Biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning relationships in a long‐term non‐weeded field experiment

Abstract

Many grassland biodiversity experiments show a positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, however, in most of these experiments plant communities are established by sowing and natural colonization is prevented by selective weeding of non-sown species. During ecosystem restoration, for example on abandoned fields, plant communities start on bare soil, and diversity is often manipulated in a single sowing event. How such initial plant diversity manipulations influence plant biodiversity development and ecosystem functioning is not well understood. We examined how relationships between taxonomic and functional diversity, biomass production and stability develop over 16 yr in non-weeded plots sown with 15 species, four species, or that were not sown. We found that sown plant communities become functionally similar to unsown, naturally colonized plant communities. However, initial sowing treatments had long-lasting effects on species composition and taxonomic diversity. We found only few relationships between biomass production, or stability in biomass production, and functional or taxonomic diversity, and the ones we observed were negative. In addition, the cover of dominant plant species was positively related to biomass production and stability. We conclude that effects of introducing plant species at the start of secondary succession can persist for a long time, and that in secondary succession communities with natural plant species dynamics diversity-functioning relationships can be weak or negative. Moreover, our findings indicate that in systems where natural colonization of species is allowed effects of plant dominance may underlie diversity-functioning relationships.

A tale of two green walls: a functional trait approach to assess vegetation establishment on restored steep slopes

“…In contrast to species composition, trait composition did not differ between GWs for both sown and spontaneous species. This finding is consistent with previous studies on experimental plant community assembly (Fukami et al ; Li & Shipley ; Veen et al ) that reported an increasing dissimilarity in species composition (divergence) and an increasing similarity in mean trait composition (convergence) among sites, with increasing restoration age. In fact, in both GWs, vegetation was generally dominated by acrocarpous, turf‐forming mosses.…”

Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in naturally assembled communities

“…This contrasts with real‐world situations, and both theoretical (e.g. Leibold, Chase & Ernest, ) and empirical studies (Petermann et al, ; Veen, van der Putten & Bezemer, ) suggest that BEF relationships might be weaker in open communities, in part because species‐poor communities tend to get invaded by species that increase their biomass production. Third, in naturally assembled communities, there can be feedbacks from ecosystem functions to biodiversity (Grace et al, ).…”

Repeated fires reduce plant diversity in low‐elevation Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystems (1984–2014)

“…This is based on evidence that the effects of introducing species at the beginning of secondary succession can be long‐lasting (Veen et al. ), and in this system, the assemblage of species that are able to successfully colonize an area after a fire depends on their abilities to compete for moisture and tolerate drought (Meyer ).…”

“…Our fourth hypothesis was that temperature, vapor pressure deficit, and precipitation around the time of the fire would exert a lasting influence over post-fire community composition and diversity. This is based on evidence that the effects of introducing species at the beginning of secondary succession can be long-lasting (Veen et al 2018), and in this system, the assemblage of species that are able to successfully colonize an area after a fire depends on their abilities to compete for moisture and tolerate drought (Meyer 1994).…”