Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany.
WasserCluster Lunz, Dr. Carl Kupelwieser Promenade 5, 3293, Lunz am See, Austria.
Nat Ecol Evol. 2018 Jan;2(1):44-49. doi: 10.1038/s41559-017-0391-4. Epub 2017 Nov 27.
Biodiversity ensures ecosystem functioning and provisioning of ecosystem services, but it remains unclear how biodiversity-ecosystem multifunctionality relationships depend on the identity and number of functions considered. Here, we demonstrate that ecosystem multifunctionality, based on 82 indicator variables of ecosystem functions in a grassland biodiversity experiment, increases strongly with increasing biodiversity. Analysing subsets of functions showed that the effects of biodiversity on multifunctionality were stronger when more functions were included and that the strength of the biodiversity effects depended on the identity of the functions included. Limits to multifunctionality arose from negative correlations among functions and functions that were not correlated with biodiversity. Our findings underline that the management of ecosystems for the protection of biodiversity cannot be replaced by managing for particular ecosystem functions or services and emphasize the need for specific management to protect biodiversity. More plant species from the experimental pool of 60 species contributed to functioning when more functions were considered. An individual contribution to multifunctionality could be demonstrated for only a fraction of the species.
生物多样性确保了生态系统的功能和生态系统服务的提供，但生物多样性-生态系统多功能性关系如何取决于所考虑的功能的数量和特性仍不清楚。在这里，我们证明了基于草地生物多样性实验中的 82 个生态系统功能指标变量的生态系统多功能性随生物多样性的增加而强烈增加。对功能子集的分析表明，当包含更多功能时，生物多样性对多功能性的影响更强，并且生物多样性效应的强度取决于所包含的功能的特性。多功能性的限制源于功能之间的负相关以及与生物多样性不相关的功能。我们的研究结果强调了保护生物多样性的生态系统管理不能替代特定生态系统功能或服务的管理，并强调需要进行具体管理以保护生物多样性。当考虑更多功能时，来自 60 种实验物种库的更多植物物种有助于发挥功能。只有一小部分物种可以证明对多功能性有个体贡献。
