Inferring community assembly mechanisms from functional diversity patterns: the importance of multiple assembly processes

In forested ecosystems, it remains unclear whether environmental conditions, resource competition or their joint effects explain non-randomly distributed species pattern. Recently, trait-based approaches have been recognized as an important tool to infer processes governing community assembly patterns. In this study, we quantify patterns of functional composition and diversity to study how tree species coexistence is influenced by abiotic factors and biotic interactions in a species-rich temperate old-growth forest. In a 25 ha (500 × 500 m) fully mapped forest plot, we calculated functional composition (community weighted mean) and diversity of five key traits considering two spatial scales (20 × 20 and 50 × 50 m quadrats). We compared the observed patterns in functional diversity with randomly generated null communities to test for the presence of non-random patterns in community assembly, and studied the variation of functional composition and diversity along gradients of soil conditions to test for the shift in assembly processes along resource gradients. Functional diversity differed from null expectations depending on the spatial scale considered. In broad-scale quadrats (50 × 50 m), functional diversity in wood specific gravity (WSG) and leaf area (LA) was lower than expected by chance, whereas functional diversity in specific root length (SRL) was greater than expected. In small quadrats (20 × 20 m), functional diversity was lower than expected by chance in specific leaf area (SLA) and when considering all traits in combination. Functional composition and diversity varied along the soil resource gradient but the results were dependent on the scale considered. We found an increase in functional composition in maximum height (H) and WSG and a reduction in the functional diversity in most of traits suggesting an increase in competition with the increase in soil water content at small scale. The trait dispersion pattern for all traits in combination had no directional changes with some of individual traits generating more clear dispersion trend when the dominant competitor Pinus koraiensis was removed from the community dataset. The results presented here suggest that community assembly is governed by non-random processes in the studied forests. Interestingly, the choice of quadrat size seems to be crucial to describe community patterns and infer the forces governing community assembly. The consideration of different traits and environmental gradients allowed us to discover that different assembly mechanisms operate simultaneously in the studied forest.

The contributions and interaction of biotic and abiotic processes in community assembly are crucial for understanding the elevational patterns of biodiversity. The combined analyses of taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity are necessary to resolve this issue. By investigating vegetation in 24 transects sampled on Hongla Snow Mountain, in the central Hengduan Mountain Ranges in Southwest China, we delineated the elevational vegetation spectrum on the eastern and western slopes, analyzed the elevational variation in taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of woody plant species, and compared the community structure of phylogeny and function in the low-elevational shrublands, mid-elevational forests, and alpine shrubs and meadows. The species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and functional diversity of woody plants showed nonstandard hump-shaped patterns with two peaks along the elevational gradient. The community structure of phylogeny and function (including tree height, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf thickness, bark thickness, and wood density) clustered in the low-elevation shrub communities, being random and over-dispersed in mid-elevational forests. The phylogenic structure was over-dispersed in alpine communities, whereas the functional structure was clustered. Elevational patterns in taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity, together with the mean and variation in woody plant functional traits, suggested drought stress and freeze stress as environmental filters dominating the assembly of low and high elevation non-forest communities, and a conspicuous effect of biotic facilitation was also suggested for alpine habitats. By contrast, interspecific competition dominated the community assembly of forests at mid-elevations. The difference in biodiversity indices between the west and east slopes reflected the effects of the Indian Monsoon on the geomorphic patterns of ecosystem structure. These results increased our understanding of biodiversity patterns and underlying mechanisms in the Hengduan Mountains of Southwest China and highlighted the priorities for biodiversity conservation in this region.

