Soil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experiment
Abstract Biodiversity experiments revealed that plant diversity loss can decrease ecosystem functions across trophic levels. To address why such biodiversity-function relationships strengthen over time, we established experimental mesocosms replicating a gradient in plant species richness across tre...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54401-z |
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| author | Angelos Amyntas Nico Eisenhauer Stefan Scheu Bernhard Klarner Krassimira Ilieva-Makulec Anna-Maria Madaj Benoit Gauzens Jingyi Li Anton M. Potapov Benjamin Rosenbaum Leonardo Bassi Pamela Medina van Berkum Ulrich Brose |
| author_facet | Angelos Amyntas Nico Eisenhauer Stefan Scheu Bernhard Klarner Krassimira Ilieva-Makulec Anna-Maria Madaj Benoit Gauzens Jingyi Li Anton M. Potapov Benjamin Rosenbaum Leonardo Bassi Pamela Medina van Berkum Ulrich Brose |
| author_sort | Angelos Amyntas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Biodiversity experiments revealed that plant diversity loss can decrease ecosystem functions across trophic levels. To address why such biodiversity-function relationships strengthen over time, we established experimental mesocosms replicating a gradient in plant species richness across treatments of shared versus non-shared history of (1) the plant community and (2) the soil fauna community. After 4 months, we assessed the multitrophic functioning of soil fauna via biomass stocks and energy fluxes across the food webs. We find that soil community history significantly enhanced belowground multitrophic function via changes in biomass stocks and community-average body masses across the food webs. However, variation in plant diversity and plant community history had unclear effects. Our findings underscore the importance of long-term community assembly processes for soil fauna-driven ecosystem function, with species richness and short-term plant adaptations playing a minimal role. Disturbances that disrupt soil community stability may hinder fauna-driven ecosystem functions, while recovery may require several years. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-397161c41db240ed885746ecd8c8bfc7 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-397161c41db240ed885746ecd8c8bfc72024-11-24T12:33:34ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-11-011511810.1038/s41467-024-54401-zSoil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experimentAngelos Amyntas0Nico Eisenhauer1Stefan Scheu2Bernhard Klarner3Krassimira Ilieva-Makulec4Anna-Maria Madaj5Benoit Gauzens6Jingyi Li7Anton M. Potapov8Benjamin Rosenbaum9Leonardo Bassi10Pamela Medina van Berkum11Ulrich Brose12Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University JenaGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigJ.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of GöttingenJ.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of GöttingenInstitute of Biological Sciences, Cardinal St. Wyszynski UniversityGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigInstitute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University JenaInstitute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University JenaGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigInstitute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University JenaInstitute of Biology, Leipzig UniversityMax Planck Institute for Chemical EcologyInstitute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University JenaAbstract Biodiversity experiments revealed that plant diversity loss can decrease ecosystem functions across trophic levels. To address why such biodiversity-function relationships strengthen over time, we established experimental mesocosms replicating a gradient in plant species richness across treatments of shared versus non-shared history of (1) the plant community and (2) the soil fauna community. After 4 months, we assessed the multitrophic functioning of soil fauna via biomass stocks and energy fluxes across the food webs. We find that soil community history significantly enhanced belowground multitrophic function via changes in biomass stocks and community-average body masses across the food webs. However, variation in plant diversity and plant community history had unclear effects. Our findings underscore the importance of long-term community assembly processes for soil fauna-driven ecosystem function, with species richness and short-term plant adaptations playing a minimal role. Disturbances that disrupt soil community stability may hinder fauna-driven ecosystem functions, while recovery may require several years.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54401-z |
| spellingShingle | Angelos Amyntas Nico Eisenhauer Stefan Scheu Bernhard Klarner Krassimira Ilieva-Makulec Anna-Maria Madaj Benoit Gauzens Jingyi Li Anton M. Potapov Benjamin Rosenbaum Leonardo Bassi Pamela Medina van Berkum Ulrich Brose Soil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experiment Nature Communications |
| title | Soil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experiment |
| title_full | Soil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experiment |
| title_fullStr | Soil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Soil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experiment |
| title_short | Soil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experiment |
| title_sort | soil community history strengthens belowground multitrophic functioning across plant diversity levels in a grassland experiment |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54401-z |
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