Publication
Title
Biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning respond unimodally to environmental stress
Author
Abstract
Understanding how biodiversity (B) affects ecosystem functioning (EF) is essential for assessing the consequences of ongoing biodiversity changes. An increasing number of studies, however, show that environmental conditions affect the shape of BEF relationships. Here, we first use a game-theoretic community model to reveal that a unimodal response of the BEF slope can be expected along environmental stress gradients, but also how the ecological mechanisms underlying this response may vary depending on how stress affects species interactions. Next, we analysed a global dataset of 44 experiments that crossed biodiversity with environmental conditions. Confirming our main model prediction, the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning tends to be greater at intermediate levels of environmental stress, but varies among studies corresponding to differences in stress-effects on species interactions. Together, these results suggest that increases in stress from ongoing global environmental changes may amplify the consequences of biodiversity changes.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Ecology letters. - Oxford, 1998, currens
Publication
Oxford : 2018
ISSN
1461-023X [print]
1461-0248 [online]
DOI
10.1111/ELE.13088
Volume/pages
21 :8 (2018) , p. 1191-1199
ISI
000438340600008
Pubmed ID
29869373
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 02.08.2018
Last edited 02.10.2024
To cite this reference