TY - JOUR A1 - Meyer, Sebastian Tobias A1 - Ptacnik, Robert A1 - Hillebrand, Helmut A1 - Bessler, Holger A1 - Buchmann, Nina A1 - Ebeling, Anne A1 - Eisenhauer, Nico A1 - Engels, Christof A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Halle, Stefan A1 - Klein, Alexandra-Maria A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne A1 - Roscher, Christiane A1 - Rottstock, Tanja A1 - Scherber, Christoph A1 - Scheu, Stefan A1 - Schmid, Bernhard A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Temperton, Vicky M. A1 - Tscharntke, Teja A1 - Voigt, Winfried A1 - Weigelt, Alexandra A1 - Wilcke, Wolfgang A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. T1 - Biodiversity-multifunctionality relationships depend on identity and number of measured functions JF - Nature Ecology & Evolution N2 - Biodiversity ensures ecosystem functioning and provisioning of ecosystem services, but it remains unclear how biodiversity-ecosystem multifunctionality relationships depend on the identity and number of functions considered. Here, we demonstrate that ecosystem multifunctionality, based on 82 indicator variables of ecosystem functions in a grassland biodiversity experiment, increases strongly with increasing biodiversity. Analysing subsets of functions showed that the effects of biodiversity on multifunctionality were stronger when more functions were included and that the strength of the biodiversity effects depended on the identity of the functions included. Limits to multifunctionality arose from negative correlations among functions and functions that were not correlated with biodiversity. Our findings underline that the management of ecosystems for the protection of biodiversity cannot be replaced by managing for particular ecosystem functions or services and emphasize the need for specific management to protect biodiversity. More plant species from the experimental pool of 60 species contributed to functioning when more functions were considered. An individual contribution to multifunctionality could be demonstrated for only a fraction of the species. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0391-4 SN - 2397-334X VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 44 EP - 49 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meyer, Sebastian T. A1 - Ebeling, Anne A1 - Eisenhauer, Nico A1 - Hertzog, Lionel A1 - Hillebrand, Helmut A1 - Milcu, Alexandru A1 - Pompe, Sven A1 - Abbas, Maike A1 - Bessler, Holger A1 - Buchmann, Nina A1 - De Luca, Enrica A1 - Engels, Christof A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Gleixner, Gerd A1 - Hudewenz, Anika A1 - Klein, Alexandra-Maria A1 - de Kroon, Hans A1 - Leimer, Sophia A1 - Loranger, Hannah A1 - Mommer, Liesje A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne A1 - Ravenek, Janneke M. A1 - Roscher, Christiane A1 - Rottstock, Tanja A1 - Scherber, Christoph A1 - Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael A1 - Scheu, Stefan A1 - Schmid, Bernhard A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Staudler, Andrea A1 - Strecker, Tanja A1 - Temperton, Vicky A1 - Tscharntke, Teja A1 - Vogel, Anja A1 - Voigt, Winfried A1 - Weigelt, Alexandra A1 - Wilcke, Wolfgang A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. T1 - Effects of biodiversity strengthen over time as ecosystem functioning declines at low and increases at high biodiversity JF - Ecosphere : the magazine of the International Ecology University KW - biodiversity ecosystem functioning (BEF) KW - ecosystem processes KW - grassland KW - mechanism KW - plant productivity KW - plant species richness KW - temporal effects KW - trophic interactions Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1619 SN - 2150-8925 VL - 7 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Milcu, Alexandru A1 - Heim, Angela A1 - Ellis, Richard J. A1 - Scheu, Stefan A1 - Manning, Pete T1 - Identification of general patterns of nutrient and labile carbon control on soil carbon dynamics across a successional gradient JF - Ecosystems N2 - Carbon (C) inputs and nutrient availability are known to affect soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. However, general rules regarding the operation of these factors across a range of soil nutrient availabilities and substrate qualities are unidentified. "Priming" (stimulated decomposition by labile C inputs) and 'preferential substrate utilization' (retarded decomposition due to shifts in community composition towards microbes that do not mineralize SOC) are two hypotheses to explain effects of labile C additions on SOC dynamics. For effects of nutrient additions (nitrogen and phosphorus) on SOC dynamics, the stoichiometric (faster decomposition of materials of low carbon-to-nutrient ratios) and 'microbial mining' (that is, reduced breakdown of recalcitrant C forms for nutrients under fertile conditions) hypotheses have been proposed. Using the natural gradient of soil nutrient availability and substrate quality of a chronosequence, combined with labile C and nutrient amendments, we explored the support for these contrasting hypotheses. Additions of labile C, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and combinations of C and N and C and P were applied to three sites: 2-year fallow grassland, mature grassland and forest, and the effects of site and nutrient additions on litter decomposition and soil C dynamics were assessed. The response to C addition supported the preferential substrate hypothesis for easily degradable litter C and the priming hypothesis for SOC, but only in nitrogen-enriched soils of the forest site. Responses to N addition supported the microbial mining hypothesis irrespective of C substrate (litter or SOC), but only in the forest site. Further, P addition effects on SOC support the stoichiometric hypothesis; P availability appeared key to soil C release (priming) in the forest site if labile C and N is available. These results clearly link previously contrasting hypotheses of the factors controlling SOC with the natural gradient in litter quality and nutrient availability that exists in ecosystems at different successional stages. A holistic theory that incorporates this variability of responses, due to different mechanisms, depending on nutrient availability and substrate quality is essential for devising management strategies to safeguard soil C stocks. KW - carbon sequestration KW - priming effect KW - microbial mining KW - succession KW - microorganisms KW - litter