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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 6, 2026

JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning
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Plant Competitive Balance and Intransitivity Shape Ecosystem Multifunctionality in Grasslands Under Drought.

Markus Bittlingmaier1, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo2, Santiago Soliveres3

  • 1Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale, CNRS, Moulis, France.

Ecology Letters
|March 4, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Environmental conditions like drought alter plant interactions, affecting ecosystem function. Understanding these shifts in competition and non-hierarchical interactions is key to predicting ecosystem multifunctionality.

Keywords:
biodiversitycompetitiondroughtecosystem functioningfacilitationintransitivityplant functional diversityplant productivityplant–soil interactionrelative interaction index (RII)

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Plant Community Ecology
  • Ecosystem Functioning

Background:

  • Plant-plant interactions are crucial for community structure and ecosystem functioning.
  • Environmental conditions can significantly alter these interactions, impacting the balance between competition and facilitation.
  • The consequences of altered interaction structures, particularly intransitivity, on ecosystem multifunctionality are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how drought and whole-soil inoculation affect the competition-facilitation balance and interaction intransitivity in grassland communities.
  • To determine the consequences of these altered interaction structures for ecosystem multifunctionality.
  • To explore the roles of dominant species and functional diversity in mediating these effects.

Main Methods:

  • A grassland mesocosm experiment was conducted.
  • Drought and whole-soil inoculation were manipulated as experimental treatments.
  • Plant productivity, soil hydraulic conductivity, soil nutrient cycling, and interaction network metrics were measured.

Main Results:

  • Drought intensified competition and interaction intransitivity.
  • Whole-soil inoculation reduced both competition and intransitivity.
  • Reduced competition and increased intransitivity enhanced ecosystem multifunctionality, primarily by boosting plant productivity and soil hydraulic conductivity.
  • Dominant species had opposing effects on the competition-facilitation balance and intransitivity, explaining their varied impacts on ecosystem functioning.

Conclusions:

  • The competition-facilitation balance and interaction intransitivity are critical, yet often overlooked, components of plant-plant interaction structure.
  • These interaction structures influence ecosystem multifunctionality independently of functional diversity and species abundance.
  • Understanding these dynamics is essential for predicting ecosystem responses to environmental change.