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Several scales of biodiversity affect ecosystem multifunctionality.

Jae R Pasari1, Taal Levi, Erika S Zavaleta

  • 1Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. jpasari@gmail.com

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Local species richness (α diversity) strongly boosts ecosystem functions. Landscape-level diversity (β and γ diversity) enhances multiple functions and stability, requiring diverse landscape mosaics for ecosystem multifunctionality.

Keywords:
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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Biodiversity research
  • Ecosystem functioning

Background:

  • Societal value is placed on landscapes providing multiple ecosystem functions.
  • Individual species' functional importance is increasingly recognized, but its relationship with community-level biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality is complex.
  • Ecological diversity beyond local species richness may influence multifunctionality over longer timescales.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effects of local species richness (α diversity), distinctness among communities (β diversity), and larger scale species richness (γ diversity) on ecosystem functions.
  • To assess the impact of different diversity components on ecosystem multifunctionality over a 10-year period.
  • To understand how landscape-level biodiversity influences the reliability and stability of ecosystem functions.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized experimental landscapes derived from a long-term biodiversity-functioning field experiment.
  • Measured eight distinct ecosystem functions over a decade.
  • Employed both threshold-based and unique multifunctionality metrics to analyze diversity effects.

Main Results:

  • Local species richness (α diversity) demonstrated significant positive impacts on individual ecosystem functions and overall multifunctionality.
  • The positive influence of landscape-level diversity (β and γ diversity) on multifunctionality became apparent only when multiple functions were considered concurrently.
  • Increased distinctness among communities (β diversity) was associated with reduced variability in ecosystem multifunctionality, enhancing stability.

Conclusions:

  • Maintaining ecosystem multifunctionality necessitates not only the conservation of key species but also the preservation of diverse landscape mosaics composed of varied communities.
  • Both local and landscape-scale biodiversity components are crucial for ensuring the reliable provision of multiple ecosystem functions.
  • Future conservation strategies should integrate landscape-level planning to support robust and stable ecosystem services.