ReviewTrends in ecology & evolution2017
Functional Rarity: The Ecology of Outliers.
Review in Trends in ecology & evolution, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Meta-analysis reveals widespread negative associations between species richness and ecological uniqueness.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
- Human targeting of morphologically unique fishes amplifies the risk of functional erosion.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Global Patterns and Drivers of Climatic Niche Originality and Overlap: Disentangling Ecological From Methodological Signals.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- First in situ observations of the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni.Journal of fish biology · 2026Article
- The importance of seed characteristics in distinguishing the rare and common plant species in Astragalus (Fabaceae).Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Beyond Co-Occurrence: Multi-Scale Evidence for Segregation-Dominated Plant Networks in the French Alps.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- Quantifying the contribution of the rare biosphere and functional potential to the compacted clay baseliner of sanitary landfill.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Functional diversity of fish in the Yuan-Red River: Role of species turnover and trait shifts.iScience · 2026Article
- Functional distinctiveness and rarity highlight climate vulnerability of mountain birds.Ecology · 2026Article
- Functional Trait Space Reveals Resource Use Strategies of Woody Plants in the Lijiang River Basin.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Current protected areas provide limited benefits for European river biodiversity.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Naturalized and Invasive Species Integrate Differently in the Trait Space of Local Plant Communities.Ecology letters · 2025Article
- Spatial Insurance of Distinct Ecological Functions.Ecology letters · 2025Article
- Rare bacterial subcommunity drives nutrient cycling in phyllosphere habitat of evergreen conifers.Microbiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Unlocking the Depths: Use of a Trait-Based Approach to Reveal the Diversity of Foraging Strategies in a Deep-Pelagic Fish Community.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Integrating hotspot dynamics and centers of diversity: a review of Indo-Australian Archipelago biogeographic evolution and conservation.Marine life science & technology · 2025Article
- Desiccation-Tolerant Vascular Plants: A Group of Species Largely Neglected in Conservation.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Rare species do not disproportionately contribute to phylogenetic diversity in a subalpine plant community.American journal of botany · 2025Article
- Functional diversity shapes the stability of reef fish biomass under global change.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Floral traits and density are uneven drivers of heterospecific pollen deposition in a biodiverse tropical highland community.Oecologia · 2025Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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Abstract
Rarity has been a central topic for conservation and evolutionary biologists aiming to determine the species characteristics that cause extinction risk. More recently, beyond the rarity of species, the rarity of functions or functional traits, called functional rarity, has gained momentum in helping to understand the impact of biodiversity decline on ecosystem functioning. However, a conceptual framework for defining and quantifying functional rarity is still lacking. We introduce 12 different forms of functional rarity along gradients of species scarcity and trait distinctiveness. We then highlight the potential key role of functional rarity in the long-term and large-scale maintenance of ecosystem processes, as well as the necessary linkage between functional and evolutionary rarity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.