Biological Diversity and Terrestrial Ecosystem Biogeochemistry

Vitousek, Peter M.; Hooper, David U.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-58001-7_1

Cited by 165 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Although some of the real assemblages were originally analysed for guild structure, there may be little distinction between functional groups and guilds (Allison et al 1996;Simberloff & Dayan 1991;Vitousek & Hooper 1993).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extinction and the loss of functional diversity

Petchey

Gaston

2002

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

232

210

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Although it is widely thought to in uence ecosystem processes, there is little consensus on an appropriate measure of functional diversity. The two major perspectives, to date, are to assume that every species is functionally unique, or to assume that some species are functionally identical, such that functional groups exist. Using a continuous measure of functional diversity (FD) derived from the quantitative functional traits of species, we show that the loss of functional diversity from six natural assemblages was rapid compared with rates of loss from comparable simulated assemblages. Loss of FD occurred faster than loss of functional-group diversity in four of the six natural assemblages. Patterns of functional-group diversity loss depended on the number of functional groups and the number of species in an assemblage. Extinctions that occurred rst for species with particular traits (e.g. low leaf nitrogen concentration, deep roots and large body size) caused greater loss of FD than expected by chance in four of the six natural assemblages. In two real assemblages, these trait-dependent extinctions had more severe effects on FD than our simulated worst-case extinction scenario. These data suggest that conserving a large proportion of the functional traits of species requires conserving a large proportion of all species.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extinction and the loss of functional diversity

Petchey

Gaston

2002

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

232

210

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“…This is especially true for temperate forests, which only recently have been included in the search for the ecological functions of biodiversity (Scherer-Lorenzen et al 2007). The lack of such studies in temperate forests that are often built by a limited number of dominant tree species is unsatisfactory since marked effects of increasing plant diversity on ecosystem functions are expected particularly in plant communities with relatively small numbers of species (Vitousek and Hooper 1993;Jolliffe 1997). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No evidence of spatial root system segregation and elevated fine root biomass in multi-species temperate broad-leaved forests

Meinen

Leuschner

Ryan

et al. 2009

Trees

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Differences in spatial rooting patterns among coexisting species have been recognized as an important mechanism for generating biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning. However, it is not yet clear whether complementarity in root space exploration is a universal characteristic of multi-species woody communities. In a temperate broad-leaved forest with a mosaic of speciespoor and species-rich stands, we tested two hypotheses related to putative below-ground 'overyielding' in more diverse forests, (1) that species mixture results in a partial spatial segregation of the fine root systems of different species, and (2) that stand fine root biomass increases with tree species diversity. We investigated 12 stands either with one, three, or five dominant tree species (4 replicate stands each) under similar soil and climate conditions for stand fine root biomass and spatial root segregation in vertical and horizontal direction in the soil. Fine roots of different tree species were identified using a morphological key based on differences in colour, periderm surface structure, and branching patterns. In species-poor and species-rich stands, and in all tree species present, fine root density (biomass per soil volume) decreased exponentially with soil depth at very similar rates. Stand fine root biomass in the densely rooted upper soil (0-40 cm depth) was not significantly different between stands with 1, 3 or 5 dominant tree species. We conclude that 'below-ground overyielding' in terms of higher fine root biomasses in species-rich stands as compared to monospecific ones does not occur in these broad-leaved forests which most likely results from a missing complementarity in vertical rooting patterns of the present tree species.

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“…Manipulative experiments performed in naturally assembled communities can complement results from synthetic assemblages, which represent early successional stages (12). Here, we report an experiment designed to assess the magnitude of the plant species richness effect on aboveground net primary production (ANPP) in a natural ecosystem in the Patagonian steppe.Our hypotheses were that increased plant species diversity would result in increased ANPP (5,13,14) and that the effect of biodiversity on primary production would be higher in natural than in artificial ecosystems (15). Natural ecosystems should show higher niche partitioning and stronger positive biological interactions among organisms, because species coexisted for longer periods of time and because natural ecosystems have lower frequencies of disturbance (15).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our hypotheses were that increased plant species diversity would result in increased ANPP (5,13,14) and that the effect of biodiversity on primary production would be higher in natural than in artificial ecosystems (15). Natural ecosystems should show higher niche partitioning and stronger positive biological interactions among organisms, because species coexisted for longer periods of time and because natural ecosystems have lower frequencies of disturbance (15).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher effect of plant species diversity on productivity in natural than artificial ecosystems

Flombaum¹,

Sala

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

137

114

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Current and expected changes in biodiversity have motivated major experiments, which reported a positive relationship between plant species diversity and primary production. As a first step in addressing this relationship, these manipulative experiments controlled as many potential confounding covariables as possible and assembled artificial ecosystems for the purpose of the experiments. As a new step in this endeavor, we asked how plant species richness relates to productivity in a natural ecosystem. Here, we report on an experiment conducted in a natural ecosystem in the Patagonian steppe, in which we assessed the biodiversity effect on primary production. Using a plant species diversity gradient generated by removing species while maintaining constant biomass, we found that aboveground net primary production increased with the number of plant species. We also found that the biodiversity effect was larger in natural than in artificial ecosystems. This result supports previous findings and also suggests that the effect of biodiversity in natural ecosystems may be much larger than currently thought.biodiversity ͉ carbon cycle ͉ ecosystem functioning ͉ Patagonian steppe ͉ resource partitioning H uman activities largely impact the natural rate of change in biodiversity by influencing species invasion, displacement, and extinction rates (1, 2). For this reason, it is crucial to understand the effects of biodiversity change on the functioning of ecosystems and their capacity for providing goods and services (1, 3). The first logical attempt to address the question of the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning with an experimental approach was to create gradients of plant species richness by sowing different numbers of species into homogenized soils (4-6). These experiments with artificial ecosystems showed a positive relationship between plant species richness and productivity (4-8). A further step in our endeavor to assess the effects of biodiversity change on ecosystem functioning requires tackling this issue in natural ecosystems. Observations in natural ecosystems showed inconclusive evidence of the effect of plant species richness on productivity (4, 9-11). Manipulative experiments performed in naturally assembled communities can complement results from synthetic assemblages, which represent early successional stages (12). Here, we report an experiment designed to assess the magnitude of the plant species richness effect on aboveground net primary production (ANPP) in a natural ecosystem in the Patagonian steppe.Our hypotheses were that increased plant species diversity would result in increased ANPP (5,13,14) and that the effect of biodiversity on primary production would be higher in natural than in artificial ecosystems (15). Natural ecosystems should show higher niche partitioning and stronger positive biological interactions among organisms, because species coexisted for longer periods of time and because natural ecosystems have lower frequencies of disturbance (15). Niche partitioning is the use...

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Biological Diversity and Terrestrial Ecosystem Biogeochemistry

Cited by 165 publications

References 44 publications

Extinction and the loss of functional diversity

Extinction and the loss of functional diversity

No evidence of spatial root system segregation and elevated fine root biomass in multi-species temperate broad-leaved forests

Higher effect of plant species diversity on productivity in natural than artificial ecosystems

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