Data from: Taxonomic and functional turnover are decoupled in European peat bogs

In peatland ecosystems, plant communities mediate a globally significant carbon store. The effects of global environmental change on plant assemblages are expected to be a factor in determining how ecosystem functions such as carbon uptake will respond. Using vegetation data from 56 Sphagnum-dominated peat bogs across Europe, we show that in these ecosystems plant species aggregate into two major clusters that are each defined by shared response to environmental conditions. Across environmental gradients, we find significant taxonomic turnover in both clusters. However, functional identity and functional redundancy of the community as a whole remain unchanged. This strongly suggests that in peat bogs, species turnover across environmental gradients is restricted to functionally similar species. Our results demonstrate that plant taxonomic and functional turnover are decoupled, which may allow these peat bogs to maintain ecosystem functioning when subject to future environmental change.

在泥炭地（peatland）生态系统中，植物群落支撑着全球范围内举足轻重的碳储存库。全球环境变化对植物群落组成的影响，或将成为决定碳吸收等生态系统功能响应模式的关键影响因素之一。本研究基于欧洲56个以泥炭藓（Sphagnum）为优势种的泥炭沼泽的植被数据，发现此类生态系统中的植物物种可聚类为两大主要类群，每一类群均以对环境条件的响应特征趋同为界定依据。沿环境梯度，两类聚类簇中均存在显著的分类学更替（taxonomic turnover）现象，但整体群落的功能属性（functional identity）与功能冗余度（functional redundancy）均保持稳定。该结果有力表明，泥炭沼泽中沿环境梯度发生的物种更替仅局限于功能特征相似的物种之间。本研究证实，植物的分类学更替与功能学更替彼此解耦（decoupled），这一特性或可使这些泥炭沼泽在面临未来环境变化时，仍能维持其生态系统功能。