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Plant diversity maintains multiple soil functions in future environments.

Nico Eisenhauer1,2, Jes Hines1,2, Forest Isbell3

  • 1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.

Elife
|November 29, 2018
PubMed
Summary

Conserving plant diversity boosts soil functions and ecosystem services, even under future environmental changes like elevated carbon dioxide and nitrogen. This biodiversity benefit remains robust across various conditions, highlighting its importance for ecosystem resilience.

Keywords:
biodiversity-ecosystem functionecologyecosystem multifunctionalityecosystem servicesenvironmental changefunctional diversitysoil processes

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Environmental Science
  • Soil Science

Background:

  • Biodiversity underpins essential ecosystem functions and services vital for human society, particularly soil-related services.
  • Understanding how environmental changes affect the biodiversity-ecosystem function relationship is crucial for predicting future ecosystem service provision.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of grassland plant diversity on soil functions and ecosystem multifunctionality under current and future environmental conditions.
  • To determine if and how elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N) supply alter the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functions.

Main Methods:

  • Experimental manipulation of grassland plant diversity and environmental conditions (ambient, elevated CO2, enriched N, combined CO2 and N).
  • Measurement of individual soil functions and overall ecosystem multifunctionality.
  • Application of structural equation models to elucidate the mechanisms driving biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships.

Main Results:

  • Plant diversity significantly enhanced three out of four measured soil functions, leading to increased ecosystem multifunctionality.
  • The positive relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functions remained significant across all tested environmental conditions.
  • Elevated nitrogen supply weakened the biodiversity-ecosystem function relationship, while elevated CO2 did not significantly alter it.

Conclusions:

  • Plant diversity is a robust driver of soil functions and ecosystem multifunctionality, maintaining these benefits under future environmental scenarios.
  • Plant diversity enhances multifunctionality through increased plant community functional diversity and more even provision of multiple functions.
  • Conserving local plant diversity is a critical strategy for ensuring the continued provision of valuable ecosystem services in the face of environmental change.