DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2175q
title: Data from: Plant functional traits and environmental conditions shape community assembly and ecosystem functioning during restoration

description: Recovering biological diversity and ecosystem functioning are primary
 objectives of ecological restoration, yet these outcomes are often
 unpredictable. Assessments based on functional traits may help with
 interpreting variability in both community composition and ecosystem
 functioning because of their mechanistic and generalizable nature. This
 promise remains poorly realized, however, because tests linking
 environmental conditions, functional traits, and ecosystem functioning in
 restoration are rare. Here, we provide such a test through what is to our
 knowledge the first empirical application of the ‘response–effect trait
 framework’ to restoration. This framework provides a trait-based bridge
 between community assembly and ecosystem functioning by describing how
 species respond to environmental conditions based on traits and how the
 traits of species affect ecosystem functioning. Our study took place
 across 29 prairies restored from former agricultural fields in
 southwestern Michigan. We considered how environmental conditions affect
 ecosystem functioning through and independently of measured functional
 traits. To do so, we paired field-collected trait data with data on plant
 community composition and measures of ecosystem functioning and used
 structural equation modelling to determine relationships between
 environmental conditions, community-weighted means of functional traits
 and ecosystem functioning. Environmental conditions were predictive of
 trait composition. Sites restored directly from tillage (as opposed to
 those allowed to fallow) supported taller species with larger seeds and
 higher specific leaf area (SLA). Site age and fire frequency were both
 negatively related to SLA. We also found a positive relationship between
 soil moisture and SLA. Both trait composition and environmental conditions
 predicted ecosystem functioning, but these relationships varied among the
 measured functions. Pollination mode (animal pollination) increased and
 fire frequency decreased floral resource availability, seed mass had a
 negative effect on below-ground biomass production, and vegetative height
 increased decomposition rate. Soil moisture and fire frequency both
 increased while site age decreased above-ground biomass production, and
 site age and soil moisture both increased decomposition rate. Synthesis
 and applications. Our results suggest that both trait composition and
 environmental conditions play a role in shaping ecosystem function during
 restoration, and the importance of each is dependent on the function of
 interest. Because of this, environmental heterogeneity will be necessary
 to promote multiple ecosystem functions across restored landscapes. A
 trait-based approach to restoration can aid interpretation of variable
 outcomes through insights into community assembly and ecosystem
 functioning.
description: ecosystem_function_Zirbel_2017_dryadThis file contains ecosystem function data from plots within each of 29 restored prairie sites in Southwestern Michigan. Each site contains 10 1x1m sampling plots. Each function was collected at the plot level during the 2013 growing season.plant_community_Zirbel_2017_dryadThis file contains plant community composition data from plots within each of 29 restored prairie sites in Southwestern Michigan. Each site contains 10 1x1m vegetation sampling plots spaced evenly along a 45m transect, at the approximate site center. Values denote percent cover of each plant species found in each of the 1x1m plots. Sampling occurred from August 13th to the 21st in 2013. Cover in each plot can sum to greater than 1 if individuals were overlapping. Cover does not need to sum to 1 due to the presence of bare ground (not included in this dataset).site_environmental_Zirbel_2017_dryadThis file contains environmental variables collected at each restoration site. Data in this file are largely the same as reported in: Grman, E., Bassett, T., and Brudvig, L.A. 2014. A prairie plant community data set for addressing questions in community assembly and restoration. Ecology 95:2363. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/14-0888.1trait_data_field_Zirbel_2017_dryadContinuous plant functional traits that were collected from within the restored prairie sites. Across all species, traits were collected at many restoration sites, but each species’ traits are only collected at a single site. Trait values for plant height and SLA are measured on an individual. Seed mass values are averaged from at least 50 seeds from 5 individuals or pulled from the Kew Seed information database (SID). Missing trait data are represented with NA.trait_data_literature_Zirbel_2017_dryadCategorical functional traits that were collected from the literature. Sources include (Kew SID, USDA Plants, Illinois Plant Information Network, Flora of North America).tax_phylo_names_Zirbel_2017_dryadUsed to calculate phylogenetic diversity for each site. List of species names found at the 29 restored prairie sites in this study (taxonomy according to Voss & Reznicek 2012) and corresponding species names in the Zanne et al. 2014 tree.phylogeny_Zirbel_2017_dryadPhylogeny of all species that occur in the plant_community.csv dataset. This file was generated using Phylomatic. Format is newick and uses the Zanne et al., 2014 tree.Rscript_Zirbel_2017_dryadThis R script contains all of code required to perform the analyses in the above manuscript. All analyses were done using R v. 3.3.0. All packages used for this analysis are listed in the script and Zirbel et al. 2017.Readme_Zirbel_2017_dryad