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Environmental heterogeneity modulates the effect of plant diversity on the spatial variability of grassland biomass.

ABSTRACT: Plant productivity varies due to environmental heterogeneity, and theory suggests that plant diversity can reduce this variation. While there is strong evidence of diversity effects on temporal variability of productivity, whether this mechanism extends to variability across space remains elusive. Here we determine the relationship between plant diversity and spatial variability of productivity in 83 grasslands, and quantify the effect of experimentally increased spatial heterogeneity in environmental conditions on this relationship. We found that communities with higher plant species richness (alpha and gamma diversity) have lower spatial variability of productivity as reduced abundance of some species can be compensated for by increased abundance of other species. In contrast, high species dissimilarity among local communities (beta diversity) is positively associated with spatial variability of productivity, suggesting that changes in species composition can scale up to affect productivity. Experimentally increased spatial environmental heterogeneity weakens the effect of plant alpha and gamma diversity, and reveals that beta diversity can simultaneously decrease and increase spatial variability of productivity. Our findings unveil the generality of the diversity-stability theory across space, and suggest that reduced local diversity and biotic homogenization can affect the spatial reliability of key ecosystem functions.

SUBMITTER: Daleo P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10066197 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Environmental heterogeneity modulates the effect of plant diversity on the spatial variability of grassland biomass.

Daleo Pedro P Alberti Juan J Chaneton Enrique J EJ Iribarne Oscar O Tognetti Pedro M PM Bakker Jonathan D JD Borer Elizabeth T ET Bruschetti Martín M MacDougall Andrew S AS Pascual Jesús J Sankaran Mahesh M Seabloom Eric W EW Wang Shaopeng S Bagchi Sumanta S Brudvig Lars A LA Catford Jane A JA Dickman Chris R CR Dickson Timothy L TL Donohue Ian I Eisenhauer Nico N Gruner Daniel S DS Haider Sylvia S Jentsch Anke A Knops Johannes M H JMH Lekberg Ylva Y McCulley Rebecca L RL Moore Joslin L JL Mortensen Brent B Ohlert Timothy T Pärtel Meelis M Peri Pablo L PL Power Sally A SA Risch Anita C AC Rocca Camila C Smith Nicholas G NG Stevens Carly C Tamme Riin R Veen G F Ciska GFC Wilfahrt Peter A PA Hautier Yann Y

Nature communications 20230331 1

Plant productivity varies due to environmental heterogeneity, and theory suggests that plant diversity can reduce this variation. While there is strong evidence of diversity effects on temporal variability of productivity, whether this mechanism extends to variability across space remains elusive. Here we determine the relationship between plant diversity and spatial variability of productivity in 83 grasslands, and quantify the effect of experimentally increased spatial heterogeneity in environ ...[more]

PMID: 37002217

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Project description:Heterogeneous disturbance patterns are fundamental to rangeland conservation and management because heterogeneity creates patchy vegetation, broadens niche availability, increases compositional dissimilarity, and enhances temporal stability of aboveground biomass production. Pyrodiversity is a popular concept for how variability in fire as an ecological disturbance can enhance heterogeneity, but mechanistic understanding of factors that drive heterogeneity is lacking. Mesic grasslands are examples of ecosystems in which pyrodiversity is linked strongly to broad ecological processes such as trophic interactions because grazers are attracted to recently burned areas, creating a unique ecological disturbance referred to as the fire-grazing interaction, or pyric herbivory. But several questions about the application of pyric herbivory remain: What proportion of a grazed landscape must burn, or how many patches are required, to create sufficient spatial heterogeneity and reduce temporal variability? How frequently should patches burn? Does season of fire matter? To bring theory into applied practice, we studied a gradient of grazed tallgrass prairie landscapes created by different sizes, seasons, and frequencies of fire, and used analyses sensitive to nonlinear trends. The greatest spatial heterogeneity and lowest temporal variability in aboveground plant biomass, and greatest plant functional group beta diversity, occurred in landscapes with three to four patches (25%-33% of area burned) and three- to four-year fire return intervals. Beta diversity had a positive association with spatial heterogeneity and negative relationship with temporal variability. Rather than prescribing that these results constitute best management practices, we emphasize the flexibility offered by interactions between patch number and fire frequency for matching rangeland productivity and offtake to specific management goals. As we observed no differences across season of fire, we recommend future research focus on fire frequency within a moderate proportion of the landscape burned, and consider a wider seasonal burn window.

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Dataset Information

Environmental heterogeneity modulates the effect of plant diversity on the spatial variability of grassland biomass.

Publications

Environmental heterogeneity modulates the effect of plant diversity on the spatial variability of grassland biomass.

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