Species richness is more important for ecosystem functioning than species turnover along an elevational gradient

Many experiments have shown that biodiversity enhances ecosystem functioning. However, we have little understanding of how environmental heterogeneity shapes the effect of diversity on ecosystem functioning and to what extent this diversity effect is mediated by variation in species richness or species turnover. This knowledge is crucial to scaling up the results of experiments from local to regional scales. Here we quantify the diversity effect and its components-that is, the contributions of variation in species richness and species turnover-for 22 ecosystem functions of microorganisms, plants and animals across 13 major ecosystem types on Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Environmental heterogeneity across ecosystem types on average increased the diversity effect from explaining 49% to 72% of the variation in ecosystem functions. In contrast to our expectation, the diversity effect was more strongly mediated by variation in species richness than by species turnover. Our findings reveal that environmental heterogeneity strengthens the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and that species richness is a stronger driver of ecosystem functioning than species turnover. Based on a broad range of taxa and ecosystem functions in a non-experimental system, these results are in line with predictions from biodiversity experiments and emphasize that conserving biodiversity is essential for maintaining ecosystem functioning. The authors measure numerous ecosystem functions across an elevational gradient on Mt Kilimanjaro and find that species richness impacts function more than species turnover across sites. They also show that variation in species richness impacts ecosystem functioning more strongly at the landscape scale than at the local scale.

Authors
Albrecht J.1 , Peters M.K.2 , Becker J.N.3, 4, 5 , Behler C.6 , Classen A.2 , Ensslin A.7 , Ferger S.W.1 , Gebert F.2, 8 , Gerschlauer F.9 , Helbig-Bonitz M.6 , Kindeketa W.J.2, 10 , Kuhnel A.11 , Mayr A.V.2, 6 , Njovu H.K.2 , Pabst H.3, 4 , Pommer U.1 , Roder J.1 , Rutten G.7, 13 , Costa D.S.13, 14, 15 , Sierra-Cornejo N.16 , Vogeler A.6 , Vollstadt M.GR.1, 17, 18 , Dulle H.I.1, 19 , Eardley C.D.20 , Howell K.M.21 , Keller A.22 , Peters R.S.23 , Kakengi V.24 , Hemp C.1 , Zhang J. 2 , Manning P.1 , Mueller T.1, 25 , Bogner C.26 , Bohning-Gaese K.1, 25 , Brandl R.12 , Hertel D.16 , Huwe B.27 , Kiese R.28 , Kleyer M.14 , Leuschner C.16 , Kuzyakov Y. 3, 4, 29 , Nauss T.30 , Tschapka M.6, 31 , Fischer M.1, 7 , Hemp A.32 , Steffan-Dewenter I.2 , Schleuning M.1
Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
Number of issue
12
Language
English
Status
Published
Volume
5
Year
2021
Organizations
  • 1 Senckenberg Biodivers & Climate Res Ctr SBiK F, Frankfurt, Germany
  • 2 Univ Wurzburg, Bioctr, Dept Anim Ecol & Trop Biol, Wurzburg, Germany
  • 3 Univ Gottingen, Dept Soil Sci Temperate Ecosyst, Gottingen, Germany
  • 4 Univ Gottingen, Dept Agr Soil Sci, Gottingen, Germany
  • 5 Univ Hamburg, Inst Soil Sci, CEN Ctr Earth Syst Res & Sustainabil, Hamburg, Germany
  • 6 Univ Ulm, Inst Evolutionary Ecol & Conservat Genom, Ulm, Germany
  • 7 Univ Bern, Inst Plant Sci, Bern, Switzerland
  • 8 Swiss Fed Inst Forest Snow & Landscape Res WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
  • 9 Reg Council Freiburg, State Off Geol Raw Mat & Min Soil Sci, Freiburg, Germany
  • 10 Tanzania Forestry Res Inst, Morogoro, Tanzania
  • 11 Bavarian State Res Ctr Agr, Inst Organ Farming Soil & Resource Management, Freising Weihenstephan, Germany
  • 12 Univ Marburg, Dept Ecol Anim Ecol, Marburg, Germany
  • 13 German Ctr Integrat Biodivers Res iDiv, Leipzig, Germany
  • 14 Carl von Ossietzky Univ Oldenburg, Inst Biol & Environm Sci, Oldenburg, Germany
  • 15 Univ Leipzig, Inst Biol, Leipzig, Germany
  • 16 Univ Gottingen, Plant Ecol & Ecosyst Res, Gottingen, Germany
  • 17 Univ Gottingen, Dept Crop Sci, Agroecol, Gottingen, Germany
  • 18 Univ Copenhagen, GLOBE Inst, Ctr Macroecol Evolut & Climate, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 19 Coll African Wildlife Management, Moshi, Tanzania
  • 20 Univ KwaZulu Natal, Sch Life Sci, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
  • 21 Univ Dar Es Salaam, Dept Zool & Wildlife Conservat, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
  • 22 Ludwig Maximilians Univ Munchen, Fac Biol, Cellular & Organism Networks, Planegg Martinsried, Germany
  • 23 Zool Res Museum Alexander Koenig, Dept Arthropoda, Bonn, Germany
  • 24 Tanzania Wildlife Res Inst, Arusha, Tanzania
  • 25 Goethe Univ Frankfurt, Dept Biol Sci, Biologicum, Frankfurt, Germany
  • 26 Univ Cologne, Fac Math & Nat Sci, Inst Geog, Ecosyst Res Grp, Cologne, Germany
  • 27 Univ Bayreuth, Bayreuth Ctr Ecol & Environm Res, Bayreuth, Germany
  • 28 Karlsruhe Inst Technol KIT, Inst Meteorol & Climate Res, Dept Atmospher Environm Res IMK IFU, Campus Alpin, Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany
  • 29 RUDN, Agrotechnol Inst, Moscow, Russia
  • 30 Univ Marburg, Fac Geog, Environm Informat, Marburg, Germany
  • 31 Smithsonian Trop Res Inst, Balboa Ancon, Panama
  • 32 Univ Bayreuth, Dept Plant Systemat, Bayreuth, Germany
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Lancet. Elsevier Limited. Vol. 398. 2021. P. 870-905