Neither global nor consistent: a technical comment on the tree diversity-productivity analysis of Liang et al. (2016)

Dormann, Carsten F.; Schneider, Helge; Gorges, Jonas

doi:10.1101/524363

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Thus, unlike commonly assumed 3 , we evidence that the positive effects of species richness do not hold globally. Whereas such a lack of generality has been reported recently, the potential underlying causes remain elusive 14 . The ΔBIC indicates a prevalence of the more species hypothesis towards lower latitudes ( Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate reverses directionality in the richness–abundance relationship across the World’s main forest biomes

et al. 2020

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More tree species can increase the carbon storage capacity of forests (here referred to as the more species hypothesis) through increased tree productivity and tree abundance resulting from complementarity, but they can also be the consequence of increased tree abundance through increased available energy (more individuals hypothesis). To test these two contrasting hypotheses, we analyse the most plausible pathways in the richness-abundance relationship and its stability along global climatic gradients. We show that positive effect of species richness on tree abundance only prevails in eight of the twenty-three forest regions considered in this study. In the other forest regions, any benefit from having more species is just as likely (9 regions) or even less likely (6 regions) than the effects of having more individuals. We demonstrate that diversity effects prevail in the most productive environments, and abundance effects become dominant towards the most limiting conditions. These findings can contribute to refining cost-effective mitigation strategies based on fostering carbon storage through increased tree diversity. Specifically, in less productive environments, mitigation measures should promote abundance of locally adapted and stress tolerant tree species instead of increasing species richness.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Growth-trait inference has recently been found to be contingent on tree species richness, with stronger influence of traits on growth in cases where tree diversity is higher 10 . However, recent evidence puts such a decisive role of species richness on forest carbon storage and other forest functions into question [11][12][13][14] .…”

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confidence: 99%

Climate reverses directionality in the richness–abundance relationship across the World’s main forest biomes

et al. 2020

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“…Our list of pitfalls and concerns is not exhaustive (see, e.g., Dormann et al 2019). Other studies raise other concerns too.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Interpreting forest diversity-productivity relationships: volume values, disturbance histories and alternative inferences

Sheil

Bongers

2020

For. Ecosyst.

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Understanding the relationship between stand-level tree diversity and productivity has the potential to inform the science and management of forests. History shows that plant diversity-productivity relationships are challenging to interpret-and this remains true for the study of forests using non-experimental field data. Here we highlight pitfalls regarding the analyses and interpretation of such studies. We examine three themes: 1) the nature and measurement of ecological productivity and related values; 2) the role of stand history and disturbance in explaining forest characteristics; and 3) the interpretation of any relationship. We show that volume production and true productivity are distinct, and neither is a demonstrated proxy for economic values. Many stand characteristics, including diversity, volume growth and productivity, vary intrinsically with succession and stand history. We should be characterising these relationships rather than ignoring or eliminating them. Failure to do so may lead to misleading conclusions. To illustrate, we examine the study which prompted our concerns -Liang et al. (Science 354:aaf8957, 2016)-which developed a sophisticated global analysis to infer a worldwide positive effect of biodiversity (tree species richness) on "forest productivity" (stand level wood volume production). Existing data should be able to address many of our concerns. Critical evaluations will improve understanding.

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“…(d) What is the relative importance of complementarity and selection effects along post‐disturbance trajectories? We hypothesized that: (a) more diverse forests recover more rapidly from a disturbance event due to higher productivity (Liang et al, ; but see Dormann, Schneider, & Gorges, ); (b) functional diversity is more directly linked to forest recovery than species diversity, as it represents forest assembly and function better (Cadotte et al, ); (c) forest recovery time increases with an increase in disturbance intensity (Rutishauser et al, ); and (d) biodiversity effects vary along post‐disturbance trajectories (Holzwarth et al, ), with a stronger effect of complementarity soon after the disturbance, as more heterogeneous local conditions can foster niche partitioning (Craven et al, ), subsequently surpassed by a stronger selection effect as typically observed in mature forests (Chiang et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional diversity improves tropical forest resilience: Insights from a long‐term virtual experiment

et al. 2020

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1. Human activities modify the disturbance regimes of tropical forests. Since tropical forests host high biological diversity, understanding the role of biodiversity in ecosystem recovery pathways and the underlying ecological mechanisms is crucial to predict the fate of tropical ecosystems. Studies relying on regularly censused forest plots, rarely include disturbed forests, are not long enough to assess longterm forest dynamics and often lack repeatability.2. We used an individual-based model of tropical forest growth to assess the effect of species and functional diversity on long-term ecosystem recovery from disturbance. We manipulated the number of species and functional assemblages across a large number of simulations and simulated different levels of disturbance. To investigate the ecological mechanisms that underlie the effect of biodiversity on forest functioning along recovery pathways, we partitioned the net effect of biodiversity on ecosystem properties into complementarity and selection effects over time.3. We found that functional diversity improved tropical forest resilience after a disturbance. The complementarity effect dominated soon after the disturbance but was progressively surpassed by a selection effect as more competitive species dominated the forest community. This pattern increased with the intensity of the disturbance. Synthesis.We found that the mechanisms through which biodiversity influences forest functioning depend on the ecosystem state, shifting from a dominant complementarity effect in recently disturbed systems to a selection effect in systems disturbed a long time ago. Our results thus suggest that the time since the last disturbance is a key to understanding biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships in tropical forests and can help reconcile previous contrasting results obtained with snapshots of ecosystem state in empirical studies. 832 | biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, complementarity effect, disturbance, individual-based model, recovery, selection effect, simulation | 833 Journal of Ecology SCHMITT eT al.

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Neither global nor consistent: a technical comment on the tree diversity-productivity analysis of Liang et al. (2016)

Cited by 14 publications

References 19 publications

Climate reverses directionality in the richness–abundance relationship across the World’s main forest biomes

Climate reverses directionality in the richness–abundance relationship across the World’s main forest biomes

Interpreting forest diversity-productivity relationships: volume values, disturbance histories and alternative inferences

Functional diversity improves tropical forest resilience: Insights from a long‐term virtual experiment

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