Abstract
The functional traits of organisms within multispecies assemblages regulate biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning. Yet how traits should assemble to boost multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously (multifunctionality) remains poorly explored. In a multibiome litter experiment covering most of the global variation in leaf trait spectra, we showed that three dimensions of functional diversity (dispersion, rarity, and evenness) explained up to 66% of variations in multifunctionality, although the dominant species and their traits remained an important predictor. While high dispersion impeded multifunctionality, increasing the evenness among functionally dissimilar species was a key dimension to promote higher multifunctionality and to reduce the abundance of plant pathogens. Because too-dissimilar species could have negative effects on ecosystems, our results highlight the need for not only diverse but also functionally even assemblages to promote multifunctionality. The effect of functionally rare species strongly shifted from positive to negative depending on their trait differences with the dominant species. Simultaneously managing the dispersion, evenness, and rarity in multispecies assemblages could be used to design assemblages aimed at maximizing multifunctionality independently of the biome, the identity of dominant species, or the range of trait values considered. Functional evenness and rarity offer promise to improve the management of terrestrial ecosystems and to limit plant disease risks.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e2019355118 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-8 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 118 |
Issue number | 7 |
Early online date | 10 Feb 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 16 Feb 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Luis Cayuela for help during litter collection. This work was funded by the British Ecological Society (SR17\1297 grant, PI: P.G.-P.) and by the European Research Council (ERC Grant Agreement #647038, BIODESERT, PI: F.T.M.). Y.L.B.-P. was supported by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship within the European Program Horizon 2020 (DRYFUN Project #656035). H.S. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva-Formaci?n grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FJCI-2015-26782). F.T.M. and S.A. were supported from the Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/ 2018/041). M.D. was supported by a Formaci?n del Profesorado Universitario (FPU) fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU-15/00392). S.A. was supported by the Spanish MINECO for financial support via the DIGGING_DEEPER project through the 2015 to 2016 BiodivERsA3/FACCE?JPI joint call for research proposals. B.K.S. research on biodiversity-ecosystem functions was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP170104634 and DP190103714). P.G.-P. was supported by a Ram?n y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-024766-I). R.M. was supported by MINECO (Grants CGL2014-56567-R and CGL2017-83855-R).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Funding
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Luis Cayuela for help during litter collection. This work was funded by the British Ecological Society (SR17\1297 grant, PI: P.G.-P.) and by the European Research Council (ERC Grant Agreement #647038, BIODESERT, PI: F.T.M.). Y.L.B.-P. was supported by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship within the European Program Horizon 2020 (DRYFUN Project #656035). H.S. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva-Formaci?n grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FJCI-2015-26782). F.T.M. and S.A. were supported from the Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/ 2018/041). M.D. was supported by a Formaci?n del Profesorado Universitario (FPU) fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU-15/00392). S.A. was supported by the Spanish MINECO for financial support via the DIGGING_DEEPER project through the 2015 to 2016 BiodivERsA3/FACCE?JPI joint call for research proposals. B.K.S. research on biodiversity-ecosystem functions was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP170104634 and DP190103714). P.G.-P. was supported by a Ram?n y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-024766-I). R.M. was supported by MINECO (Grants CGL2014-56567-R and CGL2017-83855-R).
Funders | Funder number |
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European Program Horizon 2020 | |
Formación del Profesorado Universi-tario | |
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 647038, 656035 |
HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions | |
British Ecological Society | SR17\1297 |
European Research Council | |
Australian Research Council | DP170104634, DP190103714 |
Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte | FPU-15/00392 |
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | FJCI-2015-26782 |
Generalitat Valenciana | CIDEGENT/ 2018/041 |
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | RYC2018-024766-I, CGL2014-56567-R, CGL2017-83855-R |
Keywords
- Complex species assemblages | litter decomposition | nutrient cycling | plant pathogens | trait distributions