The essential role of biodiversity in the key axes of ecosystem function

Biodiversity is essential for maintaining the terrestrial ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF). Recent studies have revealed that the variation in terrestrial ecosystem functions is captured by three key axes, which respectively reflect maximum productivity, water use efficiency, and carbon use efficiency of the ecosystem. However, the role of biodiversity in supporting these three key axes has not yet been explored. In this study, we combined i) data collected from more than 840 vegetation plots across a large climatic gradient in China using standard protocols, ii) data on plant traits and phylogenetic information for more than 2,500 plant species, and iii) soil nutrient data measured in each plot, to systematically assess the contribution of environmental factors, species richness, functional and phylogenetic diversity, and community weighted-mean (CWM) and ecosystem traits to EMF by hierarchical partitioning and Bayesian structural equation modeling. Our results showed that multiple biodiversity attributes accounted for 70% of all the variables' influence on EMF and ecosystems with high functional diversity tend to have a higher resource use efficiency. Our study is the first to systematically explore the roles of biodiversity, including species richness, phylogenetic and functional diversity, and CWM and ecosystem traits, in the key axes of ecosystem function. Our findings underscore that biodiversity conservation is critical for sustaining EMF and ultimately ensuring human well-being.

YAN Pu;  FERNANDEZ-MARTINEZ Marcos;  VAN MEERBECK Koenraad;  GUIRUI Yu;  MIGLIAVACCA Mirco;  NIANPENG He; 

2023-10-23

WILEY

JRC132981

1354-1013 (online),   

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16666,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC132981,   

10.1111/gcb.16666 (online),