The role of biodiversity for element cycling and trophic interactions: an experimental approach in a grassland community

Roscher, Christiane; Schumacher, Jens; Baade, Jussi; Wilcke, Wolfgang; Gleixner, Gerd; Weisser, Wolfgang W.; Schmid, Bernhard; Schulze, Ernst Detlef

doi:10.1078/1439-1791-00216

Cited by 529 publications

(897 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The area has a mean annual air temperature of 9.48C and mean annual precipitation of 587 mm [19]. The soil is a Eutric Fluvisol developed from up to 2 m thick fluvial sediments that are almost free of stones [20]. The experiment is based on plant communities that were created by sowing different combinations of species into 3.5 Â 3.5 m experimental plots [18].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species richness and functional traits affect community stability after a flood event

Fischer

Wright

Eisenhauer

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 17 to a theme issue 'Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in dynamic landscapes'. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events. It is therefore of major importance to identify the community attributes that confer stability in ecological communities during such events. In June 2013, a flood event affected a plant diversity experiment in Central Europe (Jena, Germany). We assessed the effects of plant species richness, functional diversity, flooding intensity and community means of functional traits on different measures of stability (resistance, resilience and raw biomass changes from pre-flood conditions). Surprisingly, plant species richness reduced community resistance in response to the flood. This was mostly because more diverse communities grew more immediately following the flood. Raw biomass increased over the previous year; this resulted in decreased absolute value measures of resistance. There was no clear response pattern for resilience. We found that functional traits drove these changes in raw biomass: communities with a high proportion of lateseason, short-statured plants with dense, shallow roots and small leaves grew more following the flood. Late-growing species probably avoided the flood, whereas greater root length density might have allowed species to better access soil resources brought from the flood, thus growing more in the aftermath. We conclude that resource inputs following mild floods may favour the importance of traits related to resource acquisition and be less associated with flooding tolerance.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species richness and functional traits affect community stability after a flood event

Fischer

Wright

Eisenhauer

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…However, since we aim quantifying the effects of species diversity in general and not only the functional group of legumes plays a special role in the Jena Experiment (Roscher et al, 2004, Marquard et al, 2009), we will proceed with the results displayed in Table 1. Furthermore, as the results presented above are similar for both diversity indicators, and to ensure clarity of presentation, we thus proceed in using one index only, i.e., the Shannon index.…”

Section: Shannon or Simpson Index)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most experimental studies have focused on plant community biomass, e.g., grassland yield, to test this theory in experimental grassland systems, just like in the Jena Experiment (Roscher et al, 2004). Often, yield stability over time has been one of the main interests, particularly in the long-term grassland biodiversity experiments (such as the Cedar Creek Experiment of Tilman and coworkers or the Jena Experiment).…”

Section: Species Diversity and Grassland System Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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An ecological economic assessment of risk-reducing effects of species diversity in managed grasslands

Finger

Buchmann

2015

Ecological Economics

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“…This 138 simplifying assumption is justified by the fact that the establishment of monoculture plots was generally well-advanced when biomass monitoring started (Roscher et al 2004), so that 140 biomass at the start of the growing season is primarily controlled by the height of mowing that was constant during the experiment. In species mixtures, B0 is equally divided between 142 species.…”

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Predicting stochastic community dynamics in grasslands under the assumption of competitive symmetry

Lohier

Jabot

Weigelt

et al. 2016

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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Community dynamics is influenced by multiple ecological processes such as environmental spatiotemporal variation, competition between individuals and demographic stochasticity. Quantifying the respective influence of these various processes and making predictions on community dynamics require the use of a dynamical framework encompassing these various components. We here demonstrate how to adapt the framework of stochastic community dynamics to the peculiarities of herbaceous communities, by using a short temporal resolution adapted to the time scale of competition between herbaceous plants, and by taking into account the seasonal drops in plant aerial biomass following winter, harvesting or consumption by herbivores. We develop a hybrid inference method for this novel modelling framework that both uses numerical simulations and likelihood computations. Applying this methodology to empirical data from the Jena biodiversity experiment, we find that environmental stochasticity has a larger effect on community dynamics than demographic stochasticity, and that both effects are generally smaller than observation errors at the plot scale. We further evidence that plant intrinsic growth rates and carrying capacities are moderately predictable from plant vegetative height, specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content. We do not find any trade-off between demographical components, since species with larger intrinsic growth rates tend to also have lower demographic and environmental variances. Finally, we find that our model is able to make relatively good predictions of multi-specific community dynamics based on the assumption of competitive symmetry. Quantifying the respective influence of these various processes and making predictions on community dynamics require the use of a dynamical framework encompassing these various 30components. We here demonstrate how to adapt the framework of stochastic community dynamics to the peculiarities of herbaceous communities, by using a short temporal resolution 32 adapted to the time scale of competition between herbaceous plants, and by taking into account the seasonal drops in plant aerial biomass following winter, harvesting or 34 consumption by herbivores. We develop a hybrid inference method for this novel modelling framework that both uses numerical simulations and likelihood computations. Applying this 36 methodology to empirical data from the Jena biodiversity experiment, we find that environmental stochasticity has a larger effect on community dynamics than demographic 38 stochasticity, and that both effects are generally smaller than observation errors. We further evidence that plant intrinsic growth rates and carrying capacities are moderately predictable 40 from plant vegetative height, specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content. We do not find any trade-off between demographical components, since species with larger intrinsic growth 42 rates tend to also have lower demographic and environmental variances. Finally, we find that our model is able to make ...

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The role of biodiversity for element cycling and trophic interactions: an experimental approach in a grassland community

Cited by 529 publications

References 37 publications

Plant species richness and functional traits affect community stability after a flood event

Plant species richness and functional traits affect community stability after a flood event

An ecological economic assessment of risk-reducing effects of species diversity in managed grasslands

Predicting stochastic community dynamics in grasslands under the assumption of competitive symmetry

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