decomposition Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9440-z SN - 1432-9840 VL - 14 IS - 5 SP - 710 EP - 719 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Schöning, Ingo A1 - Alt, Fabian A1 - Herold, Nadine A1 - Klarner, Bernhard A1 - Maraun, Mark A1 - Marhan, Sven A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Yurkov, Andrey A1 - Begerow, Dominik A1 - Berner, Doreen A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Daniel, Rolf A1 - Diekötter, Tim A1 - Ehnes, Roswitha B. A1 - Erdmann, Georgia A1 - Fischer, Christiane A1 - Fösel, Baerbel A1 - Groh, Janine A1 - Gutknecht, Jessica A1 - Kandeler, Ellen A1 - Lang, Christa A1 - Lohaus, Gertrud A1 - Meyer, Annabel A1 - Nacke, Heiko A1 - Näther, Astrid A1 - Overmann, Jörg A1 - Polle, Andrea A1 - Pollierer, Melanie M. A1 - Scheu, Stefan A1 - Schloter, Michael A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Schulze, Waltraud X. A1 - Weinert, Jan A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Wolters, Volkmar A1 - Schrumpf, Marion T1 - General relationships between abiotic soil properties and soil biota across spatial scales and different land-use types JF - PLoS one N2 - Very few principles have been unraveled that explain the relationship between soil properties and soil biota across large spatial scales and different land-use types. Here, we seek these general relationships using data from 52 differently managed grassland and forest soils in three study regions spanning a latitudinal gradient in Germany. We hypothesize that, after extraction of variation that is explained by location and land-use type, soil properties still explain significant proportions of variation in the abundance and diversity of soil biota. If the relationships between predictors and soil organisms were analyzed individually for each predictor group, soil properties explained the highest amount of variation in soil biota abundance and diversity, followed by land-use type and sampling location. After extraction of variation that originated from location or land-use, abiotic soil properties explained significant amounts of variation in fungal, meso-and macrofauna, but not in yeast or bacterial biomass or diversity. Nitrate or nitrogen concentration and fungal biomass were positively related, but nitrate concentration was negatively related to the abundances of Collembola and mites and to the myriapod species richness across a range of forest and grassland soils. The species richness of earthworms was positively correlated with clay content of soils independent of sample location and land-use type. Our study indicates that after accounting for heterogeneity resulting from large scale differences among sampling locations and land-use types, soil properties still explain significant proportions of variation in fungal and soil fauna abundance or diversity. However, soil biota was also related to processes that act at larger spatial scales and bacteria or soil yeasts only showed weak relationships to soil properties. We therefore argue that more general relationships between soil properties and soil biota can only be derived from future studies that consider larger spatial scales and different land-use types. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043292 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 7 IS - 8 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Allan, Eric A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Weigelt, Alexandra A1 - Roscher, Christiane A1 - Baade, Jussi A1 - Barnard, Romain L. A1 - Bessler, Holger A1 - Buchmann, Nina A1 - Ebeling, Anne A1 - Eisenhauer, Nico A1 - Engels, Christof A1 - Fergus, Alexander J. F. A1 - Gleixner, Gerd A1 - Gubsch, Marlen A1 - Halle, Stefan A1 - Klein, Alexandra Maria A1 - Kertscher, Ilona A1 - Kuu, Annely A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Le Roux, Xavier A1 - Meyer, Sebastian T. A1 - Migunova, Varvara D. A1 - Milcu, Alexandru A1 - Niklaus, Pascal A. A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne A1 - Pasalic, Esther A1 - Petermann, Jana S. A1 - Poly, Franck A1 - Rottstock, Tanja A1 - Sabais, Alexander C. W. A1 - Scherber, Christoph A1 - Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael A1 - Scheu, Stefan A1 - Steinbeiss, Sibylle A1 - Schwichtenberg, Guido A1 - Temperton, Vicky A1 - Tscharntke, Teja A1 - Voigt, Winfried A1 - Wilcke, Wolfgang A1 - Wirth, Christian A1 - Schmid, Bernhard T1 - A comparison of the strength of biodiversity effects across multiple functions JF - Oecologia N2 - In order to predict which ecosystem functions are most at risk from biodiversity loss, meta-analyses have generalised results from biodiversity experiments over different sites and ecosystem types. In contrast, comparing the strength of biodiversity effects across a large number of ecosystem processes measured in a single experiment permits more direct comparisons. Here, we present an analysis of 418 separate measures of 38 ecosystem processes. Overall, 45 % of processes were significantly affected by plant species richness, suggesting that, while diversity affects a large number of processes not all respond to biodiversity. We therefore compared the strength of plant diversity effects between different categories of ecosystem processes, grouping processes according to the year of measurement, their biogeochemical cycle, trophic level and compartment (above- or belowground) and according to whether they were measures of biodiversity or other ecosystem processes, biotic or abiotic and static or dynamic. Overall, and for several individual processes, we found that biodiversity effects became stronger over time. Measures of the carbon cycle were also affected more strongly by plant species richness than were the measures associated with the nitrogen cycle. Further, we found greater plant species richness effects on measures of biodiversity than on other processes. The differential effects of plant diversity on the various types of ecosystem processes indicate that future research and political effort should shift from a general debate about whether biodiversity loss impairs ecosystem functions to focussing on the specific functions of interest and ways to preserve them individually or in combination. KW - Bottom-up effects KW - Carbon cycling KW - Ecological synthesis KW - Ecosystem processes KW - Grasslands KW - Jena experiment KW - Nitrogen cycling Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2589-0 SN - 0029-8549 VL - 173 IS - 1 SP - 223 EP - 237 PB - Springer CY - New York ER -