@article {6133, title = {Linking changes in species composition and biomass in a globally distributed grassland experiment}, journal = {Ecology Letters}, volume = {25}, year = {2022}, pages = {2699-2712}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1111/ele.14126}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.14126}, author = {Ladouceur, Emma and Blowes, Shane A. and Chase, Jonathan M. and Clark, Adam T. and Garbowski, Magda and Alberti, Juan and Arnillas, Carlos Alberto and Bakker, Jonathan D. and Barrio, Isabel C. and Bharath, Siddharth and Borer, Elizabeth T. and Brudvig, Lars A. and Cadotte, Marc W. and Chen, Qingqing and Collins, Scott L. and Dickman, Christopher R. and Donohue, Ian and Du, Guozhen and Ebeling, Anne and Eisenhauer, Nico and Fay, Philip A. and Hagenah, Nicole and Hautier, Yann and Jentsch, Anke and J{\'o}nsd{\'o}ttir, Ingibj{\"o}rg S. and Kimberly J. Komatsu and MacDougall, Andrew and Martina, Jason P. and Moore, Joslin L. and Morgan, John W. and Peri, Pablo L. and Power, ~A. and Ren, Zhengwei and Risch, Anita C. and Roscher, Christiane and Schuchardt, ~A. and Seabloom, Eric W. and Stevens, Carly J. and Veen, G.F. (Ciska) and Virtanen, Risto and Wardle, Glenda M. and Wilfahrt, Peter A. and Harpole, W. Stanley} } @article {KNZ001883, title = {Trait selection and community weighting are key to understanding ecosystem responses to changing precipitation regimes}, journal = {Functional Ecology}, volume = {32}, year = {2018}, pages = {1746 - 1756}, abstract = {

1. Plant traits can be used to predict ecosystem responses to environmental change using a response\–effect trait framework. To do this, appropriate traits must be identified that explain a species\&$\#$39; influence on ecosystem function (\“effect traits\”) and the response of those species to environmental change (\“response traits\”). Response traits are often identified and measured along gradients in plant resources, such as water availability; however, precipitation explains very little variation in most plant traits globally. Given the strong relationship between plant traits and ecosystem functions, such as net primary productivity (NPP), and between NPP and precipitation, the lack of correlation between precipitation and plant traits is surprising.

2. We address this issue through a systematic review of \>500 published studies that describe plant trait responses to altered water availability. The overarching goal of this review was to identify potential causes for the weak relationship between commonly measured plant traits and water availability so that we may identify more appropriate \“response traits.\”

3. We attribute weak trait\–precipitation relationships to an improper selection of traits (e.g., nonhydraulic traits) and a lack of trait-based approaches that adjust for trait variation within communities (only 4\% of studies measure community-weighted traits). We then highlight the mechanistic value of hydraulic traits as more appropriate \“response traits\” with regard to precipitation, which should be included in future community-scale trait surveys.

4. Trait-based ecology has the potential to improve predictions of ecosystem responses to predicted changes in precipitation; however, this predictive power depends heavily on the identification of reliable response and effect traits. To this end, trait surveys could be improved by a selection of traits that reflect physiological functions directly related to water availability with traits weighted by species relative abundance.

}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ}, doi = {10.1111/1365-2435.13135}, url = {https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.13135}, author = {Griffin-Nolan, Robert J. and Bushey, Julie A. and Carroll, Charles J. W. and Challis, Anthea and Chieppa, Jeff and Garbowski, Magda and Hoffman, Ava M. and Post, Alison K. and Slette, Ingrid J. and Spitzer, Daniel and Zambonini, Dario and Ocheltree, Troy W. and Tissue, David T. and Alan K. Knapp}, editor = {Fox, Charles} }