Dataset Information

The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity-functioning relationship across ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: Numerous studies show that increasing species richness leads to higher ecosystem productivity. This effect is often attributed to more efficient portioning of multiple resources in communities with higher numbers of competing species, indicating the role of resource supply and stoichiometry for biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. Here, we merged theory on ecological stoichiometry with a framework of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning to understand how resource use transfers into primary production. We applied a structural equation model to define patterns of diversity-productivity relationships with respect to available resources. Meta-analysis was used to summarize the findings across ecosystem types ranging from aquatic ecosystems to grasslands and forests. As hypothesized, resource supply increased realized productivity and richness, but we found significant differences between ecosystems and study types. Increased richness was associated with increased productivity, although this effect was not seen in experiments. More even communities had lower productivity, indicating that biomass production is often maintained by a few dominant species, and reduced dominance generally reduced ecosystem productivity. This synthesis, which integrates observational and experimental studies in a variety of ecosystems and geographical regions, exposes common patterns and differences in biodiversity-functioning relationships, and increases the mechanistic understanding of changes in ecosystems productivity.

SUBMITTER: Lewandowska AM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4843703 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity-functioning relationship across ecosystems.

Lewandowska Aleksandra M AM Biermann Antje A Borer Elizabeth T ET Cebrián-Piqueras Miguel A MA Declerck Steven A J SA De Meester Luc L Van Donk Ellen E Gamfeldt Lars L Gruner Daniel S DS Hagenah Nicole N Harpole W Stanley WS Kirkman Kevin P KP Klausmeier Christopher A CA Kleyer Michael M Knops Johannes M H JM Lemmens Pieter P Lind Eric M EM Litchman Elena E Mantilla-Contreras Jasmin J Martens Koen K Meier Sandra S Minden Vanessa V Moore Joslin L JL Venterink Harry Olde HO Seabloom Eric W EW Sommer Ulrich U Striebel Maren M Trenkamp Anastasia A Trinogga Juliane J Urabe Jotaro J Vyverman Wim W Van de Waal Dedmer B DB Widdicombe Claire E CE Hillebrand Helmut H

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 20160501 1694

Numerous studies show that increasing species richness leads to higher ecosystem productivity. This effect is often attributed to more efficient portioning of multiple resources in communities with higher numbers of competing species, indicating the role of resource supply and stoichiometry for biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. Here, we merged theory on ecological stoichiometry with a framework of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning to understand how resource use transfers into pr ...[more]

PMID: 27114584

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Project description:Numerous recent studies have tested the effects of plant, pollinator, and predator diversity on primary productivity, pollination, and consumption, respectively. Many have shown a positive relationship, particularly in controlled experiments, but variability in results has emphasized the context-dependency of these relationships. Complementary resource use may lead to a positive relationship between diversity and these processes, but only when a diverse array of niches is available to be partitioned among species. Therefore, the slope of the diversity-function relationship may change across differing levels of heterogeneity, but empirical evaluations of this pattern are lacking. Here we examine three important functions/properties in different real world (i.e., nonexperimental) ecosystems: plant biomass in German grasslands, parasitism rates across five habitat types in coastal Ecuador, and coffee pollination in agroforestry systems in Indonesia. We use general linear and structural equation modeling to demonstrate that the effect of diversity on these processes is context dependent, such that the slope of this relationship increases in environments where limiting resources (soil nutrients, host insects, and coffee flowers, respectively) are spatially heterogeneous. These real world patterns, combined with previous experiments, suggest that biodiversity may have its greatest impact on the functioning of diverse, naturally heterogeneous ecosystems. Author Summary The world is currently experiencing a rapid loss of species, prompting investigation into the role of biodiversity on the functioning of ecosystems. Many recent studies have shown that high diversity of plants, pollinators, and predators is related to high plant growth, pollination, and predation, respectively. Many of these studies involved controlled experiments, yet results were highly variable, indicating that the environment may affect the relationship between species diversity and these ecosystem functions. In a heterogeneous environment, different species can occupy different microhabitats, or use different resources. This reduces competition between species, and can mean that diverse assemblages perform their ecosystem functions at elevated rates. Here we examine rates of three important functions in different natural, nonexperimental ecosystems: plant biomass production in German grasslands, parasitism rates across five habitat types in coastal Ecuador, and coffee pollination in agroforestry systems in Indonesia. We demonstrate that the effect of diversity on these processes increases in environments where limiting resources (soil nutrients, host insects, and coffee flowers, respectively) are spatially heterogeneous. These real world patterns, combined with previous experiments suggest that biodiversity may have its greatest impact on the functioning of diverse, naturally heterogeneous ecosystems. In heterogeneous natural habitats, diverse plant, pollinator, and parasitoid communities can better partition resources and grow, pollinate, and consume at the highest rate.

Project description:Tidal wetlands are effective carbon sinks, mitigating climate change through the long-term removal of atmospheric CO2. Studies along surface-elevation and thus flooding-frequency gradients in tidal wetlands are often used to understand the effects of accelerated sea-level rise on carbon sequestration, a process that is primarily determined by the balance of primary production and microbial decomposition. It has often been hypothesized that rates of microbial decomposition would increase with elevation and associated increases in soil oxygen availability; however, previous studies yield a wide range of outcomes and equivocal results. Our mechanistic understanding of the elevation-decomposition relationship is limited because most effort has been devoted to understanding the terminal steps of the decomposition process. A few studies assessed microbial exo-enzyme activities (EEAs) as initial and rate-limiting steps that often reveal important insight into microbial energy and nutrient constraints. The present study assessed EEAs and microbial abundance along a coastal ecotone stretching a flooding gradient from tidal flat to high marsh in the European Wadden Sea. We found that stabilization of exo-enzymes to mineral sediments leads to high specific EEAs at low substrate concentrations in frequently flooded, sediment-rich zones of the studied ecotone. We argue that the high background activity of a mineral-associated enzyme pool provides a stable decomposition matrix in highly dynamic, frequently flooded zones. Furthermore, we demonstrate that microbial communities are less nutrient limited in frequently flooded zones, where inputs of nutrient-rich marine organic matter are higher. This was reflected in both increasing exo-enzymatic carbon versus nutrient acquisition and decreasing fungal versus bacterial abundance with increasing flooding frequency. Our findings thereby suggest two previously unrecognized mechanisms that may contribute to stimulated microbial activity despite decreasing oxygen availability in response to accelerated sea-level rise.

Dataset Information

The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity-functioning relationship across ecosystems.

Publications

The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity-functioning relationship across ecosystems.

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