No Consistent Effect of Plant Diversity on Productivity

Huston, Michael A.; Aarssen, Lonnie W.; Austin, M. P.; Cade, Brian S.; Fridley, Jason D.; Garnier, Éric; Grime, J. Philip; Hodgson, J.; Lauenroth, W. K.; Thompson, Ken; Vandermeer, John; Wardle, David A.

doi:10.1126/science.289.5483.1255a

Cited by 301 publications

(264 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…A variety of experiments performed in different ecosystems have revealed that increased species diversity is positively related to improved ecosystem functioning [14,22]. However, other studies have found no or negative relationships between these two variables [22,23]. Thus, although an overall effect of species diversity on ecosystem functioning often exists, the relationship is not always predictable and the cause of this variation among studies remains unclear [24].…”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

Elevational patterns and determinants of plant diversity in the Baekdudaegan Mountains, South Korea: Species vs. functional diversity

Lee

Chun

Cho³

2013

Chin. Sci. Bull.

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The elevational gradient present in mountainous areas provides the most powerful natural experimental system available to clarify the ecological and evolutionary responses of living organisms to geophysical influences. In this study, we explored the elevational patterns of plant species and functional diversity and the effects of area, mid-domain effect, climatic variables and net primary productivity on the observed diversity patterns along the ridge of the Baekdudaegan Mountains, South Korea. Rapoport's elevational rule was also evaluated by examining the relationship between elevational range size of plant species and elevation. A total of 802 plant species from 97 families and 342 genera were found in 1100 plots along a 200--1900-m elevational gradient along the ridge. The elevational patterns of plant species diversity along the ridge of the Baekdudaegan depicted distinctly hump-shaped patterns, whereas the functional diversity decreased monotonically with elevation. The mid-domain effect was the most powerful explanatory variable for species diversity patterns. However, climatic variables were better predictors for functional diversity. Moreover, Rapoport's elevational rule was not supported. Our study suggests that different elevational patterns may be observed among different diversity measurements even in the same taxon and that there may be fundamental differences in the mechanisms underlying these diversity patterns.climatic variables, elevational gradient, functional diversity, mid-domain effect, species diversity Citation:Lee C B, Chun J H, Cho H J. Elevational patterns and determinants of plant diversity in the Baekdudaegan Mountains, South Korea: Species vs. functional diversity.

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confidence: 90%

Elevational patterns and determinants of plant diversity in the Baekdudaegan Mountains, South Korea: Species vs. functional diversity

Lee

Chun

Cho³

2013

Chin. Sci. Bull.

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“…Despite the existence of other functional groups of organisms, they were not able to replace the role previously played by the earthworm species (Hoogerkamp et al, 1983). Nevertheless, the presence or absence of a certain species may be limiting for an ecosystem functioning (Huston et al, 2000), and thus the richness index should be considered in assessments of soil quality.…”

Section: Faunal Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil health: looking for suitable indicators. What should be considered to assess the effects of use and management on soil health?

Cardoso¹,

Vasconcellos²,

Bini³

et al. 2013

Sci. agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.)

408

220

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Soil Health refers to the ecological equilibrium and the functionality of a soil and its capacity to maintain a well balanced ecosystem with high biodiversity above and below surface, and productivity. To understand and use soil health as a tool for sustainability, physical, chemical, and biological properties must be employed to verify which respond to the soil use and management within a desired timescale. Attributes with a rapid response to natural or anthropogenic actions are considered good indicators of soil health. Among the physical indicators, soil texture, aggregation, moisture, porosity, and bulk density have been used, while among chemical indicators total C and N, mineral nutrients, organic matter, cation exchange capacity, among others are well established. However, most of them generally have a slow response, when compared to the biological ones, such as microbial biomass C and N, biodiversity, soil enzymes, soil respiration, etc., in addition to macro and mesofauna. Thus, a systemic approach based on different kinds of indicators (physical, chemical and biological) in assessing soil health would be safer than using only one kind of attribute. Many human activities have caused desertification, loss of biodiversity, disruption of aggregates, loss of organic matter and nutrients, among others. Today, it is imperious to maintain soil health and productivity with increasing emphasis on reforestation and recuperation of degraded areas through the use of organic amendments, reintroduction of plants, soil fauna and microorganisms. This review focused on an integrative view on indicators of soil health to be used as tools for prediction of sustainability in production systems.

