Biodiversity-ecosystem Function Relationships Research Articles

Below‐ground traits, rare species and environmental stress regulate the biodiversity–ecosystem function relationship

Abstract Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) is crucial to predicting the consequences of ongoing global biodiversity loss. However, what drives BEF relationships in natural ecosystems under globally changing conditions remains poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we applied a trait‐based approach to data from coastal dune plant communities distributed along a natural environmental stress gradient. Specifically, we compared the relative importance of below‐ground and above‐ground traits in predicting productivity, decomposition, water regulation, carbon stock and nutrient pools, and tested how these BEF relationships were modulated by environmental stress and the presence of rare species that are typically excluded from experimental systems. Below‐ground traits were just as important as above‐ground traits in driving ecosystem functioning. Moreover, despite having low abundances, rare species positively influenced ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF). However, most biodiversity effects became weaker as environmental stress increased. Our study shows that to understand variation in ecosystem functioning we must consider below‐ground traits as much as above‐ground ones. Moreover, it highlights the importance of conserving rare species for maintaining EMF. However, our findings also suggest that rapid global change could dampen the positive effects of diversity on ecosystem functioning. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Evolutionary diversity impacts tropical forest biomass and productivity through disturbance‐mediated ecological pathways

Abstract Significant research efforts have been made to uncover links between biodiversity and biomass productivity in forest ecosystems. However, the causal link between these two ecosystem components, and the underlying mediation role of disturbance, are yet poorly understood for hyper‐diverse tropical forests, because multiple ecological mechanisms are sequentially or simultaneously in play, leading to contradictory results in observational studies. Here, we introduce a novel framework for inferring the expected effects of evolutionary diversity on biomass stocks and productivity within forest ecosystems using observational field data. This framework involves an analytical decomposition of stand biomass into three key components: the number of trees, the mean size of trees and the mean wood density. Through this approach, we can distinguish structure‐ and compositional‐based diversity effects, which likely have distinct ecological origins. We tested this framework in one of the oldest tropical forest experiments, where different levels of silvicultural disturbances were applied in the 1980s, with regular monitoring since then. Our results revealed that disturbance history mediates the effect of evolutionary diversity on forest biomass dynamics and that several Biodiversity Ecosystem Function (BEF) relationships may be hidden behind the composite biomass variable. We specifically found an overall significant negative relationship between evolutionary diversity and biomass productivity soon after disturbances (~5–8 years), mostly via mean tree size, despite a positive evolutionary diversity effect on mean wood density. This result reflects that the productivity of disturbed forests is driven by a few dominant and disturbance‐prone species with low wood density and large potential stature, and not by niche complementarity among species. However, these effects rapidly vanished with time, with non‐significant overall effect of evolutionary diversity on productivity both ~30 years after disturbance and in the undisturbed plots. Synthesis. By disentangling the effects of evolutionary diversity on the different components of forest biomass, our framework unveiled how evolutionary diversity impacts forest productivity through different ecological mechanisms, and suggests that it plays a major role, albeit mainly negative, only soon after a disturbance.

More diverse rhizobial communities can lead to higher symbiotic nitrogen fixation rates, even in nitrogen-rich soils.

Symbiotic nitrogen (N) fixation (SNF) by legumes and their rhizobial partners is one of the most important sources of bioavailable N to terrestrial ecosystems. While most work on the regulation of SNF has focussed on abiotic drivers such as light, water and soil nutrients, the diversity of rhizobia with which individual legume partners may play an important but under-recognized role in regulating N inputs from SNF. By experimentally manipulating the diversity of rhizobia available to legumes, we demonstrate that rhizobial diversity can increase average SNF rates by more than 90%, and that high rhizobial diversity can induce increased SNF even under conditions of high soil N fertilization. However, the effects of rhizobial diversity, the conditions under which diversity effects were the strongest, and the likely mechanisms driving these diversity effects differed between the two legume species we assessed. These results provide evidence that biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships can occur at the scales of an individual plant and that the effects of rhizobial diversity may be as important as long-established abiotic factors, such as N availability, in driving terrestrial N inputs via SNF.

