Additional file1. List of reviewed publications
Alexander AC, Luis AT, Culp JM, Baird DJ, Cessna AJ (2013) Can nutrients mask community responses to insecticide mixtures? Ecotoxicology 22(7):1085-1100
Almaraz P, Amat JA (2004) Complex structural effects of two hemispheric climatic oscillators on the regional spatio-temporal expansion of a threatened bird. Ecol Lett 7(7):547-556
Anderson TM, Shaw J, Olff H (2011) Ecology’s cruel dilemma, phylogenetic trait evolution and the assembly of Serengeti plant communities. J Ecol 99(3):797-806
ArkemaKK, Reed DC, Schroeter SC (2009) Direct and indirect effects of giant kelp determine benthic community structure and dynamics. Ecology 90(3):126-3137
Asadi A, Kalantari K, Choobchian S (2013) Structural analysis of factors affecting agricultural sustainability in Qazvin province, Iran. J Agr Sci Tech 15(1):11-22
Austin M (2007) Species distribution models and ecological theory: A critical assessment and some possible new approaches. Ecol Model 200 (1):1-19
Avolio ML, Pataki DE, Pincetl S, Gillespie TW, Jenerette GD, McCarthy HR (2014) Understanding preferences for tree attributes: The relative effects of socio-economic and local environmental factors. Urban Ecosyst 18(1):73-86
Bagley J, Rosenthal DM, Ruiz-Vera UM, Siebers MH, Kumar P, Ort DR, Bernacchi CJ (2015) The influence of photosynthetic acclimation to rising CO2 and warmer temperatures on leaf and canopy photosynthesis models. Global Biogeochem Cy 29(2):194-206
Bai H, Sivo SA, Pan W, Fan X (2015) Application of a new resampling method to SEM: A comparison of S-SMART with the bootstrap. IJRME 39(2): 194-207
Barnes AD, Weigelt P, Jochum M, Ott D, Hodapp D, Haneda NF, Brose U (2016) Species richness and biomass explain spatial turnover in ecosystem functioning across tropical and temperate ecosystems. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci,doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0279
Barrufol M, Schmid B, Bruelheide H, Chi X, Hector A, Ma K, Michalski S, Tang Z, Niklaus PA (2013) Biodiversity promotes tree growth during succession in subtropical forest. PLoS One, doi:
Bizzi S, Surridge BWJ, Lerner DN (2013) Structural equation modelling: A novel statistical framework for exploring the spatial distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates in riverine ecosystems. River Res Appl 29(6):743-759
Bowker MA, Koch GW, Belnap J, Johnson NC (2008) Nutrient availability affects pigment production but not growth in lichens ofbiological soil crusts. Soil Biol Biochem 40 (11):2819-2826
Buck JC, Rohr JR, Blaustein AR (2016) Effects of nutrient supplementation on host-pathogen dynamics of the amphibian chytrid fungus: a community approach. Freshwater Biol 61(1): 110-120
Buck JC, Scholz KI, Rohr JR, Blaustein AR (2015) Trophic dynamics in an aquatic community: Interactions among primary producers, grazers, and a pathogenic fungus. Oecologia 178 (1):239-248
Burton JI, Ares A, Olson DH, Puettmann KJ (2013) Management trade-off between aboveground carbon storage and understory plant species richness in temperate forests. Ecol Appl 23(6):1297-1310
Butterfield BJ, Betancourt JL, Turner RM, Briggs JM (2010) Facilitation drives 65 years of vegetation change in the Sonoran Desert. Ecology 91(4):1132-1139
Cabral JS, Weigelt P, Kissling WD, Kreft H (2014) Biogeographic, climatic and spatial drivers differentially affect alpha-, beta- and gamma-diversities on oceanic archipelagos. Proc Biol Sci, doi:
Campero M, De Block M, Ollevier F, Stoks R (2008) Correcting the short-term effect of food deprivation in a damselfly: Mechanisms and costs. J Anim Ecol 77(1):66-73
