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Global evidence of positive biodiversity effects on spatial ecosystem stability in natural grasslands.

ABSTRACT: The effect of biodiversity on primary productivity has been a hot topic in ecology for over 20 years. Biodiversity-productivity relationships in natural ecosystems are highly variable, although positive relationships are most common. Understanding the conditions under which different relationships emerge is still a major challenge. Here, by analyzing HerbDivNet data, a global survey of natural grasslands, we show that biodiversity stabilizes rather than increases plant productivity in natural grasslands at the global scale. Our results suggest that the effect of species richness on productivity shifts from strongly positive in low-productivity communities to strongly negative in high-productivity communities. Thus, plant richness maintains community productivity at intermediate levels. As a result, it stabilizes plant productivity against environmental heterogeneity across space. Unifying biodiversity-productivity and biodiversity-spatial stability relationships at the global scale provides a new perspective on the functioning of natural ecosystems.

SUBMITTER: Wang Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6642091 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Global evidence of positive biodiversity effects on spatial ecosystem stability in natural grasslands.

Wang Yongfan Y Cadotte Marc W MW Chen Yuxin Y Fraser Lauchlan H LH Zhang Yuhua Y Huang Fengmin F Luo Shan S Shi Nayun N Loreau Michel M

Nature communications 20190719 1

The effect of biodiversity on primary productivity has been a hot topic in ecology for over 20 years. Biodiversity-productivity relationships in natural ecosystems are highly variable, although positive relationships are most common. Understanding the conditions under which different relationships emerge is still a major challenge. Here, by analyzing HerbDivNet data, a global survey of natural grasslands, we show that biodiversity stabilizes rather than increases plant productivity in natural gr ...[more]

PMID: 31324792

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Project description:An often-invoked benefit of high biodiversity is the provision of ecosystem services. However, evidence for this is largely based on data from small-scale experimental studies of relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function that may have little relevance to real-world systems. Here, large-scale biodiversity datasets are used to test the relationship between the yield of inland capture fisheries and species richness from 100 countries.Inland waters of Africa, Europe and parts of Asia.A multimodel inference approach was used to assess inland fishery yields at the country level against species richness, waterside human population, area, elevation and various climatic variables, to determine the relative importance of species richness to fisheries yields compared with other major large-scale drivers. Secondly, the mean decadal variation in fishery yields at the country level for 1981-2010 was regressed against species richness to assess if greater diversity reduces the variability in yields over time.Despite a widespread reliance on targeting just a few species of fish, freshwater fish species richness is highly correlated with yield (R (2)?=?0.55) and remains an important and statistically significant predictor of yield once other macroecological drivers are controlled for. Freshwater richness also has a significant negative relationship with variability of yield over time in Africa (R (2)?=?0.16) but no effect in Europe.The management of inland waters should incorporate the protection of freshwater biodiversity, particularly in countries with the highest-yielding inland fisheries as these also tend to have high freshwater biodiversity. As these results suggest a link between biodiversity and stable, high-yielding fisheries, an important win-win outcome may be possible for food security and conservation of freshwater ecosystems. However, findings also highlight the urgent need for more data to fully understand and monitor the contribution of biodiversity to inland fisheries globally.

Project description:Urbanization is driving the transformation of natural and rural ecosystems worldwide by affecting both the abiotic environment and the biota. This raises the question whether urban ecosystems are able to provide services in a comparable way to their non-urban counterparts. In urban grasslands, the effects of urbanization-driven ecological novelty and the role of plant diversity in modulating ecosystem functioning have received little attention. In this study, we assessed the influence of biodiversity, abiotic and biotic novelty on ecosystem functioning based on in situ measurements in non-manipulated grasslands along an urbanization gradient in Berlin (Germany). We focused on plant aboveground biomass (AGB), intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) and 15N enrichment factor (??15N) as proxies for biomass production, water and N cycling, respectively, within grassland communities, and tested how they change with plant biogeographic status (native vs alien), functional group and species identity. Approximately one third of the forb species were alien to Berlin and they were responsible for 13.1% of community AGB. Community AGB was positively correlated with plant-species richness. In contrast, iWUE and ??15N were mostly determined by light availability (depicted by sky view factor) and urban parameters like the percentage of impervious surface or human population density. We found that abiotic novelty potentially favors aliens in Berlin, mainly by enhancing their dispersal and fitness under drought. Mainly urban parameters indicating abiotic novelty were significantly correlated to both alien and native ??15N, but to AGB and iWUE of alien plants only, pointing to a stronger impact of abiotic novelty on N cycling compared to C and water cycling. At the species level, sky view factor appeared to be the prevailing driver of photosynthetic performance and resource-use efficiency. Although we identified a significant impact of abiotic novelty on AGB, iWUE and ??15N at different levels, the relationship between species richness and community AGB found in the urban grasslands studied in Berlin was comparable to that described in non-urban experimental grasslands in Europe. Hence, our results indicate that conserving and enhancing biodiversity in urban ecosystems is essential to preserve ecosystem services related to AGB production. For ensuring the provision of ecosystem services associated to water and N use, however, changes in urban abiotic parameters seem necessary.

Dataset Information

Global evidence of positive biodiversity effects on spatial ecosystem stability in natural grasslands.

Publications

Global evidence of positive biodiversity effects on spatial ecosystem stability in natural grasslands.

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