IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0010834.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bacterial Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relations Are Modified by Environmental Complexity

Author

Listed:
  • Silke Langenheder
  • Mark T Bulling
  • Martin Solan
  • James I Prosser

Abstract

Background: With the recognition that environmental change resulting from anthropogenic activities is causing a global decline in biodiversity, much attention has been devoted to understanding how changes in biodiversity may alter levels of ecosystem functioning. Although environmental complexity has long been recognised as a major driving force in evolutionary processes, it has only recently been incorporated into biodiversity-ecosystem functioning investigations. Environmental complexity is expected to strengthen the positive effect of species richness on ecosystem functioning, mainly because it leads to stronger complementarity effects, such as resource partitioning and facilitative interactions among species when the number of available resource increases. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we implemented an experiment to test the combined effect of species richness and environmental complexity, more specifically, resource richness on ecosystem functioning over time. We show, using all possible combinations of species within a bacterial community consisting of six species, and all possible combinations of three substrates, that diversity-functioning (metabolic activity) relationships change over time from linear to saturated. This was probably caused by a combination of limited complementarity effects and negative interactions among competing species as the experiment progressed. Even though species richness and resource richness both enhanced ecosystem functioning, they did so independently from each other. Instead there were complex interactions between particular species and substrate combinations. Conclusions/Significance: Our study shows clearly that both species richness and environmental complexity increase ecosystem functioning. The finding that there was no direct interaction between these two factors, but that instead rather complex interactions between combinations of certain species and resources underlie positive biodiversity ecosystem functioning relationships, suggests that detailed knowledge of how individual species interact with complex natural environments will be required in order to make reliable predictions about how altered levels of biodiversity will most likely affect ecosystem functioning.

Suggested Citation

  • Silke Langenheder & Mark T Bulling & Martin Solan & James I Prosser, 2010. "Bacterial Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relations Are Modified by Environmental Complexity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(5), pages 1-9, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0010834
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010834
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0010834
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0010834&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0010834?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bradley J. Cardinale & Diane S. Srivastava & J. Emmett Duffy & Justin P. Wright & Amy L. Downing & Mahesh Sankaran & Claire Jouseau, 2006. "Effects of biodiversity on the functioning of trophic groups and ecosystems," Nature, Nature, vol. 443(7114), pages 989-992, October.
    2. Mark C. Emmerson & Martin Solan & Chas Emes & David M. Paterson & Dave Raffaelli, 2001. "Consistent patterns and the idiosyncratic effects of biodiversity in marine ecosystems," Nature, Nature, vol. 411(6833), pages 73-77, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Watson, Stephen C.L. & Paterson, David M. & Queirós, Ana M. & Rees, Andrew P. & Stephens, Nicholas & Widdicombe, Stephen & Beaumont, Nicola J., 2016. "A conceptual framework for assessing the ecosystem service of waste remediation: In the marine environment," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 69-81.
    2. Hannes Peter & Irene Ylla & Cristian Gudasz & Anna M Romaní & Sergi Sabater & Lars J Tranvik, 2011. "Multifunctionality and Diversity in Bacterial Biofilms," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(8), pages 1-8, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lei Wang & Xiaobo Huang & Jianrong Su, 2022. "Tree Species Diversity and Stand Attributes Differently Influence the Ecosystem Functions of Pinus yunnanensis Secondary Forests under the Climate Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-12, July.
    2. Martínez-Jauregui, María & White, Piran C.L. & Touza, Julia & Soliño, Mario, 2019. "Untangling perceptions around indicators for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Marino, Davide & Gaglioppa, Pierluca & Schirpke, Uta & Guadagno, Rossella & Marucci, Angelo & Palmieri, Margherita & Pellegrino, Davide & Gusmerotti, Natalia, 2014. "Assessment and governance of Ecosystem Services for improving management effectiveness of Natura 2000 sites," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 3(3), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Meinard, Yves & Grill, Philippe, 2011. "The economic valuation of biodiversity as an abstract good," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(10), pages 1707-1714, August.
    5. Kangwei Jiang & Qingqing Zhang & Yafei Wang & Hong Li & Yongqiang Yang & Tursunnay Reyimu, 2023. "The Combination of Plant Diversity and Soil Microbial Diversity Directly and Actively Drives the Multifunctionality of Grassland Ecosystems in the Middle Part of the Northern Slopes of the Tian Shan u," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Plekhanova, Elena & Niklaus, Pascal A. & Gastellu-Etchegorry, Jean-Philippe & Schaepman-Strub, Gabriela, 2021. "How does leaf functional diversity affect the light environment in forest canopies? An in-silico biodiversity experiment," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 440(C).
    7. Robin Naidoo & Greg Stuart-Hill & L. Weaver & Jo Tagg & Anna Davis & Andee Davidson, 2011. "Effect of Diversity of Large Wildlife Species on Financial Benefits to Local Communities in Northwest Namibia," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(2), pages 321-335, February.
    8. Jasmin A Godbold & Rutger Rosenberg & Martin Solan, 2009. "Species-Specific Traits Rather Than Resource Partitioning Mediate Diversity Effects on Resource Use," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(10), pages 1-9, October.
    9. David S Clare & Matthew Spencer & Leonie A Robinson & Christopher L J Frid, 2016. "Species-Specific Effects on Ecosystem Functioning Can Be Altered by Interspecific Interactions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    10. Katherine Velghe & Irene Gregory-Eaves, 2013. "Body Size Is a Significant Predictor of Congruency in Species Richness Patterns: A Meta-Analysis of Aquatic Studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-6, February.
    11. Amanda J Ashworth & Heather D Toler & Fred L Allen & Robert M Augé, 2018. "Global meta-analysis reveals agro-grassland productivity varies based on species diversity over time," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, July.
    12. Holland, R.A. & Eigenbrod, F. & Muggeridge, A. & Brown, G. & Clarke, D. & Taylor, G., 2015. "A synthesis of the ecosystem services impact of second generation bioenergy crop production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 30-40.
    13. Peter J Carrick & Katherine J Forsythe, 2020. "The species composition—ecosystem function relationship: A global meta-analysis using data from intact and recovering ecosystems," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, July.
    14. Mondelaers, Koen & Lauwers, Ludwig H., 2011. "An (in)efficiency based measurement of economic resilience," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114648, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Mohammad Murtaza Alami & Qiuling Pang & Zedan Gong & Tewu Yang & Daiqun Tu & Ouyang Zhen & Weilong Yu & Mohammad Jawad Alami & Xuekui Wang, 2021. "Continuous Cropping Changes the Composition and Diversity of Bacterial Communities: A Meta-Analysis in Nine Different Fields with Different Plant Cultivation," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, December.
    16. Xiao Deng & Hao Yin & Huadong Tan & Yi Li & Chunyuan Wu & Jiancheng Su, 2023. "Response of Soil Microbial Community Diversity to Long-Term Cultivation of Rice ( Oryza sativa L.)/Cherry Tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) in Rotation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-13, June.
    17. Hannes Peter & Irene Ylla & Cristian Gudasz & Anna M Romaní & Sergi Sabater & Lars J Tranvik, 2011. "Multifunctionality and Diversity in Bacterial Biofilms," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(8), pages 1-8, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0010834. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.