Relationship between Degree of Dominance and Species Richness in Grass Communities with Different Productivities

The ecosystem impacts of dominant species exclusion in a prairie restoration

“…Studies of dominant species are often observational, with functional differences assessed along unmanipulated gradients of dominant species abundance (Akatov et al, 2018; Bartha et al, 2014; Hoover et al, 2014; Miles & Knops, 2009; Olff & Bakker, 1998). A number of short‐term experimental removal studies (McCain et al, 2010; Smith et al, 2004; Smith & Knapp, 2003; Symstad et al, 1998; Wootton, 2002) suggested that the removal of dominant species can have significant impacts on community composition and ecosystem functioning (Avolio et al, 2019; Wardle et al, 1999).…”

Relationship between Biomass and Biodiversity of Degraded Grassland in the Sanjiangyuan Region of Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

“…Understanding grassland ecosystem functions such as productivity in the face of anthropogenic environmental change is an important issue in sustainable ecosystem management. The relationship between biodiversity and biomass or productivity has been a central focus in community ecology [4]. Numerous experimental and theoretical works have shown that biodiversity increases community productivity [5][6][7].…”

“…Two sets of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning (such as productivity), namely complementarity effects (such as differences in resource use) and selection effects (higher productivity advantage) [8]. In addition to a positive association [9], the relationship between species diversity and biomass has been manifested in four other forms [4,10,11]: a negative association, a unimodal relationship, a U-shaped relationship, and no clear association. However, due to the spatiotemporal differences among the research objects, the views and interpretations of these five relationship patterns do not form a unified theory or mechanism.…”