Tree species diversity drives the land surface phenology of seasonally dry tropical woodlands

Abstract Seasonal foliage display (leaf phenology) is a key determinant of ecosystem function. Variation in land surface phenology, observed via space‐borne remote sensing, can be explained at broad spatial scales by climate, but we lack understanding of how vegetation structure and floristic diversity mediates these relationships. This lack of understanding hampers our ability to predict changes in phenology and therefore ecosystem function, in light of rapid ongoing shifts in biodiversity and ecosystem structure due to land use and climate change. We combined a network of 619 vegetation monitoring sites across seasonally dry tropical deciduous woodlands in Zambia with land surface phenology metrics to investigate the role of tree species diversity, composition and vegetation structure on patterns of land surface phenology, including the phenomenon of pre‐rain green‐up. Tree species diversity was associated with earlier pre‐rain green‐up, a longer growing season, and greater cumulative foliage production. Independent of diversity, proportional abundance of Detarioideae species (subfamily of Fabaceae) was associated with a longer growing season by facilitating earlier pre‐rain green‐up. Woodland stands with larger trees green up earlier, suggesting access to deep groundwater reserves. Senescence metrics showed variation among sites but were not well‐explained by precipitation, temperature, structure or diversity. Synthesis: Tree diversity, composition and structure are co‐determinants of seasonal patterns of foliage display in seasonally dry tropical deciduous woodlands, as measured via land surface phenology, at regional scale. Our study identifies both a niche complementarity effect whereby diverse woodlands exhibit longer growing seasons, as well as a mass‐ratio effect whereby detarioid species drive earlier pre‐rain green‐up, providing insights into the mechanisms underlying the biodiversity ecosystem function relationship in this biome. We stress the importance of considering biotic controls on ecosystem functioning in the next generation of earth‐system models predicting the response of communities to global change.

Mixed forests provide higher levels of growth and yield than monocultures across a broad range of conditions

Compared with single-species forests, mixed forests tend to provide more forest ecosystem functions and services. However, there is a lack of detailed understanding of the basic mechanisms of the impact of species diversity on tree growth and forest productivity. The main drivers of this relationship are also still under discussion. Here, we synthesized information from 93 studies to quantify the increase in tree size, crown size and stand productivity in mixed stands, and conducted a meta-analysis on the response of tree growth and forest productivity to species mixing. Tree size, crown size and stand productivity increased by 7.4 % (2.4–12.5 %), 12.6 % (5.6–20.1 %), and 33.0 % (18.7–49.0 %), respectively, in mixed stands compared with single-species stands. Our results show that when all observations are included, the mean effect sizes of tree size, crown size, and stand productivity were greater than when only the equal stand density observations were included. Stand age and stand density were the most important moderators affecting tree size in mixed forests. Stand age, shade tolerance and soil acidity were the most important moderators influencing the effect sizes of crown size, and shade tolerance was the most important moderator influencing the effect sizes of stand productivity. We found that these positive mixing effects were also modulated by tree functional traits, stand characteristics, and climatic conditions. For different growth variables, the moderators that affect their growth in the mixed forests were different. Therefore, in the afforestation practices for differing management objectives, foresters should give priority to the factors that have the most important impact on them to achieve their goals. Our results have implications for linking biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships and forest management practices and may aid the development of more appropriate afforestation strategies.

Ecosystem functioning during biodiversity loss and recovery

Anthropogenic biodiversity loss can impair ecosystem functioning. Human activities are often managed with the aim of reversing biodiversity loss and its associated functional impacts. However, it is currently unknown whether biodiversity–ecosystem function (BEF) relationships observed during biodiversity recovery are the same as those observed during biodiversity loss. This will depend on how species extirpation and recolonisation sequences compare and how different species influence ecosystem functioning. Using data from a marine benthic invertebrate community, we modelled how bioturbation potential – a proxy for benthic ecosystem functioning – changes along biodiversity loss and recovery sequences governed by species' sensitivity to physical disturbance and recolonisation capability, respectively. BEF relationships for biodiversity loss and recovery were largely the same despite species extirpation and recolonisation sequences being different. This held true irrespective of whether populations were assumed to exhibit compensatory responses as species were removed or added. These findings suggest that the functional consequences of local biodiversity loss can be reversed by alleviating its drivers, as different species present at comparable levels of species richness during biodiversity loss and recovery phases have similar functional effects. Empirically verifying and determining the generality of our model‐based results are potential next steps for future research.

