Several scales of biodiversity affect ecosystem multifunctionality

Pasari, Jae R.; Levi, Taal; Zavaleta, Erika S.; Tilman, David

doi:10.1073/pnas.1220333110

Cited by 225 publications

(225 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Although erosion in the full complement of species within a community may affect the functional integrity of ecosystems (38), this relationship remains largely untested in tropical forest systems. Here, we show that: (i) wildlife populations in a small group of large-bodied, harvest-sensitive frugivores have been affected by semisubsistence hunters in as much as 32.4% of all remaining forest cover across the Brazilian Amazon; (ii) that this process is widespread and affects a larger spatial extent than any other pattern of less cryptic and better mapped natural (39) and anthropogenic forest disturbance, including deforestation, logging, and wildfires (7); and (iii) the extirpation of this key group of frugivores can severely degrade the long-term forest dynamics that maintains forest AGB and carbon stocks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal limitation induces long-term biomass collapse in overhunted Amazonian forests

Peres

Emilio

Schietti

et al. 2016

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

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308

335

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Tropical forests are the global cornerstone of biological diversity, and store 55% of the forest carbon stock globally, yet sustained provisioning of these forest ecosystem services may be threatened by hunting-induced extinctions of plant-animal mutualisms that maintain long-term forest dynamics. Large-bodied Atelinae primates and tapirs in particular offer nonredundant seed-dispersal services for many large-seeded Neotropical tree species, which on average have higher wood density than smaller-seeded and winddispersed trees. We used field data and models to project the spatial impact of hunting on large primates by ∼1 million rural households throughout the Brazilian Amazon. We then used a unique baseline dataset on 2,345 1-ha tree plots arrayed across the Brazilian Amazon to model changes in aboveground forest biomass under different scenarios of hunting-induced large-bodied frugivore extirpation. We project that defaunation of the most harvest-sensitive species will lead to losses in aboveground biomass of between 2.5-5.8% on average, with some losses as high as 26.5-37.8%. These findings highlight an urgent need to manage the sustainability of game hunting in both protected and unprotected tropical forests, and place full biodiversity integrity, including populations of large frugivorous vertebrates, firmly in the agenda of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) programs. T ropical forests worldwide store >460 billion tons of carbonover half of the total atmospheric storage (1)-and tropical forest conversion and degradation account for as much as 20% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (2). Tropical forests are also the most species-rich ecosystems on Earth, yet the role of species interactions in stabilizing tropical forest dynamics and maintaining the flow of natural ecosystem services, including long-term forest carbon pools, remains poorly understood. Over 80-96% of all woody plant species in tropical forests produce vertebrate-dispersed fleshy fruits (3, 4), yet many large-bodied frugivore populations in tropical forest regions have already been severely overhunted (5), resulting in functionally "empty" or "half-empty" forests with subsequent disruptions in seed dispersal mutualisms (6). Indeed, the total forest area degraded by unsustainable hunting in the largest remaining tropical forest regions may exceed the combined extent of deforestation, selective logging, and wildfires (7,8). Even formally decreed forest reserves in remote areas have succumbed to population declines and local extinctions of large vertebrates (9, 10), yet the consequences of this pervasive defaunation process to the persistence of tropical forest ecosystem services remains poorly explored.Overhunting can amplify dispersal limitation in many largeseeded plant species relying primarily or exclusively on harvestsensitive large-bodied frugivores. The causal mechanisms through which hunting leads to altered phytodemographics-recruitment bottlenecks resulting from replacement of seedlings f...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal limitation induces long-term biomass collapse in overhunted Amazonian forests

Peres

Emilio

Schietti

et al. 2016

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

Self Cite

308

335

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“…Reflecting soil biodiversity distribution, both spatial and temporal aspects of forest conservation must be considered. Effects of soil biodiversity on the functionality and stability of forest ecosystem function are spatially constrained and are especially significant at local scale (Pasari et al 2013). In a human-modified landscape such as that of Europe, the connectivity and heterogeneity of forest habitat patches containing levels of soil biodiversity correspondent to those of natural forests are the key determinant of ecosystem resilience at landscape scale (Standish et al 2014).…”

Section: Forest Conservation and Soil Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil biodiversity and environmental change in European forests

Lukáč

2017

Central European Forestry Journal

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Biodiversity not only responds to environmental change, but has been shown to be one of the key drivers of ecosystem function and service delivery. Forest soil biodiversity is also governed by these principles, the structure of soil biological communities is clearly determined by spatial, temporal and hierarchical factors. Global environmental change, together with land-use change and forest ecosystem management, impacts the aboveground structure and composition of European forests. Due to the close link between the above-and belowground parts of forest ecosystems, we know that soil biodiversity is also impacted. However, very little is known about the nature of these impacts; effects they have on the overall level of biodiversity, the functions it fulfills, and on the future stability of forests and forest soils. Even though much remains to be learned about the relationships between soil biodiversity and forest ecosystem functionality, it is clear that better effort needs to be made to preserve existing soil biodiversity and forest conservation strategies taking soils into account must be considered.

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“…Biodiversity is widely acknowledged to significantly influence the magnitude and stability of a large array of ecosystem properties, with stronger impacts evident when larger scales (1) and multiple functions are considered (2,3). These findings provide compelling support for biodiverse systems being functionally robust, with greater stability of function (4)(5)(6), resistance to invasion (7)(8)(9)(10), and resistance to pathogen spread (11).…”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

Bird assemblage vulnerability depends on the diversity and biogeographic histories of islands

Weeks

Gregory

Naeem

2016

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

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Biodiversity is widely acknowledged to influence the magnitude and stability of a large array of ecosystem properties, with biodiverse systems thought to be more functionally robust. As such, diverse systems may be safer harbors for vulnerable species, resulting in a positive association between biodiversity and the collective vulnerability of species in an assemblage, or “assemblage vulnerability.” We find that, for 35 islands across Northern Melanesia, bird assemblage vulnerability and biodiversity are positively associated. This relationship is highly contingent on Pleistocene connectivity, suggesting that biogeographic history—a factor often overlooked in biodiversity and ecosystem-functioning studies—may influence contemporary ecological processes. In the face of biodiversity loss attributable to anthropogenic drivers, reduced ecosystem functioning may erode the safe harbors of vulnerable assemblages. Paradoxically, these results suggest that biodiverse systems, as more robust systems, may experience greater biodiversity loss over ecological time because they harbor more vulnerable species accumulated over evolutionary time.

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Several scales of biodiversity affect ecosystem multifunctionality

Cited by 225 publications

References 25 publications

Dispersal limitation induces long-term biomass collapse in overhunted Amazonian forests

Dispersal limitation induces long-term biomass collapse in overhunted Amazonian forests

Soil biodiversity and environmental change in European forests

Bird assemblage vulnerability depends on the diversity and biogeographic histories of islands

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