Species richness promotes ecosystem carbon storage: evidence from biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Environmental Science
• Biodiversity Research

Background:

• Plant diversity significantly influences ecosystem functions and services, notably carbon (C) storage.
• Understanding the context-dependency of biodiversity effects across various ecosystems, environmental conditions, and carbon pools is crucial but remains limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a meta-analysis exploring the impact of plant diversity on different ecosystem carbon pools.
• To investigate how these biodiversity effects vary across ecosystem types, environmental gradients, and carbon pools.

Main Methods:

• A meta-analysis was performed using data from 95 biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) studies across 60 sites.
• The study examined effects on aboveground and belowground plant biomass, soil microbial biomass carbon, and soil carbon content.

Main Results:

• Plant diversity significantly enhances ecosystem carbon storage, with a greater effect on aboveground biomass compared to soil carbon.
• The magnitude of biodiversity effects on carbon storage increased with species richness and experimental duration across all ecosystems.
• Biodiversity effects were more pronounced in grasslands than in forests and were modulated by aridity, being stronger under wetter conditions.

Conclusions:

• Plant diversity plays a critical role in regulating ecosystem carbon storage across diverse carbon pools and ecosystem types.
• Environmental factors like aridity can modulate the strength of biodiversity effects on carbon storage, highlighting potential impacts of climate change.
• Findings provide novel insights into the complex interactions between plant diversity, ecosystem functioning, and carbon sequestration.