Canepuccia AD, Farias AA, Escalante AH, Iribarne O, Novaro A, Isacch JP (2008) Differential responses of marsh predators to rainfall-induced habitat loss and subsequent variations in prey availability. Can J Zool 86(5):407-418
Cantarel AAM, Pommier T, Desclos-Theveniau M, Diquélou S, Dumont M, Grassein F, Kastl EM, Grigulis K, Laîné P, Lavorel S, Lemauviel-Lavenant S, Personeni E, Schloter M, Poly F (2015) Using plant traits to explain plant–microbe relationships involved in nitrogen acquisition. Ecology 96(3):788-799
Cardon M, Loot G, Grenouillet G, Blanchet S (2011) Host characteristics and environmental factors differentially drive the burden and pathogenicity of an ectoparasite: A multilevel causal analysis. J Anim Ecol 80(3):657-667
Carvalho GH, Batalha MA, Silva IA, Cianciaruso MV, Petchey OL (2014) Are fire, soil fertility and toxicity, water availability, plant functional diversity, and litter decomposition related in a Neotropical savanna? Oecologia 175(3):923-935
Capmourteres V, Anand M (2016) Assessing ecological integrity: A multi-scale structural and functional approach using structural equation modeling. Ecol Indic, doi:
Castillo-Monroy AP, Bowker MA, García-Palacios P, Maestre FT (2014) Aspects of soil lichen biodiversity and aggregation interact to influence subsurface microbial function. Plant Soil 386(1): 303-316
Chan WP, Chen IC, Colwell RK, Liu WC, Huang CY, Shen SF (2016) Seasonal and daily climate variation have opposite effects on species elevational range size. Science 351(6280): 1437-1439
Chapin FS, Conway AJ, Johnstone JF, Hollingsworth TN, Hollingsworth J (2016) Absence of net long-term successional facilitation by alder in a boreal Alaska floodplain. Ecology
Charette C, Derry AM (2016) Climate alters intraspecific variation in copepod effect traits through pond food webs. Ecology 97(5):1239-1250
Chen D, Mi J, Chu P, Cheng J, Zhang L, Pan Q, Xie Y, Bai Y (2014) Patterns and drivers of soil microbial communities along a precipitation gradient on the Mongolian Plateau. Landscape Ecol 30(9): 1669-1682
Chen D, Zheng S, Shan Y, Taube F, Bai Y, Briones MJ (2013) Vertebrate herbivore-induced changes in plants and soils: linkages to ecosystem functioning in a semi-arid steppe. Funct Ecol 27(1): 273-281
Chen Y, Lin LS (2010) Structural equation-based latent growth curve modeling of watershed attribute-regulated stream sensitivity to reduced acidic deposition. Ecol Model 221(17): 2086-2094
Clark CM, Cleland EE, Collins SL, Fargione JE, Gough L, Gross KL, Pennings SC, Suding KN, Grace JB (2007) Environmental and plant community determinants of species loss following nitrogen enrichment. Ecol Lett 10(7): 596-607
Correa C, Hendry AP (2012) Invasive salmonids and lake order interact in the decline of puye grande Galaxias platei in western Patagonia lakes. Ecol Appl 22(3): 828-842
Dai C, Galloway LF (2013) Sexual selection in a hermaphroditic plant through female reproductive success. J Evol Biol 26(12): 2622-2632
Damgaard C, Strandberg M, Kristiansen SM, Nielsen KE, Bak JL (2014) Is Erica tetralix abundance on wet heathlands controlled by nitrogen deposition or soil acidification? Environ Pollut, doi:
de Vere N, Jongejans E, Plowman A, Williams E (2009) Population size and habitat quality affect genetic diversity and fitness in the clonal herb Cirsium dissectum. Oecologia 159(1): 59-68
DeKeyser ES, Biondini M, Kirby D, Hargiss C (2009) Low prairie plant communities of wetlands as a function of disturbance: Physical parameters. Ecol Indicators 9(2): 296-306
Delgado-Baquerizo M, García-Palacios P, Milla R, Gallardo A, Maestre FT (2015) Soil characteristics determine soil carbon and nitrogen availability during leaf litter decomposition regardless of litter quality. Soil Biol Biochem, doi:
Didham RK, Barker GM, Costall JA, Denmead LH, Floyd CG, Watts CH (2009) The interactive effects of livestock exclusion and mammalian pest control on the restoration of invertebrate communities in small forest remnants. N Z J Zool 36(2): 135-163
Duffy JE, Lefcheck JS, Stuart-Smith RD, Navarrete SA, Edgar GJ (2016) Biodiversity enhances reef fish biomass and resistance to climate change. PNAS 113(22): 6230-6235
Duffy JE, Reynolds PL, Bostrom C, Coyer JA, Cusson M, Donadi S, Douglass JG, Eklof JS, Engelen AH, Eriksson BK, Fredriksen S, Gamfeldt L, Gustafsson C, Hoarau G, Hori M, Hovel K, Iken K, Lefcheck JS, Moksnes PO, Nakaoka M, O'Connor MI, Olsen JL, Richardson JP, Ruesink JL, Sotka EE, Thormar J, Whalen MA, Stachowicz JJ (2015) Biodiversity mediates top-down control in eelgrass ecosystems: A global comparative-experimental approach. Ecol Lett 18(7): 696-705
Edelaar P, Serrano D, Carrete M, Blas J, Potti J, Tella JL (2012) Tonic immobility is a measure of boldness toward predators: an application of Bayesian structural equation modeling. Behav Ecol, doi:
Elmhagen B, Rushton SP (2007) Trophic control of mesopredators in terrestrial ecosystems: Top-down or bottom-up? Ecol Lett 10(3):197-206
Estay SA, Albornoz AA, Lima M, Boyce MS, Stenseth NC (2011) A simultaneous test of synchrony causal factors in muskrat and mink fur returns at different scales across Canada. PLoS One, doi:
Fa JE, Olivero J, Real R, Farfan MA, Marquez AL, Vargas JM, Ziegler S, Wegmann M, Brown D, Margetts B, Nasi R (2015) Disentangling the relative effects of bushmeat availability on human nutrition in central Africa. Sci Rep, doi:
Fanson KV, Fanson BG, Brown JS (2011) Using path analysis to explore vigilance behavior in the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis). J Mammal, doi:
Farias AA, Jaksic FM (2009) Hierarchical determinants of the functional richness, evenness and divergence of a vertebrate predator assemblage. Oikos 118(4):591-603
Felipe-Lucia MR, Martin-Lopez B, Lavorel S, Berraquero-Diaz L, Escalera-Reyes J, Comin FA (2015) Ecosystem services flows: Why stakeholders' power relationships matter. PLoS One, doi:
Flores-Rentería D, Rincón A, Valladares F, Curiel Yuste J (2016) Agricultural matrix affects differently the alpha and beta structural and functional diversity of soil microbial communities in a fragmented Mediterranean holm oak forest. Soil Biol Biochem, doi:
Folmer EO, van der Geest M, Jansen E, Olff H, Michael Anderson T, Piersma T, van Gils JA (2012) Seagrass–sediment feedback: An exploration using a non-recursive structural equation model. Ecosystems 15(8): 1380-1393
García LV, Ramo C, Aponte C, Moreno A, Domínguez MT, Gómez-Aparicio L, Redondo R, Marañón T (2011) Protected wading bird species threaten relict centenarian cork oaks in a Mediterranean biosphere reserve: A conservation management conflict. Biol Conserv 144(2):764-771
Gazol A, Tamme R, Takkis K, Kasari L, Saar L, Helm A, Pärtel M (2012) Landscape and small-scale determinants of grassland species diversity: Direct and indirect influences. Ecography 35(10): 944-951
Goberna M, Navarro-Cano JA, Verdu M (2016) Opposing phylogenetic diversity gradients of plant and soil bacterial communities. Proc Biol Sci,doi:
Godschalx AL, Schaedler M, Trisel JA, Balkan MA, Ballhorn DJ (2015) Ants are less attracted to the extrafloral nectar of plants with symbiotic, nitrogen-fixing rhizobia. Ecology, doi:
Gough L, Grace JB (1999) Effects of environmental change on plant species density: Comparing predictions with experiments. Ecology 80(3):882-890.
