Trade‐offs among restored ecosystem functions are context‐dependent in Mediterranean‐type regions
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Global biodiversity hotspots, including Mediterranean‐type ecosystems worldwide, are highly threatened by global change that alters biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services. Some restoration activities enhance ecosystem functions by reintroducing plant species based on known relationships between plant traits and ecosystem processes. Achieving multiple functions across different site conditions, however, requires understanding how abiotic factors like climate and soil, along with plant assemblages, influence ecosystem functions, including their trade‐offs and synergies. We used the ModEST ecosystem simulation model, which integrates carbon, water, and nutrient processes with plant traits, to assess the relationships between restored plant assemblages and ecosystem functions in Mediterranean‐type climates and soils. We investigated whether maximised carbon increment, water use efficiency, and nitrogen use efficiency, along with their trade‐offs and synergies, varied across different abiotic contexts. Further, we asked whether assemblages that maximised functions varied across environments and among these functions. We found that maximised ecosystem carbon increment and nitrogen use efficiency occurred under moist, warm conditions, while water use efficiency peaked under drier conditions. Generally, the assemblage that maximised one function differed from those for other maximised functions. Synergies were rare, except between water and nitrogen use efficiencies in loam soils across most climates. Trade‐offs among maximised functions were common, varying in strength with abiotic context and plant assemblages, and were more pronounced in sandy loam soils compared to clay‐rich soils. Our findings suggest that due to variation in abiotic conditions within and across Mediterranean‐type regions at the global scale, site‐specific plant assemblages are required to maximise ecosystem functions. Thus, lessons from a single site cannot be transferred to another site, even where the same plant functional types are available for restoration. Our simulation results offer valuable insights into potential ecosystem performance under specific abiotic conditions following restoration with particular plant functional types, thereby informing local restoration efforts.
Source: Ecography
DOI: 10.1002/ecog.07609
Authors: Sebastian Fiedler, Michael P. Perring, José A. Monteiro, Cristina Branquinho, Oksana Buzhdygan, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Elsa E. Cleland, Jordi Cortina‐Segarra, José M. Grünzweig, Jennifer A. Holm, Katja Irob, Trevor F. Keenan, Melanie Köbel, Fernando T. Maestre, Jörn Pagel, Natalia Rodríguez‐Ramírez, Paloma Ruiz‐Benito, Frank M. Schurr, Efrat Sheffer, Enrique Valencia, Britta Tietjen
Institutions: Technische Universität Berlin, University of Bayreuth, University of Göttingen, Freie Universität Berlin, The University of Western Australia, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, University of Lisbon, University of Concepción, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, University of California San Diego, University of Alicante, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, University of Hohenheim, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie Marine et Continentale, Office Français de la Biodiversité, Universidad de Alcalá, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDGs: Life on land, Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS), Comunidad de Madrid, Strong, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Generalitat Valenciana, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Universidad de Alcalá, Freie Universität Berlin, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Science, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Biological and Environmental Research
Awards: G1001060958, G1286236842, G1337544421, G1794668356, G1837554925, USING A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO ASSESS WINNERS AND LOSERS TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN PLANT SPECIES OF THE ANDES OF CENTRAL CHILE, INSTITUTO DE ECOLOGIA Y BIODIVERSIDAD (IEB), G223002938, G278231746, G3083819904, G3685081974, EXTREME DROUGHT, HEAT AND WILDFIRE IMPACTS ON COASTAL WATER RELATIONS, G3994243872, G419881185, G42916606, G4501827968, G4507520916, G498139845, G5264466959, G529379198, G5354294296, G5814032277, ASSESSING PLANT SPECIES VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE ALONG THE CHILEAN ANDES AND ANTARCTICA, G6652958823, G7434936867, G7536959471, G7787287669, G8009787811, G8398113126, G969889393
OpenAlex ID: W4409545264