Assemblage Time Series Reveal Biodiversity Change but Not Systematic Loss

Dornelas, María; Gotelli, Nicholas J.; McGill, Brian J.; Shimadzu, Hideyasu; Moyes, Faye; Sievers, Caya; Magurran, Anne E.

doi:10.1126/science.1248484

Cited by 1,134 publications

(1,480 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

1,355

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Here, we add evidence that both α-and β-diversity can also drive ecosystem multifunctionality at the landscape scale, and that the desired distribution of ecosystem functions across the landscape influences the importance of this relationship. Biotic homogenization is occurring worldwide at local, regional, and global scales (19)(20)(21). Similarly, current forest management often results in large areas of low species turnover.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic homogenization can decrease landscape-scale forest multifunctionality

Plas

Manning

Soliveres

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

228

144

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many experiments have shown that local biodiversity loss impairs the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple ecosystem functions at high levels (multifunctionality). In contrast, the role of biodiversity in driving ecosystem multifunctionality at landscape scales remains unresolved. We used a comprehensive pan-European dataset, including 16 ecosystem functions measured in 209 forest plots across six European countries, and performed simulations to investigate how local plot-scale richness of tree species (α-diversity) and their turnover between plots (β-diversity) are related to landscape-scale multifunctionality. After accounting for variation in environmental conditions, we found that relationships between α-diversity and landscape-scale multifunctionality varied from positive to negative depending on the multifunctionality metric used. In contrast, when significant, relationships between β-diversity and landscape-scale multifunctionality were always positive, because a high spatial turnover in species composition was closely related to a high spatial turnover in functions that were supported at high levels. Our findings have major implications for forest management and indicate that biotic homogenization can have previously unrecognized and negative consequences for large-scale ecosystem multifunctionality.Additional co-authors: Damien Bonal, Olivier Bouriaud, Helge Bruelheide, Filippo Bussotti, Monique Carnol, Bastien Castagneyrol, Yohan Charbonnier, David Anthony Coomes, Andrea Coppi, Cristina C. Bastias, Seid Muhie Dawud, Hans De Wandeler, Timo Domisch, Leena Finér, Arthur Gessler, André Granier, Charlotte Grossiord, Virginie Guyot, Stephan Hättenschwiler, Hervé Jactel, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Tommaso Jucker, Julia Koricheva, Harriet Milligan, Sandra Mueller, Bart Muys, Diem Nguyen, Martina Pollastrini, Sophia Ratcliffe, Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen, Federico Selvi, Jan Stenlid, Fernando Valladares, Lars Vesterdal, Dawid Zielínski, and Markus Fische

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic homogenization can decrease landscape-scale forest multifunctionality

Plas

Manning

Soliveres

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

228

144

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It remains unknown how widely across biomes, and at what spatial scales, climatically driven losses of plant community diversity may be expected in the near future. Diversity at relatively local spatial scales has been linked experimentally to resource use efficiency, productivity, temporal stability, resistance to invasion, and other desirable functional properties (11)(12)(13). To the extent that climate is causing declining diversity at local scales, there is increased support for concerns about ecosystem service loss, and reasons to expect larger-scale extinctions in the not too distant future.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate-driven diversity loss in a grassland community

Harrison

Gornish

Copeland

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

141

167

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Local ecological communities represent the scale at which species coexist and share resources, and at which diversity has been experimentally shown to underlie stability, productivity, invasion resistance, and other desirable community properties. Globally, community diversity shows a mixture of increases and decreases over recent decades, and these changes have relatively seldom been linked to climatic trends. In a heterogeneous California grassland, we documented declining plant diversity from 2000 to 2014 at both the local community (5 m 2 ) and landscape (27 km 2 ) scales, across multiple functional groups and soil environments. Communities became particularly poorer in native annual forbs, which are present as small seedlings in midwinter; within native annual forbs, community composition changed toward lower representation of species with a trait indicating drought intolerance (high specific leaf area). Time series models linked diversity decline to the significant decrease in midwinter precipitation. Livestock grazing history, fire, succession, N deposition, and increases in exotic species could be ruled out as contributing causes. This finding is among the first demonstrations to our knowledge of climate-driven directional loss of species diversity in ecological communities in a natural (nonexperimental) setting. Such diversity losses, which may also foreshadow larger-scale extinctions, may be especially likely in semiarid regions that are undergoing climatic trends toward higher aridity and lower productivity.L arge-scale elevational and latitudinal range shifts, altered seasonal timing, and disrupted interactions among interdependent species are well-known consequences of recent global warming, all of which are predicted to intensify in coming decades and to be accompanied by increasing rates of global extinction (1-4). Consequences of rapid climate change for the diversity of local ecological communities are far less clear; diversity might increase or decrease at any given location, depending on the particular nature of climatic changes and the potential for dispersal (5-8).

show abstract

“…Recently, two major meta-analyses have analysed long-term trends in local marine species richness across ecosystems and organisms. Across 100 times series from terrestrial, freshwater and marine systems, no systematic loss of local species richness (α-diversity) was observed (Dornelas et al 2014). Most data sets showed no net change in richness, however, the change in biotic composition (the shift in the identity of species present) was faster than predicted from null models in their data set (see Sect.…”

Section: Expected and Observed Trends In Local Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18.1). While the meta-analysis by Dornelas et al (2014) failed to show an overarching trend in species richness, a simultaneous analysis of temporal turnover showed a significant increase in species replacements over time. Another example, more closely related to climate change, is the analysis of the thermal effluent of a nuclear power plant in the Baltic Sea: along the gradient of >9 °C above ambient temperature, species richness was unaffected, but temporal turnover significantly accelerated with increasing temperature (Hillebrand et al 2010).…”

Section: Expected and Observed Trends In Local Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%