Functional rarity and evenness are key facets of biodiversity to boost multifunctionality.

ABSTRACT: The functional traits of organisms within multispecies assemblages regulate biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning. Yet how traits should assemble to boost multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously (multifunctionality) remains poorly explored. In a multibiome litter experiment covering most of the global variation in leaf trait spectra, we showed that three dimensions of functional diversity (dispersion, rarity, and evenness) explained up to 66% of variations in multifunctionality, although the dominant species and their traits remained an important predictor. While high dispersion impeded multifunctionality, increasing the evenness among functionally dissimilar species was a key dimension to promote higher multifunctionality and to reduce the abundance of plant pathogens. Because

SUBMITTER: Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7896339 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature