Plant species richness and ecosystem multifunctionality in global drylands.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Maestre FT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3558739 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Plant species richness and ecosystem multifunctionality in global drylands.
Maestre Fernando T FT Quero José L JL Gotelli Nicholas J NJ Escudero Adrián A Ochoa Victoria V Delgado-Baquerizo Manuel M García-Gómez Miguel M Bowker Matthew A MA Soliveres Santiago S Escolar Cristina C García-Palacios Pablo P Berdugo Miguel M Valencia Enrique E Gozalo Beatriz B Gallardo Antonio A Aguilera Lorgio L Arredondo Tulio T Blones Julio J Boeken Bertrand B Bran Donaldo D Conceição Abel A AA Cabrera Omar O Chaieb Mohamed M Derak McHich M Eldridge David J DJ Espinosa Carlos I CI Florentino Adriana A Gaitán Juan J Gatica M Gabriel MG Ghiloufi Wahida W Gómez-González Susana S Gutiérrez Julio R JR Hernández Rosa M RM Huang Xuewen X Huber-Sannwald Elisabeth E Jankju Mohammad M Miriti Maria M Monerris Jorge J Mau Rebecca L RL Morici Ernesto E Naseri Kamal K Ospina Abelardo A Polo Vicente V Prina Aníbal A Pucheta Eduardo E Ramírez-Collantes David A DA Romão Roberto R Tighe Matthew M Torres-Díaz Cristian C Val James J Veiga José P JP Wang Deli D Zaady Eli E
Science (New York, N.Y.) 20120101 6065
Experiments suggest that biodiversity enhances the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage, productivity, and the buildup of nutrient pools (multifunctionality). However, the relationship between biodiversity and multifunctionality has never been assessed globally in natural ecosystems. We report here on a global empirical study relating plant species richness and abiotic factors to multifunctionality in drylands, which collectively cover 41% of Earth's land ...[more]
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Project description:AimThe global spread of woody plants into grasslands is predicted to increase over the coming century. While there is general agreement regarding the anthropogenic causes of this phenomenon, its ecological consequences are less certain. We analyzed how woody vegetation of differing cover affects plant diversity (richness and evenness) and multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) in global drylands, and how this changes with aridity.Location224 dryland sites from all continents except Antarctica widely differing in their environmental conditions (from arid to dry-subhumid sites) and woody covers (from 0 to 100%).MethodsUsing a standardized field survey, we measured the cover, richness and evenness of perennial vegetation. At each site, we measured 14 ecosystem functions related to soil fertility and the build-up of nutrient pools. These functions are critical for maintaining ecosystem function in drylands.ResultsSpecies richness and ecosystem multifunctionality were strongly influenced by woody vegetation, with both variables peaking at relative woody covers (RWC) of 41-60%. This relationship shifted with aridity. We observed linear positive effects of RWC in dry-subhumid sites. These positive trends shifted to hump-shaped RWC-diversity and multifunctionality relationships under semiarid environments. Finally, hump-shaped (richness, evenness) or linear negative (multifunctionality) effects of RWC were found under the most arid conditions.Main conclusionsPlant diversity and multifunctionality peaked at intermediate levels of woody cover, although this relationship became increasingly positive under wetter environments. This comprehensive study accounts for multiple ecosystem attributes across a range of woody covers and environmental conditions. Our results help us to reconcile contrasting views of woody encroachment found in current literature and can be used to improve predictions of the likely effects of encroachment on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
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Project description:Monitoring ecosystem functioning is a significant step towards detecting changes in ecosystem attributes that could be linked to land degradation and desertification in drylands worldwide. Remote sensing-based vegetation indices (VIs) and land surface albedo are two favorite indicators to monitor desertification process due to their close relationship with ecosystem status and to their increasing applicability over multiple spatiotemporal scales. While VIs are routinely used to monitor ecosystem attributes and functions such as vegetation cover and productivity, no previous study has evaluated whether remote sensing-measured albedo is related to the simultaneous provision of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) in global drylands. In this study, we evaluated the correlation of six albedo metrics (shortwave black-sky albedo, shortwave white-sky albedo, visible black-sky albedo, visible white-sky albedo, near-infrared black-sky albedo and near-infrared white-sky albedo) and two VIs (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)) with multifunctionality indices related to carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling measured in 61 dryland ecosystems from all continents except Antarctica. We found a negative relationship between land surface albedo and multifunctionality. Black-sky albedo had a stronger correlation with multifunctionality than white-sky albedo. Visible black-sky albedo showed the strongest correlation with multifunctionality (MUL, -0.314), as well as with functions related to carbon (CCY, -0.216) and nitrogen cycling (NCY, -0.410), while near-infrared (-0.339) and shortwave black-sky albedo (-0.325) showed stronger correlations with functions related to phosphorus cycling (PCY) than visible black-sky albedo (-0.233) did. VIs showed significant positive correlations with MUL, CCY, and NCY, and the magnitudes were higher than those observed between albedo metrics and the multifunctionality indices. However, VIs were not correlated with PCY, which had significant correlations with both shortwave and near-infrared albedo. Though the magnitudes of the correlations observed were not high, which may result from the wide variability in soil and vegetation types in our dataset, our findings indicate that remotely sensed albedo correlates to multifunctionality, which has been linked to alternative states in global drylands. As such, albedo has the potential to monitor changes in dryland ecosystem functioning, which can inform us about the onset of desertification in these areas.
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Project description:AimGeographic, climatic, and soil factors are major drivers of plant beta diversity, but their importance for dryland plant communities is poorly known. This study aims to: i) characterize patterns of beta diversity in global drylands, ii) detect common environmental drivers of beta diversity, and iii) test for thresholds in environmental conditions driving potential shifts in plant species composition.Location224 sites in diverse dryland plant communities from 22 geographical regions in six continents.MethodsBeta diversity was quantified with four complementary measures: the percentage of singletons (species occurring at only one site), Whittake's beta diversity (β(W)), a directional beta diversity metric based on the correlation in species occurrences among spatially contiguous sites (β(R2)), and a multivariate abundance-based metric (β(MV)). We used linear modelling to quantify the relationships between these metrics of beta diversity and geographic, climatic, and soil variables.ResultsSoil fertility and variability in temperature and rainfall, and to a lesser extent latitude, were the most important environmental predictors of beta diversity. Metrics related to species identity (percentage of singletons and β(W)) were most sensitive to soil fertility, whereas those metrics related to environmental gradients and abundance ((β(R2)) and β(MV)) were more associated with climate variability. Interactions among soil variables, climatic factors, and plant cover were not important determinants of beta diversity. Sites receiving less than 178 mm of annual rainfall differed sharply in species composition from more mesic sites (> 200 mm).Main conclusionsSoil fertility and variability in temperature and rainfall are the most important environmental predictors of variation in plant beta diversity in global drylands. Our results suggest that those sites annually receiving ~ 178 mm of rainfall will be especially sensitive to future climate changes. These findings may help to define appropriate conservation strategies for mitigating effects of climate change on dryland vegetation.
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