Joint species-trait distribution modeling: The role of intraspecific trait variation in community assembly.

ABSTRACT: The links between intraspecific trait variation and community assembly remain little studied, partially due to the lack of statistical methods to jointly model intraspecific trait variation and species abundances at the community level. Here, we extend the joint species distribution modeling (JSDM) framework into the joint species-trait distribution modeling (JSTDM) framework to explicitly link species abundances to phenotypic variation in traits for multiple species simultaneously. Using a case study of 65 tundra plant species abundances and 3 key functional traits measured across 325 sites, we show how the JSTDM approach (1) estimates the statistical associations among species abundances, species-level traits, and site-level traits, relative to environmental variation; (2) improves predi

SUBMITTER: Abrego N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12411695 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature