Abstract booklet - gtö – Society for Tropical Ecology

98 PARALLEL SESSION HALL H III | ECOLOGICAL NETWORKSPARALLEL SESSION HALL H III | ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS 99end hosts such as humans. In a multidisciplinary approach we have set out tocharacterise the propensity of reservoir-borne CoV to switch hosts into humansand livestock by studying bat host interactions within ecosystems ranging fromthe potential role of arthropods as vectors to exposure of humans to vectorsand hosts. In our presentation, we provide an overview of our approach, currentconsortium activities and first resultsA functional perspective on cross-continental communityconvergence: predicting diversity patterns and communitycomposition in tropical anuran amphibian assemblages based ontrait-environment relationshipsRaffael Ernst 1,2 , Gwendolyn Landburg 3 , Alexander Keller 4 , Frank Dziock 21Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, A. B.Meyer Building, 01109 Dresden, Germany; 2 Department of Biodiversity Dynamics,Technische Universität Berlin, Sekr. AB1, Rothenburgstr. 12, 12165 Berlin, Germany;3Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Environmental Department, NationalZoological Collection of Suriname / Center for Environmental Research, Leysweg9, Paramaribo, Suriname; 4 University of Würzburg, Department of Bioinformatics,Biozentrum Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, GermanyWEDNESDAY 12:00 Hall H IIIThe diversity within species assemblages does not necessarily represent arandom sample with respect to species traits and habitat templets are thoughtto shape these trait communities. While phylogenetically driven patterns ofconvergent trait evolution have been investigated intensively in the past, largescalepatterns of trait-habitat relations and potential convergence or divergencein these relationships remain elusive. We investigated potential convergentspecies-trait-habitat relation patterns in a cross-continental comparisonbetween tropical anuran assemblages from three important tropical ecoregions(Guiana Shield, South America; Upper Guinea Forest Block, West Africa;Borneo Montane Rain Forests, South-East Asia). We assessed the role of universalvs. unique habitat templets in shaping local or global trait assemblages whendifferent assembly mechanisms are operating. Large (> 25.000 individuals of84 different species, recorded on 549 independent sampling units, during >850 hours of standardized acoustic and visual sampling) anuran amphibiandata sets, at both the regional and cross-continental scale were analysed,applying a combination of established RLQ and novel permutation modelbased multivariate fourth corner statistics to test for trait-habitat relationshipsat both scales and to test a set of hypotheses developed to uncover potentialconvergent patterns across large geographic scales in assemblages with largelyindependent phylogenetic histories.WEDNESDAY 12:15 Hall H IIISpecies assemblages in the three global regions under comparison did notfollow strictly neutral assembly rules with respect to species trait-environmentrelations. Rather we found distinct yet variable trait-habitat relations. Despite theexistence of convergent trait patterns, we did not find evidence for the existenceof a universal cross-continental trait-habitat relationship at the communitygtöSociety for Tropical Ecology | Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V. Status and future of tropical biodiversity | Frankfurt, 21 - 24 February 2011gtö