Diversidade funcional e funcionamento da comunidade: teste em uma área de cerrado

Abstract

Community functioning may be affected by functional diversity, since it measures the extent of complementarity in resource use. We tested whether there was a relationship between functional diversity of woody species and community functioning at fine-scale, using FD as a measure of functional diversity and litter decomposition rate as a surrogate for community functioning. We measured eight functional traits from a woodland cerrado community in southeastern Brazil. We tested the correlation between FD and decomposition rate, between decomposition rate and each trait separately, and between FD and decomposition rate taking into account differences in soil features. There was a non-significant relationship between FD and decomposition rate, even when we considered each trait separately. Decomposition rate was related to aluminium and phosphorus concentration in soil, but not to FD, pointing out that functional diversity was not a good predictor of community functioning. Most studies on the relationships between biodiversity and community functioning at fine scales were carried out by experimental manipulation of diversity and in temperate regions. We carried out this fine scale study as a mensurative experiment and in a tropical savanna. Our findings indicated that the relationship between biodiversity and community functioning is not so straightforward as usually assumed.