Résumé: 1. Trait-based approaches have the potential to reveal general and predictive relationships between organisms and ecosystem functioning. However, the mechanisms underlying the functional structure of communities are still unclear. Within terrestrial ecosystems, several studies have shown that many ecological processes are controlled by the interacting above-and belowground compartments. However, few studies have used traits to reveal the functional relationships between plants and soil fauna. Mostly, research combining plants and soil fauna solely used the traits of one assemblage in predictive studies. 2. Above-ground (plants) and below-ground (Collembola) compartments were sampled over a flooding gradient in northern France along the Seine River. First, we measured the effect of flooding on functional and taxonomic assembly within both communities. We then considered the linkages between plant and Collembolan species richness, community traits and assessed whether traits of both compartments converged at high flooding intensity (abiotic filtering) and diverged when this constraint is released (biotic filtering). 3. Species richness of both taxa followed the same bell-shaped pattern along the gradient, while a similar significant pattern of functional richness was only observed for plants. Further analyses revealed a progressive shift from trait convergence to divergence for plants, but not for Collembola, as constraints intensity decreased. Instead, our results highlighted that Collembola traits were mainly linked to the variations in plant traits. This leads, within Collembola assemblages, to convergence of a subset of perception and habitat-related traits for which the relationship with plant traits was assessed. 4. Synthesis. Using a trait-based approach, our study highlighted that functional relationships occur between above-and below-ground compartments. We underlined that functional composition of plant communities plays a key role in structuring Collembola assemblages in addition to the role of abiotic variables. Our study clearly shows that functional diversity provides a new approach to link the above-and below-ground compartments and might, therefore, be further considered when studying ecological processes at the interface between both compartments.

Résumé: Questions Forest fragmentation affects biodiversity locally (alpha diversity) and beyond – at relatively larger scales (gamma diversity) – by increasing dispersal and recruitment limitations. Yet, does an increase in fragmentation affect the relationship between alpha and gamma diversity and what can we learn from it? Location Northern France. Methods We surveyed 116 forest patches across three fragmentation levels: none (continuous forest); intermediate (forest patches connected by hedgerows); and high (isolated forest patches). Plant species richness of both forest specialists and generalists was surveyed at five nested spatial resolutions across each forest patch: 1 m(2); 10 m(2); 100 m(2); 1,000 m(2); and total forest patch area. First, we ran log-ratio models to quantify the alpha-gamma relationship. We did that separately for all possible combinations of fragmentation level (none vs intermediate vs high) x spatial scale (e.g., alpha-1 m(2) vs gamma-10 m(2)) x species type (e.g., alpha-specialists vs gamma-specialists). We then used linear mixed-effects models to analyze the effect of fragmentation level, spatial scale, species type and all two-way interaction terms on the slope coefficient extracted from all log-ratio models. Results We found an interaction effect between fragmentation level and species type, such that forest specialists shifted from a linear (i.e., proportional sampling) to a curvilinear plateau (i.e., community saturation) relationship at low and high fragmentation, respectively, while generalists shifted from a curvilinear to a linear pattern. Conclusions The impact of forest fragmentation on the alpha-gamma relationship supports generalist species persistence over forest specialists, with contrasting mechanisms for these two guilds. As fragmentation increases, forest specialists shift from proportional sampling towards community saturation, thus reducing alpha diversity likely due to dispersal limitation. Contrariwise, generalists shift from community saturation towards proportional sampling, thus increasing alpha diversity likely due to an increase in the edge:core ratio. To ensure long-term conservation of forest specialists, one single large forest patch should be preferred over several small ones.

Résumé: AimTo assess contemporary and historical determinants of taxonomic and ecological trait turnover in birds worldwide. We tested whether taxonomic and trait turnover (1) are structured by regional bioclimatic conditions, (2) increase in relationship with topographic heterogeneity and environmental turnover and change according to current and historical environmental conditions, and (3) decrease with human impact. Major TaxaBirds. LocationGlobal. MethodsWe used computationally efficient algorithms to map the taxonomic and trait turnover of 8,040 terrestrial bird assemblages worldwide, based on a grid with 110km x 110 km resolution overlaid on the extent-of-occurrence maps of 7,964 bird species, and nine ecological traits reflecting six key aspects of bird ecology (diet, habitat use, thermal preference, migration, dispersal and body size). We used quantile regression and model selection to quantify the influence of biomes, environment (temperature, precipitation, altitudinal range, net primary productivity, Quaternary temperature and precipitation change) and human impact (human influence index) on bird turnover. ResultsBird taxonomic and trait turnover were highest in the north African deserts and boreal biomes. In the tropics, taxonomic turnover tended to be higher, but trait turnover was lower than in other biomes. Taxonomic and trait turnover exhibited markedly different or even opposing relationships with climatic and topographic gradients, but at their upper quantiles both types of turnover decreased with increasing human influence. Main conclusionsThe influence of regional, environmental and anthropogenic factors differ between bird taxonomic and trait turnover, consistent with an imprint of niche conservatism, environmental filtering and topographic barriers on bird regional assemblages. Human influence on these patterns is pervasive and demonstrates global biotic homogenization at a macroecological scale.