Resource Availability Alters Biodiversity Effects in Experimental Grass-Forb Mixtures.

ABSTRACT: Numerous experiments, mostly performed in particular environments, have shown positive diversity-productivity relationships. Although the complementary use of resources is discussed as an important mechanism explaining diversity effects, less is known about how resource availability controls the strength of diversity effects and how this response depends on the functional composition of plant communities. We studied aboveground biomass production in experimental monocultures, two- and four-species mixtures assembled from two independent pools of four perennial grassland species, each representing two functional groups (grasses, forbs) and two growth statures (small, tall), and exposed to different combinations of light and nutrient availability. On average, shade led to a decrease in above

SUBMITTER: Siebenkas A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4920387 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature