The effect of biodiversity on tree productivity: from temperate to boreal forests

Abstract

Aim An important issue regarding biodiversity concerns its influence on ecosystem functioning. Experimental work has led to the proposal of mechanisms such as niche complementarity. However, few attempts have been made to confirm these in natural systems, especially in forests. Furthermore, one of the most interesting unresolved questions is whether the effects of complementarity on ecosystem functioning (EF) decrease in favour of competitive exclusions over an increasing productivity gradient. Using records from permanent forest plots, we asked the following questions. (1) Is tree productivity positively related to diversity? (2) Does the effect of diversity increase in less productive forests? (3) What metric of diversity (e.g. functional or phylogenetic diversity) better relates to tree productivity?Location Temperate, mixed and boreal forests of eastern Canada.Methods Over 12,000 permanent forest plots, from temperate to boreal forests, were used to test our hypotheses in two steps. (1) Stepwise regressions were used to identify the best explanatory variables for tree productivity. (2) The selected climatic and environmental variables, as well as density and biodiversity indices, were included in a structural equation model where links (paths) between covarying variables are made explicit, making structural equation modelling the best tool to explore such complicated causal networks.Results This is the first large-scale demonstration of a strong, positive and significant effect of biodiversity on tree productivity with control for climatic and environmental conditions. Important differences were noted between the two forest biomes investigated. Main conclusionsWe show for the first time that complementarity may be less important in temperate forests growing in a more stable and productive environment where competitive exclusion is the most probable outcome of species interactions, whereas in the more stressful environment of boreal forests, beneficial interactions between species may be more important. The present work is also a framework for the analysis of large datasets in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (B-EF) research.

Forest Carbon Sequestration: The Impact of Forest Management

“…Vilà et al, 2007;Paquette and Messier 2011). As a result, mixedspecies forests are likely to have higher carbon storage capacity.…”

Relationship between Diversity and Productivity at Ratargul Fresh Water Swamp Forest in Bangladesh

“…It has been demonstrated in other plant related studies that productivity increases with increasing TD, FD and PD (Tilman et al 1997;Petchey et al 2004;Ruijven and Berendse 2005;Paquette and Messier 2011;Zuo et al 2012;Cadotte 2013;Genung et al 2014). The mechanism behind such result is resource use complementarity (Tilman et al 1997;Petchey 2003;Cadotte 2013).…”

“…(Cornelissen 2003) and provide a good performance under low resources and drought (Wilson et al 1999;Markesteijn et al 2011). Reproductive strategy and growth rate are related to wood density (Paquette and Messier 2011). According to Poorter et al (2010), wood density plays a vital role in species performance and life history strategies of tropical tree species.…”

“…Cadotte et al (2008) showed PD as a best predictor of biomass production but there were much variation in the explanatory value of PD where R 2 ranged from 0.01 to 0.69 in a meta-analysis across 29 experiments throughout the world. In a study of Canada, beyond PD, FD interpreted tree productivity better based on three traits such as seed mass, wood density and maximum height related to reproduction, growth and successional status (Paquette and Messier 2011).…”

“…A number of studies have been exploring the effect of plant diversity in ecosystem functioning during the last two decades (Tilman et al 1997;Stevens and Carson 2001;Petchey et al 2004;Cadotte et al 2008;Paquette and Messier 2011;Roscher et al 2012;Genung et al 2014). Scientists concern on this because of global loss of biological diversity, which comprise the natural and managed plant communities, is related to global environmental change (Chapin et al 1998;Hooper et al 2005).…”