Trait-based approaches are key to understanding eco-evolutionary processes but rarely account for animal behaviour despite its central role in ecosystem dynamics. We propose integrating behaviour into trait-based ecology through movement traits—standardised and comparable measures of animal movement derived from biologging data, such as daily displacements or range sizes. Accounting for animal behaviour will advance trait-based research on species interactions, community structure and ecosystem functioning. Importantly, movement traits allow for quantification of behavioural reaction norms, offering insights into species’ acclimation and adaptive capacity to environmental change. We outline a vision for a ‘living’ global movement trait database that enhances trait data curation by (1) continuously growing alongside shared biologging data, (2) calculating traits directly from individual-level data using standardised, consistent methodology and (3) providing information on multi-level (species, individual, within-individual) trait variation. We present a proof-of-concept ‘MoveTraits’ database with 52 mammal and 97 bird species, demonstrating calculation workflows for 5 traits across multiple timescales. Movement traits have significant potential to improve trait-based global change predictions and contribute to global biodiversity assessments as Essential Biodiversity Variables. By making animal movement data more accessible and interpretable, this database could bridge the gap between movement ecology and biodiversity policy, facilitating evidence-based conservation.

Abstract Agricultural systems depend on Nature's Contributions to People (NCP), but their management often diminishes biodiversity, potentially undermining their sustainability. Thus, understanding the relationships between biodiversity, human capital (labour and physical inputs) and crop yields is essential for sustainable management, particularly in biodiverse ecosystems. We investigated the relationships between biodiversity, human capital and crop productivity across 15 long‐term monitoring plots spanning three cropping systems (coffee, banana and intercropped maize and beans) on the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Using ecological surveys, semi‐structured farmer interviews and detailed yield assessments, we quantified crop yield (both mass and economic value), human capital and a multidiversity index (MDI) encompassing the species richness of birds, bats, bees, dung beetles and trees. Structural equation models were used to estimate the direct and indirect effects of climate, biodiversity and human capital on yield value. Labour capital was strongly and positively associated with crop yield value. Meanwhile, physical capital, which included costs for agrochemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides, was negatively associated with the MDI but showed no positive association with yield value. Biodiversity, as measured by the MDI, was not significantly associated with yield value, which may reflect low statistical power, a dominant role of agricultural inputs in driving yields or weak ecological contributions. Among cropping systems, intercropped maize and beans exhibited the highest MDI, while coffee plantations showed the lowest. Practical implications . These findings suggest that reducing agrochemical dependence could offer opportunities to enhance biodiversity without necessarily compromising productivity, though uncertainty remains. Nevertheless, in line with global calls for sustainable, biodiversity‐friendly agriculture and other regional research, we recommend policy and economic incentives for low‐input systems, the integration of agroecological practices and the use of precision input management. Overall, our results highlight the potential for ‘win‐win’ strategies that balance agricultural productivity, biodiversity and rural livelihoods on Mount Kilimanjaro.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to stop biodiversity losses1. Approximately 60% of tropical forests have already been lost or severely degraded2, making restoration essential to achieve conservation goals. Recovery trajectories of trees have been studied intensively3,4, but a comprehensive understanding of biodiversity recovery is lacking. Here we analyse recovery trajectories across trophic levels including 16 taxonomic groups from three kingdoms in a lowland tropical forest by investigating resistance to perturbation, recovery times and return rates to old-growth forest conditions. Abundance and diversity regained more than 90% and composition approximately 75% similarity to old-growth forests within 30 years, but full recovery takes several decades. Mobile animal communities acting as seed dispersers or pollinators had high resistance levels and recovered faster than trees or tree seedlings. Return rates contributed 1-2.5 times more than resistance to the recovery times of species composition. Taxon-specific recovery times could not be explained by simple mechanisms (life-history strategies, trophic level or mobility). We show the enormous potential of protecting naturally recovering secondary forests to stop and reverse biodiversity losses.

Climate seasonality and human land-use are major pressures shaping biodiversity in tropical dry regions and both are expected to intensify in the near future. Therefore, understanding the interplay of these factors is crucial for mitigating biodiversity loss in these rapidly changing ecosystems. We examined the effects of seasonality (i.e., wet and dry seasons) and human land-use types (i.e., natural forests and silvopastures) on taxonomic and functional diversity, and community composition of birds in a seasonally dry tropical forest in southern Ecuador. We repeatedly recorded birds in 12 1-ha plots across natural forests and silvopastures at two elevations (600 and 1200 m a.s.l.) using point counts, and classified the bird community into primary (i.e., nectarivores, frugivores, granivores and omnivores) and secondary (i.e., invertivores) consumers. Functional bird diversity based on four morphological traits was not affected by human land-use type or seasonality, while taxonomic diversity of the overall community and of secondary consumers increased with elevation. The taxonomic diversity of primary consumers was higher in silvopastures compared to natural forests. The composition of the overall bird community and that of primary and secondary consumers differed between elevations. Seasonality had no effect on diversity nor on composition. Our study shows that elevation is a major driver of bird diversity and community composition in seasonally dry tropical forests, indicating that even short elevational gradients shape bird communities in these ecosystems. Protecting continuous elevational transects of dry tropical forests is therefore essential to maintain their high bird diversity under current and future conditions.

Aim Frugivorous birds provide crucial seed-dispersal functions in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the impact of climate change on plant-avian frugivore interactions remains unclear due to past methodological limitations. In this study, we address this by mapping these interactions across the Americas and projecting shifts in interaction diversity under future climate scenarios.Location North, South, and Central America.Time Period Present (1980-2010) and future (2070-2100).Major Taxa Studied Frugivorous birds and fleshy-fruited plants.Methods Using a trait-matching framework, we estimated interaction probabilities between frugivorous birds (n = 539 species) and fleshy-fruited plants (n = 3280 species) at the ecoregion level. To estimate climate impacts, we modeled how interaction probabilities will change under future scenarios based on the overlap between avian climate niches and ecoregion climates. From these probabilities, we calculated plant-frugivore interaction diversity as the effective number of avian partners for a given plant species in an ecoregion. We then used simulations to examine how avian dietary flexibility and dispersal may buffer future diversity of plant-frugivore interactions.Results Under future climate scenarios, our models projected a decline in interaction diversity across most ecoregions, especially in tropical and subtropical biomes. Simulations indicated that interaction rewiring through dietary flexibility and dispersal could partially mitigate losses of interaction diversity, particularly in tropical forests.Main Conclusions Our results suggest that the diversity of plant-frugivore interactions in the Americas will decline in response to climate change, potentially undermining the stability of seed-dispersal functions. We also show that the resilience of this function depends on the capacity of frugivorous birds to modify their geographic ranges or dietary preferences. However, the extent to which avian dispersal and adaptation will regulate future species interactions remains unknown, highlighting the importance of maintaining high plant-frugivore interaction diversity in current assemblages to buffer ecosystems against future climatic changes, especially in the tropics.

Biological invasions are one of the main threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Invasive fleshy-fruited plants can alter seed dispersal interactions, however the implications for the natural regeneration of native fleshy fruited plants are not well understood. In this study conducted in the temperate forest of Patagonia, we evaluated (1) differences in seed rain and seedling recruitment between sites with different degrees of invasion of fleshy-fruited plants; (2) how seed rain determines seedling recruitment at the level of the plant community; and (3) how invasion alters the native seedling recruitment process. For this, we selected 10 study sites; five invaded and five uninvaded by fleshy-fruited plants, establishing one 100 x 30 m2 plot per site. We estimated density and crop size per plant species, seed rain and seedling recruitment. We collected 1857 seeds and recorded 377 seedlings of fleshy-fruited plants across all sites, consisting of 10 native and 6 non-native species. The total number of seedlings was similar between invaded and uninvaded sites, but seed rain and species richness was higher in invaded sites. There was a positive relationship between seed rain and seedling recruitment. Plant invasion had not direct effect on seed rain or seedling recruitment, however, seed rain and seedling recruitment of native species became decoupled in invaded sites. This study shows that the invasive species studied not only spread in the native forest but also reduce the recruitment of native fleshy-fruited plants with which they share seed dispersers. Therefore, controlling exotic species is critical for native forest regeneration.

Tropical forests are highly threatened habitats with the capacity to recover after disturbance. We studied the recovery of phylogenetic diversity (PD) and phylogenetic community structure in plants and animals along a chronosequence of regeneration. We tested expected phylogenetic patterns through succession, including a slower recovery of PD compared with species richness (SR), increasing phylogenetic overdispersion with regeneration time, and the role of environmental filtering and landscape in promoting phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion. PD recovery occurred after SR for only four out of eight groups. Frugivorous and invertivorous birds showed increasing phylogenetic overdispersion during succession, while frogs, bees and trees instead showed a tendency for increasing phylogenetic clustering. Phylogenetic clustering was mainly related to environmental factors during early and late regeneration. Phylogenetic overdispersion during late regeneration was driven by the distance to old-growth forests only in frugivorous birds. Our results show the complex nature of succession in tropical forests, reflecting idiosyncratic patterns of PD and phylogenetic community structure recovery after disturbance for plants and animals. However, they also show that PD can recover relatively rapidly under natural regeneration, suggesting that the studied communities are resilient to disturbance from an evolutionary perspective.

Biodiversity is changing in complex and often non-parallel ways across space and time. Capturing such complexity requires integrative approaches that consider how species, trait, and phylogenetic diversity respond to environmental change. However, our understanding of how changes in one biodiversity aspect cascade into another remains limited, constraining our ability to draw comprehensive inferences for conservation actions. To address this gap, we use long-term bird count data from the International Waterbird Census to quantify temporal trends in population abundance and community diversity across spatial scales (α, β, and γ) and biodiversity dimensions (taxonomic, trait, and phylogenetic) from 1991 to 2023 across 20 wetlands in Kenya, encompassing both protected and unprotected areas. We related temporal trends to protection status, climate, and land cover, and compared trends among spatial scales and biodiversity dimensions. We found that biodiversity change is fundamentally scale- and dimension-dependent, demonstrating that patterns observed at one level cannot be inferred from others. Community diversity showed overall positive trends; however, whereas local (α) diversity increased continuously, increases in regional (β and γ) diversity weakened over time, suggesting increasing similarity among communities. Trait and phylogenetic diversity diverged from taxonomic trends, revealing shifts in community composition that were not captured by species richness alone. The positive effects of protected areas were stronger on communities than on individual populations, whereas the effects of climate and land cover were highly context-dependent. Our findings demonstrate that single-scale or single-metric assessments can misrepresent biodiversity change and suggest that conservation actions must be tailored to specific drivers, scales, and dimensions to achieve their intended benefits. Integrative conservation strategies that account for these nuanced responses are more likely to improve and maintain both local and regional biodiversity.

Mount Kilimanjaro, with its steep elevational gradient (770-5886 m a.s.l.) and pronounced land-use heterogeneity, supports high biodiversity and diverse nature's contributions to people (NCP), but it is underrepresented in global spatial assessments. We address this gap by mapping NCP supply across 12 ecosystem types on the southern slopes identifying hotspots and coldspots and quantifying synergies and trade-offs among NCP categories. We use 25 context-specific NCP categories that integrate local and scientific knowledge with field measurements and remote-sensing-derived proxies. Combining long-term field data with remote sensing and machine learning, we upscaled plot-scale indicators into standardized supply maps. Total NCP supply is strongly concentrated in mid-elevation ecosystems: the 1100-2200 m band alone accounted for similar to 59% of total supply compared with similar to 18% in the lowlands (700-1100 m), and the 1100-2800 m belts together provide similar to 73%, whereas high-elevation zones (2800-4600 m) contribute <9%. Hotspots clustered in lower montane forest, Ocotea forest and homegardens at mid-elevations, while coldspots occur in Erica forest and Helichrysum vegetation at high elevations and in maize fields and savanna at low elevations. We detected moderate (r = 0.55) to strong synergies (r = 0.83) among the three NCP groups (material, regulating, non-material). After accounting for climatic co-variation, the correlations among NCP groups weakened (r = 0.23-0.44), underscoring the critical role of climate for NCP supply. Our study maps NCP hotspots and coldspots across Mt. Kilimanjaro and provides a decision-support layer for conservation, restoration and agroforestry management, as well as a blueprint for spatially-explicit NCP mapping and analyses.

