Changes in the abundance of grassland species in monocultures versus mixtures and their relation to biodiversity effects.

ABSTRACT: Numerous studies have reported positive effects of species richness on plant community productivity. Such biodiversity effects are usually quantified by comparing the performance of plant mixtures with reference monocultures. However, several mechanisms, such as the lack of resource complementarity and facilitation or the accumulation of detrimental agents, suggest that monocultures are more likely than mixtures to deteriorate over time. Increasing biodiversity effects over time could therefore result from declining monocultures instead of reflecting increases in the functioning of mixtures. Commonly, the latter is assumed when positive trends in biodiversity effects occur. Here, we analysed the performance of 60 grassland species growing in monocultures and mixtures over 9 years in a biod

SUBMITTER: Marquard E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3787038 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature