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ARS Home » Plains Area » Temple, Texas » Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #323325
Title: Comment on "Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness"

Author
item TREDENNICK, ANDREW - Utah State University
item ADLER, PETER - Utah State University
item GRACE, JAMES - Us Geological Survey (USGS)
item HARPOLE, W. - Helmholtz Centre For Environmental Research
item BORER, ELIZABETH - University Of Minnesota
item SEABLOOM, ERIC - University Of Minnesota
item ANDERSON, T. - Wake Forest University
item BAKKER, JONATHAN - University Of Washington
item BIEDERMAN, LORI - Iowa State University
item BROWN, CYNTHIA - Colorado State University
item BUCKLEY, YVONNE - University Of Dublin
item CHU, CHENGJIN - Sun Yat-Sen University
item COLLINS, SCOTT - University Of New Mexico
item CRAWLEY, MICHAEL - Imperial College
item Fay, Philip
item FIRN, JENNIFER - Queensland University Of Technology
item GRUNER, DANIEL - University Of Maryland
item HAGENAH, NICOLE - University Of Kwazulu-Natal
item HAUTIER, YANN - Utrecht University
item HECTOR, ANDY - University Of Oxford
item HILLEBRAND, HELMUT - Carl von Ossietzky University Of Oldenburg
item KIRKMAN, KEVIN - University Of Kwazulu-Natal
item KNOPS, JOHANNES - University Of Nebraska
item LAUNGANI, RAMESH - University Of Nebraska
item LIND, ERIC - University Of Minnesota
item MACDOUGALL, ANDREW - University Of Guelph
item MCCULLEY, REBECCA - University Of Kentucky
item MITCHELL, CHARLES - University Of North Carolina
item MOORE, JOSLIN - Monash University
item MORGAN, JOHN - La Trobe University
item ORROCK, JOHN - University Of Wisconsin
item PERI, PABLO - National Institute Of Agricultural Technology(INTA)
item PROBER, SUZANNE - Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
item RISCH, ANITA - Swiss Federal Institute
item SCHUTZ, MARTIN - Swiss Federal Institute
item SPEZIALE, KARINA - Consejo Nacional De Investigaciones Científicas Y Técnicas(CONICET)
item STANDISH, RACHEL - Murdoch University
item SULLIVAN, LAUREN - University Of Minnesota
item WARDLE, GLENDA - University Of Sydney
item WILLIAMS, RYAN - Iowa State University
item YANG, LOUIE - University Of California

Submitted to: Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/17/2015
Publication Date: 1/29/2016
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/63142
Citation: Tredennick, A.T., Adler, P.B., Grace, J.B., Harpole, W.S., Borer, E.T., Seabloom, E.W., Anderson, T.M., Bakker, J.D., Biederman, L.A., Brown, C.S., Buckley, Y.M., Chu, C., Collins, S., Crawley, M.J., Fay, P.A., Firn, J., Gruner, D.S., Hagenah, N., Hautier, Y., Hector, A., Hillebrand, H., Kirkman, K., Knops, J.M., Laungani, R., Lind, E.M., MacDougall, A.S., McCulley, R.L., Mitchell, C.E., Moore, J.L., Morgan, J.W., Orrock, J.L., Peri, P.L., Prober, S.M., Risch, A.C., Schutz, M., Speziale, K.L., Standish, R.J., Sullivan, L.L., Wardle, G.M., Williams, R.J., Yang, L.H. 2016. Comment on "Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness". Science. 351(6272):457.

Interpretive Summary: This is a technical comment on a recent paper by Fraser et al. 2015 (Science 399:302-305) examining the relationship between plant community productivity and the number of species in the community at global and local scales. Fraser et al.’s findings contrast with ours (Adler et al. 2011, Science 333:1750-1753). In the comment, we show that discrepancies between the two papers arise from statistical problems in Fraser et al.’s analysis. When corrected, Fraser et al.’s results agree with our previous findings that on a global scale, the number of species is a poor predictor of community productivity.

Technical Abstract: Fraser et al. (Reports, 17 July 2015, p. 302) report a unimodal relationship between productivity and species richness at regional and global scales, which they contrast with the results of Adler et al. (Reports, 23 September 2011, p. 1750). However, both data sets, when analyzed correctly, show clearly and consistently that productivity is a poor predictor of local species richness.