Functional rarity and evenness are key facets of biodiversity to boost multifunctionality

Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet*, Nicolas Gross, Hugo Saiz, Fernando T. Maestre, Sonia Ruiz, Marina Dacal, Sergio Asensio, Victoria Ochoa, Beatriz Gozalo, Johannes H.C. Cornelissen, Lucas Deschamps, Carlos García, Vincent Maire, Rubén Milla, Norma Salinas, Juntao Wang, Brajesh K. Singh, Pablo García-Palacios

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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    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 languageEnglish
    Article numbere2019355118
    Pages (from-to)1-8
    Number of pages8
    JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    Volume118
    Issue number7
    Early online date10 Feb 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 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).

    FundersFunder number
    European Program Horizon 2020
    Formación del Profesorado Universi-tario
    Horizon 2020 Framework Programme647038, 656035
    HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
    British Ecological SocietySR17\1297
    European Research Council
    Australian Research CouncilDP170104634, DP190103714
    Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y DeporteFPU-15/00392
    Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadFJCI-2015-26782
    Generalitat ValencianaCIDEGENT/ 2018/041
    Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónRYC2018-024766-I, CGL2014-56567-R, CGL2017-83855-R

      Keywords

      • Complex species assemblages | litter decomposition | nutrient cycling | plant pathogens | trait distributions

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