Biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality

Biodiversity loss can affect ecosystem functions and services. Individual ecosystem functions generally show a positive asymptotic relationship with increasing biodiversity, suggesting that some species are redundant. However, ecosystems are managed and conserved for multiple functions, which may require greater biodiversity. Here we present an analysis of published data from grassland biodiversity experiments, and show that ecosystem multifunctionality does require greater numbers of species. We analysed each ecosystem function alone to identify species with desirable effects. We then calculated the number of species with positive effects for all possible combinations of functions. Our results show appreciable differences in the sets of species influencing different ecosystem functions, with average proportional overlap of about 0.2 to 0.5. Consequently, as more ecosystem processes were included in our analysis, more species were found to affect overall functioning. Specifically, for all of the analysed experiments, there was a positive saturating relationship between the number of ecosystem processes considered and the number of species influencing overall functioning. We conclude that because different species often influence different functions, studies focusing on individual processes in isolation will underestimate levels of biodiversity required to maintain multifunctional ecosystems.     

A taxa-area relationship for bacteria

A positive power-law relationship between the number of species in an area and the size of that area has been observed repeatedly in plant and animal communities. This species-area relationship, thought to be one of the few laws in ecology, is fundamental to our understanding of the distribution of global biodiversity. However, such a relationship has not been reported for bacteria, and little is known regarding the spatial distribution of bacteria, relative to what is known of plants and animals. Here we describe a taxa-area relationship for bacteria over a scale of centimetres to hundreds of metres in salt marsh sediments. We found that bacterial communities located close together were more similar in composition than communities located farther apart, and we used the decay of community similarity with distance to show that bacteria can exhibit a taxa-area relationship. This relationship was driven primarily by environmental heterogeneity rather than geographic distance or plant composition.     

Biodiversity as a barrier to ecological invasion

Biological invasions are a pervasive and costly environmental problem that has been the focus of intense management and research activities over the past half century. Yet accurate predictions of community susceptibility to invasion remain elusive. The diversity resistance hypothesis, which argues that diverse communities are highly competitive and readily resist invasion, is supported by both theory and experimental studies conducted at small spatial scales. However, there is also convincing evidence that the relationship between the diversity of native and invading species is positive when measured at regional scales. Although this latter relationship may arise from extrinsic factors, such as resource heterogeneity, that covary with diversity of native and invading species at large scales, the mechanisms conferring greater invasion resistance to diverse communities at local scales remain unknown. Using neighbourhood analyses, a technique from plant competition studies, we show here that species diversity in small experimental grassland plots enhances invasion resistance by increasing crowding and species richness in localized plant neighbourhoods. Both the establishment (number of invaders) and success (proportion of invaders that are large) of invading plants are reduced. These results suggest that local biodiversity represents an important line of defence against the spread of invaders.     

草原植物群落物种多样性与结构稳定性之间的相关性分析

以位于内蒙古高原中东部的锡林郭勒草原的代表性植物群落做为研究对象，在不同的空间尺度上，以生物量涨落、频度涨落及微涨落种群比例做为群落结构稳定性的度量指标，与表示草原植物群落物种多样性的丰富度指数、Ｓｈａｎｎｏｎ－ｗｉｅｎｅｒ指数、均匀度指数进行了直线回归分析，主要结果如下：１）以频度涨落反映的群落结构稳定性与丰富度指数，Ｓｈａｎｎｏｎ－ｗｉｅｎｅｒ指数不相关；２）生物量涨落在区域尺度上（荒漠草原－典型草原－草甸草原）与丰富度指数、均匀度指数以及Ｓｈａｎ－ｎｏｎ－Ｗｉｅｎｅｒ指数呈正相关，即群落多样性越高，其结构稳定性越高；３）尺度对多样性与稳定性关系起着十分重要的作用．在群落尺度上（群系内三个群落类型之间相比较），微涨落种群比例、生物量涨落与几个多样性指数都不相关，说明物种多样性对于全局稳定性起着更明显的影响．     

Coral reef diversity refutes the neutral theory of biodiversity

The global decline of coral reefs highlights the need to understand the mechanisms that regulate community structure and sustain biodiversity in these systems. The neutral theory, which assumes that individuals are demographically identical regardless of species, seeks to explain ubiquitous features of community structure and biodiversity patterns. Here we present a test of neutral-theory predictions with the use of an extensive species-level data set of Indo-Pacific coral communities. We show that coral assemblages differ markedly from neutral-model predictions for patterns of community similarity and the relative abundance of species. Within local communities, neutral models do not fit relative abundance distributions as well as the classical log-normal distribution. Relative abundances of species across local communities also differ markedly from neutral-theory predictions: coral communities exhibit community similarity values that are far more variable, and lower on average, than the neutral theory can produce. Empirical community similarities deviate from the neutral model in a direction opposite to that predicted in previous critiques of the neutral theory. Instead, our results support spatio-temporal environmental stochasticity as a major driver of diversity patterns on coral reefs.     

Diversity and dispersal interactively affect predictability of ecosystem function

Theory and small-scale experiments predict that biodiversity losses can decrease the magnitude and stability of ecosystem services such as production and nutrient cycling. Most of this research, however, has been isolated from the immigration and emigration (dispersal) processes that create and maintain diversity in nature. As common anthropogenic drivers of biodiversity change--such as habitat fragmentation, species introductions and climate change--are mediated by these understudied processes, it is unclear how environmental degradation will affect ecosystem services. Here we tested the interactive effects of mobile grazer diversity and dispersal on the magnitude and stability of ecosystem properties in experimental seagrass communities that were either isolated or connected by dispersal corridors. We show that, contrary to theoretical predictions, increasing the number of mobile grazer species in these metacommunities increased the spatial and temporal variability of primary and secondary production. Moreover, allowing grazers to move among and select patches reduced diversity effects on production. Finally, effects of diversity on stability differed qualitatively between patch and metacommunity scales. Our results indicate that declining biodiversity and habitat fragmentation synergistically influence the predictability of ecosystem functioning.     

三峡库区不同生境类型蝶类多样性调查及分析 (三峡地区资源环境生态研究)

1998—2003年对长江三峡库区阔叶林、灌丛、林缘灌丛、农田、草地等5种不同生境类型蝴蝶分布状况进行调查。获得蝴蝶7 853只,隶属12科157属380种。蛱蝶科蝴蝶的属、种和个体数均为最多,说明此类群最适应库区当前的环境条件;珍蝶、喙蝶、绢蝶等科蝶类是三峡库区的稀有类群,也是库区蝶类生物多样性保护的关键类群。阔叶林、灌丛、林缘灌丛是该区域物种多样性的重要生境,特别是灌丛类生境。各类型生境的多样性指数,灌丛(0.584 5)和农田(0.474 0)的年间波动较小,草地(0.329 8)的年间波动较大。在5种类型中,灌丛的蝶类多样性指数(0.584 5)相对较高,是库区内最适于蝴蝶生存的生境。研究表明蝴蝶分布特征与生境关系密切,植被类型越接近、空间复杂程度越相似的生境,其蝴蝶生态分布特征越相似。蝴蝶生境保护对于三峡库区蝶类多样性保护具有重要意义。     

High plant diversity is needed to maintain ecosystem services

Biodiversity is rapidly declining worldwide, and there is consensus that this can decrease ecosystem functioning and services. It remains unclear, though, whether few or many of the species in an ecosystem are needed to sustain the provisioning of ecosystem services. It has been hypothesized that most species would promote ecosystem services if many times, places, functions and environmental changes were considered; however, no previous study has considered all of these factors together. Here we show that 84% of the 147 grassland plant species studied in 17 biodiversity experiments promoted ecosystem functioning at least once. Different species promoted ecosystem functioning during different years, at different places, for different functions and under different environmental change scenarios. Furthermore, the species needed to provide one function during multiple years were not the same as those needed to provide multiple functions within one year. Our results indicate that even more species will be needed to maintain ecosystem functioning and services than previously suggested by studies that have either (1) considered only the number of species needed to promote one function under one set of environmental conditions, or (2) separately considered the importance of biodiversity for providing ecosystem functioning across multiple years, places, functions or environmental change scenarios. Therefore, although species may appear functionally redundant when one function is considered under one set of environmental conditions, many species are needed to maintain multiple functions at multiple times and places in a changing world.     

Diversity-dependent production can decrease the stability of ecosystem functioning

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 production, there is no direct evidence that biodiversity loss affects ecosystem resistance (ability to withstand perturbation) or resilience (recovery from perturbation). Yet theory, laboratory experiments and indirect experimental evidence 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 1year. 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.     

Coral communities are regionally enriched along an oceanic biodiversity gradient

Ecological communities are influenced by processes operating at multiple scales. Thus, a better understanding of how broad- as well as local-scale processes affect species diversity and richness is increasingly becoming a central focus in modern community ecology. Here, in a study of unprecedented geographical scope, we show significant regional and local variation in the species richness of coral assemblages across an oceanic biodiversity gradient. The gradient that we sampled extends 10,000 km eastwards from the world's richest coral biodiversity hotspot in the central Indo-Pacific. Local richness and the size of regional species pools decline significantly across 15 islands spanning the gradient. In addition, richness declines across three adjacent habitats (reef slopes, crests and flats). In each habitat, a highly consistent linear relationship between local and regional species richness indicates strong regional enrichment. Thus, even on the most diverse coral reefs in the world, local coral assemblages are profoundly affected by regional-scale processes. Understanding these historical and biogeographical influences is essential for the effective management and preservation of these endangered communities.     

