Functional biodiversity loss along natural CO2 gradients

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Teixido, Nuria, Gambi, Maria Cristina, Parravacini, Valeriano, Kroeker, Kristy, Micheli, Fiorenza, Villeger, Sebastien, Ballesteros, Enric
• Other Authors: Hopkins Marine Station Stanford, Stanford University, Laboratoire d'Excellence CORAIL (LabEX CORAIL), Université des Antilles (UA)-Institut d'écologie et environnement-Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (UNC)-Université de la Polynésie Française (UPF)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Université de Montpellier (UM), MARine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (UMR MARBEC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: envir; geo; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07592-1; https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-01994135/file/s41467-018-07592-1.pdf; https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-01994135

International audience The effects of environmental change on biodiversity are still poorly understood. In particular, the consequences of shifts in species composition for marine ecosystem function are largely unknown. Here we assess the loss of functional diversity, i.e. the range of species biological traits, in benthic marine communities exposed to ocean acidification (OA) by using natural CO2 vent systems. We found that functional richness is greatly reduced with acidification, and that functional loss is more pronounced than the corresponding decrease in taxonomic diversity. In acidified conditions, most organisms accounted for a few functional entities (i.e. unique combination of functional traits), resulting in low functional redundancy. These results suggest that functional richness is not buffered by functional redundancy under OA, even in highly diverse assemblages, such as rocky benthic communities.