Describing the rules of community assembly is a central topic of ecology. Studying successional processes through a trait-based null model approach can help to better understand the rules of community assembly.

According to theoretical considerations, at the beginning of succession - after getting over the dispersal limitation stage - community composition is primarily shaped by environmental filters (generating functional convergence), while in later stages limiting similarity (generating functional divergence) will be dominant. However, empirical evidence does not clearly support theoretical expectations.

Our aim was to detect the presence and changes of trait-based assembly processes during old-field succession based on twelve traits. Changes in vegetation composition were evaluated by a combination of time series and space-for-time substitution: conducting three resurveys of permanent plots on four old-field age-groups. The individual dispersion of traits was transformed into effect size (i.e. departure from null model expectation). The impact of time since abandonment on effect sizes was tested by generalized additive mixed effect models.

We detected a non-random pattern for each trait in at least some part of the succession. Departure from randomness did not change significantly over time for six traits: seed mass, lateral spread and pollination type were divergent, while leaf size, generative height and length of flowering were convergent. Six traits had changing patterns along the succession. Four of them showed increasing divergence (e.g. dispersal type, LDMC), which supports our hypothesis. While two (SLA, life form) displayed increasing convergence, contrary to expectations.

We confirmed the general hypothesis that convergence is predominant initially and that divergence can be detected later in succession for four traits. However, the large variation found in trait dispersion indicates that complex processes operate during succession.

描述社区集会的规则是生态学的中心主题。通过基于特征的空模型方法研究继承过程可以帮助更好地理解社区集会的规则。

根据理论上的考虑，在继承开始时（克服分散限制阶段之后），社区组成主要由环境过滤器（产生功能收敛）决定，而在后期阶段，限制相似性（产生功能分歧）将占主导地位。但是，经验证据并不能明确支持理论预期。

我们的目的是在基于12个特征的旧场演替过程中检测基于特征的装配过程的存在和变化。通过时间序列和时空替换的组合来评估植被组成的变化：对四个旧田间年龄组进行三个永久性地块的重新调查。性状的个体分散转化为效应大小（即偏离零模型期望值）。自放弃以来的时间对效应大小的影响已通过广义的加性混合效应模型进行了测试。

我们在至少一部分继承中检测到每个性状的非随机模式。六个性状随时间的变化没有明显变化：种子质量，侧向传播和授粉类型是不同的，而叶的大小，发生的高度和开花的长度是收敛的。六个特征在演替过程中发生了变化。他们中的四个表现出越来越大的分歧（例如分散型，LDMC），这支持了我们的假设。而两个（SLA，生命形式）显示出越来越大的趋同，这与预期相反。

我们证实了一般性的假设，即最初收敛是主要的，随后可以连续检测到四个性状的差异。然而，性状散布中发现的巨大差异表明，复杂的过程在演替过程中起作用。