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Diversity-dependent production can decrease the stability of ecosystem functioning

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  • Andrea B. Pfisterer

    (Institut für Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Zürich)

  • Bernhard Schmid

    (Institut für Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Zürich)

Abstract

There is concern that species loss may adversely affect ecosystem functioning and stability. But although there is evidence that biodiversity loss can lead to reductions in biomass production1,2,3,4, there is no direct evidence that biodiversity loss affects ecosystem resistance (ability to withstand perturbation) or resilience (recovery from perturbation). Yet theory5,6, laboratory experiments7,8,9,10,11 and indirect experimental evidence12,13,14 strongly suggest that diversity and stability are related. Here we report results from a field experiment with factorially crossed perturbation and diversity manipulations. We simulated drought perturbation on constructed grassland ecosystems containing 1, 2, 4, 8 or 32 plant species. Under unperturbed conditions, the species-poor systems achieved lower biomass production than the species-rich systems. However, the species-poor systems were more resistant to perturbation than the species-rich systems. The species-poor systems also showed a larger initial resilience following perturbation, although the original relationship between diversity and productivity was fully restored after 1 year. Our results confirm that biodiversity increases biomass production, but they also point to the fact that such diversity–production associations may lead to an inverse relationship between biodiversity and the stability of ecosystem functioning.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea B. Pfisterer & Bernhard Schmid, 2002. "Diversity-dependent production can decrease the stability of ecosystem functioning," Nature, Nature, vol. 416(6876), pages 84-86, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:416:y:2002:i:6876:d:10.1038_416084a
    DOI: 10.1038/416084a
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Brendan Fisher & Stephen Polasky & Thomas Sterner, 2011. "Conservation and Human Welfare: Economic Analysis of Ecosystem Services," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(2), pages 151-159, February.
    2. Finisdore, John & Rhodes, Charles & Haines-Young, Roy & Maynard, Simone & Wielgus, Jeffrey & Dvarskas, Anthony & Houdet, Joel & Quétier, Fabien & Lamothe, Karl A. & Ding, Helen & Soulard, François & V, 2020. "The 18 benefits of using ecosystem services classification systems," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    3. Yuxin Chen & Anja Vogel & Cameron Wagg & Tianyang Xu & Maitane Iturrate-Garcia & Michael Scherer-Lorenzen & Alexandra Weigelt & Nico Eisenhauer & Bernhard Schmid, 2022. "Drought-exposure history increases complementarity between plant species in response to a subsequent drought," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Francesca Arese Lucini & Flaviano Morone & Maria Silvina Tomassone & Hernán A Makse, 2020. "Diversity increases the stability of ecosystems," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-13, April.
    5. Rodríguez, Ricardo A. & Herrera, Ada M. & Riera, Rodrigo & Santander, Jacobo & Miranda, Jezahel V. & Quirós, Ángel & Fernández-Rodríguez, María J. & Fernández-Palacios, José M. & Otto, Rüdiger & Escud, 2015. "Distribution of species diversity values: A link between classical and quantum mechanics in ecology," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 313(C), pages 162-180.
    6. Dardonville, Manon & Urruty, Nicolas & Bockstaller, Christian & Therond, Olivier, 2020. "Influence of diversity and intensification level on vulnerability, resilience and robustness of agricultural systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    7. Costanza, Robert & Fisher, Brendan & Mulder, Kenneth & Liu, Shuang & Christopher, Treg, 2007. "Biodiversity and ecosystem services: A multi-scale empirical study of the relationship between species richness and net primary production," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 478-491, March.
    8. Matsushita, Kyohei & Yamane, Fumihiro & Asano, Kota, 2016. "Linkage between crop diversity and agro-ecosystem resilience: Nonmonotonic agricultural response under alternate regimes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 23-31.

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