Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Temple, Texas » Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #294776
Title: Eutrophication weakens stabilizing effects of diversity in natural grasslands

Author
item HAUTIER, YANN - University Of Minnesota
item SEABLOOM, ERIC - University Of Zurich
item BORER, ELIZABETH - University Of Minnesota
item ADLER, PETER - Utah State University
item HARPOLE, STANLEY - Iowa State University
item HILLEBRAND, HELMUT - Carl von Ossietzky University Of Oldenburg
item LIND, ERIC - University Of Minnesota
item MACDOUGALL, ANDREW - University Of Guelph
item STEVENS, CARLY - Lancaster University
item BAKKER, JONATHAN - University Of Washington
item BUCKLEY, YVONNE - University Of Queensland
item CHU, CHENGJIN - Lanzhou University
item COLLINS, SCOTT - University Of Queensland
item DALEO, PEDRO - Institute Of Botany
item DAMSCHEN, ELLEN - University Of Wisconsin
item DAVIES, KENDI - University Of Colorado
item Fay, Philip
item FIRN, JENNIFER - Queensland University Of Technology
item GRUNER, DANIEL - University Of Maryland
item Jin, Virginia
item KLEIN, JULIA - Colorado State University
item KNOPS, JOHANNES - University Of Nebraska
item LA PIERRE, KIMBERLY - Yale University
item LI, WEI - Yunnan University
item MCCULLEY, REBECCA - University Of Kentucky
item MELBOURNE, BRETT - Institute Of Botany
item MOORE, JOSLIN - University Of Melbourne
item O'HALLORAN, LYDIA - Oregon State University
item PROBER, SUZANNE - Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
item RISCH, ANITA - Swiss College Of Agriculture
item SANKARAN, MAHESH - Syracuse University
item SCHUETZ, MARTIN - Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
item HECTOR, ANDY - University Of Zurich

Submitted to: Nature
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/10/2014
Publication Date: 2/16/2014
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/59385
Citation: Hautier, Y., Seabloom, E., Borer, E., Adler, P., Harpole, S., Hillebrand, H., Lind, E., MacDougall, A., Stevens, C., Bakker, J.D., Buckley, Y., Chu, C., Collins, S.L., Daleo, P., Damschen, E.I., Davies, K., Fay, P.A., Firn, J., Gruner, D.S., Jin, V.L., Klein, J.A., Knops, J.M., La Pierre, K.J., Li, W., McCulley, R., Melbourne, B., Moore, J.L., O'Halloran, L.R., Prober, S.M., Risch, A.C., Sankaran, M., Schuetz, M., Hector, A. 2014. Eutrophication weakens stabilizing effects of diversity in natural grasslands. Nature. 508:521-525.

Interpretive Summary: What factors make grasslands, pastures, and rangelands stable in terms of their productivity and the plant species they contain? This is a major question faced by resource managers as global change increasingly alters these systems, reducing the number of species present or introducing invasive species. This study examined nearly 40 natural grasslands on four contents, and found that grassland plant communities were more stable through time when the individual species abundances changed at different rates and times, compared to more synchronous species change. However, when grasslands were fertilized, plant diversity was reduced but stability was unaffected. This finding reveals that inputs to grasslands alter the mechanisms that enhance stability of the species in grassland plant communities, and therefore grassland productivity. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial to improving management practices and in adapting to and mitigating effects from global change.

Technical Abstract: Experimental manipulations have demonstrated that plant diversity can stabilize ecosystem functioning through population asynchrony, with decreases in the functions of some species compensated by increases in others. However, the relevance to natural ecosystems is debated. We use a global study of 37 grasslands on four continents to present two main results. Natural communities with more species had higher population asynchrony but greater ecosystem stability generalizing a result from experimental to natural systems. In contrast, while fertilization reduced diversity, asynchrony and stability were unaffected demonstrating that the relationship between diversity and stability can be influenced by anthropogenic factors. Our results emphasize the need to understand the individual and interactive effects of global change drivers on the biological processes affecting stability.