Contrasting ecological mechanisms mediate the impact of land conversion on ecosystem multifunctionality

作者：Florent Noulèkoun, Sylvanus Mensah, Hyung‐Sub Kim, Juliano Sènanmi Hermann Houndonougbo, Michael Mensah, Woo Kyun Lee, Yowhan Son, Asia Khamzina · 发表于：Functional Ecology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/1365-2435.14738 · 被引用次数：12 · 研究领域：Land Use and Ecosystem Services、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management

Abstract Land use/cover (LULC) changes have unequivocally affected biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, with enormous repercussions for human well‐being. However, the mechanistic ecological mechanisms underlying the impact of land conversion on ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) remain insufficiently examined from the perspective of multiple biodiversity attributes in dryland regions with increasing deforestation rates. We investigated how the conversion of natural forests and savannas to agroforestry parklands alters the relationships between multiple biodiversity attributes (taxonomic, functional, phylogenetic and structural) and EMF, while accounting for the effects of environmental factors in the dryland landscapes in Benin. We used forest inventory data from 145 plots spanning forests, savannas and agroforestry parklands and assessed the implications of three land conversion scenarios. We quantified EMF using eight functions that are central to primary productivity and nutrient cycling. We found that EMF was positively related solely to structural diversity in forests. The conversion of forests and savannas to agroforestry parklands decreased EMF both directly and indirectly. The indirect effects were mediated by two contrasting biodiversity effects. When forests were converted to agroforestry parklands through savannas, indirect effects were driven by shifts in functional composition towards the dominance of species with acquisitive traits. In contrast, species diver...