Integrating different facets of diversity into food web models: how adaptation among and within functional groups shape ecosystem functioning

Adaptation of communities to environmental fluctuations can emerge from different facets of biodiversity, which may impact ecosystem functioning differently. Previous work in the field of biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) examined how ecosystem functions can be influenced by two sources of adaptive potential: sorting – i.e. changes in community composition due to fitness differences – can occur when multiple species or groups are present (richness), and trait adaptability – i.e. trait adjustments within species or functional groups – can emerge from genetic or phenotypic diversity. However, their effect is typically studied separately, and often in the context of only one trophic level. Therefore, we used a trait‐based, multispecies predator–prey model to investigate how sorting and trait adaptability, at one or two trophic levels, separately or jointly shape ecosystem functions and properties, such as total biomass, production, biomass‐weighted mean trait, relative top–down control and synchrony. We found that the adaptive potential emerging from any facet of diversity induced changes in trophic interactions, in turn affecting biomass distributions within and across trophic levels, dynamical behaviour, and synchrony of biomass dynamics within a trophic level. Particularly, sorting and trait adaptability could contribute to a similar degree and at a similar time to temporal changes in ecosystem functions, but their respective contribution depended on the speed of trait adaptation, the trait range between similar functional groups and trophic interactions. We thus suggest to consider multiple facets of diversity and their corresponding sources of adaptive potential to deepen our mechanistic understanding of BEF relationships, especially in the context of rapid biodiversity change.

Which aspect of functional diversity shapes ecosystem functioning in exploited marine demersal fish community?

The biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationship is a critical topic in ecological research, as it guides the maintenance of ecosystem functioning in the face of climate change and human disturbance. However, the BEF relationship is complicated by the fact that biodiversity has multiple dimensions, and in particular functional diversity may be strongly correlated with community productivity. But the understanding is still lacking about how different functional traits determine community productivity. The present study tested the relationship between biodiversity and community productivity empirically in a demersal fish community, based on continuous bottom trawl surveys in Haizhou Bay, China from 2013 to 2022. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with composite variables was used to evaluate the relationships among environmental factors, species diversity (SD), functional diversity (FD), community weighted mean traits (CWM), and community productivity (CP), and the roles of different aspects of functional traits were further compared. The results showed that there were considerable heterogeneities in the temporal and spatial distributions of CP, and PCA revealed that the CP was weakly correlated with both species and functional diversity. SEM showed that CWM had the greatest influences on CP (r = 0.63), followed by SD (r = 0.52), and FD had the least impact (r = -0.42). This finding supported the mass ratio hypothesis, indicating that functional traits of dominant species determined community productivity. Environmental factors showed no direct impacts on CP but had indirect effects through biodiversity. Regarding the role of different functional traits, the trait of locomotion was the most important driver of CP in terms of CWM, while the food acquisition was more important than other components in terms of FD. Our study can contribute to an improved comprehension of the BEF linkages in marine fish communities, and serve as a guideline for fisheries management and biodiversity protection in the face of climate changes.

Environmental heterogeneity at two spatial scales affects litter diversity-decomposition relationships.

The effects of biodiversity on ecological processes have been experimentally evaluated mainly at the local scale under homogeneous conditions. To scale up experimentally based biodiversity-functioning relationships, there is an urgent need to understand how such relationships are affected by the environmental heterogeneity that characterizes larger spatial scales. Here, we tested the effects of an 800-m elevation gradient (a large-scale environmental factor) and forest habitat (a fine-scale factor) on litter diversity-decomposition relationships. To better understand local and landscape scale mechanisms, we partitioned net biodiversity effects into complementarity, selection, and insurance effects as applicable at each scale. We assembled different litter mixtures in aquatic microcosms that simulated natural tree holes, replicating mixtures across blocks nested within forest habitats (edge, interior) and elevations (low, mid, high). We found that net biodiversity and complementarity effects increased over the elevation gradient, with their strength modified by forest habitat and the identity of litter in mixtures. Complementarity effects at local and landscape scales were greatest for combinations of nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor litters, consistent with nutrient transfer mechanisms. By contrast, selection effects were consistently weak and negative at both scales. Selection effects at the landscape level were due mainly to nonrandom overyielding rather than spatial insurance effects. Our findings demonstrate that the mechanisms by which litter diversity affects decomposition are sensitive to environmental heterogeneity at multiple scales. This has implications for the scaling of biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships and suggests that future shifts in environmental conditions due to climate change or land use may impact the functioning of aquatic ecosystems.

