Biodiversity mediates the effects of stressors but not nutrients on litter decomposition

AbstractUnderstanding the consequences of ongoing biodiversity changes for ecosystems is a pressing challenge. Controlled biodiversity-ecosystem function experiments with random biodiversity loss scenarios have demonstrated that more diverse communities usually provide higher levels of ecosystem functioning. However, it is not clear if these results predict the ecosystem consequences of environmental changes that cause non-random alterations in biodiversity and community composition. We synthesized 69 independent studies reporting 660 observations of the impacts of two pervasive drivers of global change (chemical stressors and nutrient enrichment) on animal and microbial decomposer diversity and litter decomposition. Using meta-analysis and structural equation modelling, we show that declines in decomposer diversity and abundance explain reduced litter decomposition in response to stressors but not to nutrients. While chemical stressors generally reduced biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, detrimental effects of nutrients occurred only at high levels of nutrient inputs. Thus, more intense environmental change does not always result in stronger responses, illustrating the complexity of ecosystem consequences of biodiversity change. Overall, these findings provide strong empirical evidence for significant real-world biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships when human activities decrease biodiversity. This highlights that the consequences of biodiversity change for ecosystems are nontrivial and depend on the kind of environmental change.

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Biodiversity mediates the effects of stressors but not nutrients on litter decomposition

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.55659 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Léa Beaumelle ◽

Frederik De Laender ◽

Nico Eisenhauer

Keyword(s):

Environmental Change ◽

Litter Decomposition ◽

Ecosystem Functioning ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Nutrient Inputs ◽

Biodiversity Change

Understanding the consequences of ongoing biodiversity changes for ecosystems is a pressing challenge. Controlled biodiversity-ecosystem function experiments with random biodiversity loss scenarios have demonstrated that more diverse communities usually provide higher levels of ecosystem functioning. However, it is not clear if these results predict the ecosystem consequences of environmental changes that cause non-random alterations in biodiversity and community composition. We synthesized 69 independent studies reporting 660 observations of the impacts of two pervasive drivers of global change (chemical stressors and nutrient enrichment) on animal and microbial decomposer diversity and litter decomposition. Using meta-analysis and structural equation modeling, we show that declines in decomposer diversity and abundance explain reduced litter decomposition in response to stressors but not to nutrients. While chemical stressors generally reduced biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, detrimental effects of nutrients occurred only at high levels of nutrient inputs. Thus, more intense environmental change does not always result in stronger responses, illustrating the complexity of ecosystem consequences of biodiversity change. Overall, these findings provide strong evidence that the consequences of observed biodiversity change for ecosystems depend on the kind of environmental change, and are especially significant when human activities decrease biodiversity.

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The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity–functioning relationship across ecosystems

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2015.0283 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 371 (1694) ◽

pp. 20150283 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Aleksandra M. Lewandowska ◽

Antje Biermann ◽

Elizabeth T. Borer ◽

Miguel A. Cebrián-Piqueras ◽

Steven A. J. Declerck ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Functioning ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Equation Model ◽

Ecosystem Productivity ◽

Multiple Resources ◽

Lower Productivity ◽

Geographical Regions

Numerous studies show that increasing species richness leads to higher ecosystem productivity. This effect is often attributed to more efficient portioning of multiple resources in communities with higher numbers of competing species, indicating the role of resource supply and stoichiometry for biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Here, we merged theory on ecological stoichiometry with a framework of biodiversity–ecosystem functioning to understand how resource use transfers into primary production. We applied a structural equation model to define patterns of diversity–productivity relationships with respect to available resources. Meta-analysis was used to summarize the findings across ecosystem types ranging from aquatic ecosystems to grasslands and forests. As hypothesized, resource supply increased realized productivity and richness, but we found significant differences between ecosystems and study types. Increased richness was associated with increased productivity, although this effect was not seen in experiments. More even communities had lower productivity, indicating that biomass production is often maintained by a few dominant species, and reduced dominance generally reduced ecosystem productivity. This synthesis, which integrates observational and experimental studies in a variety of ecosystems and geographical regions, exposes common patterns and differences in biodiversity–functioning relationships, and increases the mechanistic understanding of changes in ecosystems productivity.

