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Bacterial Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relations Are Modified by Environmental Complexity

Bacterial Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relations Are Modified by Environmental Complexity
Bacterial Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relations Are Modified by Environmental Complexity

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.
1932-6203
Langenheder, Silke
eae0797a-552d-42ed-bbb8-96ba2ac66c38
Bulling, Mark T.
0a9186c7-5457-46f4-8c83-1b26a571e402
Solan, Martin
c28b294a-1db6-4677-8eab-bd8d6221fecf
Prosser, James I.
086622f1-1fe1-41e3-bfe0-89a0bd649ebd
Langenheder, Silke
eae0797a-552d-42ed-bbb8-96ba2ac66c38
Bulling, Mark T.
0a9186c7-5457-46f4-8c83-1b26a571e402
Solan, Martin
c28b294a-1db6-4677-8eab-bd8d6221fecf
Prosser, James I.
086622f1-1fe1-41e3-bfe0-89a0bd649ebd

Langenheder, Silke, Bulling, Mark T., Solan, Martin and Prosser, James I. (2010) Bacterial Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relations Are Modified by Environmental Complexity. PLoS ONE, 5 (5), [0010834]. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010834).

Record type: Article

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.

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More information

Published date: 26 May 2010
Organisations: Marine Biology & Ecology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 407514
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/407514
ISSN: 1932-6203
PURE UUID: bbb535e1-950b-4417-b9b3-ea5fa40f67fe
ORCID for Martin Solan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9924-5574

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Apr 2017 01:04
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:59

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Contributors

Author: Silke Langenheder
Author: Mark T. Bulling
Author: Martin Solan ORCID iD
Author: James I. Prosser

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