Trait-Based Assessments of Climate-Change Impacts on Interacting Species.

Plant–animal interactions are fundamentally important in ecosystems, but have often been ignored by studies of climate-change impacts on biodiversity. Here, we present a trait-based framework for predicting the responses of interacting plants and animals to climate change. We distinguish three pathways along which climate change can impact interacting species in ecological communities: (i) spatial and temporal mismatches in the occurrence and abundance of species, (ii) the formation of novel interactions and secondary extinctions, and (iii) alterations of the dispersal ability of plants. These pathways are mediated by three kinds of functional traits: response traits, matching traits, and dispersal traits. We propose that incorporating these traits into predictive models will improve assessments of the responses of interacting species to climate change. Climate change is leading to a fundamental reorganization of ecological communities. Current biodiversity models are mostly limited to the responses of individual species to climate change. Interactions between species, though critically important for species' performance and survival, are less frequently considered in biodiversity models. Functional traits of plants and animals can be used to quantify their environmental requirements, their probability of interaction in ecological networks, and their movement and dispersal ability. New predictive biodiversity models can be developed which incorporate functional traits and species interactions to better forecast interdependent species responses, novel communities, and eco-evolutionary consequences of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]