Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1890/12-1936.1
Document Shareable Link
Title (Primary) Functionally and phylogenetically diverse plant communities key to soil biota
Author Milcu, A.; Allan, E.; Roscher, C.; Jenkin, T.; Meyer, S.T.; Flynn, D.F.B.; Bessler, H.; Buscot, F.; Engels, C.; Gubsch, M.; König, S.; Lipowsky, A.; Loranger, J.; Renker, C.; Scherber, C.; Schmid, B.; Thébault, E.; Wubet, T. ORCID logo ; Weisser, W.W.; Scheu, S.; Eisenhauer, N.
Source Titel Ecology
Year 2013
Department BZF; BOOEK
Volume 94
Issue 8
Page From 1878
Page To 1885
Language englisch
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3306096.v1
Keywords Biodiversity; above-belowground interactions; plant species richness; functional diversity; phylogenetic diversity; functional traits; soil fauna; the Jena Experiment
UFZ wide themes RU1
Abstract

Recent studies assessing the role of biological diversity for ecosystem functioning indicate that the diversity of functional traits and the evolutionary history of species in a community, not the number of taxonomic units, ultimately drives the biodiversity-ecosystem function relationship. Here, we simultaneously assessed the importance of plant functional trait and phylogenetic diversity as predictors of major trophic groups of soil biota (abundance and diversity), six years from the onset of a grassland biodiversity experiment. Plant functional and phylogenetic diversity were generally superior predictors of soil biota than the traditionally used species or functional group richness. Functional diversity was a reliable predictor for most biota with the exception of soil microorganisms which were better predicted by phylogenetic diversity. These results provide empirical support that the diversity of plant functional traits and the diversity of evolutionary lineages in a community are important for maintaining higher abundances and diversity of soil communities.

Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=13651
Milcu, A., Allan, E., Roscher, C., Jenkin, T., Meyer, S.T., Flynn, D.F.B., Bessler, H., Buscot, F., Engels, C., Gubsch, M., König, S., Lipowsky, A., Loranger, J., Renker, C., Scherber, C., Schmid, B., Thébault, E., Wubet, T., Weisser, W.W., Scheu, S., Eisenhauer, N. (2013):
Functionally and phylogenetically diverse plant communities key to soil biota
Ecology 94 (8), 1878 - 1885 10.1890/12-1936.1