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“…Although some experiments have found links between biodiversity and ecosystem parameters such as primary productivity or nitrogen retention, other experiments have not found these effects (Hooper et al, 2005). These conflicting results may be due in part to the means by which the B-EP relationship is investigated and analyzed (Diaz and Cabido, 2001;Hooper et al, 2005;Huston et al, 2000;Wright et al, 2006). Such discussions have moved the central question from whether biodiversity affects ecosystem processes, to what mechanisms underly these relationships and how do they differ between systems (Cardinale et al, 2007;Ewel, 2006;Fargione et al, 2007;Gamfeldt et al, 2008;Hector and Bagchi, 2007;Hillebrand et al, 2008;Hooper and Dukes, 2004;Isbell et al, 2009;Naeem and Wright, 2003;Polley et al, 2007;Reich et al, 2004;Roscher et al, 2004;Zhang and Zhang, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Diversité fonctionnelle et processus écosystémiques dans des assemblages synthétiques d’espèces d’arbres de forêt tropicale

et al. 2010

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Abstract• The elucidation of relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem processes has been limited by the definition of metrics of biodiversity and their integration into experimental design. Functional trait screening can strengthen the performance of these designs.• We suggest the use of Rao's quadratic entropy to measure both functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity of species mixtures proposed for an experimental design, and demonstrate how they can provide complementary information.• We also present an index assessing the statistical performance of these independent variables in different experimental designs. Measurement of independent variables as continuous vs. discrete variables reduces statistical performance, but improves the model by quantifying species differences masked by group assignments.• To illustrate these advances, we present an example from a tropical forest tree community in which we screened 38 species for nine functional traits. The proposed TropiDEP design is based on the relative orthogonality of two multivariate trait axes defined using principal component analysis.• We propose that independent variables describing functional diversity might be grouped to calculate independent variables describing suites of different traits with potentially different effects on particular ecosystem processes. In other systems these axes may differ from those reported here, yet the methods of analysis integrating functional and phylogenetic diversity into experimental design could be universal. • La compréhension des relations pouvant exister entre biodiversité et fonctionnement des écosys-tèmes a été longtemps limitée par la définition de méthodes de quantification de la diversité biologique et la mise en oeuvre de dispositifs expérimentaux permettant sa mesure. L'identification de syndromes de traits fonctionnels clefs influençant des fonctions écosystémiques particulières peut renforcer la performance de ces dispositifs. Mots-clés• Nous suggérons l'utilisation de l'entropie quadratique de Rao pour mesurer la diversité fonctionnelle et phylogénétique dans des assemblages synthétiques d'espèces, et montrons comment ces mesures de diversité sont complémentaires.• Nous présentons également un indice permettant de tester la performance statistique de ces variables indépendantes dans différents modèles expérimentaux. L'utilisation de variables indépendantes continues plutôt que discrètes réduit la performance statistique mais améliore le modèle en quantifiant les différences fonctionnelles entre espèces ; différences généralement masquées lors de leur assignation en groupes fonctionnels. • Pour illustrer ces avancées, nous présentons un exemple d'assemblages synthétiques à partir de 38 espèces d'arbres de forêt tropicale sélectionnées pour 9 traits fonctionnels (TropiDEP). Le plan d'expérience de TropiDEP est basé sur l'orthogonalité relative de deux axes multivariés de traits fonctionnels définis par analyse en composantes principales.• Nous proposons que les variables décrivant la diversité...

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No Consistent Effect of Plant Diversity on Productivity

Cited by 301 publications

References 38 publications

Elevational patterns and determinants of plant diversity in the Baekdudaegan Mountains, South Korea: Species vs. functional diversity

Elevational patterns and determinants of plant diversity in the Baekdudaegan Mountains, South Korea: Species vs. functional diversity

Soil health: looking for suitable indicators. What should be considered to assess the effects of use and management on soil health?

Diversité fonctionnelle et processus écosystémiques dans des assemblages synthétiques d’espèces d’arbres de forêt tropicale

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