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The results of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments are realistic.
Journal article

The results of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments are realistic.

  • Jochum M Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. malte.jochum@idiv.de.
  • Fischer M Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  • Isbell F Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
  • Roscher C German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
  • van der Plas F Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Boch S Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  • Boenisch G Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
  • Buchmann N Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Catford JA Department of Geography, King's College London, London, UK.
  • Cavender-Bares J Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
  • Ebeling A Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Jena, Jena, Germany.
  • Eisenhauer N German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Gleixner G Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
  • Hölzel N Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
  • Kattge J German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Klaus VH Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Kleinebecker T Institute of Landscape Ecology and Resources Management, Giessen University, Giessen, Germany.
  • Lange M Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
  • Le Provost G Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Frankfurt, Germany.
  • Meyer ST Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany.
  • Molina-Venegas R Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  • Mommer L Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
  • Oelmann Y Geoecology, Geoscience Department, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
  • Penone C Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  • Prati D Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  • Reich PB Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
  • Rindisbacher A Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  • Schäfer D Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  • Scheu S JF Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
  • Schmid B Department of Geography, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Tilman D Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
  • Tscharntke T Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
  • Vogel A German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Wagg C Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Weigelt A German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Weisser WW Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany.
  • Wilcke W Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany.
  • Manning P Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Frankfurt, Germany.
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  • 2020-08-26
Published in:
  • Nature ecology & evolution. - 2020
English A large body of research shows that biodiversity loss can reduce ecosystem functioning. However, much of the evidence for this relationship is drawn from biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments in which biodiversity loss is simulated by randomly assembling communities of varying species diversity, and ecosystem functions are measured. This random assembly has led some ecologists to question the relevance of biodiversity experiments to real-world ecosystems, where community assembly or disassembly may be non-random and influenced by external drivers, such as climate, soil conditions or land use. Here, we compare data from real-world grassland plant communities with data from two of the largest and longest-running grassland biodiversity experiments (the Jena Experiment in Germany and BioDIV in the United States) in terms of their taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity and functional-trait composition. We found that plant communities of biodiversity experiments cover almost all of the multivariate variation of the real-world communities, while also containing community types that are not currently observed in the real world. Moreover, they have greater variance in their compositional features than their real-world counterparts. We then re-analysed a subset of experimental data that included only ecologically realistic communities (that is, those comparable to real-world communities). For 10 out of 12 biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, biodiversity effects did not differ significantly between the full dataset of biodiversity experiments and the ecologically realistic subset of experimental communities. Although we do not provide direct evidence for strong or consistent biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships in real-world communities, our results demonstrate that the results of biodiversity experiments are largely insensitive to the exclusion of unrealistic communities and that the conclusions drawn from biodiversity experiments are generally robust.
Language
  • English
Open access status
green
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/67001
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