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Functional composition drives ecosystem function through multiple mechanisms in a broadleaved subtropical forest

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Abstract

Understanding the role of biodiversity (B) in maintaining ecosystem function (EF) is a foundational scientific goal with applications for resource management and conservation. Two main hypotheses have emerged that address B–EF relationships: niche complementarity (NC) and the mass-ratio (MR) effect. We tested the relative importance of these hypotheses in a subtropical old-growth forest on the island nation of Taiwan for two EFs: aboveground biomass (ABG) and coarse woody productivity (CWP). Functional dispersion (FDis) of eight plant functional traits was used to evaluate complementarity of resource use. Under the NC hypothesis, EF will be positively correlated with FDis. Under the MR hypothesis, EF will be negatively correlated with FDis and will be significantly influenced by community-weighted mean (CWM) trait values. We used path analysis to assess how these two processes (NC and MR) directly influence EF and may contribute indirectly to EF via their influence on canopy packing (stem density). Our results indicate that decreasing functional diversity and a significant influence of CWM traits were linked to increasing AGB for all eight traits in this forest supporting the MR hypothesis. Interestingly, CWP was primarily influenced by NC and MR indirectly via their influence on canopy packing. Maximum height explained more of the variation in both AGB and CWP than any of the other plant functional traits. Together, our results suggest that multiple mechanisms operate simultaneously to influence EF, and understanding their relative importance will help to elucidate the role of biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem function.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Council of Taiwan (102-2313-B-029-003-MY3, 98-2313-B-029-001-MY3 to J-MC), the US National Science Foundation (DEB-1046113), and the Smithsonian Center for Tropical Forest Science Research Grants Program (to RWM). The establishment and two tree censuses of the Fushan plot were financially supported by the Council of Agriculture and the National Science Council of Taiwan. We gratefully acknowledge Ryan Chisholm, John Dwyer, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments that improved the previous versions of this manuscript. JMC wants to thank his father, Mr. Tien-Chin Chiang, for the long-time support of his academic career. He was actively involved in the discussion of this project from a farmer’s point-of-view before he passed away on the 6th of March, 2016. None of the authors has any conflict of interest.

Author contribution statement

JMC conceived and formulated the research idea. JMC, MJS, HCM, YL, and NGS developed the analytical procedures. MJS conducted path analysis. IFS and SHS maintain the study plot and census data. JMC, IFS, ZSC, and CTC provided functional trait and soil data. JMC and RWM wrote the first manuscript draft and others commented and contributed to the text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung, 40704, Taiwan

    Jyh-Min Chiang & Yiching Lin

  2. Department of Biology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Marko J. Spasojevic

  3. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Panamá, República de Panamá

    Helene C. Muller-Landau

  4. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, 97401, Taiwan

    I-Fang Sun

  5. Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Taipei, 10066, Taiwan

    Sheng-Hsin Su

  6. Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

    Zueng-Sang Chen

  7. Department of Agronomy, National Chung Hsin University, Taichung, 402, Taiwan

    Chien-Teh Chen

  8. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Nathan G. Swenson

  9. Department of Biology, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, 45469, USA

    Ryan W. McEwan

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  1. Jyh-Min Chiang
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Correspondence to Jyh-Min Chiang.

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Communicated by John Dwyer.

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Chiang, JM., Spasojevic, M.J., Muller-Landau, H.C. et al. Functional composition drives ecosystem function through multiple mechanisms in a broadleaved subtropical forest. Oecologia 182, 829–840 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3717-z

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