The productivity-biodiversity relationship varies across diversity dimensions

AbstractUnderstanding the processes that drive the dramatic changes in biodiversity along the productivity gradient remains a major challenge. Insight from simple, bivariate relationships so far has been limited. We combined >11,000 community plots in the French Alps with a molecular phylogeny and trait information for >1200 plant species to simultaneously investigate the relationships between all major biodiversity dimensions and satellite-sensed productivity. Using an approach that tests for differential effects of species dominance, species similarity and the interplay between phylogeny and traits, we demonstrate that unimodal productivity–biodiversity relationships only dominate for taxonomic diversity. In forests, trait and phylogenetic diversity typically increase with productivity, while in grasslands, relationships shift from unimodal to declining with greater land-use intensity. High productivity may increase trait/phylogenetic diversity in ecosystems with few external constraints (forests) by promoting complementary strategies, but under external constraints (managed grasslands) successful strategies are similar and thus the best competitors may be selected.

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Will I stay or will I go? Plant species‐specific response and tolerance to high land‐use intensity in temperate grassland ecosystems

Journal of Vegetation Science ◽

10.1111/jvs.12749 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 674-686 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Verena Busch ◽

Valentin H. Klaus ◽

Deborah Schäfer ◽

Daniel Prati ◽

Steffen Boch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Plant Species ◽

Temperate Grassland ◽

Specific Response ◽

Land Use Intensity ◽

Grassland Ecosystems ◽

Species Specific

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Land use intensity, rather than plant species richness, affects the leaching risk of multiple nutrients from permanent grasslands

Global Change Biology ◽

10.1111/gcb.14123 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (7) ◽

pp. 2828-2840 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Valentin H. Klaus ◽

Till Kleinebecker ◽

Verena Busch ◽

Markus Fischer ◽

Norbert Hölzel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Species Richness ◽

Plant Species ◽

Plant Species Richness ◽

Land Use Intensity ◽

Leaching Risk

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On the relationship between farmland biodiversity and land-use intensity in Europe

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2008.1509 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 276 (1658) ◽

pp. 903-909 ◽

Cited By ~ 439

Author(s):

D Kleijn ◽

F Kohler ◽

A Báldi ◽

P Batáry ◽

E.D Concepción ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Species Richness ◽

Plant Species ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Plant Species Richness ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Land Use Intensity ◽

N Input ◽

Arable Fields ◽

Relative Cover

Worldwide agriculture is one of the main drivers of biodiversity decline. Effective conservation strategies depend on the type of relationship between biodiversity and land-use intensity, but to date the shape of this relationship is unknown. We linked plant species richness with nitrogen (N) input as an indicator of land-use intensity on 130 grasslands and 141 arable fields in six European countries. Using Poisson regression, we found that plant species richness was significantly negatively related to N input on both field types after the effects of confounding environmental factors had been accounted for. Subsequent analyses showed that exponentially declining relationships provided a better fit than linear or unimodal relationships and that this was largely the result of the response of rare species (relative cover less than 1%). Our results indicate that conservation benefits are disproportionally more costly on high-intensity than on low-intensity farmland. For example, reducing N inputs from 75 to 0 and 400 to 60 kg ha −1 yr −1 resulted in about the same estimated species gain for arable plants. Conservation initiatives are most (cost-)effective if they are preferentially implemented in extensively farmed areas that still support high levels of biodiversity.

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Plant-Pollinator Networks in Savannas of Burkina Faso, West Africa

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13010001 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Katharina Stein ◽

Drissa Coulibaly ◽

Larba Hubert Balima ◽

Dethardt Goetze ◽

Karl Eduard Linsenmair ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Species Richness ◽

West Africa ◽

Plant Species ◽

Rainy Season ◽

Network Architecture ◽

Woody Plant ◽

Null Model ◽

Land Use Intensity ◽

Woody Plant Species

West African savannas are severely threatened with intensified land use and increasing degradation. Bees are important for terrestrial biodiversity as they provide native plant species with pollination services. However, little information is available regarding their mutualistic interactions with woody plant species. In the first network study from sub-Saharan West Africa, we investigated the effects of land-use intensity and climatic seasonality on plant–bee communities and their interaction networks. In total, we recorded 5686 interactions between 53 flowering woody plant species and 100 bee species. Bee-species richness and the number of interactions were higher in the low compared to medium and high land-use intensity sites. Bee- and plant-species richness and the number of interactions were higher in the dry compared to the rainy season. Plant–bee visitation networks were not strongly affected by land-use intensity; however, climatic seasonality had a strong effect on network architecture. Null-model corrected connectance and nestedness were higher in the dry compared to the rainy season. In addition, network specialization and null-model corrected modularity were lower in the dry compared to the rainy season. Our results suggest that in our study region, seasonal effects on mutualistic network architecture are more pronounced compared to land-use change effects. Nonetheless, the decrease in bee-species richness and the number of plant–bee interactions with an increase in land-use intensity highlights the importance of savanna conservation for maintaining bee diversity and the concomitant provision of ecosystem services.

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Impact of land-use intensity on the conservation of functional and phylogenetic diversity in temperate semi-natural plant communities

Biodiversity and Conservation ◽

10.1007/s10531-014-0720-8 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 23 (9) ◽

pp. 2259-2272 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Koenraad Van Meerbeek ◽

Kenny Helsen ◽

Martin Hermy

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Phylogenetic Diversity ◽

Land Use Intensity ◽

Natural Plant ◽

Functional And Phylogenetic Diversity

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Land-use intensity shapes kinetics of extracellular enzymes in rhizosphere soil of agricultural grassland plant species

Plant and Soil ◽

10.1007/s11104-019-03970-w ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 437 (1-2) ◽

pp. 215-239

Author(s):

Alexander Tischer ◽

Livia Sehl ◽

Ulf-Niklas Meyer ◽

Till Kleinebecker ◽

Valentin Klaus ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Plant Species ◽

Extracellular Enzymes ◽

Rhizosphere Soil ◽

Land Use Intensity ◽

Kinetics Of

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Changes of Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Diversity of Odonata (Insecta) in Response to Land Use in Amazonia

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12081061 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 1061

Author(s):

Fernando Geraldo de Carvalho ◽

Leandro Duarte ◽

Gabriel Nakamura ◽

Guilherme Dubal dos Santos Seger ◽

Leandro Juen

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Phylogenetic Diversity ◽

Anthropogenic Impacts ◽

Natural Habitat ◽

Canopy Cover ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Data Sampling ◽

Natural Habitats ◽

Habitat Generalists

Changes in natural habitats for human use can alter the distribution of biodiversity, favoring species that are more tolerant to environmental disturbance. Usually, these species comprise clades of habitat generalists, which have biological mechanisms to colonize environments with different environmental conditions. However, such effects are still poorly understood for most biological groups, such as the Amazon odonates. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effects of land use along an environmental gradient on the phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity of Odonata in the Amazon. We tested the following hypotheses: In deforested areas (e.g., pasture for cattle, palm plantation, and logging), the Odonata community will be more taxonomically and phylogenetically impoverished than in forested areas. We assume that the modification of the natural habitat causes loss of specialist forest species and favors specialist species of open areas and/or habitat generalists. Data sampling was performed in 195 streams under different land-use types: livestock areas, palm monoculture, timber exploitation, and forest areas taken as reference sites. Our results showed that anthropogenic impacts affected the phylogenetic diversity of odonates and the increase in shrub vegetation was related to the increase in the phylogenetic diversity of communities. On the other hand, shrub vegetation is indicative of disturbed areas, where secondary vegetation predominates, with less canopy cover due to the absence or discontinuity of the native tree cover in these habitats. Nonetheless, species richness and abundance were not related to the effects of anthropogenic land use. Finally, our results suggest that the phylogenetic diversity of Amazonian odonates is related to riparian vegetation structure.

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