Effects of enemy exclusion on biodiversity-productivity relationships in a subtropical forest experiment.

ABSTRACT: Interspecific niche complementarity is a key mechanism posited to explain positive species richness-productivity relationships in plant communities. However, the exact nature of the niche dimensions that plant species partition remains poorly known.Species may partition abiotic resources that limit their growth, but species may also be specialized with respect to their set of biotic interactions with other trophic levels, in particular with enemies including pathogens and consumers. The lower host densities present in more species-diverse plant communities may therefore result in smaller populations of specialized enemies, and in a smaller associated negative feedback these enemies exert on plant productivity.To test whether such host density-dependent effects of enemies drive diversity-pr

SUBMITTER: Huang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9544039 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature