Environmental filtering drives herb community composition and functional trait changes across an elevational gradient

摘要

Background and aims - Under the assumption that ecologically similar species have similar functional traits, numerous studies have tried to use a trait-based approach to infer the abiotic and biotic factors that drive the variation in community composition. We used trait-based analyses to predict the responses in herb community composition to elevational change. We demonstrated the trait-environment relationships more precisely, and quantified the relative contribution of intraspecific variation and species replacement to shifts in community-level trait values across elevation.