Imperial College London
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Prof Joseph Tobias

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Professor of Biodiversity & Ecosystems
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 1059j.tobias Website

 
 
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Location

 

2.10KennedySilwood Park

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Hordley:2021:10.1111/1365-2435.13865,
author = {Hordley, LA and Gillings, S and Petchey, OL and Tobias, JA and Oliver, TH},
doi = {10.1111/1365-2435.13865},
journal = {Functional Ecology},
pages = {1938--1950},
title = {Diversity of response and effect traits provides complementary information about avian community dynamics linked to ecological function},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13865},
volume = {35},
year = {2021}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Functional diversity metrics based on species traits are widely used to investigate ecosystem functioning. In theory, such metrics have different implications depending on whether they are calculated from traits mediating responses to environmental change (response traits) or those regulating function (effect traits), yet trait choice in diversity metrics is rarely scrutinized.Here, we compile effect and response traits for British bird species supplying two key ecological services—seed dispersal and insect predation—to assess the relationship between functional diversity and both mean and stability of community abundance over time.As predicted, functional diversity correlates with stability in community abundance of seed dispersers when calculated using response traits. However, we found a negative relationship between functional diversity and mean community abundance of seed dispersers when calculated using effect traits. Subsequently, when combining all traits together, we found inconsistent results with functional diversity correlating with reduced stability in insectivores, but greater stability in seed dispersers.Our findings suggest that trait choice should be considered more carefully when applying such metrics in ecosystem management.
AU  - Hordley,LA
AU  - Gillings,S
AU  - Petchey,OL
AU  - Tobias,JA
AU  - Oliver,TH
DO  - 10.1111/1365-2435.13865
EP  - 1950
PY  - 2021///
SN  - 0269-8463
SP  - 1938
TI  - Diversity of response and effect traits provides complementary information about avian community dynamics linked to ecological function
T2  - Functional Ecology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13865
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000668357700001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.13865
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/91360
VL  - 35
ER  -
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