Trees diversity explains variations in biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships across environmental gradients and conservation status in riparian corridors

Riparian ecosystems are recognized as large reservoirs of biodiversity providing important ecosystem services. However, the relationship between tree species diversity and ecosystem functions and the underlying ecological mechanisms have less been studied in riparian corridors. This study assessed the effect of tree diversity (taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic) on riparian ecosystem functions (habitat quality–HbQ and aboveground carbon–AGC) across environmental gradients (distances to stream bed) and conservation status. Data were collected from 96 inventory plots installed in a 1 km buffer zone on either side of permanent streams in the Upper Ouémé watershed in northern Benin. We employed linear mixed effects models and structural equation modeling to analyze the data. We found that ecosystem functions (HbQ, AGC) and diversity attributes including species richness (SR), Faith’s phylogenetic diversity index (PD) and community-weighted mean of maximum height (CWMHmax) were significantly lower away from the streambed than nearby. The correlation between SR and ecosystem functions was significant and positive across and within the distance gradient and conservation status. We also found that the CWMHmax was the best predictor of both ecosystem functions, and that PD mediated the effect of SR on AGC and HbQ in areas close to the streambed and in unprotected areas, respectively. Our study reveals the influence of human activities on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relationships in riparian corridors and provides new insights into the importance of tall stature trees and species with distant lineages for the functioning of these ecosystems. Based on the variables measured and tested in this study, we argue that riparian corridor management policies should consider plant traits and phylogeny and promote wider riparian buffers for the co-benefits of biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

Functional diversity and secondary production of macrofaunal assemblages can provide insights of biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships

BackgroundSemi-enclosed bays are important links in the material cycle and energy flow between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. They are also areas of intense human activities and heavily influenced by such activities as aquaculture, industrial and agricultural wastewater discharge. The rate of biodiversity loss and changes in ecosystems have prompted research into the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem functioning. Studies have shown that application of functional diversity indices is useful for assessing the status of ecosystem functioning. We quantitatively sampled macrofauna in a semi-enclosed bay in four seasons and analyzed the relationship between species, functional diversity and secondary production, biomass and feeding functional groups of macrofauna.ResultsThe annual secondary production was 325.01 kJ m−2 year−1. Detritivorous, carnivorous and planktophagous feeders were the main functional groups of macrofauna. Differences in the spatial–temporal distribution of functional groups were influenced by Ruditapes philippinarum and Hemileucon bidentatus. Functional richness had significant negative correlations with macrofaunal biomass and secondary production. Functional divergence, functional dispersion and Rao's quadratic entropy had highly significant negative correlations with macrofaunal biomass and secondary production.ConclusionThe results showed that high overlap of ecological niches can increase competition for habitat resources, leading to a decline in biomass and secondary production. In addition, aquaculture could promote the use of habitat resources to some extent, while it could increase competition for ecosystem resources (including habitat resources, atmospheric resources, water resources, etc.). Functional diversity is a good indicator for the ecosystem functioning and the competition status for habitat resources, which can provide insights into the current state of ecosystem function.

Microclimate modulation: An overlooked mechanism influencing the impact of plant diversity on ecosystem functioning.

Changes in climate and biodiversity are widely recognized as primary global change drivers of ecosystem structure and functioning, also affecting ecosystem services provided to human populations. Increasing plant diversity not only enhances ecosystem functioning and stability but also mitigates climate change effects and buffers extreme weather conditions, yet the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. Recent studies have shown that plant diversity can mitigate climate change (e.g. reduce temperature fluctuations or drought through microclimatic effects) in different compartments of the focal ecosystem, which as such may contribute to the effect of plant diversity on ecosystem properties and functioning. However, these potential plant diversity-induced microclimate effects are not sufficiently understood. Here, we explored the consequences of climate modulation through microclimate modification by plant diversity for ecosystem functioning as a potential mechanism contributing to the widely documented biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships, using a combination of theoretical and simulation approaches. We focused on a diverse set of response variables at various levels of integration ranging from ecosystem-level carbon exchange to soil enzyme activity, including population dynamics and the activity of specific organisms. Here, we demonstrated that a vegetation layer composed of many plant species has the potential to influence ecosystem functioning and stability through the modification of microclimatic conditions, thus mitigating the negative impacts of climate extremes on ecosystem functioning. Integrating microclimatic processes (e.g. temperature, humidity and light modulation) as a mechanism contributing to the BEF relationships is a promising avenue to improve our understanding of the effects of climate change on ecosystem functioning and to better predict future ecosystem structure, functioning and services. In addition, microclimate management and monitoring should be seen as a potential tool by practitioners to adapt ecosystems to climate change.

