Diversity-dependent production can decrease the stability of ecosystem functioning (original) (raw)

Nature volume 416, pages 84–86 (2002) Cite this article

Abstract

There is concern that species loss may adversely affect ecosystem functioning and stability. But although there is evidence that biodiversity loss can lead to reductions in biomass production1,2,3,4, there is no direct evidence that biodiversity loss affects ecosystem resistance (ability to withstand perturbation) or resilience (recovery from perturbation). Yet theory5,6, laboratory experiments7,8,9,10,11 and indirect experimental evidence12,13,14 strongly suggest that diversity and stability are related. Here we report results from a field experiment with factorially crossed perturbation and diversity manipulations. We simulated drought perturbation on constructed grassland ecosystems containing 1, 2, 4, 8 or 32 plant species. Under unperturbed conditions, the species-poor systems achieved lower biomass production than the species-rich systems. However, the species-poor systems were more resistant to perturbation than the species-rich systems. The species-poor systems also showed a larger initial resilience following perturbation, although the original relationship between diversity and productivity was fully restored after 1 year. Our results confirm that biodiversity increases biomass production, but they also point to the fact that such diversity–production associations may lead to an inverse relationship between biodiversity and the stability of ecosystem functioning.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 52 print issues and online access

$199.00 per year

only $3.83 per issue

Buy this article

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Additional access options:

Figure 1: Possible effects of perturbation on relationships between diversity and ecosystem functioning.

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Figure 2: Effects of drought perturbation on the relationship between species richness and production.

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Tilman, D., Wedin, D. & Knops, J. M. H. Productivity and sustainability influenced by biodiversity in grassland ecosystems. Nature 379, 718–720 (1996).
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  2. Tilman, D. et al. The influence of functional diversity and composition on ecosystem processes. Science 277, 1300–1302 (1997).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  3. Hector, A. et al. Plant diversity and productivity experiments in European grasslands. Science 286, 1123–1127 (1999).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  4. Loreau, M. et al. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294, 804–808 (2001).
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  5. May, R. M. Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 1973).
    Google Scholar
  6. Yachi, S. & Loreau, M. Biodiversity and ecosystem productivity in a fluctuating environment: the insurance hypothesis. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 96, 1463–1468 (1999).
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  7. McGrady-Steed, J., Harris, P. M. & Morin, P. J. Biodiversity regulates ecosystem predictability. Nature 390, 162–165 (1997).
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  8. Naeem, S. & Li, S. Biodiversity enhances ecosystem reliability. Nature 390, 507–509 (1997).
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  9. Petchey, O. L., McPhearson, P. T., Casey, T. M. & Morin, P. J. Environmental warming alters food-web structure and ecosystem function. Nature 402, 69–72 (1999).
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  10. Griffiths, B. S. et al. Ecosystem response of pasture soil communities to fumigation-induced microbial diversity reductions: an examination of the biodiversity–ecosystem function relationship. Oikos 90, 279–294 (2000).
    Article Google Scholar
  11. Mulder, C. P. H., Uliassi, D. D. & Doak, D. F. Physical stress and diversity-productivity relationships: The role of positive interactions. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 98, 6704–6708 (2001).
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  12. Dodd, M. E., Silvertown, J., McConway, K., Potts, J. & Crawley, M. Stability in the plant-communities of the Park Grass experiment—the relationships between species richness, soil-pH and biomass variability. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 346, 185–193 (1994).
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  13. Tilman, D. Biodiversity: population versus ecosystem stability. Ecology 77, 350–363 (1996).
    Article Google Scholar
  14. Sankaran, M. & McNaughton, S. J. Determinants of biodiversity regulate compositional stability of communities. Nature 401, 691–693 (1999).
    Article CAS ADS Google Scholar
  15. Herbert, D. A., Fownes, J. H. & Vitousek, P. M. Hurricane damage to a Hawaiian forest: nutrient supply rate affects resistance and resilience. Ecology 80, 908–920 (1999).
    Article Google Scholar
  16. Lawton, J. H. & Brown, V. K. in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function (eds Schulze, E.-D. & Mooney, H. A.) 255–270 (Springer, Berlin, 1993).
    Google Scholar
  17. Diemer, M., Joshi, J., Körner, C., Schmid, B. & Spehn, E. An experimental protocol to assess the effects of plant diversity on ecosystem functioning utilized in a European research network. Bull. Geobot. Inst. ETH 63, 95–107 (1997).
    Google Scholar
  18. Stephan, A., Meyer, A. & Schmid, B. Plant diversity affects culturable soil bacteria in experimental grassland communities. J. Ecol. 88, 988–998 (2000).
    Article Google Scholar
  19. Huston, M. A. Hidden treatments in ecological experiments: re-evaluating the ecosystem function of biodiversity. Oecologia 110, 449–460 (1997).
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  20. Payne, R. W. et al. GENSTAT 5 Reference Manual (Clarendon, Oxford, 1993).
    Google Scholar
  21. Burnham, K. P. & Anderson, D. R. Model Selection and Inference: a Practical Information-Theoretic Approach (Springer, New York, 1998).
    Book Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank M. Diemer for help with the experimental set-up, M. Fischer, A. Hector, M. Loreau, P. Oertli-Barnett and O. L. Petchey for suggestions on earlier drafts of this manuscript, and numerous helpers in the field for assistance. This project was supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science as part of the EU-funded BIODEPTH project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstr. 190, Zürich, CH-8057, Switzerland
    Andrea B. Pfisterer & Bernhard Schmid

Authors

  1. Andrea B. Pfisterer
  2. Bernhard Schmid

Corresponding author

Correspondence toBernhard Schmid.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pfisterer, A., Schmid, B. Diversity-dependent production can decrease the stability of ecosystem functioning.Nature 416, 84–86 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/416084a

Download citation

This article is cited by