Changes in temperature alter the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

ABSTRACT: Global warming and the loss of biodiversity through human activities (e.g., land-use change, pollution, invasive species) are two of the most profound threats to the functional integrity of the Earth's ecosystems. These factors are, however, most frequently investigated separately, ignoring the potential for synergistic effects of biodiversity loss and environmental warming on ecosystem functioning. Here we use high-throughput experiments with microbial communities to investigate how changes in temperature affect the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. We found that changes in temperature systematically altered the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. As temperatures departed from ambient conditions the exponent of the diversity-functioning

SUBMITTER: Garcia FC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6205462 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature