Causal networks of phytoplankton diversity and biomass are modulated by environmental context.

ABSTRACT: Untangling causal links and feedbacks among biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and environmental factors is challenging due to their complex and context-dependent interactions (e.g., a nutrient-dependent relationship between diversity and biomass). Consequently, studies that only consider separable, unidirectional effects can produce divergent conclusions and equivocal ecological implications. To address this complexity, we use empirical dynamic modeling to assemble causal networks for 19 natural aquatic ecosystems (N24^◦~N58^◦) and quantified strengths of feedbacks among phytoplankton diversity, phytoplankton biomass, and environmental factors. Through a cross-system comparison, we identify macroecological patterns; in more diverse, oligotrophic ecosystems, biodivers

SUBMITTER: Chang CW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8894464 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature