Reciprocal inhibition and competitive hierarchy cause negative biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships.
Ecol Lett
; 27(1): e14356, 2024 Jan.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38193391
ABSTRACT
The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) captivates ecologists, but the factors responsible for the direction of this relationship remain unclear. While higher ecosystem functioning at higher biodiversity levels ('positive BEF') is not universal in nature, negative BEF relationships seem puzzlingly rare. Here, we develop a dynamical consumer-resource model inspired by microbial decomposer communities in pitcher plant leaves to investigate BEF. We manipulate microbial diversity via controlled colonization and measure their function as total ammonia production. We test how niche partitioning among bacteria and other ecological processes influence BEF in the leaves. We find that a negative BEF can emerge from reciprocal interspecific inhibition in ammonia production causing a negative complementarity effect, or from competitive hierarchies causing a negative selection effect. Absent these factors, a positive BEF was the typical outcome. Our findings provide a potential explanation for the rarity of negative BEF in empirical data.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Ecosistema
/
Amoníaco
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Ecol Lett
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos