Abstract
The relationship between species richness (SR) and aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) is still a central and debated issue in community ecology. Previous studies have often emphasized the relationship of alpha diversity (number of species identity) to the mean ANPP with respect to the SR-ANPP relationship while neglecting the contribution of beta diversity (dissimilarity in species composition) to the mean ANPP and to the stability of ANPP (coefficient of ANPP: CV of ANPP). In this study, we used alpha and beta diversity, mean ANPP and the CV of ANPP collected from 159 sites and belonging to three vegetation types in the Xinjiang temperate grassland to first examine their trends along climatic factors and among different vegetation types and then test the relationship among alpha (beta) diversity and mean ANPP and the CV of ANPP. Our results showed that in the Xinjiang temperate grasslands, alpha diversity was positively and linearly correlated with MAP but unimodally correlated with MAT. Meanwhile, beta diversity was unimodally correlated with MAP but linearly correlated with MAT. Relative to desert steppe, meadow steppe and typical steppe had the highest alpha and beta diversity, respectively. Except for ANPP exhibiting a quadratic relationship with MAP, no significant relationship was found among ANPP, the CV of ANPP and climatic factors. ANPP and the CV of ANPP also exhibited no apparent patterns in variation among different vegetation types. Our results further showed that mean ANPP was closely associated with alpha diversity. Both linear and unimodal relationships were detected between alpha diversity and mean ANPP, but their particular form was texture-dependent. Meanwhile, the CV of ANPP was positively correlated with beta diversity. Our results indicated that in addition to incorporating alpha diversity and mean ANPP, incorporating beta diversity and the CV of ANPP could expand our understanding of the SR-ANPP relationship.
Highlights
The relationship between species richness (SR) and aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) has been a central issue in community ecology [1,2,3]
ANPP and the coefficient of variation (CV) of ANPP exhibited no apparent patterns in variation among different vegetation types
Beta diversity showed a unimodal relationship with mean annual precipitation (MAP) but negatively decreased with increasing mean annual temperature (MAT) (Fig 2C and 2D), suggesting that peak beta diversity appeared in sites with an intermediate level of MAP
Summary
The relationship between species richness (SR) and aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) has been a central issue in community ecology [1,2,3]. Mechanisms of the SR-ANPP relationship having been widely discussed in most terrestrial ecosystems [4,5], the reported SR-ANPP relationship remains controversial, ranging from a unimodal to positively linear relationship to a neutral form in different ecosystems [3,6,7]. These varied SR-ANPP relationships have often been explained by differently varying patterns in alpha diversity (numbers of species identity in community) along the ANPP gradient [5], whereas the contribution of beta diversity (dissimilarity in species composition in the community) to the SR-ANPP relationship has been neglected. Our knowledge about the contribution of alpha and beta diversity to ANPP is still limited, and more studies are needed
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