DOI: 10.5061/dryad.cb312
title: Data from: Functional responses of multi-taxa communities to disturbance and stress gradients in a restored floodplain

description: 1. Trait-based approaches can reveal the mechanisms through which
 disturbances or stress impact communities, allowing comparisons of the
 role of different mechanisms in shaping communities among taxonomic
 groups. Such information can lead to higher comparability, transferability
 and predictability of the outcome of restoration projects. However,
 multitaxa trait-based approaches were rarely used in the context of
 ecosystem restoration. 2. We investigated the responses to environmental
 gradients of seven taxa (vascular plants, staphylinid and carabid beetles,
 spiders, isopods, diplopods and earthworms) in a restored floodplain using
 a species traits approach. We assessed the impact of flood disturbances
 and soil hydric stress on the functional diversity (FD) and
 community-weighted mean (CWM) response of traits for each taxon. 3.
 Ordination of hydrological variables revealed two main gradients. The
 first was related to the spatiotemporal dynamics of flood disturbances and
 the second to the average changes in soil hydric conditions. 4. The
 analysis of CWM revealed that larger, poorly mobile species with narrow
 ecological tolerances were filtered by regular floods and/or changes in
 soil hydric conditions. 5. Functional diversity patterns differed between
 the two gradients: decreasing with increasing flood disturbance, but
 increasing along the soil hydric stress gradient. This suggests that the
 mechanisms shaping community composition differ between the two gradients
 with environmental filtering being dominant with increasing flood
 disturbances and competition decreasing with more soil hydric stress. 6.
 Synthesis and applications. Our study shows that the impact of restored
 flood disturbances and soil hydric stress on plant and invertebrate
 functional diversity and community-weighted mean can be positive, negative
 or more complex depending on the taxonomic group and environmental
 gradient considered. The patterns can to some extent be explained by the
 specific characteristics of each group. Larger, poorly mobile species with
 narrow ecological tolerances were particularly vulnerable to changes in
 disturbance and stress regime following floodplain restoration. These
 species may therefore be lost in the initial phases of restoration
 projects, but other more characteristic species of dynamic floodplains
 will be favoured. Understanding the consequences of these contrasted
 responses for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning
 constitutes the next challenge for ecosystem restoration.
description: Thur_River_Species_ListList of all species present at the Thur Rvier restored floodplain.Thur_River_All_TaxaSpecies distribution within the Thur River floodplain of all taxonomic groupsThur_River_Disturbance_StressEnvironmental variables related to flood dynamic at the Thur RiverThur_River_Traits_CarabidsTraits of Carabid beetle species present at the Thur RiverThur_River_Traits_DiplopodsTraits of Diplopod species present at the Thur RiverThur_River_Traits_EarthwormsTraits of Earthworm species present at the Thur RiverThur_River_Traits_IsopodsTraits of Isopod species present at the Thur RiverThur_River_Traits_PlantsTraits of Vascular Plant species present at the Thur RiverThur_River_Traits_SpidersTraits of Spider species present at the Thur RiverThur_River_Traits_StaphylinidsTraits of Staphylinid beetle species present at the Thur River