Speaker
Description
The elemental composition of plants plays a major role in different ecosystem processes (e.g. nutrient recycling) and ecological interactions (e.g. herbivory), and has of recent received increased attention in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research. While biodiversity can affect plant community nutrient responses, less is known about the role of biodiversity on the stability of these nutrients in plants over time, and whether biodiversity could buffer those against climate extremes. Through long-term data (20 years) from the Jena experiment, we tested whether increasing plant diversity (species richness and functional groups) affected plant community C, N and C:N ratios over time. Furthermore, we incorporated data on plant community composition, soil characteristics and environmental changes to identify the drivers underlying these temporal nutrient responses.
Overall levels of plant nutrient concentrations slowly increased over time in the Jena experiment. Plant diversity increased the temporal stability of both C and N concentrations and their ratio. Stability of community C concentrations was mostly influenced by climate events, such as a drought. Temporal stability in N concentrations showed greater sensitivity to changes in plant community composition, especially related to the presence of legumes. Increasing diversity also buffered against climate extremes by increasing resistance and resilience of the plant community concentrations. Both C and N concentrations also recovered faster after climate extremes in plots with higher species richness.
These results show that the stability of plant community nutrient concentrations is strongly linked to biodiversity and therefore conserving the latter could be vital in maintaining ecosystem functions and furthermore making ecosystems more resistant against future climate extremes.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
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