Abstract
Plant diversity experiments generally find that increased diversity causes increased productivity; however, primary productivity is typically measured in the presence of a diverse food web, including pathogens, mutualists and herbivores. If food web impacts on productivity vary with plant diversity, as predicted by both theoretical and empirical studies, estimates of the effect of plant diversity on productivity may be biased. We experimentally removed arthropods, foliar fungi and soil fungi from the longest-running plant diversity experiment. We found that fungi and arthropods removed a constant, large proportion of biomass leading to a greater reduction of total biomass in high diversity plots. As a result, the effect of diversity on measured plant productivity was much higher in the absence of fungi and arthropods. Thus, diversity increases productivity more than reported in previous studies that did not control for the effects of heterotrophic consumption.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 505-512 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Ecology Letters |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1 2017 |
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Keywords
- Biodiversity
- community ecology
- dilution effect
- ecosystem ecology
- pathogens
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cite this
Food webs obscure the strength of plant diversity effects on primary productivity. / Seabloom, Eric W.; Kinkel, Linda; Borer, Elizabeth T.; Hautier, Yann; Montgomery, Rebecca A.; Tilman, David.
In: Ecology Letters, Vol. 20, No. 4, 01.04.2017, p. 505-512.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Food webs obscure the strength of plant diversity effects on primary productivity
AU - Seabloom,Eric W.
AU - Kinkel,Linda
AU - Borer,Elizabeth T.
AU - Hautier,Yann
AU - Montgomery,Rebecca A.
AU - Tilman,David
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Plant diversity experiments generally find that increased diversity causes increased productivity; however, primary productivity is typically measured in the presence of a diverse food web, including pathogens, mutualists and herbivores. If food web impacts on productivity vary with plant diversity, as predicted by both theoretical and empirical studies, estimates of the effect of plant diversity on productivity may be biased. We experimentally removed arthropods, foliar fungi and soil fungi from the longest-running plant diversity experiment. We found that fungi and arthropods removed a constant, large proportion of biomass leading to a greater reduction of total biomass in high diversity plots. As a result, the effect of diversity on measured plant productivity was much higher in the absence of fungi and arthropods. Thus, diversity increases productivity more than reported in previous studies that did not control for the effects of heterotrophic consumption.
AB - Plant diversity experiments generally find that increased diversity causes increased productivity; however, primary productivity is typically measured in the presence of a diverse food web, including pathogens, mutualists and herbivores. If food web impacts on productivity vary with plant diversity, as predicted by both theoretical and empirical studies, estimates of the effect of plant diversity on productivity may be biased. We experimentally removed arthropods, foliar fungi and soil fungi from the longest-running plant diversity experiment. We found that fungi and arthropods removed a constant, large proportion of biomass leading to a greater reduction of total biomass in high diversity plots. As a result, the effect of diversity on measured plant productivity was much higher in the absence of fungi and arthropods. Thus, diversity increases productivity more than reported in previous studies that did not control for the effects of heterotrophic consumption.
KW - Biodiversity
KW - community ecology
KW - dilution effect
KW - ecosystem ecology
KW - pathogens
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016123214&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85016123214&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ele.12754
DO - 10.1111/ele.12754
M3 - Letter
VL - 20
SP - 505
EP - 512
JO - Ecology Letters
T2 - Ecology Letters
JF - Ecology Letters
SN - 1461-023X
IS - 4
ER -