Table 1.

Classification of common traits used in studies of animal functional diversity. References for terrestrial communities are [7,10,35] and references for marine communities include [8,36–38] and references therein.

type of trait	fishes	marine invertebrates	birds	mammals	amphibians	reptiles	invertebrates
topological	body length	maximum size	body mass	body mass	body length	body length	body mass
	body mass	maximum growth rate	body shape	body shape	body shape	body shape	body shape
	gut length	body design	plumage colour		skin colour	skin colour	aposematic colour
	median paired fin length	living habit	diet type	diet type	diet type	diet type	substrate mimicry
	pectoral fins surface to caudal fin surface	living location/environmental position	foraging behaviour	foraging behaviour	foraging behaviour	foraging behaviour	diet type
	pectoral fin shape	exposure potential	nesting behaviour	nesting behaviour	poisonous skin	nesting behaviour	foraging behaviour
	peduncle throttling	degree of attachment to substrate	feeding behaviour	nesting behaviour	nesting behaviour	feeding behaviour	sociality
	caudal fin shape	degree of flexibility	activity time	feeding habitat	feeding habitat	activity time	specific weapons
	body shape	strength of attachment to substrate	wing morphology	activity time	activity time	swimming traits	toxicity/resistance
	eye position	resource capture method	social behaviour	social behaviour	swimming traits		mouthparts size
	skin coloration	movement method					mouthparts strength
	swimming traits	mobility					escape strategy
	body size	defence strategy					adhesion strength
	physical protection—spines, bony carapaces	water column migration					palatability
	chemical defense						cognitive ability
consumption	fish body mass	body design	metabolic rate	metabolic rate	metabolic rate	metabolic rate	metabolic rate
	visual acuity: maximum eye diameter relative to head size	degree of flexibility	body mass	body mass	body mass	body mass	body mass
	barbel length	resource capture method	diet type	diet type	diet type	diet type	diet type
	oral gape surface/shape	food type	bill morphology	gape width	gape width	gape width	mouthparts size
	vertical position of oral gape	movement method	wing morphology				mouthparts strength
	shape of teeth	mobility	feet morphology	feet morphology	feet morphology	feet morphology	defence strategy
	density and maximal length of gill rakers	defence strategy	tarsus/leg length	tarsus/leg length	tarsus/leg length	tarsus/leg length	escape strategy
	maximal length of gill rakers	water column migration	social behaviour	social behaviour			toxicity/resistance
			competitive ability	competitive ability	competitive ability	competitive ability	sociality
			local movement	local movement	local movement	local movement	competitive ability
life history	egg size	maximum growth rate	reproductive effort	reproductive effort	reproductive effort	reproductive effort	egg size
	number of eggs	reproductive method	reproductive behaviour	reproductive behaviour	reproductive behaviour	reproductive behaviour	egg number
	larval life history	time to maturity	metabolism	metabolism	metabolism	metabolism	length of larval stage
	type of reproduction sites	fecundity	fecundity	fecundity	fecundity	fecundity	number of larval stages
	parental care	propagule dispersal	digestive physiology	digestive physiology	digestive physiology	digestive physiology	dispersal
			relative brain size	relative brain size	relative brain size	relative brain size	temperature requirements
			social behaviour	social behaviour			larval diet type
			migratory status	migratory status			competitive ability
			home range size	home range size	home range size	home range size	survival rate
			dispersal strategy	dispersal strategy	dispersal strategy	dispersal strategy	metabolism
			competitive ability	competitive ability	competitive ability	competitive ability	resistance to starvation
			survival rate	survival rate	survival rate	survival rate	resistance to dessication
							reproduction system
							sociality