Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, 24061, USA.
Am Nat. 2011 May;177(5):630-44. doi: 10.1086/659625.
Among-site variation in metacommunities (beta diversity) is typically correlated with the distance separating the sites (spatial lag). This distance decay in similarity pattern has been linked to both niche-based and dispersal-based community assembly hypotheses. Here we show that beta diversity patterns in community composition, when supplemented with functional-trait information, can be used to diagnose assembly processes. First, using simulated data, we show how the relationship between distance decay patterns in taxonomic and functional measures of community composition can be used to predict the influence of a given trait on community assembly. We then use the patterns generated by the simulation as a template to show that the sorting of benthic macroinvertebrate metacommunities in headwater streams is likely influenced by different sets of functional traits at regional and local scales. We suggest that functional-trait databases and spatially referenced taxonomic surveys can be used to predict the spatial scales at which different aspects of interspecific functional variation are involved in niche-based community assembly while accounting for the influence of dispersal-based community assembly processes.
生境（β多样性）在种间的差异通常与种间距离（空间滞后）相关。这种相似性模式的距离衰减与基于生态位和基于扩散的群落组装假说都有关。在这里，我们表明，当群落组成的功能性状信息得到补充时，β多样性模式可用于诊断组装过程。首先，我们使用模拟数据，展示了如何利用分类学和群落组成的功能度量的距离衰减模式之间的关系，来预测给定特征对群落组装的影响。然后，我们使用模拟生成的模式作为模板，表明在源头溪流中，底栖大型无脊椎动物的后生境群落的排序可能受到不同功能特征的影响，这些特征在区域和局部尺度上都有体现。我们认为，功能性状数据库和空间参照的分类调查可以用来预测不同种间功能变异方面在基于生态位的群落组装中涉及的空间尺度，同时考虑到扩散为基础的群落组装过程的影响。
