Functionally distinct tree species support long-term productivity in extreme environments.

ABSTRACT: Despite evidence of a positive effect of functional diversity on ecosystem productivity, the importance of functionally distinct species (i.e. species that display an original combination of traits) is poorly understood. To investigate how distinct species affect ecosystem productivity, we used a forest-gap model to simulate realistic temperate forest successions along an environmental gradient and measured ecosystem productivity at the end of the successional trajectories. We performed 10 560 simulations with different sets and numbers of species, bearing either distinct or indistinct functional traits, and compared them to random assemblages, to mimic the consequences of a regional loss of species. Long-term ecosystem productivity dropped when distinct species were lost first from the re

SUBMITTER: Delalandre L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8767214 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature