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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 6, 2026

JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning

JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning

Published on: March 21, 2025

Explaining maximum variation in productivity requires phylogenetic diversity and single functional traits.

Jiajia Liu, Xinxin Zhang, Feifan Song

|August 4, 2015

Summary

Biodiversity

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Plant Community Ecology
Ecosystem Function

Background:

Community experiments often show a positive link between plant biodiversity and productivity.
Biodiversity is measured using taxonomy, function, and phylogeny, but their interactions in natural systems are less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To test how different biodiversity measures and their combinations explain aboveground biomass production in natural alpine plant assemblages.
To identify the most parsimonious combination of biodiversity metrics for predicting ecosystem function.

Main Methods:

Conducted a removal experiment in Tibetan Plateau alpine plant communities.
Manipulated species richness and functional diversity.
Used generalized linear models combining functional diversity, phylogenetic diversity, richness, and evenness to predict biomass production.

Main Results:

Multivariate functional diversity indices explained more variation in productivity than single measures alone.
Phylogenetic diversity combined with plant height provided the most parsimonious explanation for biomass production.
Single biodiversity metrics were insufficient to fully explain ecosystem function in natural assemblages.

Conclusions:

Explaining ecosystem function requires a combination of biodiversity measures.
Phylogenetic diversity and specific plant traits (with weak phylogenetic signal) are crucial for understanding biodiversity loss impacts on ecosystem function.