Flooding disturbances increase resource availability and productivity but reduce stability in diverse plant communities

Alexandra J. Wright; Anne Ebeling; Hans De Kroon; Christiane Roscher; Alexandra Weigelt; Nina Buchmann; Tina Buchmann; Christine Fischer; Nina Hacker; Anke Hildebrandt; Sophia Leimer; Liesje Mommer; Yvonne Oelmann; Stefan Scheu; Katja Steinauer; Tanja Strecker; Wolfgang Weisser; Wolfgang Wilcke; Nico Eisenhauer

doi:10.1038/ncomms7092

Flooding disturbances increase resource availability and productivity but reduce stability in diverse plant communities

Alexandra J. Wright, Anne Ebeling, Hans De Kroon, Christiane Roscher, Alexandra Weigelt, Nina Buchmann, Tina Buchmann, Christine Fischer, Nina Hacker, Anke Hildebrandt, Sophia Leimer, Liesje Mommer, Yvonne Oelmann, Stefan Scheu, Katja Steinauer, Tanja Strecker, Wolfgang Weisser, Wolfgang Wilcke, Nico Eisenhauer

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

122 Scopus citations

Abstract

The natural world is increasingly defined by change. Within the next 100 years, rising atmospheric CO 2 concentrations will continue to increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events. Simultaneously, human activities are reducing global biodiversity, with current extinction rates at ∼1,000 × what they were before human domination of Earth's ecosystems. The co-occurrence of these trends may be of particular concern, as greater biological diversity could help ecosystems resist change during large perturbations. We use data from a 200-year flood event to show that when a disturbance is associated with an increase in resource availability, the opposite may occur. Flooding was associated with increases in productivity and decreases in stability, particularly in the highest diversity communities. Our results undermine the utility of the biodiversity-stability hypothesis during a large number of disturbances where resource availability increases. We propose a conceptual framework that can be widely applied during natural disturbances.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	6092
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7092
State	Published - Jan 2015
Externally published	Yes

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© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

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Wright, A. J., Ebeling, A., De Kroon, H., Roscher, C., Weigelt, A., Buchmann, N., Buchmann, T., Fischer, C., Hacker, N., Hildebrandt, A., Leimer, S., Mommer, L., Oelmann, Y., Scheu, S., Steinauer, K., Strecker, T., Weisser, W., Wilcke, W., & Eisenhauer, N. (2015). Flooding disturbances increase resource availability and productivity but reduce stability in diverse plant communities. Nature communications, 6, Article 6092. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7092

Wright, AJ, Ebeling, A, De Kroon, H, Roscher, C, Weigelt, A, Buchmann, N, Buchmann, T, Fischer, C, Hacker, N, Hildebrandt, A, Leimer, S, Mommer, L, Oelmann, Y, Scheu, S, Steinauer, K, Strecker, T, Weisser, W, Wilcke, W & Eisenhauer, N 2015, 'Flooding disturbances increase resource availability and productivity but reduce stability in diverse plant communities', Nature communications, vol. 6, 6092. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7092

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AU - Buchmann, Nina

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AU - Fischer, Christine

AU - Hacker, Nina

AU - Hildebrandt, Anke

AU - Leimer, Sophia

AU - Mommer, Liesje

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Flooding disturbances increase resource availability and productivity but reduce stability in diverse plant communities

Abstract

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