Direct and Indirect Control of Grassland Community Structure by Litter, Resources, and Biomass

Lamb, Eric G.

doi:10.1890/07-0393.1

Cited by 126 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…However, no significant correlation between them was found, which is consistent with most of the observational BEF studies (Kahmen et al 2005;Grace et al 2007;Lamb 2008). Although many reasons, such as inappropriate method for root sampling (Lamb 2008) and the Fig.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…However, many of these previous research efforts used aboveground biomass as a proxy of primary production. Less attempts have been devoted to the diversity effects on root biomass (Lamb 2008), which accounts for more than 60 % of plant biomass in temperate grassland ecosystems (Liira and Zobel 2000) and thus contributes much to ecosystem carbon sequestration in global arid and semi-arid ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multivariate control of root biomass in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau, China

Zhu

et al. 2014

Plant Soil

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Aim Root biomass has long been under-represented in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning studies, despite its dominance in biomass in many arid and semi-arid ecosystems. We aimed to explore the multivariate control over root biomass by plant diversity, together with other biotic and abiotic factors and to evaluate the relative importance of these factors. Methods Above-and below-ground traits of 13 communities and soil properties were measured in semi-arid grasslands on the Loess Plateau, China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate the relative importance of the community and soil characteristics, emphasizing the direct and indirect effects of plant diversity on root biomass. Results Significant indirect effects of plant species richness on root biomass were found, although no direct correlation was detected between them. In the indirect pathways, plant species richness showed a positive effect on soil total nitrogen, but a significant negative influence on soil total carbon. Soil total nitrogen and plant diversity had the largest and smallest total effect respectively on root biomass in the model. Conclusions Plant species richness was not the strongest determinant of root biomass but had a significant indirect effect, mediated through soil total carbon and nitrogen. This study suggests that greater plant species richness, through a positive influence on soil total nitrogen, may indirectly promote root carbon stock.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multivariate control of root biomass in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau, China

Zhu

et al. 2014

Plant Soil

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“…Most of results from the simple linear regression analyses were in agreement with SEM, but resulted in the oversimplification of conclusions. In comparison, SEM analysis provided the new insights on the underlying ecological relationships (Lamb 2008; White et al. 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2011). We removed the nonsignificant variables or paths to find the best model with the lowest Akaike information criterion (AIC) and assessed model fit with a chi‐squared tests, root‐mean‐square error of approximation (RMSEA), and goodness‐of‐fit index (GFI) (Lamb 2008; White et al. 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant functional diversity enhances associations of soil fungal diversity with vegetation and soil in the restoration of semiarid sandy grassland

Zuo

Wang

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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The trait‐based approach shows that plant functional diversity strongly affects ecosystem properties. However, few empirical studies show the relationship between soil fungal diversity and plant functional diversity in natural ecosystems. We investigated soil fungal diversity along a restoration gradient of sandy grassland (mobile dune, semifixed dune, fixed dune, and grassland) in Horqin Sand Land, northern China, using the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 18S rRNA and gene sequencing. We also examined associations of soil fungal diversity with plant functional diversity reflected by the dominant species' traits in community (community‐weighted mean, CWM) and the dispersion of functional trait values (FD is). We further used the structure equation model (SEM) to evaluate how plant richness, biomass, functional diversity, and soil properties affect soil fungal diversity in sandy grassland restoration. Soil fungal richness in mobile dune and semifixed dune was markedly lower than those of fixed dune and grassland (P < 0.05). Soil fungal richness was positively associated with plant richness, biomass, CWM plant height, and soil gradient aggregated from the principal component analysis, but SEM results showed that plant richness and CWM plant height determined by soil properties were the main factors exerting direct effects. Soil gradient increased fungal richness through indirect effect on vegetation rather than direct effect. The negative indirect effect of FDis on soil fungal richness was through its effect on plant biomass. Our final SEM model based on plant functional diversity explained nearly 70% variances of soil fungal richness. Strong association of soil fungal richness with the dominant species in the community supported the mass ratio hypothesis. Our results clearly highlight the role of plant functional diversity in enhancing associations of soil fungal diversity with community structure and soil properties in sandy grassland ecosystems.

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“…While other processes can also contribute to diversity loss there was no evidence that they were important in our study. Fertilization can reduce grassland diversity through acidification (2) or through the accumulation of plant litter (26,27,29,30). However, we found no detectable differences in pH following fertilization ( Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

Competition for Light Causes Plant Biodiversity Loss After Eutrophication

Hautier

Niklaus

Héctor

2009

Science

1,160

1,060

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Human activities have increased the availability of nutrients in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In grasslands, this eutrophication causes loss of plant species diversity, but the mechanism of this loss has been difficult to determine. Using experimental grassland plant communities, we found that addition of light to the grassland understory prevented the loss of biodiversity caused by eutrophication. There was no detectable role for competition for soil resources in diversity loss. Thus, competition for light is a major mechanism of plant diversity loss after eutrophication and explains the particular threat of eutrophication to plant diversity. Our conclusions have implications for grassland management and conservation policy and underscore the need to control nutrient enrichment if plant diversity is to be preserved.

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Direct and Indirect Control of Grassland Community Structure by Litter, Resources, and Biomass

Cited by 126 publications

References 67 publications

Multivariate control of root biomass in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau, China

Multivariate control of root biomass in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau, China

Plant functional diversity enhances associations of soil fungal diversity with vegetation and soil in the restoration of semiarid sandy grassland

Competition for Light Causes Plant Biodiversity Loss After Eutrophication

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