Land-use intensity alters networks between biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Environmental Science
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• Land-use intensification can boost provisioning ecosystem services but often leads to biodiversity loss and altered ecosystem functioning.
• Understanding the complex interplay between biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services under different land-use intensities is crucial for sustainable management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how land-use intensity influences the network structure connecting species richness, ecosystem functions, and ecosystem services in forests and grasslands.
• To assess the impact of land management on ecological relationships and their implications for human well-being.

Main Methods:

• Constructed correlation networks linking species richness (16 trophic groups), ecosystem functions (10), and ecosystem services (15).
• Analyzed network properties (connectance, modularity, evenness, hub identity) across land-use intensity gradients in 150 forests and 150 grasslands.

Main Results:

• Land-use intensity significantly altered network structure in both forests and grasslands, with distinct changes in connectance, modularity, and evenness.
• Increasing land-use intensity resulted in more homogeneous networks with reduced integration, particularly driven by the belowground compartment in grasslands.
• Hub identity and module composition were significantly affected, leading to a decline in positive correlations between provisioning services, biodiversity, and functions at higher land-use intensities.

Conclusions:

• Land-use intensification restructures ecological networks, diminishing the integration of biodiversity, functions, and services, which can compromise ecosystem resilience and human well-being.
• The study provides a framework for understanding ecosystem responses to land use and can inform strategies for mitigating global change impacts.
• Network analysis offers a powerful tool for identifying ecosystem-wide changes and developing mechanistic hypotheses for ecological research and management.