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Landscape heterogeneity strengthens the relationship between β-diversity and ecosystem function.

Edd Hammill¹, Charles P Hawkins¹, Hamish S Greig²

¹Department of Watershed Sciences and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5210 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah, 84322, USA.

|October 6, 2018

Summary

Landscape environmental differences strengthen the link between biodiversity and ecosystem function. As landscapes become more varied, species diversity (alpha, beta, gamma) more strongly predicts ecosystem processes like decomposition.

Keywords:

beta-diversity decomposition ecosystem function ecosystem productivity environmental heterogeneity landscape ecology macroinvertebrates metacommunities

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Environmental Science
Biodiversity Research

Background:

Growing consensus links biodiversity to enhanced ecosystem functions.
Most studies examine single ecosystems or homogenous landscapes.
The impact of landscape-level environmental dissimilarity on diversity-function relationships is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how landscape-level environmental dissimilarity affects the relationship between diversity metrics (alpha, beta, gamma) and ecosystem function.
To determine the relative influence of environmental conditions versus diversity on ecosystem functions across varying landscape heterogeneities.

Main Methods:

Simulated landscapes with four aquatic mesocosms each.
Manipulated temperature and nutrient conditions to create varying levels of within-landscape environmental heterogeneity.
Measured primary production and decomposition as key ecosystem functions.

Main Results:

Environmental conditions primarily controlled ecosystem function variation; diversity metrics explained less, but significant, variation.
In homogeneous landscapes, diversity metrics showed weak associations with primary production and decomposition.
Increased landscape environmental dissimilarity strengthened the relationships between alpha, beta, and gamma diversity and ecosystem functions, with beta diversity becoming a stronger predictor of decomposition in highly dissimilar landscapes.

Conclusions:

Abiotic conditions and community homogeneity significantly influence landscape-scale ecosystem function.
Environmental dissimilarity enhances the role of species sorting in shaping communities and strengthens diversity-ecosystem function couplings, particularly beta diversity.
Understanding landscape context is crucial for predicting ecosystem function.