Consequences of biodiversity loss for litter decomposition across biomes

作者：I. Tanya Handa, Rien Aerts, Frank Berendse, Matty P. Berg, Andreas Bruder, Olaf Butenschoen, Éric Chauvet, Mark O. Gessner, Jérémy Jabiol, Marika Makkonen, Brendan G. McKie, Björn Malmqvist, E.T.H.M. Peeters, Stefan Scheu, Bernhard Schmid, Jasper van Ruijven, Veronique C. A. Vos, Stephan Hättenschwiler · 发表于：Nature · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1038/nature13247 · 被引用次数：828 · 研究领域：Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology、Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology、Land Use and Ecosystem Services

Field experiments across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems show that biodiversity positively affects carbon and nitrogen cycling in leaf litter decomposition, indicating that reduced decomposition caused by biodiversity loss would modify the global carbon cycle and limit the nitrogen supply to the organisms at the base of the food chain. It is well established that biodiversity has a positive effect on ecosystem functions such as primary production, but its effects on the diversity of plant litter and of the organisms that break it down are less clear cut. Stephan Hättenschwiler and colleagues examined litter diversity in parallel manipulative experiments at five sites ranging from subarctic to tropical, and including both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Across all of the studied ecosystems, they show that reducing the diversity of litter or of detritivores (the invertebrates and microorganisms that break litter down) slows litter carbon and nitrogen cycling and the rate of decomposition. A reduction in decomposition caused by biodiversity loss would, for example, limit the nitrogen supply to primary producers. Although positive overall, the effects were weaker than commonly reported for primary production, thus challenging current thinking on the generality of relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem processes that are based on assessments of plant productivity. The decomposition of dead organic matter is a major determinant of carbon and nutrient cycling in eco...