Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Temple, Texas » Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #390357
Research Project: Contributions of Climate, Soils, Species Diversity, and Management to Sustainable Crop, Grassland, and Livestock Production Systems

Location: Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory

Title: Linking changes in species composition and biomass in a globally distributed grassland experiment

Author
item LADOUCEUR, EMMA - German Centre For Integrative Biodiversity Research (IDIV)
item BLOWES, SHANE - Helmholtz Centre For Environmental Research
item CHASE, JONATHAN - German Centre For Integrative Biodiversity Research (IDIV)
item CLARK, ADAM - Karl Franzens University
item GARBOWSKI, MAGDA - Helmholtz Centre For Environmental Research
item ALBERTI, JUAN - Consejo Nacional De Investigaciones Científicas Y Técnicas(CONICET)
item ARNILLAS, CARLOS - University Of Toronto
item BAKKER, JONATHAN - University Of Washington
item BARRIO, ISABEL - University Of Iceland
item BHARATH, SIDDHARTH - Center For Natural Biological Resources And Community Development
item BORER, ELIZABETH - University Of Minnesota
item BRUDVIG, LARS - Michigan State University
item CADOTTE, MARC - University Of Toronto
item CHEN, QINGQING - Peking University
item COLLINS, SCOTT - University Of New Mexico
item DICKMAN, CHRISTOPHER - University Of Sydney
item DONOHUE, IAN - Trinity College Dublin
item DU, GUOZHEN - Lanzhou University
item EBELING, ANNE - University Of Jena
item EISENHAUER, NICO - Martin Luther University
item Fay, Philip
item HAGENAH, NICOLE - University Of Pretoria
item HAUTIER, YANN - Utrecht University
item JENTSCH, ANKE - University Of Bayreuth
item JONSDOTTIR, INGIBJORG - University Of Iceland
item KOMATSU, KIMBERLY - Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
item MACDOUGALL, ANDREW - University Of Guelph
item MARTINA, JASON - Texas State University
item MOORE, JOSLIN - Monash University
item MORGAN, JOHN - La Trobe University
item PERI, PABLO - National Institute Of Agricultural Technology(INTA)
item POWER, SALLY - Western Sydney University
item REN, ZHENGWEI - Lanzhou University
item RISCH, ANITA - Swiss Federal Research Institute Wsl
item ROSCHER, CHRISTIANE - Helmholtz Centre For Environmental Research
item SCHUCHARDT, MAX - University Of Bayreuth
item SEABLOOM, ERIC - University Of Minnesota
item STEVENS, CARLY - Lancaster University
item VEEN, GF - Netherlands Institute Of Ecology
item VIRTANEN, RISTO - University Of Oulu
item WARDLE, GLENDA - University Of Sydney
item WILFAHRT, PETER - University Of Minnesota
item HARPOLE, W - Martin Luther University

Submitted to: Ecology Letters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/17/2022
Publication Date: 10/24/2022
Citation: Ladouceur, E., Blowes, S.A., Chase, J.M., Clark, A.T., Garbowski, M., Alberti, J., Arnillas, C.A., Bakker, J.D., Barrio, I.C., Bharath, S., Borer, E.T., Brudvig, L.A., Cadotte, M.W., Chen, Q., Collins, S.L., Dickman, C.R., Donohue, I., Du, G., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Fay, P.A., Hagenah, N., Hautier, Y., Jentsch, A., Jónsdóttir, I.S., Komatsu, K., MacDougall, A., Martina, J.P., Moore, J.L., Morgan, J.W., Peri, P.L., Power, S.A., Ren, Z., Risch, A.C., Roscher, C., Schuchardt, M.A., Seabloom, E.W., Stevens, C.J., Veen, G.C., Virtanen, R., Wardle, G.M., Wilfahrt, P.A., Harpole, W.S. 2022. Linking changes in species composition and biomass in a globally distributed grassland experiment. Ecology Letters. 25(12):2699-2712. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14126.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14126

Interpretive Summary: Species-rich ecosystems such as grasslands provide many ecosystem services, such as biomass, carbon sequestration, and pollinators. Excess fertilizers in the environment can degrade the functions supporting ecosystem services by causing species loss and replacement. How changes in species numbers and replacement mechanistically cause changes in ecosystem function remain unclear but is critical to predict global change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services provision. This study uses a novel application of the Price Equation to separate the functional contributions of species that are lost, gained, or persist over years in unfertilized and experimentally fertilized grasslands at 59 locations on six continents. In unfertilized grassland, species change and total plant biomass variation were high but constant through time, and species losses balanced species gains. In contrast, in fertilized grassland on average species loss led to total plant biomass loss which was offset by gains in a few productive species and increased biomass from species that persisted through time. These findings provide a broadly applicable explanation for the impacts of excess fertilizers in the environment on biodiversity of grasslands and will inform predictions of future ecosystem services provision.

Technical Abstract: Global change drivers contribute to the simultaneous change of biodiversity and ecosystem funtionality. Anthropogenic nutrient inputs to grasslands often simultaneously alter biodiversity, species composition, and ecosystem functions, such as above ground biomass. Changes to these aggregate measures are dependent on local species extinctions, introductions and changes in relative abundance. We use a novel application of the Price Equation to separate the functional contributions of species that are lost, gained, or persist over time under ambients and experimental nutrient addition in 59 grasslands from across the globe. Under ambient conditions, compositional and biomass turnover was high, but species losses (i.e., loca extinctions) were balanced by gains (i.e. colonization). Under fertilization, there was biomass loss associated with species loss. Few species were gained over time but those that were, and species that persisted, contributed to biomass gains overall. The components of change in community composition have distinct effects on measures of ecosystem functioning over time.