Species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioning

Abstract Biodiversity generally increases productivity in ecosystems; however, this is mediated by the specific functional traits that come with biodiversity loss or gain and how these traits interact with environmental conditions. Most biodiversity studies evaluate the effects of species richness a...

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Main Authors: Patrick K. Thomas, Marrit Jacob, Esteban Acevedo‐Trejos, Helmut Hillebrand, Maren Striebel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-10-01
Series:Limnology and Oceanography Letters
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10398
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author Patrick K. Thomas
Marrit Jacob
Esteban Acevedo‐Trejos
Helmut Hillebrand
Maren Striebel
author_facet Patrick K. Thomas
Marrit Jacob
Esteban Acevedo‐Trejos
Helmut Hillebrand
Maren Striebel
author_sort Patrick K. Thomas
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Biodiversity generally increases productivity in ecosystems; however, this is mediated by the specific functional traits that come with biodiversity loss or gain and how these traits interact with environmental conditions. Most biodiversity studies evaluate the effects of species richness alone, despite our increasing understanding that intraspecific diversity can have equally strong impacts. Here, we manipulate both species richness and intraspecific richness (i.e., number of distinct strains) in marine diatom communities to explicitly test the relative importance of species and strain richness for biomass and trait diversity in six distinct temperature/nutrient environments. We show that species and strain richness both have significant effects on biomass and growth rates, but more importantly, they interact with each other, indicating that cross‐species diversity effects depend on within‐species diversity and vice versa. This intertwined relationship thus calls for more integrative approaches quantifying the relative importance of distinct biodiversity components and environmental context on ecosystem functioning.
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issn 2378-2242
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series Limnology and Oceanography Letters
spelling doaj-art-cab85e38015a46858f1e97bdb505c0022024-11-17T12:07:58ZengWileyLimnology and Oceanography Letters2378-22422024-10-019561262310.1002/lol2.10398Species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioningPatrick K. Thomas0Marrit Jacob1Esteban Acevedo‐Trejos2Helmut Hillebrand3Maren Striebel4Plankton Ecology Lab, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), School of Mathematics and Science Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg GermanyPlankton Ecology Lab, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), School of Mathematics and Science Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg GermanySystems Ecology Group Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) Bremen GermanyPlankton Ecology Lab, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), School of Mathematics and Science Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg GermanyPlankton Ecology Lab, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), School of Mathematics and Science Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg GermanyAbstract Biodiversity generally increases productivity in ecosystems; however, this is mediated by the specific functional traits that come with biodiversity loss or gain and how these traits interact with environmental conditions. Most biodiversity studies evaluate the effects of species richness alone, despite our increasing understanding that intraspecific diversity can have equally strong impacts. Here, we manipulate both species richness and intraspecific richness (i.e., number of distinct strains) in marine diatom communities to explicitly test the relative importance of species and strain richness for biomass and trait diversity in six distinct temperature/nutrient environments. We show that species and strain richness both have significant effects on biomass and growth rates, but more importantly, they interact with each other, indicating that cross‐species diversity effects depend on within‐species diversity and vice versa. This intertwined relationship thus calls for more integrative approaches quantifying the relative importance of distinct biodiversity components and environmental context on ecosystem functioning.https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10398
spellingShingle Patrick K. Thomas
Marrit Jacob
Esteban Acevedo‐Trejos
Helmut Hillebrand
Maren Striebel
Species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioning
Limnology and Oceanography Letters
title Species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioning
title_full Species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioning
title_fullStr Species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioning
title_full_unstemmed Species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioning
title_short Species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioning
title_sort species richness and intraspecific variation interactively shape marine diatom community functioning
url https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10398
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AT estebanacevedotrejos speciesrichnessandintraspecificvariationinteractivelyshapemarinediatomcommunityfunctioning
AT helmuthillebrand speciesrichnessandintraspecificvariationinteractivelyshapemarinediatomcommunityfunctioning
AT marenstriebel speciesrichnessandintraspecificvariationinteractivelyshapemarinediatomcommunityfunctioning