COS 80-4 - Urbanisation globally reduces functional diversity across multiple taxa

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

10:45 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

Location: 518C

Presenting Author(s)

BF

Bertrand Fournier, n/a

Professor
Potsdam University, Germany
Potsdam, Germany

Coauthor(s)

AH

Amy K. Hahs

University of Melbourne, Australia
MA

Myla F. J. F.J Aronson

State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, NJ, United States
CN

Charles H. Nilon

University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri, United States
AH

Adriana Herrera-Montes

University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico
Allyson Salisbury

Adjunct Researcher
The University of Florida & Temple University
Roxbury, New Jersey, United States
CT

Caragh G. Threlfall

University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, Australia
CR

Christine C. Rega-Brodsky

Pittsburg State University, United States
FL

Frank A. La Sorte

Cornell University, United States
IM

Ian MacGregor-Fors

University of Helsinki, Finland
JM

J. Scott MacIvor

Assistant Professor
Biological Sciences, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto
KJ

Kirsten Jung

Ulm University, Germany
NW

Nicholas S.G. Williams

Professor
University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
SK

Sonja Knapp

Research Scientist
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Germany
CL

Christopher A. Lepczyk

Auburn University, United States
JK

Johan Kotze

University of Helsinki, Finland
MM

Marco Moretti

Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Switzerland

Background/Question/Methods

Cities can host significant biological diversity. Yet, urbanisation leads to the loss of habitats and, potentially, to local extinctions. Understanding how multiple taxa respond to urbanisation globally is essential to promote biodiversity conservation in cities. Using an unprecedented dataset with site-level occurrence and trait data of 5,302 species from six taxonomic groups across 379 cities on 6 continents, we investigate how urbanisation shapes the community trait-composition and diversity of six taxonomic groups (amphibians, bats, bees, birds, carabid beetles, and reptiles) across the globe.

Results/Conclusions

We show that urbanisation affects community functional diversity globally through taxon-specific changes in trait composition leading to a contraction of trait space across taxa. Urbanisation impacts all traits, with traits related to reproductive strategy and mobility consistently showing the strongest response. The effect of urbanisation on community trait composition is important across all taxa and, in birds and reptiles, exceeds that of latitude and climate. As functional diversity is linked to the resilience of ecological systems, the observed contraction of trait space threatens the capacity of urban environments to respond to challenges such as climate change, further habitat loss, and other disruptions. Maximising functional diversity within and among cities should thus become pivotal in conservation and management programmes.