Spider Functional Trait Diversity is Correlated to Plant Functional Trait Diversity

Abstract

Community assembly is the result of ecological selection processes, dispersal processes, and random drift processes. Selection processes can cause coexisting species to be more similar or more different in traits, depending on the strength of environmental filtering or resource partitioning. Differences in functional traits are also known as functional diversity. Trait diversity within a site is an important part of understanding species diversity within a site, both of which could impact the ecosystem processes taking place. The mechanisms influencing the dispersion of trait values within a community are, at present, inadequately understood. We chose spiders because they are readily found in every terrestrial habitat and because they exhibit a high degree of functional diversity in body size, body shape, eyes, and mouthparts.