Tropical forest recovery is triggered by seed dispersal provided by animal frugivores. Plant and animal traits shape the interactions between plants and frugivores, ultimately determining the functional diversity of seed rain. However, it remains poorly understood how the functional diversity and composition of plant-frugivore interactions and seed rain are affected by processes at both local and landscape scales. We investigated how local forest structure and landscape-scale forest connectivity shape the functional recovery of seed rain mediated by plant-frugivore interactions. At 24 recovering forest and 8 old-growth forest plots, we measured forest structure and connectivity, recorded plant-frugivore interactions and quantified seed rain in a total of 384 seed traps. Forest structure was quantified from vegetation heterogeneity, above-ground biomass and tree height, and forest connectivity from surrounding forest cover and the distance to the closest forest. Using plant and frugivore traits, we quantified the functional recovery of plant-frugivore interactions and seed rain and applied structural equation models to test the direct and indirect effects of forest structure and connectivity on the functional diversity and composition of seeds. Forest structure primarily influenced seed rain functional diversity mediated by local plant-frugivore interactions. In addition, forest connectivity was the main driver of the functional composition of seed rain. Large seeds and seeds of late-successional species were found more often in recovering forests with high connectivity, both through direct and indirect effects via plant-frugivore interactions. These patterns suggest two complementary mechanisms of forest recovery. Structurally complex forests support diverse plant and animal communities that foster a functionally diverse seed rain. Forest connectivity, in addition, promotes animal movement across the landscape, facilitating the dispersal of seeds from old-growth forests into recovering forests. Synthesis. Local forest structure and landscape-scale connectivity shape distinct but complementary aspects of the functional recovery of seed rain. These findings highlight that tropical forest restoration requires considering both local and landscape-scale processes to ensure the recovery of functionally diverse tropical forests. La recuperaci & oacute;n de los bosques tropicales es impulsada por la dispersi & oacute;n de semillas que realizan los animales frug & iacute;voros. Los rasgos funcionales de plantas y animales estructuran las interacciones planta-frug & iacute;voro, determinando en & uacute;ltima instancia la diversidad funcional de la lluvia de semillas. No obstante, a & uacute;n existe un conocimiento limitado sobre c & oacute;mo la diversidad funcional y la composici & oacute;n de interacciones planta-frug & iacute;voro y la lluvia de semillas se ven afectadas por procesos que operan tanto a escala local como de paisaje. Investigamos de qu & eacute; manera la estructura local del bosque y su conectividad a escala de paisaje modelan la recuperaci & oacute;n funcional de la lluvia de semillas mediada por interacciones planta-frug & iacute;voro. En 24 parcelas de bosque en recuperaci & oacute;n y 8 de bosque maduro, medimos la estructura y conectividad del bosque, registramos las interacciones planta-frug & iacute;voro y cuantificamos la lluvia de semillas en un total de 384 trampas. La estructura del bosque se cuantific & oacute; mediante la heterogeneidad de la vegetaci & oacute;n, la biomasa a & eacute;rea y la altura del dosel, mientras que la conectividad se determin & oacute; a partir de la cobertura boscosa circundante y la distancia al bosque m & aacute;s cercano. Utilizando rasgos funcionales de plantas y frug & iacute;voros, cuantificamos la recuperaci & oacute;n funcional de las interacciones y de la lluvia de semillas, y aplicamos modelos de ecuaciones estructurales para evaluar los efectos directos e indirectos de la estructura y la conectividad sobre la diversidad y composici & oacute;n funcional de las semillas. La estructura del bosque influy & oacute; principalmente sobre la diversidad funcional de la lluvia de semillas, mediada por las interacciones locales planta-frug & iacute;voro. Por el contrario, la conectividad del paisaje fue el principal determinante de la composici & oacute;n funcional de la lluvia de semillas. Las semillas grandes y aquellas de especies de sucesi & oacute;n tard & iacute;a se registraron con mayor frecuencia en bosques en recuperaci & oacute;n con alta conectividad, tanto por efectos directos como indirectos a trav & eacute;s de las interacciones planta-frug & iacute;voro. Estos patrones sugieren dos mecanismos complementarios de recuperaci & oacute;n del bosque. Los bosques estructuralmente complejos albergan comunidades diversas de plantas y animales que propician una lluvia de semillas funcionalmente diversa. Asimismo, la conectividad forestal promueve el movimiento de la fauna a trav & eacute;s del paisaje, facilitando la dispersi & oacute;n de semillas desde los bosques maduros hacia los bosques en recuperaci & oacute;n. S & iacute;ntesis. La estructura local del bosque y la conectividad a escala de paisaje modelan aspectos distintos, pero complementarios, de la recuperaci & oacute;n funcional de la lluvia de semillas. Estos hallazgos resaltan que la restauraci & oacute;n del bosque tropical requiere considerar procesos tanto a escala local como de paisaje para asegurar la recuperaci & oacute;n de bosques tropicales funcionalmente diversos.

Nature contributes to our quality of life through a wide range of non-material Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP), including aesthetic enjoyment, restorative experiences and recreational opportunities. However, quantifying and managing the supply of non-material NCP requires a mechanistic understanding of how they are associated with the entities of nature that support them across different ecological contexts. We characterized such associations using network path theory, which allowed us to distinguish between specialized and generalized NCP. For this, we leveraged social media data from tourists to construct networks between perceived non-material NCP and associated entities of nature across six habitats on Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, and compared patterns at local (habitat networks) and regional (entire mountain network) scales. Our findings reveal that specialized NCP (e.g., learning) are more frequently linked to specific species or abiotic features, confined to certain habitats, whereas generalized NCP (e.g., recreation) are primarily associated with landscape and habitat features, occurring throughout all habitats. Some NCP (e.g., aesthetic experiences) were generalized at the regional scale, but relied on particular entities in certain habitats (i.e., specialized). With this analysis, we propose a new way to quantify non-material NCP and their relationships to nature, which can aid vulnerability assessments and long-term monitoring of non-material NCP, and inform decision-making.

Pollination is a key ecological process sustaining biodiversity and food security, yet global patterns of plant–pollinator specialisation have remained unresolved. Using the largest global dataset of quantitative networks (>3,400 networks, >110,000 interactions), we show that the latitudinal specialisation gradient (LSG) exists, but it is non-linear, hemispherically asymmetric, and strongly taxon-dependent. Network-level and pollinator specialisation were lowest in the tropics and peaked at northern mid-latitudes, whereas plants tended to become more specialised toward higher latitudes. Climate consistently outperformed latitude, species richness, and environmental productivity as a predictor of these patterns. Specialisation declined with increasing temperature, rose with moderate rainfall before declining at the wettest sites, and increased with temperature seasonality, but plants and pollinators responded differently to these drivers. Functional groups diverged strongly: ectothermic insects were most specialised in cooler, seasonal climates, while birds showed weaker links to latitude but reduced specialisation in wetter regions. These findings demonstrate that climate, rather than latitude or species richness, structures global variation in specialisation. Because warmer and less seasonal climates promote generalisation, climate change is likely to disrupt the most specialised pollination systems, unevenly across taxa and regions, with important consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem stability. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Czech Science Foundation, https://ror.org/01pv73b02, 21-24186M, 19-14620S Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, https://ror.org/012kf4317, 1134644 São Paulo Research Foundation, 2023/03083-6, 2023/02881-6, 2023/17728-9 Consulate General of France in São Paulo Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Art Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Center for Research on Biodiversity Dynamics and Climate Change CEPID-FAPESP, 2021/10639-5 National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, CNPq, 308559/2022-3, 141736/2020-8, 311665/2022-5, 400904/2019-5, 423939/2021-1, 310508/2019-3, 309893/2023-2, 177005/2024-6, 305204/2024-6 CAPES, Finance Code 001; COOPBRASS: 88887.947041/2024-00, 177005/2024-6, PROEX 88882.347259/2019-01 Brazilian Biodiversity Fund, FunBio, 004/2021, 029/2022 Rufford Foundation, https://ror.org/02bxrrf91, 377031, 28478-1 German Research Foundation DFG, 152112243 Dirección General de Investigación, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, 4.8.63.2.27-2012, 4.8.63.8.60-2018, 4.8.63.4.41-2020 FAPEMIG, RED-00039-23 INCT Pollination (CNPq/CAPES/FAPERJ Call 58/2022) Faculty for Future, Schlumberger Foundation the Human Frontier Science Program, RGP023/2023 European Research Council ERC, 101054177, 819374 Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, KAW 2019.0202 LIFE project Olivares Vivos+, LIFE20 NAT/ES/001487 Missouri Department of Conservation, K02442-PI0242-022 National Science Foundation, DGE-2244337 OAPN, 014/2009 CONAHCYT, CBF2023-2024-216 Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, PID2021-127900NB-I00, PGC2018-098498-A-100, RYC2021-032351-I Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, 121-5-13 German Research Foundation DFG, FZT 118, 202548816

Seedling recruitment is determined by a variety of abiotic and biotic filters. Certain plant traits, such as seed size, can mediate seedling responses towards these filters. This interplay between environmental filters and plant traits is particularly important for understanding tropical dry forests, given the need to develop successful restoration measures for these threatened ecosystems. To this end, we experimentally assess how environmental filters in interaction with seed size shape seedling recruitment in a highly diverse tropical dry forest in Southern Ecuador. We conducted a one-year in vivo seed-sowing experiment with eight tree species of different seed sizes and manipulated shade and litter in a randomized block design. We tested how environmental filters (e.g., soil moisture, leaf area index and litter depth) affect seedling recruitment. Experimental sites covered both natural forests and silvopastures used by humans at two elevations (600 m and 1200 m a.s.l.). Generally, seed size increased seedling recruitment and mediated effects of environmental filtering. Shade increased seedling establishment, in particular of small-seeded species, but it decreased seedling survival. Litter depth in interaction with soil moisture impaired seedling survival, in particular of small-seeded species, and reduced recruitment success and seedling biomass. Our findings highlight that interacting effects between environmental filters and seed size determine seedling recruitment in tropical dry forests. In restoration projects, the sowing of large-seeded species, low-cost shading roofs as well as regular litter removal could help to promote seedling recruitment and reforestation.

