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A cross‐scale assessment of productivity–diversity relationships
Author(s) -
Craven Dylan,
Sande Masha T.,
Meyer Carsten,
Gerstner Katharina,
Bennett Joanne M.,
Giling Darren P.,
Hines Jes,
Phillips Helen R. P.,
May Felix,
BannarMartin Katherine H.,
Chase Jonathan M.,
Keil Petr
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
global ecology and biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.164
H-Index - 152
eISSN - 1466-8238
pISSN - 1466-822X
DOI - 10.1111/geb.13165
Subject(s) - productivity , species richness , biodiversity , ecology , primary production , biomass (ecology) , ecosystem , spatial ecology , spatial variability , geography , environmental science , ecosystem diversity , biology , statistics , mathematics , macroeconomics , economics
Aim Biodiversity and ecosystem productivity vary across the globe, and considerable effort has been made to describe their relationships. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research has traditionally focused on how experimentally controlled species richness affects net primary productivity ( S → NPP) at small spatial grains. In contrast, the influence of productivity on richness (NPP → S ) has been explored at many grains in naturally assembled communities. Mismatches in spatial scale between approaches have fuelled debate about the strength and direction of biodiversity–productivity relationships. Here, we examine the direction and strength of the influence of productivity on diversity (NPP → S ) and the influence of diversity on productivity ( S → NPP) and how these vary across spatial grains. Location Contiguous USA. Time period 1999–2015. Major taxa studied Woody species (angiosperms and gymnosperms). Methods Using data from North American forests at grains from local (672 m 2 ) to coarse spatial units (median area = 35,677 km 2 ), we assess relationships between diversity and productivity using structural equation and random forest models, while accounting for variation in climate, environmental heterogeneity, management and forest age. Results We show that relationships between S and NPP strengthen with spatial grain. Within each grain, S → NPP and NPP → S have similar magnitudes, meaning that processes underlying S → NPP and NPP → S either operate simultaneously or that one of them is real and the other is an artefact. At all spatial grains, S was one of the weakest predictors of forest productivity, which was largely driven by biomass, temperature and forest management and age. Main conclusions We conclude that spatial grain mediates relationships between biodiversity and productivity in real‐world ecosystems and that results supporting predictions from each approach (NPP → S and S → NPP) serve as an impetus for future studies testing underlying mechanisms. Productivity–diversity relationships emerge at multiple spatial grains, which should widen the focus of national and global policy and research to larger spatial grains.