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Multiple facets of biodiversity drive the diversity-stability relationship

  • Dylan Craven
  • , Nico Eisenhauer
  • , William D Pearse
  • , Yann Hautier
  • , Forest Isbell
  • , Christiane Roscher
  • , Michael Bahn
  • , Carl Beierkuhnlein
  • , Gerhard Bönisch
  • , Nina Buchmann
  • , Chaeho Byun
  • , Jane A Catford
  • , Bruno E L Cerabolini
  • , J Hans C Cornelissen
  • , Joseph M Craine
  • , Enrica De Luca
  • , Anne Ebeling
  • , John N Griffin
  • , Andy Hector
  • , Jes Hines
    • Anke Jentsch, Jens Kattge, Jürgen Kreyling, Vojtech Lanta, Nathan Lemoine, Sebastian T Meyer, Vanessa Minden, Vladimir Onipchenko, H Wayne Polley, Peter B Reich, Jasper van Ruijven, Brandon Schamp, Melinda D Smith, Nadejda A Soudzilovskaia, David Tilman, Alexandra Weigelt, Brian Wilsey, Peter Manning
  • Biodiversity, Macroecology & Biogeography, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. [email protected].
  • German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.; Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Johannisallee 21, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
  • Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA.
  • Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
  • Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
  • Department of Biogeography, BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.
  • Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
  • Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
  • Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
  • Department of Theoretical and Applied Science, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Jonah Ventures, Manhattan, KS, USA.
  • Institute of Ecology, University of Jena, Jena, Germany.
  • Department of Biosciences, College of Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
  • Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
  • Department of Disturbance Ecology, BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.
  • Experimental Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Greifswald University, Greifswald, Germany.
  • Department of Functional Ecology, Institute of Botany CAS, Třeboň, Czech Republic.
  • Department of Biology, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
  • Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany.
  • Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Landscape Ecology Group, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
  • Department of Geobotany, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
  • USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Grassland, Soil & Water Research Laboratory, Temple, TX, USA.
  • Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, 2570 New South Wales, Australia.
  • Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
  • Department of Biology, Algoma University, Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, Canada.
  • Environmental Biology Department, Institute of Environmental Sciences, CML, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
  • Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
  • Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Frankfurt, Germany.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

A substantial body of evidence has demonstrated that biodiversity stabilizes ecosystem functioning over time in grassland ecosystems. However, the relative importance of different facets of biodiversity underlying the diversity-stability relationship remains unclear. Here we use data from 39 grassland biodiversity experiments and structural equation modelling to investigate the roles of species richness, phylogenetic diversity and both the diversity and community-weighted mean of functional traits representing the 'fast-slow' leaf economics spectrum in driving the diversity-stability relationship. We found that high species richness and phylogenetic diversity stabilize biomass production via enhanced asynchrony in the performance of co-occurring species. Contrary to expectations, low phylogenetic diversity enhances ecosystem stability directly, albeit weakly. While the diversity of fast-slow functional traits has a weak effect on ecosystem stability, communities dominated by slow species enhance ecosystem stability by increasing mean biomass production relative to the standard deviation of biomass over time. Our in-depth, integrative assessment of factors influencing the diversity-stability relationship demonstrates a more multicausal relationship than has been previously acknowledged.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1579–1587
Number of pages9
JournalNature Ecology and Evolution
Volume2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Aug 2018

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