Functional Diversity and Primary Production Predict Future Patterns of Periphyton Productivity after Species Extinction
, Lucas Ferreira Colares 2,3, Liliana Rodrigues 4, Fernanda Cássio 5,6 and Cláudia Pascoal 5,6Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
"Periphytic algal community (benthic algae) are key primary producers in freshwater ecosystems." Please, give more bibliographic sources
"Since we needed an index that express how narrow, instead of how broad, is the set of environmental variables that a species live, we inverted the tolerance metric (i.e., by subtracting 1 and then multi-plying by -1). Finally, we summed species’ rarity at each scale with the inverse of the tol‐erance metric and divided it by two, which we considered as our metric of species extinc-tion risk. This final index of extinction risk varies from 0 to 1, with values closer to 1 indi-cating species with low abundance or restricted geographical distribution and narrow habitat breath, thus, at higher risk of extinction." It could be written more clearly and/or with equations as well
Author Response
Revisor 1- hydrobiology-1961674
- “Since we needed an index that express how narrow, instead of how broad, is the set of environmental variables that a species live, we inverted the tolerance metric (i.e., by subtracting 1 and then multiplying by -1). Finally, we summed species’ rarity at each scale with the inverse of the tolerance metric and divided it by two, which we considered as our metric of species extinction risk. This final index of extinction risk varies from 0 to 1, with values closer to 1 indicating species with low abundance or restricted geographical distribution and narrow habitat breath, thus, at higher risk of extinction." It could be written more clearly and/or with equations as well.
Author Response: Thank you for the comments. We included an equation in the main text to represent the written explanation.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
hydrobiology-1961674
Functional diversity and primary production predict future patterns of periphyton productivity after species extinction
The understanding of the trait-based ecology of periphytic algal community has increased in the last decade, but the relationship between functional diversity and their ecosystem functions. Using simulations of functional extinction, it is possible to infer how the loss of these microorganisms could alter ecosystem functioning, to better predict the human impacts in aquatic ecosystems.
1. (A),(B) larger font in Figure 1
2. The letter formats of the sub figures in the figure are inconsistent, some are in upper case and some are in lower case., Please unify the full text. The letter format in the text should be consistent with that in the figure.
The author should proofread the full text carefully, including grammar and punctuation.
It is suggested that the paper is acceptable after minor revision
Author Response
Reviewer 2- Hydrobiology-1961674
- The understanding of the trait-based ecology of periphytic algal community has increased in the last decade, but the relationship between functional diversity and their ecosystem functions. Using simulations of functional extinction, it is possible to infer how the loss of these microorganisms could alter ecosystem functioning, to better predict the human impacts in aquatic ecosystems.
Author Response: Thank you for the comment.
- (A),(B) larger font in Figure 1. The letter formats of the sub figures in the figure are inconsistent, some are in upper case and some are in lower case., Please unify the full text. The letter format in the text should be consistent with that in the figure.
Author Response: We understand that you suggest increase the font. So, we increased the font size of each text present in the figure and unified the letter formats. Please let us know in case of any other modification. We also put all the letter formats in lower case inside the figure.
2- The author should proofread the full text carefully, including grammar and punctuation.
Author Response: We inform that the language was reviewed by a professional.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