Most tropical plant species depend on animals to disperse their seeds. Seed dispersal by animals allows plants to colonize new sites in deforested habitats helping to accelerate forest recovery. However, deforestation can affect the interactions between animals and plants that are crucial for forest regeneration. In this study, we analyze the differences on the composition of functional traits and on seed-dispersal interactions and functions by birds and bats between forest and deforested areas dominated by bracken fern. At eight study sites, we captured birds and bats in bracken-dominated areas and at forest in the tropical montane forest of Bolivia and analyzed their droppings. We found a similar composition of functional traits related to animal size, gape width and degree of frugivory of bats in both habitat types. Hand-wing index of birds was significantly higher in bracken compared to forest. Birds had more interaction richness and abundance in bracken than in forest, and bats had more interaction abundance in forest than in bracken. The majority of seeds dispersed by birds and bats in bracken were from pioneer species. We conclude that, although seed dispersal by birds and bats is maintained in the bracken-dominated areas, most of the dispersed seeds belong to pioneer species. Pioneer species are unlikely to establish in bracken-dominated areas, making the natural regeneration process of these deforested areas very slow.

Tropical old-growth forests continue to decline worldwide, resulting in a huge loss of biodiversity. The extent to which the expansion of second-growth forests can counteract biodiversity loss is context-dependent and controversial. To test the recovery of bird communities along a gradient from active pastures and cacao plantations, through regenerating forest on land last used for agriculture between 1 and 38 years ago, to old-growth forest, we sampled simultaneous audio recordings from 66 plots, from which an expert identified all bird species detected at fixed time points throughout the day. The study area is characterized by typical small-scale agriculture with remnant trees in the Ecuadorian Choc & oacute; Forest. To quantify different aspects of biodiversity, we used incidence-based Hill numbers focusing on infrequent, frequent and highly frequent species in taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity, considering sample coverage (an objective measure of sample completeness). Bird community composition changed with the regrowth gradient represented on the first axis of the ordination. Differences in bird communities were also very robust to changes in sample coverage. The sample coverage decreased significantly along the recovery gradient and affected the different measures of alpha diversity. Although the results controlled by sample coverage showed no change in taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity, the functional diversity of infrequent, frequent and highly frequent species decreased along the recovery gradient. Cacao plantations exhibited particularly high diversity values, highlighting the potential of these patches to support woodland and shrubland species in agriculture. Furthermore, several forest species regularly used the agricultural areas, attracted by remnant trees characteristic of the small-scale agricultural landscape in our study region. Synthesis and applications. Our results highlight the importance of standardizing biodiversity measures and incorporating beta diversity in biodiversity monitoring. We demonstrate that taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional bird diversity can be high in secondary forests within smallholder agricultural landscapes. This underscores the potential for natural forest recovery, particularly when recovery patches are embedded within a forest matrix that includes old-growth stands. Los bosques tropicales antiguos siguen disminuyendo en todo el mundo, lo que provoca una enorme p & eacute;rdida de biodiversidad. La capacidad de la expansi & oacute;n de los bosques de segundo crecimiento para contrarrestar la p & eacute;rdida de biodiversidad depende del contexto y es controvertida. Para comprobar la recuperaci & oacute;n de las comunidades de aves a lo largo de un gradiente que abarca pastos activos, plantaciones de cacao, bosques en regeneraci & oacute;n en tierras utilizadas por & uacute;ltima vez para la agricultura entre 1 y 38 a & ntilde;os atr & aacute;s, y bosques primarios, realizamos grabaciones de audio simult & aacute;neas en 66 parcelas. A partir de dichas grabaciones, un experto identific & oacute; todas las especies de aves detectadas en momentos estandarizados a lo largo del d & iacute;a. El & aacute;rea de estudio se caracteriza por la t & iacute;pica agricultura a peque & ntilde;a escala con & aacute;rboles remanentes en el bosque del Choc & oacute; ecuatoriano. Para cuantificar diferentes aspectos de la biodiversidad, utilizamos n & uacute;meros de Hill basados en la incidencia, centr & aacute;ndonos en especies poco frecuentes, frecuentes y altamente frecuentes en diversidad taxon & oacute;mica, funcional y filogen & eacute;tica, teniendo en cuenta la cobertura de la muestra (una medida objetiva de la completitud de la muestra). La composici & oacute;n de la comunidad de aves sigui & oacute; el gradiente de rebrote representado en el primer eje de la ordenaci & oacute;n. Las diferencias en las comunidades de aves tambi & eacute;n fueron robustas a los cambios en la cobertura de la muestra. La cobertura de las muestras disminuy & oacute; significativamente a lo largo del gradiente de recuperaci & oacute;n y afect & oacute; a las distintas medidas de diversidad alfa. Aunque los resultados controlados por la cobertura muestral no mostraron cambios en la diversidad taxon & oacute;mica y filogen & eacute;tica, la diversidad funcional de especies poco frecuentes, frecuentes y muy frecuentes disminuy & oacute; a lo largo del gradiente de recuperaci & oacute;n. Las plantaciones de cacao mostraron valores de diversidad particularmente elevados, lo que pone de relieve el potencial de estos parches para sustentar especies forestales y arbustivas en la agricultura. Adem & aacute;s, varias especies forestales utilizaron regularmente las & aacute;reas agr & iacute;colas, inducidas por & aacute;rboles remanentes caracter & iacute;sticos del paisaje agr & iacute;cola a peque & ntilde;a escala de nuestra regi & oacute;n de estudio. S & iacute;ntesis y aplicaciones. Nuestros resultados ponen de manifiesto la importancia de estandarizar las medidas de biodiversidad e incorporar la diversidad beta en el seguimiento de la biodiversidad. Hemos demostrado que la diversidad taxon & oacute;mica, filogen & eacute;tica y funcional de las aves puede ser alta en bosques secundarios dentro de paisajes agr & iacute;colas de peque & ntilde;a escala. Esto pone de manifiesto el potencial de recuperaci & oacute;n de los bosques naturales, en particular cuando las parcelas de recuperaci & oacute;n est & aacute;n integradas en una matriz forestal que incluye bosques antiguos.

Plant–herbivore interactions are important for almost all terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known about how herbivory and the specialization of these interactions change with the resource availability provided by host plant communities and time since disturbance. In fire-prone scrublands of the South African Cape Floristic Region, we studied interaction networks between 20 Protea shrub species and ten herbivorous insect species that consume seeds inside Protea cones during their larval stage. We studied these interactions at 18 sites that differed widely in plant resource availability (protea cone mass per hectare) and time since the last fire event. We sampled 1173 protea cones, identified the herbivores in each cone, and calculated herbivory rate (the proportion of infested cones), herbivore diversity (herbivore species richness and Shannon diversity), the number of host plant species per herbivore species (insect generality), the number of herbivore species per host plant species (plant vulnerability), as well as niche overlap among insect and plant species for each site. We found that most herbivore species interacted with the majority of Protea species. Herbivory rate and herbivore diversity were not affected by site-level resource availability or time since fire. Surprisingly, specialization of plant–herbivore interactions at the community level was independent of the environmental gradients studied, suggesting that the mechanisms structuring the interactions in this plant–herbivore system were independent of the environmental context. This finding suggests coupled community dynamics of protea plants and the insect herbivores feeding inside their cones in South African fynbos ecosystems.

Plant functional traits play an important role in shaping plant ecological responses to environmental conditions and influencing ecosystem functioning. However, how whole-plant functional strategies manifest at the community level to influence aboveground and below-ground carbon storage across environmental gradients remains poorly understood. We measured above-ground and below-ground carbon stocks and the variation in whole-plant (above- and below-ground) functional strategies at the community level in twelve ecosystem types across a broad savanna-forest-alpine elevational gradient of climate and land use on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Using Structural Equation Models, we disentangled the direct and land-use-mediated influences of climate on carbon storage from indirect influences mediated by variation in plant functional strategies. We found strong coordination between above- and below-ground functional traits at the whole community level, which corresponded with functional strategies related to two major trade-offs: a slow-conservation to fast resource-acquisition axis represented by a spectrum from high leaf dry matter content to high fine root nitrogen concentration; and a size-related woody to grassy community axis represented by a spectrum spanning high canopy height to high specific root length. The slow-fast and woody-grassy strategy axes were primarily driven by precipitation and land-use intensity, respectively. Both functional strategies mediated the effects of climate on carbon storage. The slow-fast strategy axis was strongly and positively associated with above-ground carbon stocks. Meanwhile, the woody-grassy strategy axis was negatively associated with both above-ground carbon stocks and soil organic carbon stocks. Synthesis. We demonstrate that major plant functional strategies manifest at the community level along elevational gradients. These strategies also explain variation in carbon storage, although above-ground storage is mostly driven by trait effects, and below-ground storage by direct effects of climate. Together, these results underscore the importance of incorporating community functional trait data into future analysis of climate change impacts on carbon storage, which would enhance our ability to predict shifts in ecosystem functioning.

