TY - JOUR
T1 - Biodiversity showed positive effects on resistance but mixed effects on resilience to climatic extremes in a long-term grassland experiment
AU - Hossain, Md Lokman
AU - Li, Jianfeng
AU - Hoffmann, Samuel
AU - Beierkuhnlein, Carl
N1 - Funding Information:
The Bayreuth Lindenhof Biodiversity Experiment is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Carl Beierkuhnlein, Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Germany. This experiment is an extension of previous BIODEPTH project (BIODiversity and Ecological Processes in Terrestrial Herbaceous Ecosystems), which was funded by the European Commission within the Framework IV Environment and Climate program (ENV-CT95-0008). We are grateful to the students and experts who collected data over a long period. We extend our gratitude to German Weather Service Station in Bayreuth for sharing the climate datasets. We are also thankful to Mr. Reinhold Stahlmann, Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth for his assistance in data collection and management. M.L.H. extends his gratitude to the Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Germany for offering the PhD research attachment. The authors are thankful to Yangchen Lai, PhD student, HKBU for statistical support. This manuscript is a part of PhD research of M.L.H. under the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship scheme (fellowship application reference number PF17-08241), provided by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
BIODEPTH project (BIODiversity and Ecological Processes in Terrestrial Herbaceous Ecosystems), was funded by the European Commission within the Framework IV Environment and Climate program (grant number ENV-CT95–0008 ). This work was supported by the research grants from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (project numbers HKBU22301916 and HKBU12302518 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/6/25
Y1 - 2022/6/25
N2 - Understanding the role of biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem functioning and stability under increasing frequency and magnitude of climatic extremes has fascinated ecologists for decades. Although growing evidence suggests that biodiversity affects ecosystem productivity and buffers ecosystem against climatic extremes, it remains unclear whether the stability of an ecosystem is caused by its resistance against disturbances or resilience towards perturbations or both. In attempting to explore how species richness affects resistance and resilience of above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) against climatic extremes, we analyzed the grassland ANPP of the long-running (1997–2020) Bayreuth Biodiversity experiment in Germany. We used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index to identify climatic conditions based on 5- and 7-class classifications of climatic conditions. Mixed-effects models and post-hoc test show that ANPP varied significantly among different intensities (e.g. moderate or extreme) and directions (e.g. dry or wet) of climatic conditions, with the highest ANPP in extreme wet and the lowest in extreme dry conditions. Resistance and resilience of ANPP to climatic extremes in different intensities were examined by linear-mixed effects models and we found that species richness increased ecosystem resistance against all dry and wet climatic extremes, but decreased ecosystem resilience towards all dry climatic extremes. Species richness had no effects on ecosystem resilience towards wet climatic extremes. When the five level of species richness treatment (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 species) were considered, the relationships between species richness and resistance and resilience of ANPP under extreme wet and dry conditions remained similar. Our study emphasizes that plant communities with greater species richness need to be maintained to stabilize ecosystem productivity and increase resistance against different climatic extremes.
AB - Understanding the role of biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem functioning and stability under increasing frequency and magnitude of climatic extremes has fascinated ecologists for decades. Although growing evidence suggests that biodiversity affects ecosystem productivity and buffers ecosystem against climatic extremes, it remains unclear whether the stability of an ecosystem is caused by its resistance against disturbances or resilience towards perturbations or both. In attempting to explore how species richness affects resistance and resilience of above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) against climatic extremes, we analyzed the grassland ANPP of the long-running (1997–2020) Bayreuth Biodiversity experiment in Germany. We used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index to identify climatic conditions based on 5- and 7-class classifications of climatic conditions. Mixed-effects models and post-hoc test show that ANPP varied significantly among different intensities (e.g. moderate or extreme) and directions (e.g. dry or wet) of climatic conditions, with the highest ANPP in extreme wet and the lowest in extreme dry conditions. Resistance and resilience of ANPP to climatic extremes in different intensities were examined by linear-mixed effects models and we found that species richness increased ecosystem resistance against all dry and wet climatic extremes, but decreased ecosystem resilience towards all dry climatic extremes. Species richness had no effects on ecosystem resilience towards wet climatic extremes. When the five level of species richness treatment (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 species) were considered, the relationships between species richness and resistance and resilience of ANPP under extreme wet and dry conditions remained similar. Our study emphasizes that plant communities with greater species richness need to be maintained to stabilize ecosystem productivity and increase resistance against different climatic extremes.
KW - Biodiversity-stability relationship
KW - Drought
KW - Hay meadow
KW - Resilience
KW - Resistance
KW - Species richness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126028211&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154322
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154322
M3 - Article
C2 - 35257775
AN - SCOPUS:85126028211
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 827
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 154322
ER -