TY - JOUR
T1 - The Complex Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function Relationships for the Qinghai-Tibetan Grassland Community
AU - Qi, Wei
AU - Kang, Xiaomei
AU - Knops, Johannes M.H.
AU - Jiang, Jiachang
AU - Abuman, A.
AU - Du, Guozhen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Qi, Kang, Knops, Jiang, Abuman and Du.
PY - 2022/1/27
Y1 - 2022/1/27
N2 - Despite the long history of the study of the biodiversity-ecosystem function relationship, uncertainty remains about the relationship of natural grassland ecosystems under stressful conditions. Recently, trait- and phylogenetic-based tests provide a powerful way to detect the relationship in different spaces but have seldom been applied to stressful zones on a large spatial scale. We selected Qinghai-Tibetan as the study area and collected a grassland community database involving 581 communities. We calculated biomass and species’, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of each community and examined their relationships by using linear and non-linear regression models. Results showed an overall positive biodiversity-productivity relationship in species’, functional and phylogenetic space. The relationship, however, was non-linear, in which biodiversity explained better the variation in community biomass when species diversity was more than a threshold, showing a weak effect of biodiversity on ecosystem function in low species diversity communities. We also found a filled triangle for the limit of the relationship between species and functional diversity, implying that functional diversity differs significantly among communities when their species diversity is low but finally converges to be a constant with increasing communities’ species diversity. Our study suggests that multiple niche processes may structure the grassland communities, and their forces tend to balance in high-biodiversity communities.
AB - Despite the long history of the study of the biodiversity-ecosystem function relationship, uncertainty remains about the relationship of natural grassland ecosystems under stressful conditions. Recently, trait- and phylogenetic-based tests provide a powerful way to detect the relationship in different spaces but have seldom been applied to stressful zones on a large spatial scale. We selected Qinghai-Tibetan as the study area and collected a grassland community database involving 581 communities. We calculated biomass and species’, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of each community and examined their relationships by using linear and non-linear regression models. Results showed an overall positive biodiversity-productivity relationship in species’, functional and phylogenetic space. The relationship, however, was non-linear, in which biodiversity explained better the variation in community biomass when species diversity was more than a threshold, showing a weak effect of biodiversity on ecosystem function in low species diversity communities. We also found a filled triangle for the limit of the relationship between species and functional diversity, implying that functional diversity differs significantly among communities when their species diversity is low but finally converges to be a constant with increasing communities’ species diversity. Our study suggests that multiple niche processes may structure the grassland communities, and their forces tend to balance in high-biodiversity communities.
KW - Tibetan grassland
KW - biodiversity
KW - community assembly
KW - ecosystem function
KW - functional diversity
KW - phylogenetic diversity
KW - seed mass
KW - specific leaf area
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124572242&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpls.2021.772503
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2021.772503
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85124572242
SN - 1664-462X
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
JF - Frontiers in Plant Science
M1 - 772503
ER -