Aim: Progress has been made in understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) in both experimental and real-world ecosystems. Yet, we have a limited understanding of the extent to which biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning in heterogeneous environments and whether variation in ecosystem functioning between communities is related to variation in species richness or turnover. Here, we quantify the relative contribution of variation in species richness and species turnover to variation in ecosystem functioning between communities (i.e., the diversity effect) along two tropical elevational gradients. Location: Andes (Ecuador) and Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania).Taxa Studied Woody plants, springtails, soil arthropods, ants and frugivorous birds. Methods: We collected data on seven ecosystem functions, including biomass and process rates, across six ecosystem types along the two elevational gradients. We then combine the ecological Price equation with the concept of beta-diversity to quantify how the diversity effect is shaped by environmental heterogeneity within and across ecosystem types, and whether the effect of environmental heterogeneity is primarily mediated by variation in species richness or species turnover. Results: The diversity effect on ecosystem functioning increased consistently with environmental heterogeneity on both mountains. Species richness and turnover, on average, contributed similarly to the diversity effect on ecosystem functioning in both mountain regions, but effect sizes varied across functions. The increase in the diversity effect with environmental heterogeneity was primarily mediated by species richness, while species turnover played a secondary role in mediating the effects of environmental heterogeneity. Main Conclusions: Our study reveals that the diversity effect on ecosystem functioning increases with environmental heterogeneity and that species richness, rather than species turnover, primarily drives this relationship. The dominant role of species richness in mediating the effect of environmental heterogeneity indicates that BEF relationships along environmental gradients are strongly influenced by environmental filters that limit local species coexistence.

Plant functional connectivity-the dispersal of plant propagules between habitat patches-is often ensured through animal movement. Yet, there is no quantitative framework to analyse how plant-animal interactions and the movement of seed dispersers influence community-level plant functional connectivity. We propose a trait-based framework to quantify plant connectivity with a model integrating plant-frugivore networks, animal-mediated seed-dispersal distances and the selection of target patches by seed dispersers. Using this framework, we estimated how network specialization, between-patch distance and resource diversity in a target patch affect the number and diversity of seeds dispersed to that patch. Specialized networks with a high degree of niche partitioning in plant-frugivore interactions reduced functional connectivity by limiting the diversity of seeds dispersed over long distances. Resource diversity in the target patch increased both seed number and diversity, especially in specialized networks and within short and intermediate distances between patches. Notably, resource diversity was particularly important at intermediate distances, where the number and diversity of seeds reaching a patch increased more strongly with resource diversity than at longer distances. Using a trait-based framework, we show that resource diversity in the target patch is a major driver of connectivity in animal-dispersed plant communities.

Functional traits determine interactions between plants and pollinators, and to increase pollination efficiency, many plants have evolved traits to attract specific pollinator groups. However, biogeographical setting may influence trait evolution and biotic interactions. For instance, plants pollinated by hummingbirds often have ornithophilous traits, that is, flowers with elongated corollas, dilute nectar and red colours, but—due to colonization history, depauperate biotas and unstable environmental conditions—it might be disadvantageous for species to rely on mutualistic partners with specific functional traits on oceanic islands. Hummingbird‐visited plants on islands are thus expected to have fewer ornithophilous traits and be functionally less diverse in their interactions with hummingbirds. We compiled an extensive dataset of plant—hummingbird interactions (1030 plant and 181 hummingbird species) and associated functional traits. We divided the data into four biogeographical regions across the American mainland and the Caribbean islands and then tested whether biogeographical regions differed in the proportion of ornithophilous floral traits and functional diversity of plant—hummingbird interactions. We found that hummingbird‐visited plant communities of the Caribbean islands displayed the lowest proportion of traits typically associated with a functional adaptation towards bird‐mediated pollination, with on average the shortest corollas, the highest nectar concentrations and the largest proportion of non‐ornithophilous colours. Contrary to our expectations, plants in the Caribbean interacted with hummingbirds that were morphologically more distinct than the plants of mainland regions. Overall, we document a strong imprint of insularity on floral traits and interactions with hummingbirds. While hummingbird‐visited plants in the Caribbean displayed floral traits that support island theory, predicting less specific pollination systems on oceanic islands, the functional diversity of plant–hummingbird interactions in the Caribbean communities was higher than on the mainland, possibly driven by competition over resources. These results highlight the influence of insularity on functional traits and plant–pollinator interactions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.