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A meta-analysis on decomposition quantifies afterlife effects of plant diversity as a global change driver

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-18296-w ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Akira S. Mori ◽

J. Hans C. Cornelissen ◽

Saori Fujii ◽

Kei-ichi Okada ◽

Forest Isbell

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Plant Diversity ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Biogeochemical Cycles ◽

Global Scale ◽

Plant Litter ◽

Climate Feedbacks ◽

Decomposition Rates ◽

Biodiversity Changes

Abstract Biodiversity loss can alter ecosystem functioning; however, it remains unclear how it alters decomposition—a critical component of biogeochemical cycles in the biosphere. Here, we provide a global-scale meta-analysis to quantify how changes in the diversity of organic matter derived from plants (i.e. litter) affect rates of decomposition. We find that the after-life effects of diversity were significant, and of substantial magnitude, in forests, grasslands, and wetlands. Changes in plant diversity could alter decomposition rates by as much as climate change is projected to alter them. Specifically, diversifying plant litter from mono- to mixed-species increases decomposition rate by 34.7% in forests worldwide, which is comparable in magnitude to the 13.6–26.4% increase in decomposition rates that is projected to occur over the next 50 years in response to climate warming. Thus, biodiversity changes cannot be solely viewed as a response to human influence, such as climate change, but could also be a non-negligible driver of future changes in biogeochemical cycles and climate feedbacks on Earth.

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Ultimate drivers of native biodiversity change in agricultural systems

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.2-214.v1 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 214 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

David A Norton ◽

Nick Reid ◽

Laura Young

Keyword(s):

Environmental Change ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Agricultural Landscapes ◽

Herbicide Application ◽

Animal Products ◽

Global Challenge ◽

Proximate Factors ◽

Biodiversity Change ◽

Biodiversity Decline ◽

Historical Legacies

The ability to address land degradation and biodiversity loss while maintaining the production of plant and animal products is a key global challenge. Biodiversity decline as a result of vegetation clearance, cultivation, grazing, pesticide and herbicide application, and plantation establishment, amongst other factors, has been widely documented in agricultural ecosystems. In this paper we identify six ultimate drivers that underlie these proximate factors and hence determine what native biodiversity occurs in modern agricultural landscapes; (1) historical legacies; (2) environmental change; (3) economy; (4) social values and awareness; (5) technology and knowledge; and (6) policy and regulation. While historical legacies and environmental change affect native biodiversity directly, all six indirectly affect biodiversity by influencing the decisions that land managers make about the way they use their land and water resources. Understanding these drivers is essential in developing strategies for sustaining native biodiversity in agricultural landscapes into the future.

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Human adaptation to biodiversity change: An adaptation process approach applied to a case study from southern India

AMBIO ◽

10.1007/s13280-019-01225-7 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 48 (12) ◽

pp. 1431-1446 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Thomas F. Thornton ◽

Rajindra K. Puri ◽

Shonil Bhagwat ◽

Patricia Howard

Keyword(s):

Environmental Change ◽

Invasive Plant ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Global Climate ◽

Policy Support ◽

Southern India ◽

Human Adaptation ◽

Wide Range ◽

Biodiversity Change ◽

Adaptation Processes

Abstract Adaptation to environmental change, including biodiversity change, is both a new imperative in the face of global climate change and the oldest problem in human history. Humans have evolved a wide range of adaptation strategies in response to localised environmental changes, which have contributed strongly to both biological and cultural diversity. The evolving set of locally driven, ‘bottom-up’ responses to environmental change is collectively termed ‘autonomous adaptation,’ while its obverse, ‘planned adaptation,’ refers to ‘top-down’ (from without, e.g. State-driven) responses. After reviewing the dominant vulnerability, risk, and pathway approaches to adaptation, this paper applies an alternative framework for understanding human adaptation processes and responding more robustly to future adaptation needs. This adaptation processes-to-pathways framework is then deployed to consider human responses to biodiversity change caused by an aggressive ‘invasive’ plant, Lantana camara L., in several agri-forest communities of southern India. The results show that a variety of adaptation processes are developing to make Lantana less disruptive and more useable—from avoidance through mobility strategies to utilizing the plant for economic diversification. However, there is currently no clear synergy or policy support to connect them to a successful long-term adaptation pathway. These results are evaluated in relation to broader trends in adaptation analysis and governance to suggest ways of improving our understanding and support for human adaptation to biodiversity change at the household, community, and regional livelisystem levels, especially in societies highly dependent on local biodiversity for their livelihoods.

