Selection and Phenotypic Plasticity Shape Plant Performance in a Grassland Biodiversity Experiment

作者：Francesca De Giorgi, Walter Durka, Yuanyuan Huang, Bernhard Schmid, Christiane Roscher · 发表于：Ecology and Evolution · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1002/ece3.71117 · 被引用次数：12 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Plant and animal studies、Plant Parasitism and Resistance

ABSTRACT The increasing strength of positive biodiversity effects on plant community productivity, observed in long‐term biodiversity experiments, relates to mixed responses at the species level. However, it is still not well understood if the observed mixed responses are adaptations to the different selection pressures in plant communities of different diversity or plastic adjustments. We conducted a transplant experiment for nine plant species in a 17‐year‐old biodiversity experiment (Jena Experiment). We used offspring of plants selected in the biodiversity experiment and from plants without selection in the experiment ( naïve ). In a Community History Experiment , offspring of selected plants were planted in three test environments: their original plant communities with old soil (of the long‐term Jena Experiment), newly assembled plant communities with old soil, and newly assembled plant communities with new soil. In a Selection Experiment , we compared selected plants with naïve plants, both grown in the selected plants' original environment. In all test environments, increasing species richness was associated with a decrease in plant individual biomass, reproductive output, relative growth rate, plant height, leaf greenness, and leaf nitrogen concentration, and an increase in specific leaf area (SLA). In the Selection Experiment, selected plants had a weaker decline in biomass, taller stature, and higher leaf carbon and nitrogen concentrations than naïve plants with inc...