Santiago Soliveres, Peter Manning, Daniel Prati, Martin M. Gossner, Fabian Alt, Hartmut Arndt, Vanessa Baumgartner, Julia Binkenstein, Klaus Birkhofer, Stefan Blaser, Nico Bluethgen, Steffen Boch, Stefan Boehm, Carmen Boerschig, Francois Buscot, Tim Diekoetter, Johannes Heinze, Norbert Hoelzel, Kirsten Jung, Valentin H. Klaus, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Till Kleinebecker, Sandra Klemmer, Jochen Krauss, Markus Lange, E. Kathryn Morris, Joerg Mueller, Yvonne Oelmann, Jörg Overmann, Esther Pasalic, Swen C. Renner, Matthias C. Rillig, H. Martin Schaefer, Michael Schloter, Barbara Schmitt, Ingo Schoening, Marion Schrumpf, Johannes Sikorski, Stephanie A. Socher, Emily F. Solly, Ilja Sonnemann, Elisabeth Sorkau, Juliane Steckel, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Barbara Stempfhuber, Marco Tschapka, Manfred Tuerke, Paul Venter, Christiane N. Weiner, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Michael Werner, Catrin Westphal, Wolfgang Wilcke, Volkmar Wolters, Tesfaye Wubet, Susanne Wurst, Markus Fischer, Eric Allan

• Species diversity promotes the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). However, the relative functional importance of rare and common species in driving the biodiversity multifunctionality relationship remains unknown. We studied the relationship between the diversity of rare and common species (according to their local abundances and across nine different trophic groups), and multifunctionality indices derived from 14 ecosystem functions on 150 grasslands across a land use intensity (LUI) gradient. The diversity of above- and below-ground rare species had opposite effects, with rare above-ground species being associated with high levels of multifunctionality, probably because their effects on different functions did not trade off against each other. Conversely, common species were only related to average, not high, levels of multifunctionality, and their functional effects declined with LUI. Apart from the community level effects of diversity, we found significant positive associations between the abundance ofSpecies diversity promotes the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). However, the relative functional importance of rare and common species in driving the biodiversity multifunctionality relationship remains unknown. We studied the relationship between the diversity of rare and common species (according to their local abundances and across nine different trophic groups), and multifunctionality indices derived from 14 ecosystem functions on 150 grasslands across a land use intensity (LUI) gradient. The diversity of above- and below-ground rare species had opposite effects, with rare above-ground species being associated with high levels of multifunctionality, probably because their effects on different functions did not trade off against each other. Conversely, common species were only related to average, not high, levels of multifunctionality, and their functional effects declined with LUI. Apart from the community level effects of diversity, we found significant positive associations between the abundance of individual species and multifunctionality in 6% of the species tested. Species specific functional effects were best predicted by their response to LUI: species that declined in abundance with land use intensification were those associated with higher levels of multifunctionality. Our results highlight the importance of rare species for ecosystem multifunctionality and help guiding future conservation priorities.…