General destabilizing effects of eutrophication on grassland productivity at multiple spatial scales

Yann Hautier (), Pengfei Zhang, Michel Loreau, Kevin R. Wilcox, Eric W. Seabloom, Elizabeth T. Borer, Jarrett E. K. Byrnes, Sally E. Koerner, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Jonathan S. Lefcheck, Andy Hector, Peter B. Adler, Juan Alberti, Carlos A. Arnillas, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lars A. Brudvig, Miguel N. Bugalho, Marc Cadotte, Maria C. Caldeira, Oliver Carroll, Mick Crawley, Scott L. Collins, Pedro Daleo, Laura E. Dee, Nico Eisenhauer, Anu Eskelinen, Philip A. Fay, Benjamin Gilbert, Amandine Hansar, Forest Isbell, Johannes M. H. Knops, Andrew S. MacDougall, Rebecca L. McCulley, Joslin L. Moore, John W. Morgan, Akira S. Mori, Pablo L. Peri, Edwin T. Pos, Sally A. Power, Jodi N. Price, Peter B. Reich, Anita C. Risch, Christiane Roscher, Mahesh Sankaran, Martin Schütz, Melinda Smith, Carly Stevens, Pedro M. Tognetti, Risto Virtanen, Glenda M. Wardle, Peter A. Wilfahrt and Shaopeng Wang ()
Additional contact information
Yann Hautier: Utrecht University
Pengfei Zhang: Utrecht University
Michel Loreau: Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS
Kevin R. Wilcox: University of Wyoming
Eric W. Seabloom: University of MN
Elizabeth T. Borer: University of MN
Jarrett E. K. Byrnes: University of Massachusetts Boston
Sally E. Koerner: University of North Carolina Greensboro
Kimberly J. Komatsu: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Jonathan S. Lefcheck: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Andy Hector: University of Oxford Department of Plant Sciences
Peter B. Adler: Utah State University
Juan Alberti: FCEyN, UNMdP-CONICET, CC 1260 Correo Central
Carlos A. Arnillas: University of Toronto at Scarborough
Jonathan D. Bakker: University of Washington
Lars A. Brudvig: Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior, Michigan State University
Miguel N. Bugalho: School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon
Marc Cadotte: University of Toronto at Scarborough
Maria C. Caldeira: University of Lisbon
Oliver Carroll: University of Guelph
Mick Crawley: Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park
Scott L. Collins: University of New Mexico, Department of Biology
Pedro Daleo: FCEyN, UNMdP-CONICET, CC 1260 Correo Central
Laura E. Dee: University of Colorado at Boulder, 1560 30th Street
Nico Eisenhauer: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Anu Eskelinen: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Philip A. Fay: USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil, and Water Research Laboratory
Benjamin Gilbert: University of Toronto
Amandine Hansar: Département de biologie, Ecole normale supérieure, CNRS, PSL University
Forest Isbell: University of MN
Johannes M. H. Knops: Xi’an Jiaotong liverpool University
Andrew S. MacDougall: University of Guelph
Rebecca L. McCulley: University of Kentucky, Plant & Soil Science
Joslin L. Moore: Monash University, Clayton Campus
John W. Morgan: La Trobe University
Akira S. Mori: Yokohama National University
Pablo L. Peri: INTA (National Institute of Agricultural Research)- UNPA (Southern Patagonia National University)-CONICET
Edwin T. Pos: Utrecht University
Sally A. Power: Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797
Jodi N. Price: Charles Sturt University
Peter B. Reich: Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797
Anita C. Risch: Snow and Landscape Research WSL
Christiane Roscher: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Mahesh Sankaran: National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR
Martin Schütz: Snow and Landscape Research WSL
Melinda Smith: Colorado State University
Carly Stevens: Lancaster University
Pedro M. Tognetti: Universidad de Buenos Aires - CONICET
Risto Virtanen: University of Oulu
Glenda M. Wardle: University of Sydney
Peter A. Wilfahrt: University of Wyoming
Shaopeng Wang: Peking University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Eutrophication is a widespread environmental change that usually reduces the stabilizing effect of plant diversity on productivity in local communities. Whether this effect is scale dependent remains to be elucidated. Here, we determine the relationship between plant diversity and temporal stability of productivity for 243 plant communities from 42 grasslands across the globe and quantify the effect of chronic fertilization on these relationships. Unfertilized local communities with more plant species exhibit greater asynchronous dynamics among species in response to natural environmental fluctuations, resulting in greater local stability (alpha stability). Moreover, neighborhood communities that have greater spatial variation in plant species composition within sites (higher beta diversity) have greater spatial asynchrony of productivity among communities, resulting in greater stability at the larger scale (gamma stability). Importantly, fertilization consistently weakens the contribution of plant diversity to both of these stabilizing mechanisms, thus diminishing the positive effect of biodiversity on stability at differing spatial scales. Our findings suggest that preserving grassland functional stability requires conservation of plant diversity within and among ecological communities.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19252-4

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