Journal Article

PreJuSER-10925

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Bottom-up effects of plant diversity on biotic interactions in a biodiversity experiment

Scherber, C. ; Eisenhauer, N. ; Weisser, W. W. ; Schmidt, B. ; Voigt, W. ; Fischer, M. ; Schulze, E.-D. ; Roscher, C. ; Weigelt, A. ; Allan, E. ; Beßler, H. ; Bonkowski, M. ; Buchmann, N. ; Buscot, F. ; Clement, L. W. ; Ebeling, A. ; Engels, C. ; Halle, S. ; Kertscher, I. ; Klein, A.-M. ; Koller, R. ; König, S. ; Kowalski, E. ; Kummer, V. ; Kuu, A. ; Lange, M. ; Lauterbach, D. ; Middelhoff, C. ; Migunova, V. D. ; Milcu, A. ; Müller, R. ; Partsch, S. ; Petermann, J. S. ; Renker, C. ; Rottstock, T. ; Sabais, A. ; Scheu, S. ; Schumacher, J. ; Temperton, V. M.FZJ* ; Tscharntke, T.

2010
Nature Publising Group London [u.a.]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1038/nature09492

Abstract: Biodiversity is rapidly declining, and this may negatively affect ecosystem processes, including economically important ecosystem services. Previous studies have shown that biodiversity has positive effects on organisms and processes across trophic levels. However, only a few studies have so far incorporated an explicit food-web perspective. In an eight-year biodiversity experiment, we studied an unprecedented range of above- and below-ground organisms and multitrophic interactions. A multitrophic data set originating from a single long-term experiment allows mechanistic insights that would not be gained from meta-analysis of different experiments. Here we show that plant diversity effects dampen with increasing trophic level and degree of omnivory. This was true both for abundance and species richness of organisms. Furthermore, we present comprehensive above-ground/below-ground biodiversity food webs. Both above ground and below ground, herbivores responded more strongly to changes in plant diversity than did carnivores or omnivores. Density and richness of carnivorous taxa was independent of vegetation structure. Below-ground responses to plant diversity were consistently weaker than above-ground responses. Responses to increasing plant diversity were generally positive, but were negative for biological invasion, pathogen infestation and hyperparasitism. Our results suggest that plant diversity has strong bottom-up effects on multitrophic interaction networks, with particularly strong effects on lower trophic levels. Effects on higher trophic levels are indirectly mediated through bottom-up trophic cascades.

Keyword(s): Animals (MeSH) ; Biodiversity (MeSH) ; Models, Biological (MeSH) ; Plant Physiological Phenomena (MeSH) ; Population Density (MeSH) ; J

Note: We thank J. M. Tylianakis, P. Batary, Y. Clough, M. J. Crawley, J. Fox, J. Frund, D. Gladbach and A. Hector for comments that improved this manuscript. The gardeners, technicians, student helpers and managers of the Jena Experiment are acknowledged for their assistance. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FOR 456).

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Research Program(s):

1. Terrestrische Umwelt (P24)

Appears in the scientific report 2010

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