Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1002/ecy.2905
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Limited evidence for spatial resource partitioning across temperate grassland biodiversity experiments
Author Barry, K.E.; van Ruijven, J.; Mommer, L.; Bai, Y.; Beierkuhnlein, C.; Buchmann, N.; de Kroon, H.; Ebeling, A.; Eisenhauer, N.; Guimarães-Steinicke, C.; Hildebrandt, A.; Isbell, F.; Milcu, A.; Neßhöver, C.; Reich, P.B.; Roscher, C.; Sauheitl, L.; Scherer‐Lorenzen, M.; Schmid, B.; Tilman, D.; von Felten, S.; Weigelt, A.
Source Titel Ecology
Year 2020
Department NSF; iDiv; PHYDIV
Volume 101
Issue 1
Page From e02905
Language englisch
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7c01654
Supplements https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1002%2Fecy.2905&file=ecy2905-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pdf
Keywords grassland; niche complementarity; niche partitioning; productivity; resource uptake; resources; standing root biomass
Abstract Locally, plant species richness supports many ecosystem functions. Yet, the mechanisms driving these often‐positive biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships are not well understood. Spatial resource partitioning across vertical resource gradients is one of the main hypothesized causes for enhanced ecosystem functioning in more biodiverse grasslands. Spatial resource partitioning occurs if species differ in where they acquire resources and can happen both above‐ and belowground. However, studies investigating spatial resource partitioning in grasslands provide inconsistent evidence. We present the results of a meta‐analysis of 21 data sets from experimental species‐richness gradients in grasslands. We test the hypothesis that increasing spatial resource partitioning along vertical resource gradients enhances ecosystem functioning in diverse grassland plant communities above‐ and belowground. To test this hypothesis, we asked three questions. (1) Does species richness enhance biomass production or community resource uptake across sites? (2) Is there evidence of spatial resource partitioning as indicated by resource tracer uptake and biomass allocation above‐ and belowground? (3) Is evidence of spatial resource partitioning correlated with increased biomass production or community resource uptake? Although plant species richness enhanced community nitrogen and potassium uptake and biomass production above‐ and belowground, we found that plant communities did not meet our criteria for spatial resource partitioning, though they did invest in significantly more aboveground biomass in higher canopy layers in mixture relative to monoculture. Furthermore, the extent of spatial resource partitioning across studies was not positively correlated with either biomass production or community resource uptake. Our results suggest that spatial resource partitioning across vertical resource gradients alone does not offer a general explanation for enhanced ecosystem functioning in more diverse temperate grasslands.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22451
Barry, K.E., van Ruijven, J., Mommer, L., Bai, Y., Beierkuhnlein, C., Buchmann, N., de Kroon, H., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Guimarães-Steinicke, C., Hildebrandt, A., Isbell, F., Milcu, A., Neßhöver, C., Reich, P.B., Roscher, C., Sauheitl, L., Scherer‐Lorenzen, M., Schmid, B., Tilman, D., von Felten, S., Weigelt, A. (2020):
Limited evidence for spatial resource partitioning across temperate grassland biodiversity experiments
Ecology 101 (1), e02905 10.1002/ecy.2905