Experimental niche evolution alters the strength of the diversity–productivity relationship

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) has become a cornerstone of community and ecosystem ecology and an essential criterion for making decisions in conservation biology and policy planning. It has recently been proposed that evolutionary history should influence the BEF relationship because it determines species traits and, thus, species’ ability to exploit resources. Here we test this hypothesis by combining experimental evolution with a BEF experiment. We isolated 20 bacterial strains from a marine environment and evolved each to be generalists or specialists. We then tested the effect of evolutionary history on the strength of the BEF relationship with assemblages of 1 to 20 species constructed from the specialists, generalists and ancestors. Assemblages of generalists were more productive on average because of their superior ability to exploit the environmental heterogeneity. The slope of the BEF relationship was, however, stronger for the specialist assemblages because of enhanced niche complementarity. These results show how the BEF relationship depends critically on the legacy of past evolutionary events.     

Effects of macrophyte species richness on wetland ecosystem functioning and services

Wetlands provide many important ecosystem services to human society, which may depend on how plant diversity influences biomass production and nutrient retention. Vascular aquatic plant diversity may not necessarily enhance wetland ecosystem functioning, however, because competition among these plant species can be strong, often resulting in the local dominance of a single species. Here we have manipulated the species richness of rooted, submerged aquatic plant (macrophyte) communities in experimental wetland mesocosms. We found higher algal and total plant (algal plus macrophyte) biomass, as well as lower loss of total phosphorus, in mesocosms with a greater richness of macrophyte species. Greater plant biomass resulted from a sampling effect; that is, the increased chance in species mixtures that algal production would be facilitated by the presence of a less competitive species-in this case, crisped pondweed. Lower losses of total phosphorus resulted from the greater chance in species mixtures of a high algal biomass and the presence of sago pondweed, which physically filter particulate phosphorus from the water. These indirect and direct effects of macrophyte species richness on algal production, total plant biomass and phosphorus loss suggest that management practices that maintain macrophyte diversity may enhance the functioning and associated services of wetland ecosystems.     

Disentangling nestedness from models of ecological complexity

Complex networks of interactions are ubiquitous and are particularly important in ecological communities, in which large numbers of species exhibit negative (for example, competition or predation) and positive (for example, mutualism) interactions with one another. Nestedness in mutualistic ecological networks is the tendency for ecological specialists to interact with a subset of species that also interact with more generalist species. Recent mathematical and computational analysis has suggested that such nestedness increases species richness. By examining previous results and applying computational approaches to 59 empirical data sets representing mutualistic plant–pollinator networks, we show that this statement is incorrect. A simpler metric—the number of mutualistic partners a species has—is a much better predictor of individual species survival and hence, community persistence. Nestedness is, at best, a secondary covariate rather than a causative factor for biodiversity in mutualistic communities. Analysis of complex networks should be accompanied by analysis of simpler, underpinning mechanisms that drive multiple higher-order network properties.     

岑王老山常绿落叶阔叶混交林群落优势种种间联结性与种间相关性分析

种间联结及种间相关性能够反映植物群落中物种间的关系和群落的稳定程度,对植被的恢复与重建、生物多样性保护等具有重要的意义和价值。本研究基于岑王老山1hm2样地中胸径大于1cm的每木调查数据,采用方差比率法(VR)、种间联结(AC)系数、Ochiai指数、Pearson相关系数、Spearman秩相关系数以及PCA排序,对群落中13个优势树种的种间联结性和种间相关性进行分析,并进行生态种组的划分。结果显示:(1)群落总体呈现显著正联结,表明群落正处于演替的稳定阶段;(2)种间联结性与种间相关性分析中的正负关联比均未超过1,但达到显著正关联的种对数明显大于达到显著负关联的种对数,说明群落整体联结性与群落中达到显著关联的种对数关系更为密切;(3)相关性检验中虽然结果相似,但Spearman秩相关检验的结果更为灵敏;(4)生态种组的划分与相关性检验表现出一致性,说明物种的生态学特性以及对资源的利用方式对其种间关系具有较大的影响。     

Local dispersal promotes biodiversity in a real-life game of rock-paper-scissors

One of the central aims of ecology is to identify mechanisms that maintain biodiversity. Numerous theoretical models have shown that competing species can coexist if ecological processes such as dispersal, movement, and interaction occur over small spatial scales. In particular, this may be the case for non-transitive communities, that is, those without strict competitive hierarchies. The classic non-transitive system involves a community of three competing species satisfying a relationship similar to the children's game rock-paper-scissors, where rock crushes scissors, scissors cuts paper, and paper covers rock. Such relationships have been demonstrated in several natural systems. Some models predict that local interaction and dispersal are sufficient to ensure coexistence of all three species in such a community, whereas diversity is lost when ecological processes occur over larger scales. Here, we test these predictions empirically using a non-transitive model community containing three populations of Escherichia coli. We find that diversity is rapidly lost in our experimental community when dispersal and interaction occur over relatively large spatial scales, whereas all populations coexist when ecological processes are localized.     