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Understanding environmental change through the lens of trait-based, functional, and phylogenetic biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems

Environmental Reviews ◽

10.1139/er-2018-0071 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 263-273 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Janne Alahuhta ◽

Tibor Erős ◽

Olli-Matti Kärnä ◽

Janne Soininen ◽

Jianjun Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Environmental Change ◽

Conceptual Model ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Freshwater Ecosystems ◽

Single Type ◽

Global Changes ◽

Research Gaps ◽

Anthropogenic Stressors

In the era of the Anthropocene, environmental change is accelerating biodiversity loss across ecosystems on Earth, among which freshwaters are likely the most threatened. Different biodiversity facets in the freshwater realm suffer from various environmental changes that jeopardize the ecosystem functions and services important for humankind. In this work we examine how environmental changes (e.g., climate change, eutrophication, or invasive species) affect trait-based, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of biological communities. We first developed a simple conceptual model of the possible relationships between environmental change and these three diversity facets in freshwaters and, secondly, systematically reviewed articles where these relationships had been investigated in different freshwater ecosystems. Finally, we highlighted research gaps from the perspectives of organisms, ecosystems, stressors, and geographical locations. Our conceptual model suggested that both natural factors and global change operating at various spatial scales influence freshwater community structure and ecosystem functioning. The relationships between biodiversity and environmental change depend on geographical region, organism group, spatial scale, and environmental change gradient length. The systematic review revealed that environmental change impacts biodiversity patterns in freshwaters, but there is no single type of biodiversity response to the observed global changes. Natural stressors had different, even contradictory, effects (i.e., multiple, negative, and positive) on biodiversity compared with anthropogenic stressors. Anthropogenic stressors more often decreased biodiversity, although eutrophication and climate change affected freshwater ecosystems in a complex, more multi-dimensional way. The research gaps we identified were related, for example, to the low number of community-based biodiversity studies, the lack of information on true phylogenies for all freshwater organism groups, the missing evaluations whether species traits are phylogenetically conserved, and the geographical biases in research (i.e., absence of studies from Africa, Southern Asia, and Russia). We hope that our review will stimulate more research on the less well-known facets and topics of biodiversity loss in highly vulnerable freshwater ecosystems.

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Impulsivity and Aggression: A Meta-analysis Using the UPPS Model of Impulsivity

10.31234/osf.io/q2dh5 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Konrad Bresin

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation Modeling ◽

Sensation Seeking ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

The Other ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Negative Urgency ◽

Two Stage ◽

Trait Impulsivity

Trait impulsivity has long been proposed to play a role in aggression, but the results across studies have been mixed. One possible explanation for the mixed results is that impulsivity is a multifaceted construct and some, but not all, facets are related to aggression. The goal of the current meta-analysis was to determine the relation between the different facets of impulsivity (i.e., negative urgency, positive urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking) and aggression. The results from 93 papers with 105 unique samples (N = 36, 215) showed significant and small-to-medium correlations between each facet of impulsivity and aggression across several different forms of aggression, with more impulsivity being associated with more aggression. Moreover, negative urgency (r = .24, 95% [.18, .29]), positive urgency (r = .34, 95% [.19, .44]), and lack of premeditation (r = .23, 95% [.20, .26]) had significantly stronger associations with aggression than the other scales (rs < .18). Two-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling showed that these effects were not due to overlap among facets of impulsivity. These results help advance the field of aggression research by clarifying the role of impulsivity and may be of interest to researchers and practitioners in several disciplines.

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Are local losses of biodiversity causing degraded ecosystem function?

10.1093/oso/9780198808978.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Mark Vellend

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Function ◽

Species Interactions ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Temporal Trends ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Large Degree ◽

Global Scale ◽

Degraded Ecosystem ◽

Biodiversity Change ◽

Local Extirpation

This chapter highlights the scale dependence of biodiversity change over time and its consequences for arguments about the instrumental value of biodiversity. While biodiversity is in decline on a global scale, the temporal trends on regional and local scales include cases of biodiversity increase, no change, and decline. Environmental change, anthropogenic or otherwise, causes both local extirpation and colonization of species, and thus turnover in species composition, but not necessarily declines in biodiversity. In some situations, such as plants at the regional scale, human-mediated colonizations have greatly outnumbered extinctions, thus causing a marked increase in species richness. Since the potential influence of biodiversity on ecosystem function and services is mediated to a large degree by local or neighborhood species interactions, these results challenge the generality of the argument that biodiversity loss is putting at risk the ecosystem service benefits people receive from nature.

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