Clarifying the effect of biodiversity on productivity in natural ecosystems with longitudinal data and methods for causal inference.

ABSTRACT: Causal effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functions can be estimated using experimental or observational designs - designs that pose a tradeoff between drawing credible causal inferences from correlations and drawing generalizable inferences. Here, we develop a design that reduces this tradeoff and revisits the question of how plant species diversity affects productivity. Our design leverages longitudinal data from 43 grasslands in 11 countries and approaches borrowed from fields outside of ecology to draw causal inferences from observational data. Contrary to many prior studies, we estimate that increases in plot-level species richness caused productivity to decline: a 10% increase in richness decreased productivity by 2.4%, 95% CI [-4.1, -0.74]. This contradiction stems from two source

SUBMITTER: Dee LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10163230 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature