Studying biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships in experimental microcosms among islands.

ABSTRACT: Ecological studies on islands have provided fundamental insights into the mechanisms underlying biodiversity of larger organisms, but we know little about the factors affecting island microbial biodiversity and ecosystem function. We conducted a field experiment on five Baltic Sea islands where we placed aquatic microcosms with different levels of salinity mimicking environmental stress and allowed diatoms to colonize the microcosms via the air. Using structural equation models (SEM), we investigated the interconnections among environmental and dispersal-related factors, diatom biodiversity, and ecosystem productivity (represented by chlorophyll a concentration). We also tested whether the body size structure of the community influences productivity together with biodiversity. In SEMs, we

SUBMITTER: Teittinen A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9287039 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature