Using plant functional traits to understand the landscape distribution of multiple ecosystem services

Summary 1. Spatially explicit understanding of the delivery of multiple ecosystem services (ES) from global to local scales is currently limited. New studies analysing the simultaneous provision of multiple services at landscape scale should aid the understanding of multiple ES delivery and trade-offs to support policy, management and land planning. 2. Here, we propose a new approach for the analysis, mapping and understanding of multiple ES delivery in landscapes. Spatially explicit single ES models based on plant traits and abiotic characteristics are combined to identify ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ spots of multiple ES delivery, and the land use and biotic determinants of such distributions. We demonstrate the value of this trait-based approach as compared to a pure land-use approach for a pastoral landscape from the central French Alps, and highlight how it improves understanding of ecological constraints to, and opportunities for, the delivery of multiple services. 3. Vegetative height and leaf traits such as leaf dry matter content were response traits strongly influenced by land use and abiotic environment, with follow-on effects on several ecosystem properties, and could therefore be used as functional markers of ES. 4. Patterns of association among ES were related to the dominant traits underlying different ecosystem properties. The functional decoupling between height and leaf traits provided alternative pathways for high agronomic value, as well as determining hot and cold spots of ES. Traditional land uses such as organic fertilization and mowing or altitude summer grazing were also linked with ES hot spots, because functional characteristics supporting fodder production and quality are compatible with species and functional diversity. 5. Synthesis. Analyses of ES using plant functional variation across landscapes are a powerful approach to understanding the fundamental ecological mechanisms underlying ES provision, and trade-offs or synergies among services. Sustainable management of species and functionally diverse grassland could simultaneously aim at conserving biodiversity and locally important ES by taking advantage of correlations and trade-offs among different plant functional traits.