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Tree diversity increases productivity through enhancing structural complexity across mycorrhizal types.

ABSTRACT: Tree species diversity and mycorrhizal associations play a central role for forest productivity, but factors driving positive biodiversity-productivity relationships remain poorly understood. In a biodiversity experiment manipulating tree diversity and mycorrhizal associations, we examined the roles of above- and belowground processes in modulating wood productivity in young temperate tree communities and potential underlying mechanisms. We found that tree species richness, but not mycorrhizal associations, increased forest productivity by enhancing aboveground structural complexity within communities. Structurally complex communities were almost twice as productive as structurally simple stands, particularly when light interception was high. We further demonstrate that overyielding was largely explained by positive net biodiversity effects on structural complexity with functional variation in shade tolerance and taxonomic diversity being key drivers of structural complexity in mixtures. Consideration of stand structural complexity appears to be a crucial element in predicting carbon sequestration in the early successional stages of mixed-species forests.

SUBMITTER: Ray T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10558120 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Tree diversity increases productivity through enhancing structural complexity across mycorrhizal types.

Ray Tama T Delory Benjamin M BM Beugnon Rémy R Bruelheide Helge H Cesarz Simone S Eisenhauer Nico N Ferlian Olga O Quosh Julius J von Oheimb Goddert G Fichtner Andreas A

Science advances 20231006 40

Tree species diversity and mycorrhizal associations play a central role for forest productivity, but factors driving positive biodiversity-productivity relationships remain poorly understood. In a biodiversity experiment manipulating tree diversity and mycorrhizal associations, we examined the roles of above- and belowground processes in modulating wood productivity in young temperate tree communities and potential underlying mechanisms. We found that tree species richness, but not mycorrhizal a ...[more]

PMID: 37801499

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Project description:Forest structural complexity can mediate the light and water distribution within forest canopies, and has a direct impact on forest biodiversity and carbon storage capability. It is believed that increases in forest structural complexity can enhance tree species diversity and forest productivity, but inconsistent relationships among them have been reported. Here, we quantified forest structural complexity in three aspects (i.e., horizontal, vertical, and internal structural complexity) from unmanned aerial vehicle light detection and ranging data, and investigated their correlations with tree species diversity and forest productivity by incorporating field measurements in three forest biomes with large latitude gradients in China. Our results show that internal structural complexity had a stronger correlation (correlation coefficient = 0.85) with tree species richness than horizontal structural complexity (correlation coefficient = -0.16) and vertical structural complexity (correlation coefficient = 0.61), and it was the only forest structural complexity attribute having significant correlations with both tree species richness and tree species evenness. A strong scale effect was observed in the correlations among forest structural complexity, tree species diversity, and forest productivity. Moreover, forest internal structural complexity had a tight positive coordinated contribution with tree species diversity to forest productivity through structure equation model analysis, while horizontal and vertical structural complexity attributes have insignificant or weaker coordinated effects than internal structural complexity, which indicated that the neglect of forest internal structural complexity might partially lead to the current inconsistent observations among forest structural complexity, tree species diversity, and forest productivity. The results of this study can provide a new angle to understand the observed inconsistent correlations among forest structural complexity, tree species diversity, and forest productivity.

Project description:Soil microbial communities play crucial roles in the earth's biogeochemical cycles. Yet, their genomic potential for nutrient cycling in association with tree mycorrhizal type and tree-tree interactions remained unclear, especially in diverse tree communities. Here, we studied the genomic potential of soil fungi and bacteria with arbuscular (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EcM) conspecific tree species pairs (TSPs) at three tree diversity levels in a subtropical tree diversity experiment (BEF-China). The soil fungi and bacteria of the TSPs' interaction zone were characterized by amplicon sequencing, and their subcommunities were determined using a microbial interkingdom co-occurrence network approach. Their potential genomic functions were predicted with regard to the three major nutrients carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) and their combinations. We found the microbial subcommunities that were significantly responding to different soil characteristics. The tree mycorrhizal type significantly influenced the functional composition of these co-occurring subcommunities in monospecific stands and two-tree-species mixtures but not in mixtures with more than three tree species (here multi-tree-species mixtures). Differentiation of subcommunities was driven by differentially abundant taxa producing different sets of nutrient cycling enzymes across the tree diversity levels, predominantly enzymes of the P (n = 11 and 16) cycles, followed by the N (n = 9) and C (n = 9) cycles, in monospecific stands and two-tree-species mixtures, respectively. Fungi of the Agaricomycetes, Sordariomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, and Leotiomycetes and bacteria of the Verrucomicrobia, Acidobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the major differential contributors (48% to 62%) to the nutrient cycling functional abundances of soil microbial communities across tree diversity levels. Our study demonstrated the versatility and significance of microbial subcommunities in different soil nutrient cycling processes of forest ecosystems. IMPORTANCE Loss of multifunctional microbial communities can negatively affect ecosystem services, especially forest soil nutrient cycling. Therefore, exploration of the genomic potential of soil microbial communities, particularly their constituting subcommunities and taxa for nutrient cycling, is vital to get an in-depth mechanistic understanding for better management of forest soil ecosystems. This study revealed soil microbes with rich nutrient cycling potential, organized in subcommunities that are functionally resilient and abundant. Such microbial communities mainly found in multi-tree-species mixtures associated with different mycorrhizal partners can foster soil microbiome stability. A stable and functionally rich soil microbiome is involved in the cycling of nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and their combinations could have positive effects on ecosystem functioning, including increased forest productivity. The new findings could be highly relevant for afforestation and reforestation regimes, notably in the face of growing deforestation and global warming scenarios.

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Dataset Information

Tree diversity increases productivity through enhancing structural complexity across mycorrhizal types.

Publications

Tree diversity increases productivity through enhancing structural complexity across mycorrhizal types.

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