Retreat in St. Andrews, Scotland: 06.-12.12.2021

PIs:
Franziska Schrodt
Maria Dornelas

iDiv members:
Jon Chase
 

Project summary:
Systematic turnover in species composition is emerging as the signature of biodiversity change in the Anthropocene. While species richness trends vary in strength and direction, increasing rates of compositional change are ubiquitous. How this translates into change in ecosystem function, however, is poorly understood because the traits of outgoing and incoming species are rarely considered. Recent indications suggest directional changes, such as decreasing bird and fish body mass and increasing above-ground biomass in plants.
We aim to achieve more general understanding by quantifying assemblage-level trait changes, globally distributed and across scales, taxa and biomes. We propose to estimate the functional consequences of widespread species turnover, building on previous sDiv working groups on temporal change (sMon, sPlot, sTundra, sChange, sUMMITDiv, sREplot), by linking databases synthesizing functional traits with biodiversity time-series and developing methods to overcome pitfalls (data sparsity, different trait measurement conventions for different taxa, etc).  Specifically, we aim to:
1) link biodiversity time-series to trait data;
2) compare magnitudes of change between taxonomic and functional diversity across taxa and the globe;
3) test whether:
a) consistent and directional trait changes are unfolding in populations globally (e.g. shrinking body size, increasing heat tolerance)
b) there is consistent evidence of biotic homogenization in terms of both taxonomic and functional diversity
This work will further our understanding of the functional consequences of elevated turnover in species composition, improving our ability to predict associated ecosystem-functional change.

Participants:
Franziska Schrodt (University of Nottingham), Ada Fontrodona Eslava (Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews), Inês Martins (University of St. Andrews), Brittany Pugh (University of Nottingham), Annegreet Veeken (University of Nottingham), Richard Field (University of Nottingham), Isaac Trindade Santos (University of St Andrews), Viviana Brambilla (University of St Andrews), Mike McWilliam (Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology), Maria Dornelas (University of St Andrews), Jon Chase (iDiv/MLU), Shane Blowes (iDiv/MLU), Alban Sagouis (iDiv MLU), Cher Chow (University of St Andrews), Juan Carvajal Quintero (iDiv/MLU), Roel van Klink (iDiv MLU), Gergana Daskalova (IIASA), Anne Bjorkman (University of Gothenburg), Kyle Edwards (University of Hawaii), Anne Magurran (University of St Andrews), Faye Moyes (University of St Andrews), Jonathan Henn (University of Colorado Boulder), Joshua Madin (Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology), Brian McGill (University of Maine)

Meeting report

First meeting: 30.05.-03.06.2022

In person participants:
Franziska Schrodt (University of Nottingham); Ada Fontrodona Eslava (University of St Andrews); Inês Martins (University of St Andrews); Brittany Pugh (University of Nottingham); Annegreet Veeken (University of Nottingham); Richard Field (University of Nottingham); Isaac (Trindade Santos University of St Andrews); Viviana Brambilla (University of St Andrews); Mike McWilliam (Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology); Maria Dornelas (University of St Andrews); Jon Chase (iDiv/MLU); Shane Blowes (iDiv/MLU); Alban Sagouis (iDiv/MLU); Cher Chow (University of St Andrews); Juan Carvajal (iDiv); Roel van Klink (iDiv/MLU)

Remote participants:
Gergana Daskalova (IIASA); Anne Bjorkman (University of Gothenburg); Kyle Edwards (University of Hawaii); Anne Magurran (University of St Andrews); Faye Moyes (University of St Andrews); Jonathan Henn (University of Colorado Boulder); Joshua Madin (Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology); Brian McGill (University of Maine)

Meeting report

Second meeting: 08-12.05.2023

In person participants:
Mike McWilliam (Centre for Biological Diversity), Shane Blowes (iDiv), Juan D. Carvajal Quintero (iDiv), Jonathan Chase (iDiv), Alban Sagouis (iDiv), Roel van Klink (iDiv), Inês Martins (Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity), Isaac Trindade Santos (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology), Richard Field (University of Nottingham), Franziska Schrodt-Williams (University of Nottingham), Cher Chow (University of St Andrews), Maria Dornelas (University of St Andrews), Annegreet Veeken (Utrecht University)

Remote participants:
Brian McGill (U Maine), Gergana Daskalova (IIASA), Viviana Brambilla (University of Lisbon), Ada Fontrodona-Eslava (University of St Andrews), Faye Moyes (University of St Andrews), Anne Magurran (University of St Andrews, Centre for Biological Diversity)

Meeting report