Plant and microbial community composition jointly determine moorland multifunctionality
Takehiro SasakiNaohiro I. IshiiDaichi MakishimaRui SutouAkihito GotoYutaka KawaiHayami TaniguchiKunihiro OkanoAyumi MatsuoAlfred LochnerSimone CesarzYoshihisa SuyamaKouki HikosakaNico Eisenhauer
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Abstract Understanding how ecosystem multifunctionality is maintained in naturally assembled communities is crucial, because human activities benefit from multiple functions and services of various ecosystems. However, the effects of above‐ and below‐ground biodiversity on ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine and boreal moorland ecosystems remain unclear despite their potential as global carbon sinks. Here we evaluated how ecosystem multifunctionality related to primary production and carbon sequestration, which are crucial for global climate regulation, is maintained in natural systems. We disentangled the relationships between diversity and composition of plants and soil microbes (fungi and bacteria) and ecosystem multifunctionality in subalpine moorlands in northern Japan. We found that microbial composition primarily regulated carbon sequestration, whereas plant taxonomic and functional composition were related to all functions considered. Plant and microbial α diversity (diversity within local communities) were not generally related to any single function, highlighting the important roles of specific plant and microbial taxa in determining ecosystem functioning. When single functions were aggregated to ecosystem multifunctionality within local communities, plant and microbial community composition rather than diversity regulated ecosystem multifunctionality. We further found that plant and bacterial taxonomic β diversity (taxonomic turnover between local communities) primarily regulated the dissimilarity of ecosystem multifunctionality between local communities. Synthesis. We provide observational evidence that plant and microbial community composition rather than diversity are essential for sustaining subalpine moorland multifunctionality. Furthermore, plant and bacterial β diversity enhance the dissimilarity of moorland multifunctionality. Our study provides novel insights into biodiversity–ecosystem multifunctionality relationships occurring in nature, and helps to sustain desirable ecosystem functioning to human society.Keywords:
Ecosystem diversity
Abstract Understanding how ecosystem multifunctionality is maintained in naturally assembled communities is crucial, because human activities benefit from multiple functions and services of various ecosystems. However, the effects of above‐ and below‐ground biodiversity on ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine and boreal moorland ecosystems remain unclear despite their potential as global carbon sinks. Here we evaluated how ecosystem multifunctionality related to primary production and carbon sequestration, which are crucial for global climate regulation, is maintained in natural systems. We disentangled the relationships between diversity and composition of plants and soil microbes (fungi and bacteria) and ecosystem multifunctionality in subalpine moorlands in northern Japan. We found that microbial composition primarily regulated carbon sequestration, whereas plant taxonomic and functional composition were related to all functions considered. Plant and microbial α diversity (diversity within local communities) were not generally related to any single function, highlighting the important roles of specific plant and microbial taxa in determining ecosystem functioning. When single functions were aggregated to ecosystem multifunctionality within local communities, plant and microbial community composition rather than diversity regulated ecosystem multifunctionality. We further found that plant and bacterial taxonomic β diversity (taxonomic turnover between local communities) primarily regulated the dissimilarity of ecosystem multifunctionality between local communities. Synthesis. We provide observational evidence that plant and microbial community composition rather than diversity are essential for sustaining subalpine moorland multifunctionality. Furthermore, plant and bacterial β diversity enhance the dissimilarity of moorland multifunctionality. Our study provides novel insights into biodiversity–ecosystem multifunctionality relationships occurring in nature, and helps to sustain desirable ecosystem functioning to human society.
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Abstract Drivers of ecosystem stability have been a major topic in ecology for decades. Most studies have focused on the influence of species richness on ecosystem stability and found positive diversity‐stability relationships. However, land use and abiotic factors shape species richness and functional composition of plant communities and may override species richness‐stability relations in managed grasslands. We analysed the relative importance of land‐use intensity (LUI), resident plant species richness and functional composition for recovery of plant communities (plant species richness, plant cover, above‐ and below‐ground biomass) and release of soil nutrients after a severe mechanical disturbance. Experimental sward disturbance was applied to 73 grassland sites along a LUI gradient in three German regions. We considered relative (ln(disturbance/control)) and absolute (disturbance − control) treatment effects. Using structural equation modelling, we disentangled direct effects of LUI and resident species richness on recovery and indirect effects via changes in functional richness. Community‐weighted‐mean traits rarely mattered for recovery or nutrient release, while functional richness especially increased relative recovery of plant communities but also relative release of NO 3 ‐N and NH 4 ‐N. These effects were enhanced by increasing resident plant species richness and decreasing LUI. Next to these indirect influences of LUI and resident plant species richness via functional community composition, grasslands of high compared with grasslands of low resident plant species richness generally showed decreased recovery of plant communities. In grasslands of high LUI, absolute recovery of some aspects of plant communities was decreased. We did not find consistent differences between the relative importance of the different drivers of recovery after the first and the second season. Overall, resident species richness seemed most important for relative recovery and less important for absolute recovery, where direct effects of LUI were more common. Synthesis. The stability of ecosystems in managed grasslands depends on more than species richness. Thus, drivers that directly affect species richness and functional community composition have to be considered when studying the stability of real‐world ecosystems. More specifically, in managed grasslands high resident species richness but also high land‐use intensity (LUI) decreased the stability of ecosystem functions, which was partially buffered by increases in functional richness.
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Summary Orkney's moorland resource has declined substantially since the Second World War, largely due to agricultural policies geared towards reclamation. Aerial photographic interpretation and GIS analysis was used to calculate moorland loss on the islands of Eday, Rousay and Papa Westray since 1946. Significant amounts of moorland on Eday and Rousay have been lost. Further analysis of SSSI boundaries showed that providing high protection for small, separate pockets of land rather than the countryside as a whole can contribute to fragmentation of the moorland resource.
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Plant community functional diversity is based on plant traits,and has been proposed as a key component of predicting ecosystem function.According to the constitution of species diversity,plant community functional diversity is usually described by functional richness,functional evenness,and functional divergence.This paper introduced these three kinds of indices used in plant community ecology,in hopes of better understanding the relationships between biodiversity,environment,and ecosystem functioning.
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Abstract In the UK, hen harriers ( Circus cyaneus ) are illegally killed on moorland that is managed for red grouse ( Lagopus lagopus scoticus ), and they produce fewer young per female on grouse moorland than on either unmanaged moorland or forestry. However, those breeding attempts on grouse moorland that escape nest destruction produce more young than in other land‐use classes. One explanation for this difference is that food is more available to harriers on managed moorland than elsewhere. To examine this hypothesis, we compared the capture rates of hunting male harriers on sites across Scotland. Four of these sites were managed for grouse whilst the remaining three consisted of either unmanaged moorland or a mixture of unmanaged moorland and young forestry plantations. We found a significant difference in capture rates, with harriers on managed grouse moorland capturing prey at a greater rate than elsewhere, supporting the idea that prey were more available on grouse moorland. However, there was no difference in strike rates between the land‐use classes, suggesting that prey were not necessarily more abundant on grouse moors. Males on unmanaged moorland tended to catch larger prey, though this was insufficient to compensate fully for the reduced capture rates. The improved hunting success on grouse moorland means that this habitat is likely to be more attractive to breeding harriers, thereby increasing the conflict between those interested in maximizing grouse numbers and those interested in conserving rare raptors.
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ABSTRACT Species extinctions from local communities can negatively affect ecosystem functioning. Ecological mechanisms underlying these impacts are well studied but the role of evolutionary processes is rarely assessed. Using a long-term field experiment, we tested whether natural selection in plant communities increased the effects of biodiversity on productivity. We re-assembled communities with 8-year co-selection history adjacent to communities with identical species composition but no history of co-selection (“naïve communities”). Monocultures and in particular mixtures of two to four co-selected species were more productive than their corresponding naïve communities over four years in soils with or without co-selected microbial communities. At the highest diversity level of eight plant species, no such differences were observed. Our findings suggest that plant community evolution can lead to rapid increases in ecosystem functioning at low diversity but may take longer at high diversity. This effect was not modified by treatments that simulated additional co-evolutionary processes between plants and soil organisms.
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