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Early positive spatial selection effects of beta-diversity on ecosystem functioning

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Abstract

Context

Metacommunity theory predicts that diversity arising at larger spatial scales (spatial β-diversity) may increase ecosystem functioning if there are positive spatial selection effects whereby species dominate in mixtures at places where they are most productive in monocultures. However, beta-diversity effects on ecosystem functioning remain understudied and unquantified experimentally.

Objectives

Our experiment tests for spatial selection effects in survivorship among transplanted seedlings of the dominant species of five major habitats (grassland, oak savanna, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, bog) at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve.

Methods

We established monocultures and mixtures of dominant species in five habitats and estimated survivorship at the end of the first growing season of the experiment, partitioning net biodiversity effects into its components of complementarity effects and selection effects, which include spatial selection effects. Results: At this early experimental stage, we found positive selection effects, due mostly to average selection effects across all habitats. We also found a significantly positive spatial selection effect, indicating that the habitats where species tended to be more abundant in mixtures were also those where they tended to survive more in monocultures.

Results

At this early experimental stage, we found positive selection effects, due mostly to average selection effects across all habitats. We also found a significantly positive spatial selection effect, indicating that the habitats where species tended to be more abundant in mixtures were also those where they tended to survive more in monocultures.

Conclusion

Overall, our results are consistent with theoretical predictions that additional effects of plant diversity on ecosystem functioning, beyond those observed in local experiments within local habitats, may arise at landscape scales from dispersal and spatial sorting of species across a heterogeneous landscape. Further study will be needed to determine how survivorship patterns develop over time within and among habitats and how growth and reproduction contribute to plant productivity and other ecosystem functions.

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Data availability

Upon publication of this article, data will be made available on the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge funding support from the US National Science Foundation’s CAREER (Award # 1845334) to Forest Isbell. We are grateful for all the help in the field and lab from: Sydney Hedberg, Amber Churchill, Troy Mielke, Caitlin Potter and Kally Worm, Neha Mohan Babu, Miao He, Maggie Anderson, and all Isbell Biodiversity Lab interns 2022 involved in this experiment. We also thank the guest editors of this special issue for the invitation.

Funding

This study was supported by US National Science Foundation’s CAREER, 1845334, 1845334.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Karen Castillioni & Forest Isbell

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  1. Karen Castillioni
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  2. Forest Isbell
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Contributions

FI conceived the study. KC and FI established the experiment. KC collected the data; KC and FI analyzed and interpreted the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors made edits and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Karen Castillioni.

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Castillioni, K., Isbell, F. Early positive spatial selection effects of beta-diversity on ecosystem functioning. Landsc Ecol 38, 4483–4497 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01786-9

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