The positive plant diversity/consumer relationship is independent of grassland age

Plant diversity is an important driver of many ecosystem processes within and among trophic levels. There is growing evidence that the strength of plant diversity effects depends on the biotic and abiotic environmental conditions. Plant and soil history may be underlying mechanisms of an observed strengthening of biodiversity effects in aging biodiversity experiments. Temporal changes in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships have been observed primarily for plants, while dynamics of higher trophic levels are little studied. However, similar patterns can be expected for higher trophic levels because of the close links between producers and consumers. Here, we compare the effects of plant diversity on consumer communities (richness, abundance, diversity, and community composition) and consumer-mediated functions (herbivory and predation) in plant communities with different plant and soil histories. Across six study years, plant diversity had a positive effect on consumer richness, abundance, diversity, and herbivory, whereas the level of predation was not significantly affected by plant diversity. Furthermore, consumer community composition shifted significantly with increasing diversity of plant communities. In addition, consumer abundance, composition, and consumer functions (herbivory and predation) differed between plant communities of different histories. However, contrary to our expectations, plant and soil history caused no significant change in the effects of plant diversity on consumer communities and functions, indicating that these history effects do not provide a mechanistic explanation for plant diversity effects on aboveground invertebrate communities. Thus, our results suggest that plant diversity is a major driver of aboveground invertebrate communities and functions across grassland ages and should be maximized to protect and restore multitrophic biodiversity.

Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships.

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) captivates ecologists, but the factors responsible for the direction of this relationship remain unclear. While higher ecosystem functioning at higher biodiversity levels ('positive BEF') is not universal in nature, negative BEF relationships seem puzzlingly rare. Here, we develop a dynamical consumer-resource model inspired by microbial decomposer communities in pitcher plant leaves to investigate BEF. We manipulate microbial diversity via controlled colonization and measure their function as total ammonia production. We test how niche partitioning among bacteria and other ecological processes influence BEF in the leaves. We find that a negative BEF can emerge from reciprocal interspecific inhibition in ammonia production causing a negative complementarity effect, or from competitive hierarchies causing a negative selection effect. Absent these factors, a positive BEF was the typical outcome. Our findings provide a potential explanation for the rarity of negative BEF in empirical data.

Water-limited environments affect the association between functional diversity and forest productivity.

The link between biodiversity and ecosystem function can depend on environmental conditions. This contingency can impede our ability to predict how biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) relationships will respond to future environmental change, causing a clear need to explore the processes underlying shifts in BEF relationships across large spatial scales and broad environmental gradients. We compiled a dataset on five functional traits (maximum height, wood density, specific leaf area [SLA], seed size, and xylem vulnerability to embolism [P50]), covering 78%-90% of the tree species in the National Forest Inventory from Italy, to test (i) how a water limitation gradient shapes the functional composition and diversity of forests, (ii) how functional composition and diversity of trees relate to forest annual increment via mass ratio and complementarity effects, and (iii) how the relationship between functional diversity and annual increment varies between Mediterranean and temperate climate regions. Functional composition varied with water limitation; tree communities tended to have more conservative traits in sites with higher levels of water limitation. The response of functional diversity differed among traits and climatic regions but among temperate forest plots, we found a consistent increase of functional diversity with water limitation. Tree diversity was positively associated with annual increment of Italian forests through a combination of mass ratio and niche complementarity effects, but the relative importance of these effects depended on the trait and range of climate considered. Specifically, niche complementarity effects were more strongly associated with annual increment in the Mediterranean compared to temperate forests. Synthesis: Overall, our results suggest that biodiversity mediates forest annual increment under water-limited conditions by promoting beneficial interactions between species and complementarity in resource use. Our work highlights the importance of conserving functional diversity for future forest management to maintain forest annual increment under the expected increase in intensity and frequency of drought.

