.e., plants (producers and sessile organisms) and birds (consumers and mobile organisms), along topography, climate, landscape heterogeneity, and land-use (agriculture and urbanization) gradients in a densely populated region of Switzerland. Our study revealed that agricultural and urban land uses drove marked shifts in the functional structure of biological communities compared to changes along climate and topography gradients, especially for plants, while for birds these changes were comparable. Agricultural and urban land uses ...人类活动驱动的环境变化可引发生物群落功能结构的显著改变，并可能对重要的生态系统功能与服务产生连锁影响。与此同时，目前尚不清楚此类变化会在多大程度上对不同类群的生物造成差异化影响。本研究以瑞士人口稠密区域为研究区，沿地形、气候、景观异质性及土地利用（农业与城市化）梯度，针对两类对比鲜明的模式类群——植物（生产者与固着生物）和鸟类（消费者与移动生物），在景观尺度（1平方千米样地）上调查了物种集合的物种丰富度与群落功能结构。研究结果表明，相较于气候与地形梯度带来的变化，农业与城市土地利用显著改变了生物群落的功能结构，这一现象在植物类群中尤为突出；而鸟类类群的功能结构变化幅度则与前者相当。农业与城市土地利用……