REVIEW ON STUDIES CONDUCTED WITH FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY

Abstract

Functional diversity is a component of biodiversity that takes into account the differences in morphology, ecology and behavior between species and individuals, and has been considered an important measure to evaluate the influence of species in ecological processes. However, there is not consensus about analyses, especially regarding the choice of attributes for analysis. Thus, the study aimed to make a general assessment of the articles with the term "Functional Diversity" to evaluate how science in the context of functional diversity is structured over time, what are the approaches, the main methods used and the ecological processes discussed. Were evaluated 415 articles within the specifications of interest, to which the United States, France and Germany were the countries with the highest concentration of research with functional diversity. In South America, Brazil led the research, with 48% of the articles. Approximately 43% of the reviewed articles did not justify the choice of the attributes based on the process of the ecosystem in question. With regard the patterns and ecosystem processes, those that dealt with resource acquisition accounted for the majority, followed by biological interactions. We observed an increase in the complexity of the issues over the years with different aspects analyzed. Even with all the methodological discussions, we found an increasing number of articles with the subject and incorporating new approaches that have contributed to the increased of knowledge of the patterns that generate and maintain biodiversity and its relationship to ecosystem processes.