Soil conditions and phylogenetic relatedness influence total community trait space during early plant succession

This study is part of the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 38 (SFB/TRR 38: ecosystem assembly and succession). The authors thank the working group Z1 (monitoring) members of the SFB/TRR 38 who helped us to perform this study and the Vattenfall Europe Mining A.G. for providing the research site.Aims The total space of traits covered by the members of plant com- munities is an important parameter of ecosystem functioning and complexity. We trace the variability of trait space during early plant succession and ask how trait space co-varies with phylogenetic community structure and soil conditions. Particularly, we are inter - ested in the small-scale variability in trait space and the influence of biotic and abiotic filters. Methods We use data on species richness and soil conditions from the first 7 years of initial succession of an artificial catchment in north-east- ern Germany. Total functional attribute diversity serves as a proxy to total trait space. Important Findings Total trait space steadily increased during succession. We observed high small-scale variability in total trait space that was positively cor - related with species richness and phylogenetic segregation and nega- tively correlated with total plant cover. Trait space increased with soil carbonate content, while pH and the fraction of sandy material behaved indifferently. Our results indicate that during early succession, habitat filtering processes gain importance leading to a lesser increase in trait space than expected from the increase in species richness alone