Summary Theory predicts that the processes generating biodiversity after disturbance will change during succession. Comparisons of phylogenetic and functional (alpha and beta) diversity with taxonomic diversity can provide insights into the extent to which community assembly is driven by deterministic or stochastic processes, but comparative approaches have yet to be applied to successional systems. We characterized taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional plant (alpha and beta) diversity within and between four successional stages in a > 270‐year‐long arable‐to‐grassland chronosequence. Null models were used to test whether functional and phylogenetic turnover differed from random expectations, given the levels of species diversity. The three facets of diversity showed different patterns of change during succession. Between early and early‐mid succession, species richness increased but there was no increase in functional or phylogenetic diversity. Higher than predicted levels of functional similarity between species within the early and early‐mid successional stages, indicate that abiotic filters have selected for sets of functionally similar species within sites. Between late‐mid and late succession, there was no further increase in species richness, but a significant increase in functional alpha diversity, suggesting that functionally redundant species were replaced by functionally more dissimilar species. Functional turnover between stages was higher than predicted, and higher than within‐stage turnover, indicating that different assembly processes act at different successional stages. Synthesis. Analysis of spatial and temporal turnover in different facets of diversity suggests that deterministic processes generate biodiversity during post‐disturbance ecosystem development and that the relative importance of assembly processes has changed over time. Trait‐mediated abiotic filtering appears to play an important role in community assembly during the early and early‐mid stages of arable‐to‐grassland succession, whereas the relative importance of competitive exclusion appears to have increased towards the later successional stages. Phylogenetic diversity provided a poor reflection of functional diversity and did not contribute to inferences about underlying assembly processes. Functionally deterministic assembly suggests that it may be possible to predict future post‐disturbance changes in biodiversity, and associated ecosystem attributes, on the basis of species’ functional traits but not phylogeny.

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has a mean altitude exceeding 4000 m and covers about 2.5 million km². More than 60% of this area is alpine grassland. Exclosures have been widely used in this region to study the sustainable use of grassland resources. We used patterns of functional trait diversity to infer the effects of exclosures on community assembly in alpine meadows. We studied functional diversity using five traits under grazing and three enclosed (exclosure) plots (3, 8, and 18 years old) in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We quantified the strength of the community assembly processes by comparing the observed functional trait diversity with a null model that assumes random community assembly. We found evidence for deterministic assembly processes for plant communities in exclosures. The changes in CWM of the five traits from grazing land to 18-year exclosure indicated that environmental filtering occurred due to the exclosures. Multivariate functional diversity (MFDis and MPDₛₑₛ), and functional diversity of individual traits, including that of leaf area, leaf weight and aboveground biomass (FDis of leaf area, leaf weight, and aboveground biomass), increased gradually from grazing land to the 18-year exclosure, and the values of the 18-year exclosure were significantly greater than null expectation. This can be interpreted to indicate that exclosures resulted in greater competitive interaction between species. These results suggest that the effect of exclosures on community assembly is more deterministic than stochastic in this meadow.

Abstract:Environmental filtering and competitive interactions are important ecological processes in community assembly. The contribution of the two processes to community assembly can be evaluated by shifts in functional diversity patterns. We examined the correlations between functional diversity of six traits (leaf chlorophyll concentration, dry matter content, size, specific leaf area, thickness and wood density) and environmental gradients (topography and soil) for 92 species in the 20-ha Dinghushan forest plot in China. A partial Mantel test showed that most of the community-weighted mean trait values changed with terrain convexity and soil fertility, which implied that environmental filtering was occurring. Functional diversity of many traits significantly increased with increasing terrain convexity and soil fertility, which was associated with increased light and below-ground resources respectively. These results suggest that co-occurring species are functionally convergent in regions of strong abiotic stress under the environmental filtering, but functionally divergent in more benign environments due to resource partitioning and competitive interactions. Single-trait diversity and multivariate functional diversity had different relationships with environmental factors, indicating that traits were related to different niche axes, and associated with different ecological processes, which demonstrated the importance of focusing niche axes in traits selection. Between 9% and 41% of variation in functional diversity of different traits was explained by environmental factors in stepwise multiple regression models. Terrain convexity and soil fertility were the best predictors of functional diversity, which contributed 30.5% and 29.0% of total R2to the model. These provided essential evidence that different environmental factors had distinguishing impacts on regulating diversity of traits.

Despite a long history of alpine meadows studies, uncertainty remains about the importance of environmental factors in structuring their assembly. We examined the functional and phylogenetic structure of 170 alpine Tibetan meadow communities in relation to elevation, soil moisture and shade. Functional community structure was estimated with both communityweighted mean (CWM) trait values for specific leaf area (SLA), plant height and seed mass and functional diversity (Rao’s quadratic index) for their traits individually and in combination (multivariate functional diversity). We found that shade induced by woody plants significantly increased the phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity of SLA of co-occurring species, suggesting that woody plants behave as “ecosystem engineers” creating a different environment that allows the existence of shade tolerant species and thereby facilitates the coexistence of plant species with different light resource acquisition strategies. We also found evidence for a clear decrease in phylogenetic diversity, CWM and functional diversity related to plant height in the two extreme, both the dry and wet, soil moisture conditions. This indicates that both drought and excess moisture may act as environmental filters selecting species with close phylogenetic relationships and similar height. Moreover, we detected significant decreases in both CWM and functional diversity for seed mass along elevational gradients, suggesting that low net primary productivity (NPP) limits seed size. Finally, because of different individual trait responses to environmental factors, the multivariate functional diversity did not change across environmental gradients. This lack of multivariate response supports the hypothesis that multiple processes, such as environmental filtering, competition and facilitation, may operate simultaneously and exert opposing effects on community assembly along different niche (e.g., water use, light acquisition) axes, resulting in no overall functional community structure change. This contrast between individual and multivariate trait patterns highlights the importance of examining individual traits linked with different ecological processes to better understand the mechanisms of community assembly.

Temporal taxonomic shifts have been documented in bird communities within protected areas. However, the potential impact of these changes on functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity remains poorly understood. In this study, we monitored bird communities in Qiyunshan National Nature Reserve in southern China for nine years (2014-2022). We examined temporal trends in taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity metrics and compared observed phylogenetic diversity values with expected values to determine the mechanisms driving community assembly. Additionally, we evaluated the temporal trend of beta diversity. A total of 118 bird species were recorded, with the dominant species including Chestnut Bulbul (Hemixoscastanonotus), Grey-cheeked Fulvetta (Alcippemorrisonia) and Great Tit (Parusmajor). We found that species turnover was the principal driver of temporal variations in species composition. However, species richness, functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity fluctuated throughout the study period, showing no clear trend of increase or decrease. Our findings indicate that the composition of bird communities is shaped by environmental filtering and neutral processes. The changes in taxonomics may be due to changes in the availability of resources and random substitution arising from the dispersion process. Protected areas have the potential to attract new bird species with similar functional and genetic relationships to those already present. This leads to minimal changes to overall functional and phylogenetic diversity, suggesting a degree of functional redundancy amongst species that are replaced or added. Notably, we observed a persistent increase in species loss over time, raising concerns about the potential impact on the future functional stability of the system. We highlight that the asynchronous patterns of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity in birds emphasise the importance of multidimensional diversity metrics. Consequently, we suggest that functional and phylogenetic diversity should be regarded as essential indicators alongside species richness when evaluating conservation outcomes in nature reserves. This approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of the complexity of ecological communities and provides information for more effective conservation strategies.

