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A comparison of the strength of biodiversity effects across multiple functions

Oecologia volume 173, pages 223–237 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

In order to predict which ecosystem functions are most at risk from biodiversity loss, meta-analyses have generalised results from biodiversity experiments over different sites and ecosystem types. In contrast, comparing the strength of biodiversity effects across a large number of ecosystem processes measured in a single experiment permits more direct comparisons. Here, we present an analysis of 418 separate measures of 38 ecosystem processes. Overall, 45 % of processes were significantly affected by plant species richness, suggesting that, while diversity affects a large number of processes not all respond to biodiversity. We therefore compared the strength of plant diversity effects between different categories of ecosystem processes, grouping processes according to the year of measurement, their biogeochemical cycle, trophic level and compartment (above- or belowground) and according to whether they were measures of biodiversity or other ecosystem processes, biotic or abiotic and static or dynamic. Overall, and for several individual processes, we found that biodiversity effects became stronger over time. Measures of the carbon cycle were also affected more strongly by plant species richness than were the measures associated with the nitrogen cycle. Further, we found greater plant species richness effects on measures of biodiversity than on other processes. The differential effects of plant diversity on the various types of ecosystem processes indicate that future research and political effort should shift from a general debate about whether biodiversity loss impairs ecosystem functions to focussing on the specific functions of interest and ways to preserve them individually or in combination.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Volker Kummer (supervised by M.F.), Peter Mwangi, Maike Habekost (supervised by G.G.), Yvonne Kreutziger (supervised by W.W. and Y.O.) and Ramona Müller (supervised by W.V.) for contributing data. The gardeners and technical staff who have worked on the Jena Experiment, for maintaining the site, weeding, mowing and data collection: Steffen Eismann, Steffen Ferber, Silke Hengelhaupt, Sylvia Junghans, Ute Köber, Katja Kunze, Heike Scheffler and Sylvia Creutzburg, Jens Kirchstein, Olaf Kolle, Gerlinde Kratzsch, Anett Oswald, and Ulrike Wehmeier. We would also like to thank a large number of student helpers who were involved in the weeding of the experiment, Cornelius Middelhoff and Jens Schumacher for maintaining the database and Jean-Francois Soussana and Tania Jenkins for comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. This project was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG with additional contributions from the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant 31003A-107531 to B.S.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Dornburger Str. 159, 07749, Jena, Germany

    Eric Allan, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Alexandra Weigelt, Anne Ebeling, Nico Eisenhauer, Stefan Halle, Ilona Kertscher, Annely Kuu, Markus Lange, Sebastian T. Meyer, Esther Pašalić & Winfried Voigt

  2. Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Berne, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Berne, Switzerland

    Eric Allan & Markus Fischer

  3. Department für Ökologie und Ökosystemmanagement, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Wolfgang W. Weisser, Nico Eisenhauer & Sebastian T. Meyer

  4. Department of Botany, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Maulbeerallee 1, 14469, Potsdam, Germany

    Markus Fischer & Tanja Rottstock

  5. Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knoell Str10, 07745, Jena, Germany

    Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Christiane Roscher, Gerd Gleixner, Sibylle Steinbeiss, Vicky Temperton & Christian Wirth

  6. Institute for Biology I, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21-23, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Alexandra Weigelt

  7. Department of Community Ecology, UFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Theodor-Lieser-Strasse 4, 06120, Halle, Germany

    Christiane Roscher

  8. Institute of Geography, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Loebdergraben 32, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Jussi Baade

  9. Institute of Plant Sciences, ETH Zurich, Universitaetsstr. 2, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Romain L. Barnard & Nina Buchmann

  10. Institute of Plant Nutrition, Humboldt University Berlin, Invalidenstr. 42, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Holger Beßler & Christof Engels

  11. Institute of Zoology, Darmstadt University of Technology, Schnittspahnstr. 3, 64287, Darmstadt, Germany

    Nico Eisenhauer, Alexander C. W. Sabais & Stefan Scheu

  12. J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Goettingen, 37073, Goettingen, Germany

    Nico Eisenhauer & Stefan Scheu

  13. Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstr. 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland

    Alexander J. F. Fergus, Marlén Gubsch, Pascal A. Niklaus, Jana S. Petermann & Bernhard Schmid

  14. Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Waldweg 26, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Alexandra M. Klein, Christoph Scherber & Teja Tscharntke

  15. Institute of Ecology, Ecosystem Functions, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany

    Alexandra M. Klein

  16. Tallinn University of Technology, Tartu College, Puiestee 78, 51008, Tartu, Estonia

    Annely Kuu

  17. Université Lyon 1, Microbial Ecology Centre (UMR 5557 CNRS, USC 1193 INRA), Université de Lyon, INRA, CNRS, bat. G. Mendel, 43 boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622, Villeurbanne, France

    Xavier Le Roux & Franck Poly

  18. K.I. Skryabin All-Russian Institute of Helminthology, Moscow, Russia

    Varvara D. Migunova

  19. Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK

    Alexandru Milcu

  20. CNRS Ecotron, 1 Chemin du Rioux, Campus Baillarguet, 34980, Montferrier-sur-Lez, France

    Alexandru Milcu

  21. Geographic Institute, Johannes Gutenberg University, Johann-Joachim-Becherweg 21, 55128, Mainz, Germany

    Yvonne Oelmann

  22. Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 1-3, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Jana S. Petermann

  23. Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schaenzlestr. 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Michael Scherer-Lorenzen

  24. Helmholtz Centre Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstaedter Landstr. 1, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    Sibylle Steinbeiss

  25. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Guido Schwichtenberg

  26. Phytosphere Institute ICG-3, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, 52425, Juelich, Germany

    Vicky Temperton

  27. Soil Science Group, Geographic Institute, University of Bern, Hallerstrasse 12, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Wolfgang Wilcke

  28. Department of Special Botany and Functional Biodiversity Research, Institute of Biology I, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21-23, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Christian Wirth

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  1. Eric Allan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Allan.

Additional information

Communicated by Roland Brandl.

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Allan, E., Weisser, W.W., Fischer, M. et al. A comparison of the strength of biodiversity effects across multiple functions. Oecologia 173, 223–237 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2589-0

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Keywords

  • Bottom-up effects
  • Carbon cycling
  • Ecological synthesis
  • Ecosystem processes
  • Grasslands
  • Jena experiment
  • Nitrogen cycling