title: Community-weighted mean functional effect traits determine larval amphibian responses to litter mixtures.
abstract: Plant species composition is changing across many landscapes, but it is unclear how these changes affect habitat quality for animals. We used functional diversity and community-weighted mean (CWM) trait values for four plant traits (litter N, P, lignin and soluble phenolics) to explore how changes in plant species composition may affect larval amphibians in a simplified aquatic ecosystem. We predicted that increased functional diversity would improve amphibian performance (survivorship, developmental rate, and size). We also predicted that increases in CWM N and P would improve amphibian performance, while increases in CWM lignin and soluble phenolics would have negative effects on amphibian performance. We did not detect an effect of functional diversity; instead, CWM litter N and soluble phenolics were useful predictors of amphibian performance. We demonstrate that quantifying the CWM of ecologically relevant traits represents a powerful approach for predicting how changes in plant species composition can affect aquatic communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA, jsc74@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: S-K D
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Rainford
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blossey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D007814:Larva; D008031:Lignin / Q000737:chemistry; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D010636:Phenols / Q000737:chemistry; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000737:chemistry; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry*; D011898:Ranidae / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D010636:Phenols; D010758:Phosphorus; D008031:Lignin; D009584:Nitrogen