title: Quantifying species contributions to ecosystem processes: a global assessment of functional trait and phylogenetic metrics across avian seed-dispersal networks.
abstract: Quantifying the role of biodiversity in ecosystems not only requires understanding the links between species and the ecological functions and services they provide, but also how these factors relate to measurable indices, such as functional traits and phylogenetic diversity. However, these relationships remain poorly understood, especially for heterotrophic organisms within complex ecological networks. Here, we assemble data on avian traits across a global sample of mutualistic plant-frugivore networks to critically assess how the functional roles of frugivores are associated with their intrinsic traits, as well as their evolutionary and functional distinctiveness. We find strong evidence for niche complementarity, with phenotypically and phylogenetically distinct birds interacting with more unique sets of plants. However, interaction strengths-the number of plant species dependent on a frugivore-were unrelated to evolutionary or functional distinctiveness, largely because distinct frugivores tend to be locally rare, and thus have fewer connections across the network. Instead, interaction strengths were better predicted by intrinsic traits, including body size, gape width and dietary specialization. Our analysis provides general support for the use of traits in quantifying species ecological functions, but also highlights the need to go beyond simple metrics of functional or phylogenetic diversity to consider the multiple pathways through which traits may determine ecological processes.
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, Groningen 9700 CC, The Netherlands alex.pigot1@gmail.com.|Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Alexander L
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3516-1117
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Pigot
authors.affiliation: Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.|Global Canopy Programme, 23 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HU, UK.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bregman
authors.affiliation: Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.|Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Drive, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sheard
authors.affiliation: Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, Groningen 9700 CC, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rampal S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Etienne
authors.affiliation: Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.|Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2429-6179
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Tobias
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001717:Birds / Q000145:classification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification*; D058614:Seed Dispersal
keywords: ecological network; ecosystem function; functional diversity; mutualistic interaction; phylogenetic diversity; seed dispersal