AimRaptors, a highly threatened but ecologically important group of birds, have been recognized as a good proxy for overall biodiversity in conservation planning. However, previous work on raptor diversity focused predominantly on taxonomic diversity. Here, we assess the global patterns of raptor taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity and their association with current and historical environmental factors.LocationGlobal.Time periodPresent day.Major taxa studiedRaptors.MethodsWe compiled information from distribution maps, global trait datasets and avian phylogenies for all extant raptors. We used generalized least squares (GLS) to assess the relationship between historical and contemporary environmental predictors and species richness, phylogenetic diversity [Faith's phylogenetic diversity index (Faith's PD), mean pairwise distance (MPD) and mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD)] and functional diversity of traits related to raptor morphology, lifestyles, diet, foraging and vagility, while controlling for spatial autocorrelation.ResultsRaptor taxonomic diversity peaked in tropical regions and nearby mountain ranges. After controlling for species richness, species‐poor assemblages in high latitudes and deserts were more phylogenetically and functionally diverse than expected by chance. In species‐rich assemblages, diet and foraging traits had greater variation, whereas morphological traits had less variation than expected, suggesting that species packing promoted adaptive radiation in these assemblages. Historical climate influenced phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity of morphological, foraging and diet traits, leaving a signal of evolutionary history on modern assemblages. Human footprint was also an important driver of MPD and of niche and vagility trait functional diversity, with higher phylogenetic diversity in disturbed areas and with higher functional diversity in regions with intermediate levels of disturbance.Main conclusionsBoth palaeoclimate and contemporary environmental conditions are important drivers of raptor phylogenetic and functional diversity. We found large mismatches among taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity, demonstrating how different processes filter lineages and species traits shaping raptor assemblages. Our results highlight the need to consider multiple dimensions of diversity to inform conservation planning better when using raptors as umbrella species.

QuestionThere are contrasting opinions about how communities assemble along a productivity gradient, particularly in relation to competitive interactions. One view is that functionally similar, and closely related species, are less likely to co‐exist (limiting similarity). Alternatively, competitive exclusion may act on dissimilar species because species bearing traits associated with low competitive ability are excluded (weaker competitor exclusion). We ask if patterns of functional and phylogenetic diversity are related to changes in species diversity in response to fertility manipulations.LocationSpecies‐rich mesophytic grassland in Estonia.MethodsThe grassland has been manipulated from 2002 to 2011 to increase (fertilizer addition) and decrease productivity (sucrose addition) in small‐scale (50 cm × 50 cm) plots. We linked annual increases and decreases in species diversity to changes in functional and phylogenetic diversity. We used abundance‐weighted mean pair‐wise functional or phylogenetic distance of all possible species pairs.ResultsWe found convergence in four traits (plant height, leaf distribution, lateral spread, type of reproduction) and a decrease in mean functional and phylogenetic diversity, in support of weaker competitor exclusion or habitat filtering. There was less support for limiting similarity, with divergence found for two traits associated with decreasing species diversity (leaf distribution in the sucrose treatment and lateral spread in the fertilizer treatment).ConclusionsOur results support the view that competition can lead to the exclusion of weaker competitors, rather than increasing functional and phylogenetic diversity, as expected from the principle of limiting similarity. However, multiple assembly processes, which are generally seen as mutually exclusive, are operating simultaneously, albeit on different traits and at different stages of community assembly.

Communities are assembled from species that evolve or colonise a given geographic region, and persist in the face of abiotic conditions and interactions with other species. The evolutionary and colonisation histories of communities are characterised by phylogenetic diversity, while functional diversity is indicative of abiotic and biotic conditions. The relationship between functional and phylogenetic diversity infers whether species functional traits are divergent (differing between related species) or convergent (similar among distantly related species). Biotic interactions and abiotic conditions are known to influence macroecological patterns in species richness, but how functional and phylogenetic diversity of guilds vary with biotic factors, and the relative importance of biotic drivers in relation to geographic and abiotic drivers is unknown. In this study, we test whether geographic, abiotic or biotic factors drive biome‐scale spatial patterns of functional and phylogenetic diversity and functional convergence in vertebrate herbivores across the Arctic tundra biome. We found that functional and phylogenetic diversity both peaked in the western North American Arctic, and that spatial patterns in both were best predicted by trophic interactions, namely vegetation productivity and predator diversity, as well as climatic severity. Our results show that both bottom–up and top–down trophic interactions, as well as winter temperatures, drive the functional and phylogenetic structure of Arctic vertebrate herbivore assemblages. This has implications for changing Arctic ecosystems; under future warming and northward movement of predators potential increases in phylogenetic and functional diversity in vertebrate herbivores may occur. Our study thus demonstrates that trophic interactions can determine large‐scale functional and phylogenetic diversity just as strongly as abiotic conditions.

Ecosystems with forest and grassland patches as alternative stable states usually contain various closed, semi‐open and open habitats, which may be aligned along a vegetation cover gradient. Taxonomic diversity usually peaks near the middle of the gradient, but our knowledge on functional and phylogenetic diversity trends along gradients is more limited. We investigated the eight main habitats of Hungarian forest‐grassland mosaics, representing various vegetation cover values, and compared their species composition as well as their taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity. We found a compositional gradient ranging from large forest patches through smaller‐sized forest patches and edges to closed and open grasslands. Species richness peaked at the middle of the gradient (at edges). Shannon diversity was high near the middle and at the open end of the gradient. Functional diversity was high throughout woody habitats (in forests and at edges) and was significantly lower in grasslands. When considering all species, phylogenetic diversity tended to peak at north‐facing forest edges. When excluding non‐angiosperms, this peak disappeared. The high taxonomic diversity at the middle of the gradient is in line with the edge‐effect theory. Our results suggest that community assembly in grasslands may be dominated by environmental filtering, while competition may be decisive in woody habitats. The low phylogenetic diversity of grassland habitats can be explained by their young evolutionary age compared to forests. Synthesis. Functional and phylogenetic diversity do not necessarily coincide with taxonomic diversity along vegetation cover gradients. In ecosystems where forest and grassland patches represent alternative stable states, the trends of taxonomic diversity may be similar to those revealed here, but functional diversity patterns may be more system‐specific for some traits. Trends in phylogenetic diversity may vary according to the evolutionary age of the habitats.

Riparian plant communities are key to ecosystem functioning and important providers of ecosystem services on which wildlife and people depend. Ecosystem functioning and stability depend on functional diversity and redundancy. Therefore, understanding which and how different drivers shape community assembly processes and functional patterns is crucial. However, there is limited knowledge of these processes at larger scales for the entire riparian vascular plant community. Two community assembly processes dominate: environmental filtering, where species living in similar environments have similar traits leading to trait convergence; and limiting similarity, where similar traits cause species to compete more strongly leading to trait divergence. We assessed functional diversity patterns of riparian vascular plant communities across an Atlantic–Mediterranean biogeographical gradient in north Portugal. We used functional diversity indices and null models to detect community assembly processes and whether these processes change along environmental gradients. We hypothesised that environmental filtering associated with precipitation and aridity would be the prevailing assembly process at a regional scale. We also expected a shift from environmental filtering to limiting similarity as precipitation‐related stress declined. As hypothesised, patterns of functional diversity were consistent with environmental filtering of species occurrences at the regional scale. Functional patterns were also consistent with a shift between environmental filtering and limiting similarity as cold and aridity stress declined. Under stressful environmental conditions, communities showed lower functional divergence and richness than expected by chance. Environmental filtering was more strongly associated with minimum temperatures than precipitation and aridity. Underlining the need for hierarchical approaches and the analysis of multiple climatic stressors, our results highlighted the relevance of large‐scale environmental stress gradients and the potential role of community assembly in influencing riparian functional diversity. Alterations in stress filters due to climate change will affect assembly processes and functional patterns, probably affecting ecosystem functioning and stability.

