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While considerable evidence exists of biogeographic patterns in the intensity of species interactions, the influence of these patterns on variation in community structure is less clear. Studying how the distributions of traits in communities vary along global gradients can inform how variation in interactions and other factors contribute to the process of community assembly. Using a model selection approach on measures of trait dispersion in crustaceans associated with eelgrass ( Zostera marina ) spanning 30° of latitude in two oceans, we found that dispersion strongly increased with increasing predation and decreasing latitude. Ocean and epiphyte load appeared as secondary predictors; Pacific communities were more overdispersed while Atlantic communities were more clustered, and increasing epiphytes were associated with increased clustering. By examining how species interactions and environmental filters influence community structure across biogeographic regions, we demonstrate how both latitudinal variation in species interactions and historical contingency shape these responses. Community trait distributions have implications for ecosystem stability and functioning, and integrating large-scale observations of environmental filters, species interactions and traits can help us predict how communities may respond to environmental change.
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This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2026
A Global Meta‐Analysis of Passive Experimental Warming Effects on Plant Traits and Community Properties
ABSTRACT In order to better predict climate change effects on plants and their communities, we need to improve our understanding of how various plant traits and community properties respond to warming, as well as what contexts contribute to variation in these responses. To address this knowledge gap, we compiled data from 126 in situ passive experimental warming studies on 13 different plant trait and community property responses. We then collected metadata from these studies to define 9 different study contexts spanning environmental, experimental, and plant‐level scales. We find that, globally, some traits decrease when warmed (e.g., aboveground N content), while others increase (e.g., plant biomass). We also identify contexts that contribute to variation in plant responses to warming, such as latitude, distance from northern range edge, and plant functional group, but the importance of these contexts varies based on the trait or community property measured. For example, as latitude increases, the effect of warming on reproductive traits becomes stronger, but this latitude‐trait relationship did not hold for all traits. Our study highlights how multiple plant traits and community properties respond to warming across the globe, the importance of carefully designing and interpreting the outcomes of climate change experiments, and the need for coordinated warming experiments across varying environmental contexts in order to mechanistically understand and predict plant community responses to climate warming.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2224712
- PAR ID:
- 10613631
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Global Change Biology
- Volume:
- 31
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1354-1013
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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