Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán Sin Número, 28933 Móstoles, Spain.
Science. 2012 Jan 13;335(6065):214-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1215442.
Experiments suggest that biodiversity enhances the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage, productivity, and the buildup of nutrient pools (multifunctionality). However, the relationship between biodiversity and multifunctionality has never been assessed globally in natural ecosystems. We report here on a global empirical study relating plant species richness and abiotic factors to multifunctionality in drylands, which collectively cover 41% of Earth's land surface and support over 38% of the human population. Multifunctionality was positively and significantly related to species richness. The best-fitting models accounted for over 55% of the variation in multifunctionality and always included species richness as a predictor variable. Our results suggest that the preservation of plant biodiversity is crucial to buffer negative effects of climate change and desertification in drylands.
实验表明，生物多样性提高了生态系统维持多种功能的能力，如碳储存、生产力和营养物质积累（多功能性）。然而，生物多样性与多功能性之间的关系从未在自然生态系统中进行过全球评估。我们在此报告了一项关于与旱地多功能性相关的植物物种丰富度和非生物因素的全球实证研究，旱地总面积占地球陆地表面的 41%，支持着超过 38%的人口。多功能性与物种丰富度呈正相关且显著相关。最佳拟合模型解释了多功能性变化的 55%以上，并且始终将物种丰富度作为预测变量。我们的研究结果表明，保护植物生物多样性对于缓冲旱地气候变化和荒漠化的负面影响至关重要。