Grace JB, Anderson TM, Olff H, Scheiner SM (2010) On the specification of structural equation models for ecological systems. Ecol Monogr 80(1): 67-87
Grace JB, Anderson TM, Seabloom EW, Borer ET, Adler PB, Harpole WS, Hautier Y, Hillebrand H, Lind EM, Partel M, Bakker JD, Buckley YM, Crawley MJ, Damschen EI, Davies KF, Fay PA, Firn J, Gruner DS, Hector A, Knops JM, MacDougall AS, Melbourne BA, Morgan JW, Orrock JL, Prober SM, Smith MD (2016) Integrative modelling reveals mechanisms linking productivity and plant species richness. Nature 529(7586): 390-393
Grinath JB, Inouye BD, Underwood N, Billick I (2012) The indirect consequences of a mutualism: Comparing positive and negative components of the net interaction between honeydew-tending ants and host plants. J Anim Ecol 81(2): 494-502
Guan L, Jia Y, Saintilan N, Wang Y, Liu G, Lei G, Wen L (2016) Causality between abundance and diversity is weak for wintering migratory waterbirds. Freshwater Biol 61(2): 206-218
Hansen JP, Wikström SA, Kautsky L (2008) Effects of water exchange and vegetation on the macroinvertebrate fauna composition of shallow land-uplift bays in the Baltic Sea. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 77(3): 535-547
He T (2013) Structural equation modelling analysis of evolutionary and ecological patterns in Australian Banksia. Popul Ecol 55(3): 461-467
Hill BH, Elonen CM, Seifert LR, May AA, Tarquinio E (2012) Microbial enzyme stoichiometry and nutrient limitation in US streams and rivers. Ecol Indicators, doi:
Hu Y, Rillig MC, Xiang D, Hao Z, Chen B (2013) Changes of AM fungal abundance along environmental gradients in the arid and semi-arid grasslands of northern China. PLoS One, doi:
Huffman DW, Laughlin DC, Pearson KM, Pandey S (2009) Effects of vertebrate herbivores and shrub characteristics on arthropod assemblages in a Northern Arizona forest ecosystem. For Ecol Manage 258(5): 616-625
Jay S, Rabatel G, Hadoux X, Moura D, Gorretta N (2015) In-field crop row phenotyping from 3D modeling performed using Structure from Motion. Comput Electron Agric, doi:
Jing X, Sanders NJ, Shi Y, Chu H, Classen AT, Zhao K, Chen L, Shi Y, Jiang Y, He JS (2015) The links between ecosystem multifunctionality and above-and belowground biodiversity are mediated by climate. Nat Commun, doi:
Johnson PTJ, HovermanJT, McKenzie VJ, Blaustein AR, Richgels KLD, Cadotte M (2013) Urbanization and wetland communities: Applying metacommunity theory to understand the local and landscape effects. J Appl Ecol 50(1): 34-42
Jones R, Chambers JC, Johnson DW, Blank RR, Board DI (2014) Effect of repeated burning on plant and soil carbon and nitrogen in cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) dominated ecosystems. Plant Soil 386(1):47-64.
Jonsson M, Straub CS, Didham RK, Buckley HL, Case BS, Hale RJ, Gratton C, Wratten SD, Clough Y (2015) Experimental evidence that the effectiveness of conservation biological control depends on landscape complexity. J Appl Ecol 52(5): 1274-1282
Joseph MB, Preston DL, Johnson, PTJ (2016) Integrating occupancy models and structural equation models to understand species occurrence. Ecology 97(3): 765-775
Kim YC, Gao C, Zheng Y, He XH, Yang W, Chen L, Wan SQ, Guo LD (2015) Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community response to warming and nitrogen addition in a semiarid steppe ecosystem. Mycorrhiza 25(4): 267-276
Kissling WD, Schleuning M (2015) Multispecies interactions across trophic levels at macroscales: Retrospective and future directions. Ecography 38(4): 346-357
Kitajima K, Poorter L (2010) Tissue-level leaf toughness, but not lamina thickness, predicts sapling leaf lifespan and shade tolerance of tropical tree species. New Phytol 186(3): 708-721