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 坡向因子对黄土高原草地群落功能多样性的影响 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201505010900 作者: 作者单位: 陕西师范大学生命科学学院,陕西师范大学生命科学学院 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 陕西师范大学中央高校基本科研业务费（GK201503044） Effect of slope aspect on the functional diversity of grass communities in the Loess Plateau Author: Affiliation: Shaanxi Normal University, College of Life Sciences,Shaanxi Normal University, College of Life Sciences Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:研究群落水平上的植物功能性状特征及功能多样性随坡向的变化规律，对认识不同坡向上的植物群落形成过程具有重要意义。以黄土高原不同坡向上的自然草地群落为研究对象，比较研究了植物功能性状（株高和比叶面积）和功能多样性测度指标（功能丰富度、功能均匀度和功能离散度）随坡向的变化规律。研究结果显示：（1）阴坡的株高和比叶面积显著高于其他坡向；（2）一元性状的功能丰富度在不同坡向间均无显著差异；阴坡和半阴坡的多元性状功能丰富度显著高于阳坡；（3）阴坡的株高功能均匀度显著高于半阳坡，而比叶面积功能均匀度在各坡向的差异并不显著；多元性状功能均匀度在不同坡向差异显著，阴坡最高，半阳坡最低；（4）阴坡和半阴坡的株高功能离散度显著高于阳坡和半阳坡，而半阴坡的比叶面积功能离散度显著高于阳坡；半阴坡的多元性状功能离散度Rao指数显著高于阳坡。研究结果暗示了，在阴坡和半阴坡上，植物对群落内的生态位空间和资源利用更充分，种间竞争强度较低，不同物种之间生态位高度分化；而在阳坡和半阳坡上，由于水分等条件的限制植物可占据的生态位空间有限，导致其对占据的生态位空间使用不足，物种间资源竞争较强烈。在群落水平上，研究地区的植物功能性状及功能多样性随坡向的规律性变化，反映了黄土高原植被群落构建过程中坡向因子对功能性状的筛选效应。该研究结果对该区的植被恢复重建的物种选择及植被布局规划具有重要实践意义。 Abstract:Functional diversity of a plant community, which is based on plant traits, has been proposed as a key component predicting ecosystem function. Knowledge about how plant functional traits and functional diversity change along with the different slope aspects at the community level is important for understanding the formation of plant communities under distinct slope aspects. However, to date, previous studies on plant communities in sunny and cloudy slope environments have mainly been descriptive. To our knowledge, no research has dealt with the relationship between the slope aspect and community assembly based on plant functional diversity (i.e., functional richness, evenness and divergence). In this study, we aimed to uncover the relationship between slope aspects and plant functional traits. Three sampling transects (1 m × 5 m) were established on each of four sites facing north, south, east, or west, in Malan Mountain, Loess Plateau. Each of the sampling transects were evenly divided into fifteen 1 m × 1 m plots, and a plot survey was conducted. We measured plant height (H) and specific leaf area (SLA), and then calculated three types of functional diversity indices (i.e., functional richness, evenness, and divergence), which included three one-dimensional indices based on single traits (i.e., FRci, FRO, FDvar) and three multi-dimensional indices based on two traits (i.e., FRci, FEve, FDQ). A comparison of the changing pattern of plant functional traits and the three types of functional diversity was conducted among the four slope aspects (the cloudy, sunny, semi-cloudy, and semi-sunny slope). Our results indicated that: (1) the value of H and SLA on the cloudy slope was greater than the others; (2) there was no significant difference among the four slope aspects in one-dimensional functional richness indices of H and SLA, while the multi- dimensional functional richness indices of plants on the cloudy slope and the semi-cloudy slope were greater than those of the plants on the sunny slope; (3) on the cloudy slope, the one-dimensional functional evenness of H was significantly greater compared to those on the semi-sunny slope, while that of SLA was not significantly influenced by the slope aspect; the multi-dimensional functional evenness indices of plants on the cloudy slope was greater than those of the plants on semi-sunny slope; (4) the one-dimensional functional divergence of H on the cloudy and semi-cloudy slope were significantly greater than those on the semi-sunny and sunny slope, while that of SLA on the semi-cloudy slope was significantly greater than those on the sunny slope; the multi-dimensional functional divergence index and Rao's quadratic entropy of plants was significantly greater on the semi-cloudy slope compared with those on the sunny slope. Our results indicated that for plant traits, more niche space was occupied, more resources were sufficiently exploited, lower competition intensity occured, and a high level of niche differentiation existed on the cloudy and semi-cloudy slopes. By contrast, because of the limitation of all kinds of soil conditions and environmental factors, plant traits occupied less niche space on the sunny and semi-sunny slope, resources were exploited less sufficiently, and competition for resources tended to be stronger. At the community-level, the changing pattern of plant functional traits and functional diversity along the four different slope aspects suggests the existence of an environmental fitter effect on functional traits under the process of community assembly in the Loess region. These findings would have significant practical implications for species selection and vegetation rehabilitation layout planning in the hilly area of the Loess Plateau. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Global biodiversity losses erode the functioning of our vital ecosystems. Functional diversity is increasingly recognized as a critical link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Satellite earth observation was proposed to address the current absence of information on large-scale continuous patterns of plant functional diversity. This study demonstrates the inference and spatial mapping of functional diversity metrics through satellite remote sensing over a large key biodiversity region (Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, ~53,000 km2) and compares the derived estimates across a land-use gradient as an initial qualitative assessment to test the potential merits of the approach. Functional traits (leaf water content, chlorophyll-a and -b, and leaf area index) were estimated from Sentinel-2 spectral reflectance using a pre-trained neural network on radiative transfer modeling simulations. Multivariate functional diversity metrics were calculated, including functional richness, divergence, and evenness. Spatial patterns of functional diversity were related to land-use data distinguishing intact forest, logged forest, and oil palm plantations. Spatial patterns of satellite remotely sensed functional diversity are significantly related to differences in land use. Intact forests, as well as logged forests, featured consistently higher functional diversity compared to oil palm plantations. Differences were profound for functional divergence, whereas functional richness exhibited relatively large variances within land-use classes. By linking large-scale patterns of functional diversity as derived from satellite remote sensing to land-use information, this study indicated initial responsiveness to broad human disturbance gradients over large geographical and spatially contiguous extents. Despite uncertainties about the accuracy of the spatial patterns, this study provides a coherent early application of satellite-derived functional diversity toward further validation of its responsiveness across ecological gradients.

