Biodiversity–stability relationships strengthen over time in a long-term grassland experiment

Cameron Wagg (), Christiane Roscher, Alexandra Weigelt, Anja Vogel, Anne Ebeling, Enrica Luca, Anna Roeder, Clemens Kleinspehn, Vicky M. Temperton, Sebastian T. Meyer, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Nina Buchmann, Markus Fischer, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Nico Eisenhauer and Bernhard Schmid ()
Additional contact information
Cameron Wagg: University of Zürich
Christiane Roscher: UFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Physiological Diversity
Alexandra Weigelt: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Anja Vogel: University of Zürich
Anne Ebeling: University of Jena
Enrica Luca: University of Zürich
Anna Roeder: UFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Physiological Diversity
Clemens Kleinspehn: University of Bern
Vicky M. Temperton: Leuphana University
Sebastian T. Meyer: Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Center for Food and Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universitat Munchen, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2
Michael Scherer-Lorenzen: University Freiburg
Nina Buchmann: Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich
Markus Fischer: University of Bern
Wolfgang W. Weisser: Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Center for Food and Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universitat Munchen, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2
Nico Eisenhauer: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Bernhard Schmid: University of Zürich

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Numerous studies have demonstrated that biodiversity drives ecosystem functioning, yet how biodiversity loss alters ecosystems functioning and stability in the long-term lacks experimental evidence. We report temporal effects of species richness on community productivity, stability, species asynchrony, and complementarity, and how the relationships among them change over 17 years in a grassland biodiversity experiment. Productivity declined more rapidly in less diverse communities resulting in temporally strengthening positive effects of richness on productivity, complementarity, and stability. In later years asynchrony played a more important role in increasing community stability as the negative effect of richness on population stability diminished. Only during later years did species complementarity relate to species asynchrony. These results show that species complementarity and asynchrony can take more than a decade to develop strong stabilizing effects on ecosystem functioning in diverse plant communities. Thus, the mechanisms stabilizing ecosystem functioning change with community age.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35189-2

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