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Daleo P, Alberti J, Chaneton EJ, Iribarne O, Tognetti PM, Bakker JD, Borer ET, Bruschetti M, MacDougall AS, Pascual J, Sankaran M, Seabloom EW, Wang S, Bagchi S, Brudvig LA, Catford JA, Dickman CR, Dickson TL, Donohue I, Eisenhauer N, Gruner DS, Haider S, Jentsch A, Knops JMH, Lekberg Y, McCulley RL, Moore JL, Mortensen B, Ohlert T, Pärtel M, Peri PL, Power SA, Risch AC, Rocca C, Smith NG, Stevens C, Tamme R, Veen GFC, Wilfahrt PA, Hautier Y. Environmental heterogeneity modulates the effect of plant diversity on the spatial variability of grassland biomass. Nat Commun 2023; 14:1809. [PMID: 37002217 PMCID: PMC10066197 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37395-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Plant productivity varies due to environmental heterogeneity, and theory suggests that plant diversity can reduce this variation. While there is strong evidence of diversity effects on temporal variability of productivity, whether this mechanism extends to variability across space remains elusive. Here we determine the relationship between plant diversity and spatial variability of productivity in 83 grasslands, and quantify the effect of experimentally increased spatial heterogeneity in environmental conditions on this relationship. We found that communities with higher plant species richness (alpha and gamma diversity) have lower spatial variability of productivity as reduced abundance of some species can be compensated for by increased abundance of other species. In contrast, high species dissimilarity among local communities (beta diversity) is positively associated with spatial variability of productivity, suggesting that changes in species composition can scale up to affect productivity. Experimentally increased spatial environmental heterogeneity weakens the effect of plant alpha and gamma diversity, and reveals that beta diversity can simultaneously decrease and increase spatial variability of productivity. Our findings unveil the generality of the diversity-stability theory across space, and suggest that reduced local diversity and biotic homogenization can affect the spatial reliability of key ecosystem functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Daleo
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), UNMDP-CONICET, CC 1260 Correo Central, B7600WAG, Mar del Plata, Argentina.
| | - Juan Alberti
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), UNMDP-CONICET, CC 1260 Correo Central, B7600WAG, Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - Enrique J Chaneton
- IFEVA-Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Av San Martín 4453 C1417DSE, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Oscar Iribarne
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), UNMDP-CONICET, CC 1260 Correo Central, B7600WAG, Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - Pedro M Tognetti
- IFEVA-Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Av San Martín 4453 C1417DSE, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jonathan D Bakker
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - Elizabeth T Borer
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - Martín Bruschetti
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), UNMDP-CONICET, CC 1260 Correo Central, B7600WAG, Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - Andrew S MacDougall
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G2W1, Canada
| | - Jesús Pascual
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), UNMDP-CONICET, CC 1260 Correo Central, B7600WAG, Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - Mahesh Sankaran
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560065, India
- School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Eric W Seabloom
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China
| | - Sumanta Bagchi
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560012, India
| | - Lars A Brudvig
- Department of Plant Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Jane A Catford
- Department of Geography, King's College London, 30 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4BG, UK
- School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia
| | - Chris R Dickman
- Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Timothy L Dickson
- University of Nebraska at Omaha, Department of Biology, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Ian Donohue
- Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Nico Eisenhauer
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel S Gruner
- Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA
| | - Sylvia Haider
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany
- Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany
| | - Anke Jentsch
- Disturbance Ecology, BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Johannes M H Knops
- Department of Health & Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Ylva Lekberg
- MPG Ranch and University of Montana, W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA
| | - Rebecca L McCulley
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA
| | - Joslin L Moore
- School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia
- Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, VIC, 3084, Australia
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, 25 Rainforest Walk, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia
| | - Brent Mortensen
- Department of Biology, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS, USA
| | - Timothy Ohlert
- Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Meelis Pärtel
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Pablo L Peri
- Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA)- Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral (UNPA) -CONICET. Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argentina
| | - Sally A Power
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
| | - Anita C Risch
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Community Ecology, Zuercherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Camila Rocca
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), UNMDP-CONICET, CC 1260 Correo Central, B7600WAG, Mar del Plata, Argentina
| | - Nicholas G Smith
- Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA
| | - Carly Stevens
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Riin Tamme
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - G F Ciska Veen
- Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, PO Box 50, 6700, AB, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Peter A Wilfahrt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - Yann Hautier
- Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584, CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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