Work

Biodiversity Effects on Soil Processes Explained by Interspecific Functional Dissimilarity

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: The loss of biodiversity can have significant impacts on ecosystem functioning, but the mechanisms involved lack empirical confirmation. Using soil microcosms, we show experimentally that functional dissimilarity among detritivorous species, not species number, drives community compositional effects on leaf litter mass loss and soil respiration, two key soil ecosystem processes. These experiments confirm theoretical predictions that biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning can be predicted by the degree of functional differences among species.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1101865

Authors: D. A. Heemsbergen, M. P. Berg, M. Loreau, J. R. van Hal, J. H. Faber, H. A. Verhoef

Institutions: École Normale Supérieure - PSL, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Wageningen University & Research

Language: English

Topic: Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

Subfield: Soil Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2127189538

FWCI: 31.85

Cites: 7

Cited by: 644

Related to: 10