PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #105: Conservation Ecology: Biodiversity.
Presiding: L. Alonso
Friday, August 9. 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Grand Ballroom Central, Radisson.

Extinction and the loss of functional diversity.

PETCHEY, OWEN^*,1, ¹ University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England

ABSTRACT- Using a scale-independent measure of functional diversity (FD) derived from the functional traits of species we show that the loss of functional diversity from six natural assemblages would be rapid compared to rates of loss that occurred in comparable simulated assemblages. Trait-dependent extinctions, which occurred for first species with particular traits (e.g., low leaf nitrogen concentration, deep roots, large body size) caused greater loss of functional diversity than expected by chance in four of the six natural assemblages. In two assemblages, these trait-dependent extinctions had more severe effects on functional diversity than our worst case extinction scenario. These data suggest that conserving a large proportion of the functional traits of species requires conserving a large proportion of all species.

KEY WORDS: Biodiversity, Functional groups, Ecosystem functioning