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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Environmental Science

Background:

  • Understanding biodiversity relies on trait variation, but its influence across biological organization levels on communities and ecosystems is poorly understood.
  • Functional traits, like activity rate in larval dragonflies, are key to structuring food webs and ecosystem dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how trait variation at different biological organization levels (within-population, among-populations, among-species) affects community and ecosystem dynamics.
  • To determine the relative importance of trait variation at various scales for ecological functioning.

Main Methods:

  • A mesocosm experiment was conducted using artificial dragonfly populations to mimic natural trait variation.
  • Activity rate, a functional trait, was manipulated across three levels: within-population, among-populations, and among-species.

Main Results:

  • Differences in dragonfly activity rate significantly altered prey communities, trophic cascades, and ecosystem processes.
  • Trait variation among populations exerted a stronger influence on ecosystem dynamics than among-species differences or predator presence.
  • Within-population trait variation had a minimal impact on the studied ecological processes.

Conclusions:

  • Ecological processes and biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships are critically dependent on trait variation across all biological scales, including fine scales.
  • The relative importance of species versus individual-level trait differences for ecosystem functioning is scale-dependent.