Biological traits approaches in benthic marine ecology: Dead ends and new paths.
benthic communities
ecosystem function
effects traits
response traits
soft‐bottoms
traits‐based approaches
Journal
Ecology and evolution
ISSN: 2045-7758
Titre abrégé: Ecol Evol
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101566408
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Jul 2022
Jul 2022
Historique:
received:
21
02
2022
revised:
19
05
2022
accepted:
20
05
2022
entrez:
5
7
2022
pubmed:
6
7
2022
medline:
6
7
2022
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Biological traits analysis (BTA) links community structure to both ecological functions and response to environmental drivers through species' attributes. In consequence, it has become a popular approach in marine benthic studies. However, BTA will reach a dead end if the scientific community does not acknowledge its current shortcomings and limitations: (a) uncertainties related to data origins and a lack of standardized reporting of trait information; (b) knowledge gaps on the role of multiple interacting traits on driving the organisms' responses to environmental variability; (c) knowledge gaps regarding the mechanistic links between traits and functions; (d) a weak focus on the spatial and temporal variability that is inherent to the trait expression of species; and, last but not least, (e) the large reliance on expert knowledge due to an enormous knowledge gap on the basic ecology of many benthic species. BTA will only reach its full potential if the scientific community is able to standardize and unify the reporting and storage of traits data and reconsider the importance of baseline observational and experimental studies to fill knowledge gaps on the mechanistic links between biological traits, functions, and environmental variability. This challenge could be assisted by embracing new technological advances in marine monitoring, such as underwater camera technology and artificial intelligence, and making use of advanced statistical approaches that consider the interactive nature and spatio-temporal variability of biological systems. The scientific community has to abandon some dead ends and explore new paths that will improve our understanding of individual species, traits, and the functioning of benthic ecosystems.
Identifiants
pubmed: 35784057
doi: 10.1002/ece3.9001
pii: ECE39001
pmc: PMC9163796
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
e9001Informations de copyright
© 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors declare no competing interests.
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