Different components of biodiversity mediate two ecosystem functions derived from naturally assembled filter‐feeder communities

Positive biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships observed in experiments can be challenging to identify in natural communities. Freshwater animal communities are disproportionately harmed by global change that results in accelerated species loss. Understanding how animal‐mediated ecosystems functions may change as a result of global change can help determine whether biodiversity or species‐specific conservation will be effective at maintaining function. Unionid mussels represent half of imperiled species in freshwater ecosystems globally and perform important ecological functions such as water filtration and nutrient recycling. We explored BEF relationships for 22 naturally assembled mussel aggregations spanning three river basins. We used the Price equation to partition the contributions of species richness, composition, and context dependent interactions to two functions of interests: spatially‐explicit standing‐stock biomass (indirect proxy for function) and species‐specific nitrogen (N) excretion rates (direct measure of N recycling). Random and non‐random species loss each reduced biomass and N recycling. Many rare species with low contributions to biomass contributed to standing‐stock biomass in all basins. Widespread species had variable function across sites, such that context dependent effects (CDEs) outweighed richness effects on standing‐stock biomass in two basins, and were similar to richness effects in the third. Richness effects outweighed CDEs for N recycling. Thus, many species contributed a low proportion to overall N‐recycling; a product we attribute to the high evenness and functional effect trait diversity associated with these communities. The loss of low‐functioning species reduced the function of persisting species. This novel result using observational data adds evidence that positive species interactions, such as interspecific facilitation, may be a mechanism by which biodiversity enhances ecosystem functions. Our work stresses the importance of evaluating species‐specific contributions to functions in diverse systems, such as nutrient cycling when maintaining specific animal‐mediated functions is a management goal because indirect proxies may not completely characterize BEF relationships.

Stand characteristics and ecological benefits of Chinese Fir, Chinese Cedar, and mixed plantations in the mountainous areas of the Sichuan Basin

Many studies of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships indicate that mixed plantations can enhance ecological benefits by enabling ecological niche differentiation between species. However, few studies explore multi-dimensional evidence to fully evaluate the integrated ecological benefits of mixed plantations. This paper aims to assess the stand characteristics and ecological benefits of different forest types, drawing on multiple lines of evidence (trees, shrubs, herbs, soil fauna, and soils) to understand the effects of mixed plantations on integrated ecological benefits. Our study focused on pure Cunninghamia lanceolata (Chinese Fir) plantations (PCL), pure Cryptomeria fortunei (Chinese Cedar) plantations (PCF), and mixed C. lanceolata-C. fortunei plantations (MCC), which are common in the mountainous areas of the Sichuan Basin in southwestern China. We analysed the growth status, spatial structure, understory vegetation diversity, soil fauna characteristics, and physical and chemical soil properties found in plots representing these three forest types. The results showed that productivity was significantly higher in the MCC than in PCL or PCF, by 39.5% and 18%, respectively. Mixed plantations showed higher stand growth rates, but this effect was limited by interspecific competition. The results further showed that mixed plantations promote forest growth by allocating spatial locations between different tree species. In addition, the spatial stand structure in the mixed plantations was more stable than that in the two pure plantations, and the management potential of the mixed plantations was greater. Understory vegetation in MCC was significantly more diverse than in PCL and PCF, by 15.8–20% and 13.2–35.7%, respectively. Moreover, mixed plantations performed better in terms of soil water and soil fertility. Interestingly, we found no difference in soil fauna diversity between mixed and pure plantations. We conclude that, overall, planting mixed plantations can enhance the integrated ecological benefits of afforestation and may be an essential strategy for ensuring that plantations can cope with climate extremes.

Biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships change in sign and magnitude across the Hill diversity spectrum.

Motivated by accelerating anthropogenic extinctions, decades of biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) experiments show that ecosystem function declines with species loss from local communities. Yet, at the local scale, changes in species' total and relative abundances are more common than species loss. The consensus best biodiversity measures are Hill numbers, which use a scaling parameter, ℓ, to emphasize rarer versus more common species. Shifting that emphasis captures distinct, function-relevant biodiversity gradients beyond species richness. Here, we hypothesized that Hill numbers that emphasize rare species more than richness does may distinguish large, complex and presumably higher-functioning assemblages from smaller and simpler ones. In this study, we tested which values of ℓ produce the strongest BEF relationships in community datasets of ecosystem functions provided by wild, free-living organisms. We found that ℓ values that emphasized rare species more than richness does most often correlated most strongly with ecosystem functions. As emphasis shifted to more common species, BEF correlations were often weak and/or negative. We argue that unconventional Hill diversities that shift emphasis towards rarer species may be useful for describing biodiversity change, and that employing a wide spectrum of Hill numbers can clarify mechanisms underlying BEF relationships. This article is part of the theme issue 'Detecting and attributing the causes of biodiversity change: needs, gaps and solutions'.

Synthetic bacterial communities reshape microbial communities and enhance nutrient supply in desertified land of Northwest China

Climate change and human disturbance have led to widespread soil degradation worldwide. The problem of desertification is gradually destroying soil carbon accumulation. Synthetic bacterial communities (SynComs) are a healthy solution capable of improving the microbiome for plant growth. However, the effect of SynCom on nutrient functions in desertified land remains poorly understood. Here, two years of different treatments (control, chemical fertilizer, SynCom, combined SynCom-Chemical fertilizer) were conducted on desertified land in the Loess Plateau, and we aimed to reveal the effects of introducing SynCom on bacterial communities and nutrient multifunctionality. The SynCom enriched more beneficial bacteria as key microorganisms and increased biodiversity. At the same time, the bacterial community structure of the desertified land shifted significantly and remained stable at the soil surface (0–10 cm). We found that SynCom enhanced the complexity of the bacterial network with higher modularity. Our results also revealed the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on nutrient availability. Bacterial diversity and soil electrical conductivity (EC) were the significant influencing factors for chemical and combined fertilizers. However, SynCom exhibited stronger bacterial effects, and soil organic matter significantly affected the biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) relationships. Overall, this study illustrates the impact of microbial amendment on nutrient function in desertified land and provides insights into SynCom application to enhance ecosystem restoration and carbon sinks.

Synthetic Denitrifying Communities Reveal a Positive and Dynamic Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationship during Experimental Evolution.

Biodiversity is vital for ecosystem functions and services, and many studies have reported positive, negative, or neutral biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships in plant and animal systems. However, if the BEF relationship exists and how it evolves remains elusive in microbial systems. Here, we selected 12 Shewanella denitrifiers to construct synthetic denitrifying communities (SDCs) with a richness gradient spanning 1 to 12 species, which were subjected to approximately 180 days (with 60 transfers) of experimental evolution with generational changes in community functions continuously tracked. A significant positive correlation was observed between community richness and functions, represented by productivity (biomass) and denitrification rate, however, such a positive correlation was transient, only significant in earlier days (0 to 60) during the evolution experiment (180 days). Also, we found that community functions generally increased throughout the evolution experiment. Furthermore, microbial community functions with lower richness exhibited greater increases than those with higher richness. Biodiversity effect analysis revealed positive BEF relationships largely attributable to complementary effects, which were more pronounced in communities with lower richness than those with higher richness. This study is one of the first studies that advances our understanding of BEF relationships and their evolutionary mechanisms in microbial systems, highlighting the crucial role of evolution in predicting the BEF relationship in microbial systems. IMPORTANCE Despite the consensus that biodiversity supports ecosystem functioning, not all experimental models of macro-organisms support this notion with positive, negative, or neutral biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships reported. The fast-growing, metabolically versatile, and easy manipulation nature of microbial communities allows us to explore well the BEF relationship and further interrogate if the BEF relationship remains constant during long-term community evolution. Here, we constructed multiple synthetic denitrifying communities (SDCs) by randomly selecting species from a candidate pool of 12 Shewanella denitrifiers. These SDCs differ in species richness, spanning 1 to 12 species, and were monitored continuously for community functional shifts during approximately 180-day parallel cultivation. We demonstrated that the BEF relationship was dynamic with initially (day 0 to 60) greater productivity and denitrification among SDCs of higher richness. However, such pattern was reversed thereafter with greater productivity and denitrification increments in lower-richness SDCs, likely due to a greater accumulation of beneficial mutations during the experimental evolution.