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Published on: November 21, 2015
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Nitrogen and CO2 enrichment interact to decrease biodiversity impact on complementarity and selection effects
Mengjiao Huang1,2, Peter B Reich3,4,5, Shaopeng Wang6
1National Observation and Research Station for Shanghai Yangtze Estuarine Wetland Ecosystems, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. mjhuang17@fudan.edu.cn.
Nature Communications
|August 12, 2025
Summary
Global environmental change impacts biodiversity. This study shows nitrogen addition and enriched CO2 affect ecosystem functioning and stability, but biodiversity
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
- Global Change Biology
Background:
- Global environmental change, including nitrogen (N) addition and enriched CO2 (eCO2), is driving biodiversity loss.
- The interactive effects of global change factors on biodiversity-ecosystem functioning and stability relationships are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how N addition, eCO2, and their interaction influence the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (complementarity and selection effects).
- To examine the impact of N addition and eCO2 on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem stability (species asynchrony and species stability).
- To explore the connections between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and stability under global change scenarios.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from a 24-year experimental study.
- Assessed the effects of nitrogen addition and enriched CO2, both individually and in combination.
- Analyzed biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (complementarity and selection effects) and biodiversity-ecosystem stability (species asynchrony and species stability) relationships.
Main Results:
- Biodiversity positively relates to ecosystem productivity and stability under N addition and eCO2.
- Combined N addition and eCO2 reduce the influence of biodiversity on complementarity and selection effects.
- N addition and eCO2 do not alter the relationships between biodiversity and species asynchrony or species stability.
- Complementarity and selection effects are negatively related to species asynchrony under ambient and global change conditions.
Conclusions:
- Biodiversity sustains ecosystem functioning and stability despite global environmental change.
- The interactive effects of nitrogen addition and enriched CO2 can modify how biodiversity influences ecosystem processes.
- The links between biodiversity, complementarity, selection effects, and species asynchrony persist under global change.
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