Forest biodiversity world‐wide is affected by climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, and today 20% of the forest area is located within 100 m of a forest edge. Still, forest edges harbour a substantial amount of terrestrial biodiversity, especially in the understorey. The functional and phylogenetic diversity of forest edges have never been studied simultaneously at a continental scale, in spite of their importance for the forests' functioning and for communities' resilience to future change. We assessed nine metrics of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of understorey plant communities in 225 plots spread along edge‐to‐interior gradients in deciduous forests across Europe. We then derived the relative effects and importance of edaphic, stand and landscape conditions on the diversity metrics. Here, we show that taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity metrics respond differently to environmental conditions. We report an increase in functional diversity in plots with stronger microclimatic buffering, in spite of their lower taxonomic species richness. Additionally, we found increased taxonomic species richness at the forest edge, but in forests with intermediate and high openness, these communities had decreased phylogenetic diversity. Functional and phylogenetic diversity revealed complementary and important insights in community assembly mechanisms. Several environmental filters were identified as potential drivers of the patterns, such as a colder macroclimate and less buffered microclimate for functional diversity. For phylogenetic diversity, edaphic conditions were more important. Interestingly, plots with lower soil pH had decreased taxonomic species richness, but led to increased phylogenetic diversity, challenging the phylogenetic niche conservatism concept. Synthesis . Taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of understorey communities in forest edges respond differently to environmental conditions, providing insight into different community assembly mechanisms and their interactions. Therefore, it is important to look beyond species richness with phylogenetic and functional diversity approaches when focusing on forest understorey biodiversity.