Biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning despite environmental change

Abstract

Three decades of research have demonstrated that biodiversity can promote the functioning of ecosystems. Yet, it is unclear whether the positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning will persist under various types of global environmental change drivers. We conducted a meta‐analysis of 46 factorial experiments manipulating both species richness and the environment to test how global change drivers (i.e. warming, drought, nutrient addition or CO
2
enrichment) modulated the effect of biodiversity on multiple ecosystem functions across three taxonomic groups (microbes, phytoplankton and plants). We found that biodiversity increased ecosystem functioning in both ambient and manipulated environments, but often not to the same degree. In particular, biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning were larger in stressful environments induced by global change drivers, indicating that high‐diversity communities were more resistant to environmental change. Using a subset of studies, we also found that the positive effects of biodiversity were mainly driven by interspecific complementarity and that these effects increased over time in both ambient and manipulated environments. Our findings support biodiversity conservation as a key strategy for sustainable ecosystem management in the face of global environmental change.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

92

[1]

10.1002/ecy.1601

[2]

10.1111/ele.13088

[3]

10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00963.x

[4]

10.1038/s41559-020-1203-9

[5]

10.1111/j.1365-2745.2005.01017.x

[6]

10.1111/ele.13444

[7]

The geography of biodiversity change in marine and terrestrial assemblages

Shane A. Blowes, Sarah R. Supp, Laura H. Antão et al.

Science 10.1126/science.aaw1620

[8]

10.3389/fmicb.2014.00795

[9]

10.1002/ecy.2187

[10]

10.1038/nature11148

[11]

10.1073/pnas.0709069104

[12]

10.1038/s41579-019-0222-5

[13]

10.1007/978-1-4419-9504-9

[14]

10.1111/gcb.13111

[15]

10.1038/s41559-018-0647-7

[16]

10.1098/rstb.2015.0277

[17]

10.1111/1365-2745.12897

[18]

10.5194/bg-5-585-2008

[19]

10.1111/gcb.14382

[20]

10.1016/j.tree.2016.09.007

[21]

10.1126/science.1248484

[22]

10.1038/nature23886

[23]

10.7554/elife.41228

[24]

10.1016/bs.aecr.2019.06.001

[25]

10.1038/s41467-018-07880-w

[26]

10.1073/pnas.1805518115

[27]

10.1111/gcb.14528

[28]

10.1038/s41559-017-0325-1

[29]

10.1002/ecy.2624

[30]

Eutrophication weakens stabilizing effects of diversity in natural grasslands

Yann Hautier, Eric W. Seabloom, Elizabeth T. Borer et al.

Nature 10.1038/nature13014

[31]

10.1126/science.aaa1788

[32]

10.1111/ele.12080

[33]

10.1038/s41559-020-1256-9

[34]

10.1111/geb.13060

[35]

10.1111/brv.12351

[36]

10.1371/journal.pbio.1002540

[37]

10.1038/nature11118

[38]

10.1126/science.aat6405

[39]

Intergovernmental Science‐Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). (2019).Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Zenodo.

[40]

Biodiversity increases the resistance of ecosystem productivity to climate extremes

Forest Isbell, Dylan Craven, John Connolly et al.

Nature 10.1038/nature15374

[41]

10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01299.x

[42]

10.1016/j.tree.2004.01.008

[43]

10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00830.x

[44]

10.1038/s41586-020-2128-9

[45]

10.1515/9781400846184

[46]

10.1890/11-0423.1

[47]

10.1890/14-2402.1

[48]

10.1126/science.aaf8957

[49]

10.1073/pnas.95.10.5632

[50]

10.1038/35083573

Showing 50 of 92 references

Cited By

249

The role of trade‐off shapes for community adaptation and maintenance of ecosystem functions under environmental change

Elias Ehrlich, George Adje · 2025

Ecology

Functional diversity enhances dryland forest productivity under long-term climate change

Masumi Hisano, Jaboury Ghazoul · 2024

Science Advances

Metrics

249

Citations

92

References

Details

Published: Dec 02, 2021
Vol/Issue: 25(2)
Pages: 555-569
License: View

Authors

P

Pubin Hong

Institute of Ecology College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education Peking University Beijing China

B

Bernhard Schmid

Remote Sensing Laboratories Department of Geography University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland

F

Frederik De Laender

Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Namur Institute of Complex Systems, and Institute of Life, Earth, and the Environment University of Namur Namur Belgium

N

Nico Eisenhauer

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Leipzig Germany; Institute of Biology Leipzig University Leipzig Germany

X

Xingwen Zhang

School of Mathematics and Statistics Yunnan University China

H

Haozhen Chen

Institute of Ecology College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education Peking University Beijing China

D

Dylan Craven

Centro de Modelación y Monitoreo de Ecosistemas Universidad Mayor Santiago de Chile Chile

H

Hans J. De Boeck

Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO) Department of Biology University of Antwerp Wilrijk Belgium

Y

Yann Hautier

Ecology and Biodiversity Group Department of Biology Utrecht University Utrecht CH The Netherlands

O

Owen L. Petchey

Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland

P

Peter B. Reich

Department of Forest Resources University of Minnesota St Paul Minnesota USA; Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment Western Sydney University Penrith New South Wales Australia; Institute for Global Change Biology, and School for the Environment and Sustainability University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USA

B

Bastian Steudel

Department of Health and Environmental Sciences Xi'an Jiaotong‐ Liverpool University Suzhou Jiangsu Province China

M

Maren Striebel

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment Carl Von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Wilhelmshaven Germany

M

Madhav P. Thakur

Institute of Ecology and Evolution University of Bern Bern Switzerland

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China Award: 31988102

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Award: FZT 118

Universität Zürich

Cite This Article

Pubin Hong, Bernhard Schmid, Frederik De Laender, et al. (2021). Biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning despite environmental change. Ecology Letters, 25(2), 555-569. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13936

Biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning despite environmental change

You May Also Like