Klöckner CA (2013) A comprehensive model of the psychology of environmental behaviour-A meta-analysis. Global Environ Change 23(5): 1028-1038
Latz E, Eisenhauer N, Rall BC, Scheu S, Jousset A (2016) Unravelling linkages between plant community composition and the pathogen-suppressive potential of soils. Sci Rep, doi:
Laughlin DC (2011) Nitrification is linked to dominant leaf traits rather than functional diversity. J Ecol 99(5): 1091-1099
Laughlin DC, Abella SR (2007) Abiotic and biotic factors explain independent gradients of plant community composition in ponderosa pine forests. Ecol Model 205(1): 231-240
Laughlin DC, Hart SC, Kaye JP, Moore MM (2009) Evidence for indirect effects of plant diversity and composition on net nitrification. Plant Soil 330(1): 435-445
Lavorel S, Grigulis K (2012) How fundamental plant functional trait relationships scale-up to trade-offs and synergies in ecosystem services. J Ecol 100(1): 128-140
Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y, Maalouf JP, Touzard B, Michalet R (2014) Importance, but not intensity of plant interactions relates to species diversity under the interplay of stress and disturbance. Oikos 123(7): 777-785
Lefcheck JS,Duffy JE (2015) Multitrophic functional diversity predicts ecosystem functioning in experimental assemblages of estuarine consumers. Ecology 96(11): 2973-2983
Li Q, Bai H, Liang W, Xia J, Wan S, van der Putten WH (2013) Nitrogen addition and warming independently influence the belowground micro-food web in a temperate steppe. PLoS One, doi:
Li W, Niu Z, Huang N, Wang C, Gao S, Wu C (2015) Airborne LiDAR technique for estimating biomass components of maize: A case study in Zhangye City, Northwest China. Ecol Indicators, doi:
Lijeblad A, Borrie WT, Watson AE (2009) Determinants of trust for public lands: fire and fuels management on the bitterroot national forest. Environ Manage 43(4): 571-584
Lindenmayer DB, Candy SG, MacGregor CI, Banks SC, Westgate M, Ikin K, Pierson J, Tulloch A, Barton P (2016) Do temporal changes in vegetation structure additional to time since fire predict changes in bird occurrence? Ecol Appl, doi:
Liu HL, Shen YS (2014) The Impact of green space changes on air pollution and microclimates: A case study of the Taipei metropolitan area. Sustainability 6(12): 8827-8855
Liu X, Swenson NG, Lin D, Mi X, Umaña MN, Schmid B, Ma K (2016) Linking individual-level functional traits to tree growth in a subtropical forest. Ecology, doi:
Lohbeck M, Poorter L, Martínez-Ramos M, Bongers F (2015) Biomass is the main driver of changes in ecosystem process rates during tropical forest succession. Ecology 96(5): 1242-1252
MacColl AD, El Nagar A, de Roij J (2013) The evolutionary ecology of dwarfism in three-spined sticklebacks. J Anim Ecol 82(3): 642-652
Mairota P, Cafarelli B, Labadessa R, Lovergine FP, Tarantino C, Nagendra H, Didham RK (2015) Very high resolution earth observation features for testing the direct and indirect effects of landscape structure on local habitat quality. Int J Appl Earth Obs, doi:
Martin KL, Hix DM, Goebel PC (2011) Coupling of vegetation layers and environmental influences in a mature, second-growth central hardwood forest landscape. For Ecol Manage 261(3): 720-729
Matthews B, Pomati F (2012) Reversal in the relationship between species richness and turnover in a phytoplankton community. Ecology 93(11): 2435-2447
Mbah AK, Paothong A, Wilson RE, Salihu HM (2014) Utility and application of SEM in delineating cause-effect relationship between ambient pollutant and fetal birth outcome. Environmetrics 25(7): 548-556
Mbora DN, McPeekMA (2009) Host density and human activities mediate increased parasite prevalence and richness in primates threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation. J Anim Ecol 78(1): 210-218