林下连作种植参根际土壤可培养微生物区系及细菌群落对酚酸类化感物质的响应

为探究酚酸类成分对林下连作参根际土壤中微生物区系及可培养细菌群落的影响,以未栽培人参(Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer)林地土壤(1#样品)、连作未发病土壤(2#样品)和连作发病土壤(3#样品)为研究对象,探究根际土壤中微生物区系及可培养细菌群落结构、多样性的变化。同时,通过高效液相色谱(High Performance Liquid Chromatography, HPLC)分析方法对土壤样品中的酚酸进行定性和定量分析。结果表明,2#样品和3#样品土壤可培养微生物总数量与1#样品相比分别下降61.37%和68.24%;可培养细菌分别下降61.36%和68.18%;可培养放线菌分别下降72.97%和75.68%;可培养真菌分别为1#样品的1.40倍和0.47倍。3种样品共分离到193株细菌,分属于4门6纲13目19科39属96种。3种样品中最优势菌纲均为芽孢杆菌纲Bacilli(相对分离频率分别为51.67%、64.00%、48.28%),1#样品、2#样品最优势菌属为芽孢杆菌属Bacillus(相对分离频率分别为15.00%、21.33%),3#样品最优势菌属为链霉菌属...     

Ecology: diversity and stability in plant communities

The relationship between species diversity and ecosystem stability is controversial. Tilman et al. analyse biomass patterns over a decade in a grassland experiment with artificial plant communities, and provide evidence for a positive relationship between the number of plant species and the temporal stability of the ecosystem. Here we use data from a long-term biodiversity experiment with plant communities that were not controlled by weeding in order to show that diverse systems can be both stable and unstable.     

土壤微生物多样性与植物多样性

土壤中生活着丰富的微生物类群,是一个重要的地下生物宝库.土壤微生物是土壤中的主要分解者,对环境起着天然的“过滤”和“净化”作用,在自然生态系统的功能发挥和维持能力方面极其重要.植物、土壤和微生物相互作用,构成了一个植物-土壤-微生物的有机整体.土壤微生物多样性代表着微生物群落的稳定性,指生命体在遗传、种类和生态系统层次上的变化.从遗传、分类、生态功能以及系统发育等多方面阐述了当前土壤微生物多样性的研究工作.同时探讨了植物多样性与土壤微生物多样性之间的内在联系,植被的破坏可直接导致土壤微生物多样性的丧失,而土壤微生物对植物物种多样性的维持又具有重要作用.因此,加强土壤微生物多样性研究对植物多样性保护具有重要意义.     

内陆河流域浮床植物根际微生物群落特征与比较

为研究内陆河流域不同浮床植物的根际微生物群落结构、多样性、潜在生态功能及其差异,采集了位于沱江二级支流赤水河生态浮床上的风车草（Cyperus involucratus）、黄菖蒲（Iris pseudacorus）、再力花（Thalia dealbata）、鸢尾（Iris tectorum）、美人蕉（Canna indica）、梭鱼草（Pontederia cordata）6种植物生长旺盛时期的根系样本,通过细菌16sRNA片段高通量测序和生物信息学手段,分析了微生物群落结构组成、生物多样性以及潜在的生态功能。结果表明,变形菌门（Proteobacteria）在6种浮床植物根际细菌中占绝对优势,丰度达47.5% - 72.2%,在植物生长环境较为相似且空间距离较近的情况下,不同浮床植物根际微生物属水平优势种群丰度差异仍较大。微生物群落多样性由大到小依次为鸢尾、美人蕉、黄菖蒲、风车草、再力花、梭鱼草,同科同属的黄菖蒲和鸢尾根际细菌组成相对较为相似。风车草根际硝化/反硝化功能菌群丰度更高,梭鱼草根际芳香族化合物降解功能菌群丰度显著高于另外5种植物。根长、株高和生物量更大的植物根际微生物中芽殖杆菌属丰度显著更高,植物生长指标与部分根际细菌氮转化存在正相关关系。研究结果可为浮床植物根际微生物群落研究和生态浮床的建设优化提供参考。     

嘉陵江流域南充金城山森林群落生物多样性研究

对嘉陵江流域南充金城山森林群落生物多样性的测量,揭示了各个样地的多样性指数与其生境具有相关性,由于所处环境条件比较接近,且人为影响严重,故该山森林群落的异质性差,植被组成单一,需加强对其保护。