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Chao A, Chiu CH, Hu KH, van der Plas F, Cadotte MW, Mitesser O, Thorn S, Mori AS, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Eisenhauer N, Bässler C, Delory BM, Feldhaar H, Fichtner A, Hothorn T, Peters MK, Pierick K, von Oheimb G, Müller J. Hill-Chao numbers allow decomposing gamma multifunctionality into alpha and beta components. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14336. [PMID: 38073071 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2024]
Abstract
Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research has provided strong evidence and mechanistic underpinnings to support positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning, from single to multiple functions. This research has provided knowledge gained mainly at the local alpha scale (i.e. within ecosystems), but the increasing homogenization of landscapes in the Anthropocene has raised the potential that declining biodiversity at the beta (across ecosystems) and gamma scales is likely to also impact ecosystem functioning. Drawing on biodiversity theory, we propose a new statistical framework based on Hill-Chao numbers. The framework allows decomposition of multifunctionality at gamma scales into alpha and beta components, a critical but hitherto missing tool in BEF research; it also allows weighting of individual ecosystem functions. Through the proposed decomposition, new BEF results for beta and gamma scales are discovered. Our novel approach is applicable across ecosystems and connects local- and landscape-scale BEF assessments from experiments to natural settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Chao
- Institute of Statistics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
| | - Chun-Huo Chiu
- Department of Agronomy, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Kai-Hsiang Hu
- Institute of Statistics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
| | - Fons van der Plas
- Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marc W Cadotte
- Biological Sciences, University of Toronto-Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Oliver Mitesser
- Field Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Rauhenebrach, Germany
| | - Simon Thorn
- Hessian Agency for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology, Biodiversity Center, Gießen, Germany
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Biology Centre, Institute of Entomology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Akira S Mori
- Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Nico Eisenhauer
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Claus Bässler
- Bavarian Forest National Park, Grafenau, Germany
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Conservation Biology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Ecology of Fungi, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Benjamin M Delory
- Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany
| | - Heike Feldhaar
- Department of Animal Ecology I, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Andreas Fichtner
- Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany
| | - Torsten Hothorn
- Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Marcell K Peters
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Kerstin Pierick
- Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temperate Zones, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Department for Spatial Structures and Digitization of Forests, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Goddert von Oheimb
- Institute of General Ecology and Environmental Protection, Technische Universität Dresden, Tharandt, Germany
| | - Jörg Müller
- Field Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Rauhenebrach, Germany
- Bavarian Forest National Park, Grafenau, Germany
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Cesarz S, Eisenhauer N, Bucher SF, Ciobanu M, Hines J. Artificial light at night (ALAN) causes shifts in soil communities and functions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220366. [PMID: 37899014 PMCID: PMC10613544 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Artificial light at night (ALAN) is increasing worldwide, but its effects on the soil system have not yet been investigated. We tested the influence of experimental manipulation of ALAN on two taxa of soil communities (microorganisms and soil nematodes) and three aspects of soil functioning (soil basal respiration, soil microbial biomass and carbon use efficiency) over four and a half months in a highly controlled Ecotron facility. We show that during peak plant biomass, increasing ALAN reduced plant biomass and was also associated with decreased soil water content. This further reduced soil respiration under high ALAN at peak plant biomass, but microbial communities maintained stable biomass across different levels of ALAN and times, demonstrating higher microbial carbon use efficiency under high ALAN. While ALAN did not affect microbial community structure, the abundance of plant-feeding nematodes increased and there was homogenization of nematode communities under higher levels of ALAN, indicating that soil communities may be more vulnerable to additional disturbances at high ALAN. In summary, the effects of ALAN reach into the soil system by altering soil communities and ecosystem functions, and these effects are mediated by changes in plant productivity and soil water content at peak plant biomass. This article is part of the theme issue 'Light pollution in complex ecological systems'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Cesarz
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig 04109, Germany
| | - Nico Eisenhauer
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig 04109, Germany
| | - Solveig Franziska Bucher
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution with Herbarium Haussknecht and Botanical Garden, Department of Plant Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena 07743, Germany
| | - Marcel Ciobanu
- Institute of Biological Research, Branch of the National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, 48 Republicii Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Jes Hines
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig 04109, Germany
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Seliger A, Ammer C, Kreft H, Zerbe S. Changes of vegetation in coniferous monocultures in the context of conversion to mixed forests in 30 years - Implications for biodiversity restoration. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2023; 343:118199. [PMID: 37244102 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
The understorey vegetation of temperate forests harbours a major proportion of terrestrial biodiversity and fulfills an important role in ecosystem functioning. Over the past decades, temperate forest understoreys were found to change in species diversity and composition due to several anthropogenic and natural drivers. Currently, the conversion and restoration of even-aged coniferous monocultures into more diverse and mixed broad-leaved forests are major objectives of sustainable forest management in Central Europe. This forest conversion alters understorey communities and abiotic site conditions but the underlying patterns and processes are not yet fully understood. Therefore, we investigated changes in the Bavarian Spessart mountains in southwest Germany, where we re-sampled 108 semi-permanent plots from four different coniferous stand types (i.e., Norway spruce, Scots pine, Douglas fir, European larch) about 30 years after the initial assessment. On these plots, we recorded understorey vegetation and forest structure, and derived abiotic site conditions based on ecological indicator values of understorey vegetation, followed by multivariate analysis. We found changes in plant communities that point towards a decrease of soil acidity and a "thermophilization" of forest understoreys. Understorey species richness remained constant, while understorey's Shannon and Simpson diversity increased. The observed changes in forest structure explained the temporal shifts in understorey species composition. The understorey species composition did not experience a significant floristic homogenization since the 1990s. However, plant communities exhibited a reduction in species characteristic of coniferous forests and a simultaneous increase in species associated with broad-leaved forests. The increase of specialist species (closed forests and open sites) may have compensated for the detected decrease in generalist species. We conclude that the forest conversion towards mixed broad-leaved forest in the Spessart mountains of the past decades might have masked homogenization trends that are increasingly reported from Central European forest understoreys.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Seliger
- Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Bolzano, Italy; University of Göttingen, Department of Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temperate Zones, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Christian Ammer
- University of Göttingen, Department of Silviculture and Forest Ecology of the Temperate Zones, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Holger Kreft
- University of Göttingen, Department of Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Stefan Zerbe
- Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Bolzano, Italy
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