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Biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning despite environmental change
Author(s) -
Hong Pubin,
Schmid Bernhard,
De Laender Frederik,
Eisenhauer Nico,
Zhang Xingwen,
Chen Haozhen,
Craven Dylan,
De Boeck Hans J.,
Hautier Yann,
Petchey Owen L.,
Reich Peter B.,
Steudel Bastian,
Striebel Maren,
Thakur Madhav P.,
Wang Shaopeng
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.13936
Subject(s) - biodiversity , ecosystem , environmental change , climate change , species richness , ecology , ecosystem services , global biodiversity , complementarity (molecular biology) , global change , ecosystem diversity , environmental resource management , environmental science , geography , biology , genetics
Three decades of research have demonstrated that biodiversity can promote the functioning of ecosystems. Yet, it is unclear whether the positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning will persist under various types of global environmental change drivers. We conducted a meta‐analysis of 46 factorial experiments manipulating both species richness and the environment to test how global change drivers (i.e. warming, drought, nutrient addition or CO 2 enrichment) modulated the effect of biodiversity on multiple ecosystem functions across three taxonomic groups (microbes, phytoplankton and plants). We found that biodiversity increased ecosystem functioning in both ambient and manipulated environments, but often not to the same degree. In particular, biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning were larger in stressful environments induced by global change drivers, indicating that high‐diversity communities were more resistant to environmental change. Using a subset of studies, we also found that the positive effects of biodiversity were mainly driven by interspecific complementarity and that these effects increased over time in both ambient and manipulated environments. Our findings support biodiversity conservation as a key strategy for sustainable ecosystem management in the face of global environmental change.