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Which community attributes govern ecosystem functioning in drylands? A global assessment

Which community attributes govern ecosystem functioning in drylands? A global assessment. Fernando T. Maestre & EPES-BIOCOM network Departamento de Biología y Geología Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Móstoles, SPAIN. EPES-BIOCOM network.

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Which community attributes govern ecosystem functioning in drylands? A global assessment

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  1. Which community attributes govern ecosystem functioning in drylands? A global assessment Fernando T. Maestre & EPES-BIOCOM network Departamento de Biología y Geología Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Móstoles, SPAIN

  2. EPES-BIOCOM network Argentina: Juan Gaitán, Donaldo Bran, Aníbal Prina & Eduardo PuchetaAustralia: David Eldridge, MattTighe& James ValBrazil: Roberto Romao & Abel ConceicaoChile: Julio Gutiérrez, Claudia Barraza, Susana Gómez& Cristian Torres China: Deli Wang Ecuador: Carlos Iván Espinosa & Omar CabreraIsrael: Eli Zaady& Bertrand BoekenIran: MohammadJankuKenya: Vicente Polo & José P. VeigaMexico: Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald & Tulio Arredondo Morocco: MchichDerakPeru: Jorge Monerris & David A. Ramírez Spain: José L. Quero, Miguel García-Gómez, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Victoria Ochoa, Adrián Escudero, Santiago Soliveres, Pablo García-Palacios, Cristina Escolar, Miguel Berdugo, Beatriz Gozalo& Enrique Valencia Tunisia:  ZouhaierNoumi, WahidaGuiloufi & Mohammed ChiaebUSA : MattBowker, BeckyMou & MariaMiritiVenezuela: Adriana Florentino, Julio Blones, Abelardo Ospina & Rosa Mary Hernández

  3. I. Introduction •  Controlled experiments have suggested that biodiversity can potentially enhance the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions and services. However, the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem multifunctionality has never been assessed globally. •  Arid, semi-arid and dry-subhumid ecosystems (“drylands”) are a key terrestrial biome, covering 41% of Earth’s land surface and supporting over 38% of the global human. Despite their global extent and socio-ecological importance, the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality has seldom been studied in these ecosystems. •  We evaluated the effects of species richness, climate, and a range of other abiotic factors as drivers of multifunctionality in 224 dryland ecosystems from all continents except Antarctica.

  4. Study area

  5. Experimental design 224 30 m x 30 m plots surveyed, covering a wide range of ecosystems and climatic/soil type/land use conditions found in drylands. • The richness of perennial plant species was assessed using 80 in 1.5 x 1.5 m quadrats per plot. Five replicated soil samples per microsite (bare ground and vegetated) and plot were obtained. Over 2600 soil samples were processed • To quantify multifunctionality, we calculated Z-scores of 14 functions related to C (organic C, -glucosidase, hexoses, pentoses, aromatic compounds and phenols), N (total N, NO3--N, NH4+-N, aminoacids, proteins, potential N transformation rate) and P (available inorganic P and phosphatase) cycling

  6. Results. Richness effects on multifunctionality Species richness was significantly and positively related to multifunctionality

  7. Results. Summary of multi-modelling SA = sand content , SL = slope, A1 = axis 1 of climatic PCA (mean annual precipitation, r = 0.910), A2 = axis 2 of climatic PCA (mean temperature of the driest quarter, r = 0.901), A3 = axis 3 of climatic PCA (precipitation in the driest quarter, r = 0.946), A4 = axis 4 of climatic PCA (annual mean temperature [r = 0.682] and mean temperature of the wettest quarter, r = 0.884), LA = lattitude, LO = longitude, and EL = elevation. Best model without species richness: R2 = 0.539, AICc = 293.236, and ΔAICc = 10.486 Most parsimonious model without species richness: R2 = 0.515, AICc = 300.078, and ΔAICc = 17.328

  8. Results. Importance of richness and abiotic factors Species richness was significantly and positively related to multifunctionality

  9. Conclusions  Mean annual temperature was the single most important predictor of multifunctionality. Climate change models predict increases in average annual temperature up to 4ºC in drylands. Such an increase will substantially reduce their ability to perform multiple functions related to C, N and P cycling simultaneously. In spite of the importance of climate to ecosystem functioning, we found consistent, important effects of perennial plant species richness on multifunctionality. Diversity effects may be particularly relevant for maintaining ecosystem functions linked to C and N cycling. Our findings have important implications for the management of drylands, as they suggest that the preservation of plant species richness can potentially buffer negative effects of climate change and desertification on ecosystem multifunctionality.

  10. Acknowledgements  This research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant agreement 242658 (BIOCOM). http://www.escet.urjc.es/biodiversos/espa/investigacion/biocom/

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