Environmental Filtering Drives Widespread Trait Convergence in Marine Demersal Ray-Finned Fishes

Understanding the processes that shape the distribution of biodiversity in the oceans is central for predicting and conserving ecosystems under global change. Although a vast literature exists on drivers of species diversity, the geographical patterns and drivers of ecosystem functioning, and in particular the traits that shape this functioning, remain relatively unexplored. We address this gap by testing the effects of environment, fishing pressure and evolutionary history on fish trait compositions across continental shelf seas using scientific trawl surveys.