Consumer versus resource control of producer diversity depends on ecosystem type and producer community structure.

ABSTRACT: Consumer and resource control of diversity in plant communities have long been treated as alternative hypotheses. However, experimental and theoretical evidence suggests that herbivores and nutrient resources interactively regulate the number and relative abundance of coexisting plant species. Experiments have yielded divergent and often contradictory responses within and among ecosystems, and no effort has to date reconciled this empirical variation within a general framework. Using data from 274 experiments from marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, we present a cross-system analysis of producer diversity responses to local manipulations of resource supply and/or herbivory. Effects of herbivory and fertilization on producer richness differed substantially between systems: (i) h

SUBMITTER: Hillebrand H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1904146 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature