Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
Sci Rep. 2017 Feb 23;7:42988. doi: 10.1038/srep42988.
Current and historical environmental conditions are known to determine jointly contemporary species distributions and richness patterns. However, whether historical dynamics in species distributions and richness translate to functional diversity patterns remains, for the most part, unknown. The geographic patterns of plant functional space size (richness) and packing (dispersion) for six widely distributed orders of European angiosperms were estimated using atlas distribution data and trait information. Then the relative importance of late-Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change and contemporary environmental factors (climate, productivity, and topography) as determinants of functional diversity of evaluated orders was assesed. Functional diversity patterns of all evaluated orders exhibited prominent glacial-interglacial climate change imprints, complementing the influence of contemporary environmental conditions. The importance of Quaternary glacial-interglacial climate change factors was comparable to that of contemporary environmental factors across evaluated orders. Therefore, high long-term paleoclimate variability has imposed consistent supplementary constraints on functional diversity of multiple plant groups, a legacy that may permeate to ecosystem functioning and resilience. These findings suggest that strong near-future anthropogenic climate change may elicit long-term functional disequilibria in plant functional diversity.
当前和历史环境条件已知会共同决定现代物种分布和丰富度模式。然而，物种分布和丰富度的历史动态是否会转化为功能多样性模式，在很大程度上尚不清楚。利用图谱分布数据和特征信息，估计了欧洲被子植物六个广泛分布的目在植物功能空间大小（丰富度）和包装（分散）方面的地理格局。然后，评估了晚第四纪冰期-间冰期气候变化和当代环境因素（气候、生产力和地形）作为评估目功能多样性决定因素的相对重要性。所有评估目的功能多样性模式都表现出明显的冰期-间冰期气候变化印记，补充了当代环境条件的影响。在评估的目之间，第四纪冰期-间冰期气候变化因素的重要性与当代环境因素相当。因此，长期的古气候高度变化对多个植物群的功能多样性施加了一致的补充约束，这种遗留可能会渗透到生态系统功能和恢复力中。这些发现表明，强烈的近期人为气候变化可能会在植物功能多样性方面引发长期的功能失衡。
