Neighbourhood interactions drive overyielding in mixed-species tree communities.

ABSTRACT: Theory suggests that plant interactions at the neighbourhood scale play a fundamental role in regulating biodiversity-productivity relationships (BPRs) in tree communities. However, empirical evidence of this prediction is rare, as little is known about how neighbourhood interactions scale up to influence community BPRs. Here, using a biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiment, we provide insights into processes underlying BPRs by demonstrating that diversity-mediated interactions among local neighbours are a strong regulator of productivity in species mixtures. Our results show that local neighbourhood interactions explain over half of the variation in observed community productivity along a diversity gradient. Overall, individual tree growth increased with neighbourhood species richne

SUBMITTER: Fichtner A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5861250 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature