Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Diversity-dependent temporal divergence of ecosystem functioning in experimental ecosystems

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, pages 1639–1642 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

An Author Correction to this article was published on 08 August 2019

This article has been updated

Abstract

The effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning generally increase over time, but the underlying processes remain unclear. Using 26 long-term grassland and forest experimental ecosystems, we demonstrate that biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships strengthen mainly by greater increases in functioning in high-diversity communities in grasslands and forests. In grasslands, biodiversity effects also strengthen due to decreases in functioning in low-diversity communities. Contrasting trends across grasslands are associated with differences in soil characteristics.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Ecosystem functioning in grassland and forest experimental ecosystems.
Fig. 2: Influence of soil characteristics on temporal divergence in grasslands.

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 08 August 2019

    An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

References

  1. Isbell, F. et al. Nature 546, 65–72 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tilman, D., Isbell, F. & Cowles, J. M. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 45, 471–493 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hooper, D. U. et al. Ecol. Monogr. 75, 3–35 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Balvanera, P. et al. Ecol. Lett. 9, 1146–1156 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Reich, P. B. et al. Science 336, 589–592 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Cardinale, B. J. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 18123–18128 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ewel, J. J., Celis, G. & Schreeg, L. Biotropica 47, 162–171 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Flombaum, P. & Sala, O. E. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 6087–6090 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Eisenhauer, N. et al. J. Veg. Sci. 27, 1061–1070 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Grace, J. B. et al. Nature 529, 390–393 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Hautier, Y. et al. Nature 508, 521–525 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Marquard, E. et al. PLoS ONE 8, e75599 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Fridley, J. D. Oecologia 132, 271–277 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Boyden, S., Binkley, D. & Senock, R. Ecology 86, 992–1001 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Forrester, D. I. & Bauhus, J. Curr. Forest. Rep. 2, 45–61 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Newbold, T. et al. Nature 520, 45–50 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Urban, M. C. Science 348, 571–573 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Paquette, A. & Messier, C. Front. Ecol. Environ. 8, 27–34 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Tilman, D. et al. Science 292, 281–284 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Fargione, J. et al. Proc. R. Soc. B 274, 871–876 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. De Deyn, G. B. Oikos 126, 497–507 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Craven, D. et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371, 1–8 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Eriksson, O. & Ehrlén, J. Oecologia 91, 360–364 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Marquard, E. et al. J. Ecol. 97, 696–704 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Williams, L. J., Paquette, A., Cavender-Bares, J., Messier, C. & Reich, P. B. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 1, 1–7 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Binkley, D., Senock, R., Bird, S. & Cole, T. G. Forest Ecol. Manag. 182, 93–102 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Ewel, J. J. & Mazzarino, M. J. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 18836–18841 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Potvin, C. & Dutilleul, P. Ecology 90, 321–327 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. R Development Core Team R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, 2015).

  30. Hengl, T. et al. PLoS ONE 12, e0169748 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the German Research Foundation through the Emmy Noether research group (Ei 862/2), a European Research Council starting grant (grant agreement 677232) provided to N.E. and financial support from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig (FZT 118). The Jena Experiment is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FOR 1451). Support for BioCON came from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Long-Term Ecological Research (DEB-9411972, DEB-0080382, DEB-0620652 and DEB-1234162), Biocomplexity Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles (DEB-0322057), Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology (DEB-0716587, DEB-1242531) and Ecosystem Sciences (NSF DEB- 1120064) Programs; as well as the US Department of Energy Programs for Ecosystem Research (DE-FG02-96ER62291) and National Institute for Climatic Change Research (DE-FC02-06ER64158). N.R.G.-R. thanks D. Binkley, A. Weigelt and E. De Luca for contributing data, S. Bilodeau-Gauthier for support with the database and P. Keil for help with data analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, 04103, Germany

    Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez, Dylan Craven, Harald Auge, Christiane Roscher & Nico Eisenhauer

  2. Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, 04103, Germany

    Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez & Nico Eisenhauer

  3. Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research–UFZ, Halle, 06120, Germany

    Dylan Craven & Harald Auge

  4. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Peter B. Reich

  5. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Richmond, New South Wales, 2753, Australia

    Peter B. Reich

  6. Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    John J. Ewel

  7. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Forest Isbell & David Tilman

  8. School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK

    Julia Koricheva

  9. United States Forest Service, Washington, DC, 20250-1120, USA

    John A. Parrotta

  10. Consulting Research Ecology, Portland, OR, 97212, USA

    Heather E. Erickson

  11. United States Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR, 97205, USA

    Heather E. Erickson

  12. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, CH-8903, Switzerland

    David I. Forrester

  13. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK

    Andy Hector

  14. Biodiversity Research/Systematic Botany, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, 14469, Germany

    Jasmin Joshi

  15. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Jasmin Joshi

  16. School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Florencia Montagnini

  17. Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, 90183, Sweden

    Cecilia Palmborg

  18. Centro de Formação em Ciências Agroflorestais, Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia, Itabuna-BA, 45613-204, Brazil

    Daniel Piotto

  19. Department of Biology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, H3A-1B1, Canada

    Catherine Potvin

  20. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa Ancon, 0843-03092, Republic of Panama

    Catherine Potvin

  21. Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, 04103, Germany

    Christiane Roscher

  22. Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Jasper van Ruijven

  23. Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108, USA

    David Tilman

  24. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Brian Wilsey

Authors
  1. Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dylan Craven
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter B. Reich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. John J. Ewel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Forest Isbell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Julia Koricheva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. John A. Parrotta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Harald Auge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Heather E. Erickson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. David I. Forrester
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Andy Hector
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Jasmin Joshi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Florencia Montagnini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Cecilia Palmborg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Daniel Piotto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Catherine Potvin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Christiane Roscher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Jasper van Ruijven
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. David Tilman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Brian Wilsey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Nico Eisenhauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

N.E. conceived the idea. N.E. and N.R.G.-R. developed the idea. A.H., B.W., C.Palmborg, C.Potvin, C.R., D.I.F., D.P., D.T., F.M., H.A., H.E.E., J.J.E., J.J., J.K., J.A.P., J.v.R. and P.B.R. contributed experimental data. N.R.G.-R. assembled the data. N.R.G.-R. and D.C. analysed the data with input from F.I., J.K. and A.H. N.R.G.-R. wrote the paper with substantial input from all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary Information

Supplementary figures, tables, methods, references and code.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Guerrero-Ramírez, N.R., Craven, D., Reich, P.B. et al. Diversity-dependent temporal divergence of ecosystem functioning in experimental ecosystems. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 1639–1642 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0325-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0325-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing