TY - JOUR

T1 - Trait-based approaches to analyze links between the drivers of change and ecosystem services

T2 - Synthesizing existing evidence and future challenges

AU - Hevia, Violeta

AU - Martín-López, Berta

AU - Palomo, Sara

AU - García-Llorente, Marina

AU - de Bello, Francesco

AU - González, José A.

N1 - Funding Information: Financial support was received from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Project CGL2014-53782-P). MGL was funded by a postdoctoral grant from the Spanish National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA), which is cofounded by the European Social Fund. Authors really appreciate the discussions that took place in the session of “Challenges in exploring the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services at different spatial scales” at the 7th Annual ESP Conference in San José (Costa Rica). Publisher Copyright: © 2017 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2017/2/1

Y1 - 2017/2/1

N2 - Understanding the responses of biodiversity to drivers of change and the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem properties and ecosystem services is a key challenge in the context of global environmental change. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the scientific literature linking direct drivers of change and ecosystem services via functional traits of three taxonomic groups (vegetation, invertebrates, and vertebrates) to: (1) uncover trends and research biases in this field; and (2) synthesize existing empirical evidence. Our results show the existence of important biases in published studies related to ecosystem types, taxonomic groups, direct drivers of change, ecosystem services, geographical range, and the spatial scale of analysis. We found multiple evidence of links between drivers and services mediated by functional traits, particularly between land-use changes and regulating services in vegetation and invertebrates. Seventy-five functional traits were recorded in our sample. However, few of these functional traits were repeatedly found to be associated with both the species responses to direct drivers of change (response traits) and the species effects on the provision of ecosystem services (effect traits). Our results highlight the existence of potential "key functional traits," understood as those that have the capacity to influence the provision of multiple ecosystem services, while responding to specific drivers of change, across a variety of systems and organisms. Identifying "key functional traits" would help to develop robust indicator systems to monitor changes in biodiversity and their effects on ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services supply.

AB - Understanding the responses of biodiversity to drivers of change and the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem properties and ecosystem services is a key challenge in the context of global environmental change. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the scientific literature linking direct drivers of change and ecosystem services via functional traits of three taxonomic groups (vegetation, invertebrates, and vertebrates) to: (1) uncover trends and research biases in this field; and (2) synthesize existing empirical evidence. Our results show the existence of important biases in published studies related to ecosystem types, taxonomic groups, direct drivers of change, ecosystem services, geographical range, and the spatial scale of analysis. We found multiple evidence of links between drivers and services mediated by functional traits, particularly between land-use changes and regulating services in vegetation and invertebrates. Seventy-five functional traits were recorded in our sample. However, few of these functional traits were repeatedly found to be associated with both the species responses to direct drivers of change (response traits) and the species effects on the provision of ecosystem services (effect traits). Our results highlight the existence of potential "key functional traits," understood as those that have the capacity to influence the provision of multiple ecosystem services, while responding to specific drivers of change, across a variety of systems and organisms. Identifying "key functional traits" would help to develop robust indicator systems to monitor changes in biodiversity and their effects on ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services supply.

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Ecosystem function

KW - Effect traits

KW - Global environmental change

KW - Response traits

KW - Systematic review

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Environmental planning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85007575501&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/bd448fcf-a0ad-3765-8ef0-d51c9941d097/

U2 - 10.1002/ece3.2692

DO - 10.1002/ece3.2692

M3 - Scientific review articles

C2 - 28168020

AN - SCOPUS:85007575501

VL - 7

SP - 831

EP - 844

JO - Ecology and Evolution

JF - Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2045-7758

IS - 3

ER -