McKinneyLA, KickEL, FulkersonGM (2010) World system, anthropogenic, and ecological threats to bird and mammal species: A structural equation analysis of biodiversity loss andorganization, Environment23(1):3-31
MuiruriEW, KorichevaJ (2016) Going undercover: increasing canopy cover around a host tree drives associational resistance to an insect pest. Oikos, doi: 10.1111/oik.03307
NavarroT, El OualidiJ, TalebMS, PascualV, CabezudoB, MillaR (2010) Leaf patterns, leaf size and ecologically related traits in high Mediterranean mountain on the Moroccan High Atlas. Plant Ecol210(2):275-290
NielsenUN, PriorS, Delroy B, Walker JKM, Ellsworth DS, Powell JR (2015) Response of belowground communities to short-term phosphorus addition ina phosphorus-limited woodland. Plant Soil391(1):321-331
NiinemetsU, KeenanTF, HallikL (2015) A worldwide analysis of within-canopy variations in leaf structural, chemical and physiological traits across plant functional types. New Phytol205(3):973-993
NuzzoV, DávalosA, BlosseyB, PysekP (2015) Invasive earthworms shape forest seed bank composition. Divers Distrib21(5):560-570
OrdonezJC, van BodegomPM, WitteJPBartholomeusRP, van HalJR, AertsR (2010) Plant strategies in relation to resource supply in mesic to wet environments: Does theory mirror nature? Am Nat175(2):225-239
PaudelB, MontagnaPA (2014) Modeling inorganic nutrient distributions among hydrologic gradients using multivariate approaches. Ecol Inform, doi:
PaulWL, AndersonMJ (2013) Causal modeling with multivariate species data. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol, doi:
PetcheyOL, PontarpM, MassieTM, KefiS, OzgulA, WeilenmannM, PalamaraGM, AltermattF, MatthewsB, LevineJM, ChildsDZ, McGillBJ, SchaepmanME, SchmidB, SpaakP, BeckermanAP, PennekampF, PearseIS (2015) The ecological forecast horizon, and examples of its uses and determinants. Ecol Lett18(7):597-611
PollmanCD (2014) Mercury cycling in aquatic ecosystems and trophic state-related variables-Implications from structural equation modeling. Sci Total Environ, doi:
PoorterL, van der SandeMT, ThompsonJ, AretsEJMM, AlarcónA, Álvarez-SánchezJ, AscarrunzN, BalvaneraP, Barajas-GuzmánG, BoitA, BongersF, CarvalhoFA, CasanovesF, Cornejo-TenorioG, CostaFRC, de CastilhoCV, Duivenvoorden JF, DutrieuxLP, EnquistBJ, Fernández-MéndezF, FineganB, GormleyLHL, HealeyJR, HoosbeekMR, Ibarra-ManríquezG, JunqueiraAB, LevisC, LiconaJC, LisboaLS, MagnussonWE, Martínez-RamosM, Martínez-YrizarA, MartoranoLG, MaskellLC, MazzeiL, MeaveJA, MoraF, MuñozR, NytchC, PansonatoMP, ParrTW, PazH, Pérez-GarcíaEA, RenteríaLY, Rodríguez-VelazquezJ, RozendaalDMA, RuschelAR, SakschewskiB, Salgado-NegretB, SchiettiJ, SimõesM, SinclairFL, SouzaPF, SouzaFC, StroppJ, ter SteegeH, SwensonNG, ThonickeK, ToledoM, UriarteM, van der HoutP, WalkerP, ZamoraN, Peña-ClarosM (2015) Diversity enhances carbon storage in tropical forests. Global Ecol Biogeogr24(11):1314-1328
PriceMV, WaserNM, IrwinRE, CampbellDR, BrodyAK (2005) Temporal and spatial variation in pollination of a montane herb: A seven-year study. Ecology86(8):2106-2116
ProberSM, WiehlG (2012) Relationships among soil fertility, native plant diversity and exotic plant abundance inform restoration of forb-rich eucalypt woodlands. Divers Distrib18(8):795-807
PuhlickJJ, LaughlinDC, MooreMM (2012) Factors influencing ponderosa pine regeneration in the southwestern USA. For Ecol Manage, doi:
QianH, FieldR, ZhangJL, ZhangJ, ChenS (2016) Phylogenetic structure and ecological and evolutionary determinants of species richness for angiosperm trees inforest communities in China. J Biogeogr43(3):603-615
QianH, KisslingWD (2010) Spatial scale and cross-taxon congruence of terrestrial vertebrate and vascular plant species richness in China. Ecology91(4):1172-1183