Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Plant Community Composition More Predictive than Diversity of Carbon Cycling in Freshwater Wetlands

  • Article
  • Published:
Wetlands Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Changes in the world’s species composition and the loss of biodiversity have prompted a closer investigation of the importance of biodiversity and community composition to ecosystem functioning. However, few studies have explored this relationship outside of controlled experiments. Here, we examined the relationship between plant diversity, primary production, and methane efflux in freshwater wetlands in an across-site field study and assessed the applicability of experimental findings to natural wetlands. Four wetland sites in central Ohio (USA) were divided into two plant communities, one dominated by clonal species and one dominated by non-clonal species. We found that plant diversity was negatively correlated with aboveground biomass in both the clonal and non-clonal communities. Overall, plant community composition was a stronger predictor than diversity of the response variables and in certain instances a stronger predictor than environmental factors such as soil organic matter content, moisture content, and pH. Thus, plant community composition is an important driver of ecosystem functioning in depressional wetlands beyond the well-known environmental factors. Additionally, our work indicates that results from experimental wetland studies of the relationship among diversity, biomass and methane emission are not applicable to the wetland ecosystems included in our study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Al-Mufti MM, Sydes CL, Furness SB, Grime JP, Band SR (1977) A quantitative analysis of shoot phenology and dominance in herbaceous vegetation. Journal of Ecology 65:759–791

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altor A, Mitsch W (2006) Methane flux from created riparian marshes: relationship to intermittent versus continuous inundation and emergent macrophytes. Ecological Engineering 28:224–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auclair AND, Bouchard A, Pajaczkowski J (1976) Plant standing crop and productivity relations in a Scripus-Equisetum wetland. Ecology 57:941–952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balvanera P, Pfisterer AB, Buchmann N, He JS, Nakashizuka T, Raffaelli D, Schmid B (2006) Quantifying the evidence for biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning and services. Ecological Letters 9:1146–1156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bengtsson J, Engelhardt K, Giller P, Hobbie S, Lawrence D, Levine J, Vila M, Wolters V (2001) Slippin’ and slidin’ between the scales: the scaling components of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relations. In: Loreau M, Naeem S, Inchausti P (eds) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: synthesis and perspective. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 209–220, Chapter 18

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodelier PLE, Frenzel P (1999) Contribution of methanotrophic and nitrifying bacteria to CH4 and NH4 oxidation in the rhizosphere of rice plants as determined by new methods of discrimination. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 65:1826.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boon PI, Sorrell BK (1995) Methane fluxes from an Australian floodplain wetland: the importance of emergent macrophytes. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 14:582–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouchard V, Frey S, Gilbert J, Reed S (2007) Effects of macrophyte functional group richness on emergent freshwater functions. Ecology 88:2903–2914

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boutin C, Keddy PA (1993) A functional classification of wetland plants. Journal of Vegetation Science 4:591–600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun A, King G (1998) Characterization of root-associated methanotrophs from three freshwater macrophytes: Pontederia cordata, Sparganium eurycarpum, and Sagittaria latifolia. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 64:1099–1105

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Callaway J, Sullivan G, Zedler J (2003) Species-rich plantings increase biomass and nitrogen accumulation in a wetland restoration experiment. Ecological Applications 13:1626–1639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cardinale BJ, Nelson K, Palmer MA (2000) Linking species diversity to the functioning of ecosystems: on the importance of environmental context. Oikos 91:175–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cardinale BJ, Srivastava DS, Duffy JE, Wright JP, Downing AL, Sankaran M, Jouseau C (2006) Effects of biodiversity on the functioning of trophic groups and ecosystems. Nature 443:989–992

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cardinale BJ, Wright JP, Cadotte MW, Carroll IT, Hector A, Srivastava DS, Loreau M, Weis JJ (2007) Impacts of plant diversity on biomass production increase through time because of species complementarity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104:18123–18128. doi:10.1073/pnas.0709069104

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen TR, Panikov N, Mastepanov M, Joabsson A, Stewart A, Oquist M (2003) Biotic controls on CO2 and CH4 exchange in wetlands—a closed environment study. Biogeochemistry 64:337–354

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Colmer TD (2003) Long-distance transport of gases in plants: a perspective on internal aeration and radial oxygen loss from roots. Plant, Cell & Environment 26:17–36

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Day RT, Keddy PA, McNeill J, Carleton T (1988) Fertility and disturbance gradients: a summary model for riverine marsh vegetation. Ecology 69:1044–1054

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dias A, Hoorens B, Van Logtestijn R, Vermaat J, Aerts R (2010) Plant species composition can be used as a proxy to predict methane emissions in peatland ecosystems after land-use changes. Ecosystems 13:526–538

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ding W, Cai Z, Tsuruta H (2005) Plant species effects on methane emissions from freshwater marshes. Atmospheric Environment 39:3199–3207

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Engelhardt K, Ritchie M (2002) The effect of wetland species richness on wetland ecosystem processes. Ecology 83:2911–2924

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flombaum P, Sala OE (2008) Higher effect of plant species diversity on productivity in natural than artificial ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105:6087–6090

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gerard G, Chanton J (1993) Quantification of methane oxidation in the rhizosphere of emergent aquatic macrophytes: defining upper limits. Biogeochemistry 23:79–97

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert B, Frenzel P (1995) Methanotrophic bacteria in the rhizosphere of rice microcosms and their effect on porewater methane concentration and methane emission. Biology and Fertility of Soils 20:93–100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grace JB (2008) Structural equation modeling for observational studies. Journal of Wildlife Management 72:14–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grace JB, Anderson TM, Smith MD, Seabloom E, Andelman SJ, Meche G, Weiher E, Allain LK, Jutila H, Sankaran M (2007) Does species diversity limit productivity in natural grassland communities? Ecological Letters 10:680–689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (2001) Plant strategies and vegetation processes and ecosystem properties, 2nd edn. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross K, Cardinale BJ (2007) Does species richness drive community production or vice versa? Reconciling historical and contemporary paradigms in competitive communities. Am Nat, 170:207–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Hector A, Bagchi R (2007) Biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality. Nature 448:188–190

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hector A, Joshi J, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schmid B, Spehn E, Wacker L, Weilenmann M, Bazeley-White E, Beierkuhnlein C, Caldeira M (2007) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: reconciling the results of experimental and observational studies. Functional Ecology 21:998–1002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hooper DU (1998) The role of complementarity and competition in ecosystem responses to variation in plant diversity. Ecology, 79:704–719

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooper DU, Chapin ES III, Ewel JJ, Hector A, Inchausti P, Lavorel S, Lawton JH, Lodge DM, Loreau M, Naeem S, Schmid B, Setala H, Symstad AJ, Vandermeer J, Wardle DA (2005) Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge. Ecological Monographs 75:3–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurlbert SH (1984) Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecological Monographs 54:187–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joabsson A, Christensen TR (2001) Methane emissions from wetlands and their relationship with vascular plants: an arctic example. Global Change Biology 7:919–932

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahmen A, Perner J, Audorff V, Weisser W, Buchmann N (2005) Effects of plant diversity, community composition and environmental parameters on productivity in montane European grasslands. Oecologia 142:606–615

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kankaala P, Kaeki T, Maekelae S, Ojala A, Pajunen H, Arvola L (2005) Methane efflux in relation to plant biomass and sediment characteristics in stands of three common emergent macrophytes in boreal mesoeutrophic lakes. Global Change Biology 11:145–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King G (1994) Associations of methanotrophs with the roots and rhizomes of aquatic vegetation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 60:3220–3227.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koelbener A, Ström L, Edwards P, Olde Venterink H (2010) Plant species from mesotrophic wetlands cause relatively high methane emissions from peat soil. Plant and Soil 326:147–158

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krüger M, Eller G, Conrad R, Frenzel P (2002) Seasonal variation in pathways of CH4 production and in CH4 oxidation in rice fields determined by stable carbon isotopes and specific inhibitors. Global Change Biology 8:265–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepš J, Šmilauer P (2003) Multivariate analysis of ecological data using CANOCO. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.

  • Le Mer J, Roger P (2001) Production, oxidation, emission and consumption of methane by soils: a review. European Journal of Soil Biology 37:25–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loreau M (2000) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: recent theoretical advances. Oikos 91:3–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loreau M, Naeem S, Inchausti P, Bengtsson J, Grime J, Hector A, Hooper D, Huston M, Raffaelli D, Schmid B (2001) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294:804–808

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCune B, Grace JB (2002) Analysis of ecological communities. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, OR

  • Megonigal JP, Schlesinger WH (2002) Methane-limited methanotrophy in tidal freshwater swamps. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 16:1088–1098

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mittelbach G, Steiner C, Scheiner S, Gross K, Reynolds H, Waide R, Willig M, Dodson S, Gough L (2001) What is the observed relationship between species richness and productivity? Ecology 82:2381–2396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mokany K, Ash J, Roxburgh S (2008) Functional identity is more important than diversity in influencing ecosystem processes in a temperate native grassland. Journal of Ecology 96:884–893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naeem S, Thompson L, Lawler S, Lawton J, Woodfin R (1994) Declining biodiversity can alter the performance of ecosystems. Nature 368:734–737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neubauer SC, Givler K, Valentine S, Megonigal JP (2005) Seasonal patterns and plant-mediated controls of subsurface wetland biogeochemistry. Ecology 86:3334–3344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quested H, Eriksson O, Fortunel C, Garnier E (2007) Plant traits relate to whole-community litter quality and decomposition following land use change. Functional Ecology 21:1016–1026

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team. (2008). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. www.r-project.org

  • Roden EE, Wetzel RG (1996) Organic carbon oxidation and suppression of methane production by microbial Fe(III) oxide reduction in vegetated and unvegetated freshwater wetland sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 41:1733–1748

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schmid B (2002) The species richness–productivity controversy. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 17:113–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shannon C, Weaver W (1949) The mathematical theory of communication. The University of Illinois, Urbana

    Google Scholar 

  • Shipley B (2009) Confirmatory path analysis in a generalized multilevel context. Ecology 90:363–368

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D, Lehman C, Thomson K (1997) Plant diversity and ecosystem productivity: theoretical considerations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 94:1857–1861

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Van Der Nat F, Middelburg J (1998) Effects of two common macrophytes on methane dynamics in freshwater sediments. Biogeochemistry 43:79–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek P, Mooney H, Lubchenco J, Melillo J (1997) Human domination of earth’s ecosystems. Science 277:494–499

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waide RB, Willig MR, Steiner CF, Mittelbach G, Gough L, Dodson SI, Juday GP, Parmenter R (1999) The relationship between productivity and species richness. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 30:257–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle DA, Barker GM, Bonner KI, Nicholson KS (1998) Can comparative approaches based on plant ecophysiological traits predict the nature of biotic interactions and individual plant species effects in ecosystems? Journal of Ecology 86:405–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiting G, Chanton J (1993) Primary production control of methane emission from wetlands. Nature 364:794–795

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilhm JL (1968) Use of biomass units in Shannon’s formula. Ecology 49:153–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wisheu IC, Keddy PA (1992) Competition and centrifugal organization of plant communities: theory and tests. Journal of Vegetation Science 3:147–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuur AF, Ieno EN, Smith GM (2007) Analysing ecological data. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuur A, Gende L, Ieno E, Walker N, Smith G, Saveliev A (2009) Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Science Foundation (DEB-0516140). Thank you to Eric Saas, Mel Knorr, Ann Altor, Kathleen Hossler, Evelyn Anemaet, Michela Gentile, and Kyle Chambers for technical, field and laboratory assistance. Special thanks to Dr. James Grace for advice on structural equation modeling. The comments from five anonymous reviewers greatly improved this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Rachel Schultz & Virginie Bouchard

  2. Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

    Sarah Andrews, Lindsay O’Reilly & Serita Frey

  3. Center of Earth and Environmental Science, SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY, USA

    Rachel Schultz

Authors
  1. Rachel Schultz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sarah Andrews
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lindsay O’Reilly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Virginie Bouchard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Serita Frey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel Schultz.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Online Resource 1

Table describing the wetland sites used in the study. (PDF 39 kb)

Online Resource 2

Equation for calculating methane efflux. (PDF 45 kb)

Online Resource 3

Using nonmetric dimensional scaling procedures (NMDS) and principal components analysis (PCA) to format the data to use in the mixed effects model and structural equation modeling. (PDF 221 kb)

Online Resource 4

Equation for calculating the chi-square value and independence statements for the d-separation test used to evaluate the structural equation models. (PDF 58 kb)

Online Resource 5

Environmental, diversity and plant biomass descriptive statistics for the four sites in both the clonal and non-clonal communities. (PDF 51 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schultz, R., Andrews, S., O’Reilly, L. et al. Plant Community Composition More Predictive than Diversity of Carbon Cycling in Freshwater Wetlands. Wetlands 31, 965–977 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-011-0211-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-011-0211-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation