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Functional diversity

Community ecology

The variety and distribution of functional traits among organisms within a biological community that influence their resource use, interactions, and contributions to ecological processes. Functional traits include morphological, physiological, behavioral, and life-history characteristics. Unlike species richness, which measures the number of species present, functional diversity describes differences in the ecological characteristics of organisms. Greater functional diversity can increase resource-use complementarity, support multiple ecological functions, and contribute to ecosystem resilience. However, functional diversity does not establish whether organisms are performing particular ecological activities or producing measurable ecological consequences.

Petchey, O. L., & Gaston, K. J. (2006). Functional diversity: Back to basics and looking forward. Ecology Letters, 9(6), 741–758. Cadotte, M. W., Carscadden, K., & Mirotchnick, N. (2011). Beyond species: Functional diversity and the maintenance of ecological processes and services. Journal of Applied Ecology, 48(5), 1079–1087.