At eight European field sites, the impact of loss of plant diversity on primary productivity was simulated by synthesizing grassland communities with different numbers of plant species. Results differed in detail at each location, but there was an overall log-linear reduction of average aboveground biomass with loss of species. For a given number of species, communities with fewer functional groups were less productive. These diversity effects occurred along with differences associated with species composition and geographic location. Niche complementarity and positive species interactions appear to play a role in generating diversity-productivity relationships within sites in addition to sampling from the species pool.

Ecosystem effects of biodiversity manipulations in European grasslands AbstractWe present a multisite analysis of the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning within the European BIODEPTH network of plant-diversity manipulation experiments. We report results of the analysis of 11 variables addressing several aspects of key ecosystem processes like biomass production, resource use (space, light, and nitrogen), and decomposition, measured across three years in plots of varying plant species richness at eight different European grassland field sites. Differences among sites explained substantial and significant amounts of the variation of most of the ecosystem processes examined. However, against this background of geographic variation, all the aspects of plant diversity and composition we examined (i.e., both numbers and types of species and functional groups) produced significant, mostly positive impacts on ecosystem processes.Analyses using the additive partitioning method revealed that complementarity effects (greater net yields than predicted from monocultures due to resource partitioning, positive interactions, etc.) were stronger and more consistent than selection effects (the covariance between monoculture yield and change in yield in mixtures) caused by dominance of species with particular traits. In general, communities with a higher diversity of species and functional groups were more productive and utilized resources more completely by intercepting more light, taking up more nitrogen, and occupying more of the available space. Diversity had significant effects through both increased vegetation cover and greater nitrogen retention by plants when this resource was more abundant through N2 fixation by legumes. However, additional positive diversity effects remained even after controlling for differences in vegetation cover and for the presence of legumes in communities. Diversity effects were stronger on above-than belowground processes. In particular, clear diversity effects on decomposition were only observed at one of the eight sites.The ecosystem effects of plant diversity also varied between sites and years. In general, diversity effects were lowest in the first year and stronger later in the experiment, indicating that they were not transitional due to community establishment. These analyses of our complete ecosystem process data set largely reinforce our previous results, and those from comparable biodiversity experiments, and extend the generality of diversity-ecosystem functioning relationships to multiple sites, years, and processes. Abstract. We present a multisite analysis of the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning within the European BIODEPTH network of plant-diversity manipulation experiments. We report results of the analysis of 11 variables addressing several aspects of key ecosystem processes like biomass production, resource use (space, light, and nitrogen), and decomposition, measured across three years in plots of varying plant species ri...

Geographic variation can lead to the evolution of different local varieties, even in widespread forage plants. We investigated the performance of common forage plants in relation to their genetic diversity and local adaptation at a continental scale using reciprocal transplants at eight field sites across Europe over a 2‐year period. The overall performance of the three test species, Trifolium pratense, Dactylis glomerata, Plantago lanceolata, was generally highest for plants replanted at their home site and declined with increasing transplanting distance. The three species differed in the fitness components responsible for the increased overall performance and selection advantage at home sites. In addition to the effects of local adaptation, the majority of measured traits in all three species also showed ecotypic variation. However, no single ecotype of any species was able to outperform the locally adapted strains and do best at all sites, highlighting the importance of maintaining these plant genetic resources.

Consequences of the reduction of plant diversity for litter decomposition: effects through litter quality and microenvironment. -Oikos 90: 357 -371.Decomposition of plant litter is a key process for the flow of energy and nutrients in ecosystems that may be sensitive to the loss of biodiversity. Two hypothetical mechanisms by which changes in plant diversity could affect litter decomposition are (1) through changes in litter species composition, and (2) by altering the decomposition microenvironment. We tested these ideas in relation to the short-term decomposition of herbaceous plant litter in experimental plant assemblages that differed in the numbers and types of plant species and functional groups that they contained to simulate loss of plant diversity. We used different litterbag experiments to separate the two potential pathways through which diversity could have an effect on decomposition. Our two litterbag trials showed that altering plant diversity affected litter breakdown differently through changes in decomposition microenvironment than through changes in litter composition. In the decomposition microenvironment experiment there was a significant but weak decline in decomposition rate in relation to decreasing plant diversity but no significant effect of plant composition. The litter composition experiment showed no effect of richness but significant effects of composition, including large differences between plant species and functional groups in litter chemistry and decomposition rate. However, for a nested subset of our litter mixtures decomposition was not accurately predicted from single-species bags; there were positive, non-additive effects of litter mixing which enhanced decomposition. We critically assess the strengths and limitations of our short-term litterbag trials in predicting the longer-term effects of changes in plant diversity on litter decomposition rates. MethodsThe litterbag trials were conducted as part of the BIODEPTH project (BIODiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Terrestrial Herbaceous systems: experimental manipulations of plant communities): a co-ordinated network of eight European fieldsites where the responses of a suite of ecosystem processes are monitored in relation to the direct manipulation of plant diversity