The reporting period consisted of the full duration of the MSCA at the University of St Andrews.
During the first year, Trait and biodiversity time-series datasets were successfully assembled, synthesized, and harmonized, resulting in the selection of a few case studies related to key functional traits. During this process, a set of methods to incorporate trait variability into analyses of compositional change have been developed and made available with the submission of the first case study. Moreover, a series of databases have been produced as a result of this synthesis and will be published along with the peer-reviewed publications. The methods and datasets developed have been used to provide a systematic and comprehensive global study of body size changes across taxa, realms and climate, significantly contributing to further our understanding of large-scale trait changes. In this work, we also provide a unique look at the mechanisms driving body size changes, by decomposing assemblage body size change into compositional and within-species changes. A manuscript has been submitted and is currently under review in Science. During this stage, collaborations with hosts and project partners were consolidated through the co-supervision of students. For instance, a synthesis and analysis of life history trait changes (2nd case study) is being led by a ECR at Nottingham university (secondment location) in collaboration with the Researcher and supervised by the researcher and both hosts. This project is at the writing phase and submission is planned for the summer 2023.
The initially proposed research program for assessing the relationship between changes in drivers and changes in traits at different time-steps has been revised. After several discussions with members of the advisory board, it was decided that more in-depth spatio-temporal assessments of individual global drivers as well their potential effects on communities will have to be carried out before relating say drivers to spatio-temporal changes in traits across assemblages. Knowledge generated by these assessments has been published in the Global Change Biology journal in 2022, with a further publication being prepared for publication. While this work was carried out throughout the project, it was in addition to the planned tasks, thus leading to some delays on the DoA. The data collected and analyzed, as well as the knowledge gather and developed by the project, is now being used to explicitly evaluate spatio-temporal covariance structures between body size changes and environment gradients. This work is at the development and analysis stage.
