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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Evenness mediates the global relationship between forest productivity and richness
Journal of Ecology, Vol.111(6), pp.1308-1326
2023
Abstract
1. Biodiversity is an important component of natural ecosystems, with higher species richness often correlating with an increase in ecosystem productivity. Yet, this relationship varies substantially across environments, typically becoming less pronounced at high levels of species richness. However, species richness alone cannot reflect all important properties of a community, including community evenness, which may mediate the relationship between biodiversity and productivity. If the evenness of a community correlates negatively with richness across forests globally, then a greater number of species may not always increase overall diversity and productivity of the system. Theoretical work and local empirical studies have shown that the effect of evenness on ecosystem functioning may be especially strong at high richness levels, yet the consistency of this remains untested at a global scale.
2. Here, we used a dataset of forests from across the globe, which includes composition, biomass accumulation and net primary productivity, to explore whether productivity correlates with community evenness and richness in a way that evenness appears to buffer the effect of richness. Specifically, we evaluated whether low levels of evenness in speciose communities correlate with the attenuation of the richness productivity relationship.
3. We found that tree species richness and evenness are negatively correlated across forests globally, with highly speciose forests typically comprising a few dominant and many rare species. Furthermore, we found that the correlation between diversity and productivity changes with evenness: at low richness, uneven communities are more productive, while at high richness, even communities are more productive.
4. Synthesis. Collectively, these results demonstrate that evenness is an integral component of the relationship between biodiversity and productivity, and that the attenuating effect of richness on forest productivity might be partly explained by low evenness in speciose communities. Productivity generally increases with species richness, until reduced evenness limits the overall increases in community diversity. Our research suggests that evenness is a fundamental component of biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships, and is of critical importance for guiding conservation and sustainable ecosystem management decisions.
Details
- Title
- Evenness mediates the global relationship between forest productivity and richness
- Authors
- Iris Hordijk (Corresponding Author) - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in ZurichDaniel S. Maynard (Author) - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in ZurichSimon P. Hart (Author) - The University of QueenslandMo Lidong (Author) - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in ZurichHans ter Steege (Author) - Naturalis Biodiversity CenterJingjing Liang (Author) - Purdue UniversitySergio de-Miguel (Author) - Universitat de LleidaGert-Jan Nabuurs (Author) - Wageningen University & ResearchPeter B Reich (Author) - Western Sydney UniversityMeinrad Abegg (Author) - Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape ResearchConstant Yves Adou Yao (Author) - Université Félix Houphouët-BoignyGiorgio Alberti (Author) - British Columbia Institute of TechnologyAngelica Maria Almeyda Zambrano (Author) - University of FloridaBraulio Vilchez Alvarado (Author) - Instituto Tecnológico de Costa RicaEsteban Alvarez-Dávila (Author) - Fundación Con VidaPatricia Alvarez Loayza (Author) - Duke UniversityLuciana F Alves (Author) - University of California, Los AngelesSee full text of article for complete list of authors (Author)Robin Chazdon (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research CentreJohn Herbohn (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australian Centre for Pacific Islands ResearchSharif A Mukul (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research CentreAndrew Marshall (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
- Publication details
- Journal of Ecology, Vol.111(6), pp.1308-1326
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1111/1365-2745.14098
- ISSN
- 1365-2745; 0022-0477
- Copyright note
- This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
- Grant note
- PZ00P3_193612/ Ambizione grant 16549/ Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World FCT— UIDB/04033/2020
- Organisation Unit
- Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Forest Research Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99722498402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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