Trophic complexity alters the diversity-multifunctionality relationship in experimental grassland mesocosms.

ABSTRACT: Plant diversity has a positive influence on the number of ecosystem functions maintained simultaneously by a community, or multifunctionality. While the presence of multiple trophic levels beyond plants, or trophic complexity, affects individual functions, the effect of trophic complexity on the diversity-multifunctionality relationship is less well known. To address this issue, we tested whether the independent or simultaneous manipulation of both plant diversity and trophic complexity impacted multifunctionality using a mesocosm experiment from Cedar Creek, Minnesota, USA. Our analyses revealed that neither plant diversity nor trophic complexity had significant effects on single functions, but trophic complexity altered the diversity-multifunctionality relationship in two key ways: It lo

SUBMITTER: Anujan K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8207441 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature