1. Ecology

Plant diversity maintains multiple soil functions in future environments

  1. Nico Eisenhauer  Is a corresponding author
  2. Jes Hines
  3. Forest Isbell
  4. Fons van der Plas
  5. Sarah E Hobbie
  6. Clare E Kazanski
  7. Anika Lehmann
  8. Mengyun Liu
  9. Alfred Lochner
  10. Matthias C Rillig
  11. Anja Vogel
  12. Kally Worm
  13. Peter B Reich
  1. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany
  2. Leipzig University, Germany
  3. University of Minnesota, United States
  4. Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
  5. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, Germany
  6. Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  7. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  8. Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
  9. Western Sydney University, Australia
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228
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Cite this article
  1. Nico Eisenhauer
  2. Jes Hines
  3. Forest Isbell
  4. Fons van der Plas
  5. Sarah E Hobbie
  6. Clare E Kazanski
  7. Anika Lehmann
  8. Mengyun Liu
  9. Alfred Lochner
  10. Matthias C Rillig
  11. Anja Vogel
  12. Kally Worm
  13. Peter B Reich
(2018)
Plant diversity maintains multiple soil functions in future environments
eLife 7:e41228.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228
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5 figures, 2 tables and 4 additional files

Figures

Figure 1
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Effects of plant diversity and environmental change drivers on single ecosystem functions.

Plant diversity effects on root biomass (a), soil respiration (b), soil microbial biomass (c), and water-stable soil aggregates (d) under ambient conditions (Control) and three different future environmental conditions (elevated CO2 concentrations, elevated nitrogen availability, and elevated CO2 concentrations and elevated nitrogen availability). Plant diversity effects are significant in (a), (b), and (c), while elevated CO2 and N did not affect any of the soil functions (Table 1). Shown are regression lines with 95% confidence intervals. Points staggered on x-axis for clarity.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.002
Figure 2
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Correlations between four soil functions across plant diversity, CO2, and N treatments.

Lower panels show bivariate relationships among standardized values of root biomass, soil basal respiration, soil microbial biomass, and water-stable soil aggregates (>250 µm). Upper panels report Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) and associated p-values.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.004
Figure 3
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Average ecosystem multifunctionality as affected by plant diversity and environmental change drivers.

Average ecosystem multifunctionality (Hector and Bagchi, 2007; Byrnes et al., 2014) calculated from the soil functions root biomass, soil respiration, soil microbial biomass C, and percentage of water-stable soil aggregates under ambient conditions and three different future environmental conditions (elevated CO2 concentrations, elevated nitrogen availability, and elevated CO2 concentrations and elevated nitrogen availability). Plant diversity significantly increased multifunctionality, while CO2 and N effects were not significant (Table 1). Given are regression lines with 95% confidence intervals. Points staggered on x-axis for clarity.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.005
Figure 4 with 5 supplements
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Ecosystem multifunctionality based on the multiple thresholds approach (Byrnes et al., 2014) as affected by plant diversity and environmental change drivers.

The slope of the relationship between planted species richness and multifunctionality, defined as number of functions reaching a threshold of some percentage of the maximum observed function. Panels show the relationship for (a) the number of functions at or above a threshold of some proportion of the maximum observed function for threshold values ranging from 1 to 99% and (b) four different thresholds (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% of maximum) as affected by plant species richness, CO2, and N in the BioCON experiment (Reich et al., 2001). Points are slightly jiggered to improve readability.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.006
Figure 4—figure supplement 1
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Plant species richness, N addition, and CO2 effects on realized species richness in the BioCON experiment.

For statistical results see main text. Means with 95% confidence intervals.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.007
Figure 4—figure supplement 2
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Plant species richness, N addition, and CO2 effects on Shannon diversity in the BioCON experiment.

For statistical results see main text. Means with 95% confidence intervals.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.008
Figure 4—figure supplement 3
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Plant species richness and N addition effects on Simpson evenness in the BioCON experiment.

For statistical results see main text. Means with 95% confidence intervals.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.009
Figure 4—figure supplement 4
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Plant species richness and CO2 effects on Functional Dispersion in the BioCON experiment.

For statistical results see main text. Means with 95% confidence intervals.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.010
Figure 4—figure supplement 5
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Plant species richness and N addition effects on Functional Dispersion in the BioCON experiment.

For statistical results see main text. Means with 95% confidence intervals.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.011
Figure 5
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Mechanisms underlying plant diversity effects on ecosystem multifunctionality.

Structural equation model on the effects of sown plant species richness on the functional diversity of the plant community (functional dispersion), evenness of multiple functions, and ecosystem multifunctionality. Numbers on arrows are standardized path coefficients. All paths retained in this final model were significant (p<0.001). Percentages on boxes indicate the variance explained by the model. Modification indices were used to check if additional paths would improve the model. ***p<0.001.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.013

Tables

Table 1
GLM table of F and p values on the effects of CO2 (ambient and elevated), N (ambient and elevated), plant species richness (PSR; one, four, nine, or 16 species; log-linear term), and all possible interactions on soil microbial biomass carbon, soil respiration, root biomass, water stable aggregates, and soil ecosystem multifunctionality using the averaging and the multiple thresholds approach.

Ring effects indicate variation across experimental blocks (six rings). Full model: model degrees of freedom (dfs) = 13 (dfs of all factors and interactions = 1, except for Ring [dfs = 6]), error dfs = 301; error dfs for Ring(CO2)=18.56; reduced model without monocultures: error dfs = 177; error dfs for Ring(CO2)=23.65; significant effects (p≤0.05) are given in bold; effects of ring are given in italics.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.003
CO2Ring(CO2)NPSRCO2 x NCO2 x PSRN x PSRCO2 x N x PSR
FpFpFpFpFpFpFpFp
Single-soil functions
Soil microbial biomass<0.010.9750.720.6340.840.36083.03<0.0010.150.7010.650.4200.180.669<0.010.954
Soil respiration0.040.8515.45<0.0012.910.08922.98<0.0013.430.0651.770.1850.140.7100.190.661
Root biomass0.250.6211.770.1051.150.28580.23<0.0012.030.1550.140.7140.720.3980.010.940
Soil aggregate stability1.030.34697.33<0.0010.560.4542.810.0950.760.3830.300.5820.070.7920.050.825
Ecosystem multifunctionality (EM)0.580.4577.53<0.0010.450.504112.57<0.0013.080.0800.290.5940.020.8770.050.823
 EM, without monocultures‘<0.010.9538.65<0.0012.900.09126.87<0.0012.570.1110.500.4793.210.0751.030.311
 EM, realized plant species richness‘‘0.570.4607.27<0.001<0.010.97691.95<0.0013.750.0540.070.7880.010.9041.130.290
 # Functions > 20% threshold0.450.5031.580.1521.850.17579.44<0.0014.340.0380.800.3730.860.3551.460.222
 # Functions > 40% threshold0.030.8661.860.0880.030.857124.84<0.0014.240.0410.220.6361.570.2110.020.876
 # Functions > 60% threshold<0.010.9934.350.0030.200.65764.47<0.0011.180.2780.030.8670.020.8893.870.050
 # Functions > 80% threshold0.080.78721.95<0.0010.430.51439.21<0.0010.170.6820.010.9710.760.3844.710.031

  1. ‘without monocultures; only plant species richness levels 4, 9, and 16 used in the analysis

    ‘‘using realized species richness

Table 2
GLM table of F and p values on the effects of CO2 (ambient and elevated), N (ambient and elevated), plant species richness (PSR; one, four, nine, or 16 species; log-linear term), and all possible interactions on realized plant species richness, Shannon diversity index of plants, Simpson evenness of plants, aboveground plant biomass, Shannon diversity index of soil functions, and evenness of soil functions.

Ring effects indicate variation across experimental blocks (six rings). Model degrees of freedom (dfs) = 13 (dfs of all factors and interactions = 1, except for Ring [dfs = 6]), error dfs = 301; error dfs for Ring(CO2)=18.56; significant effects (p<0.05) are given in bold; effects of ring are given in italics.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.012
CO2Ring(CO2)NPSRCO2 x NCO2 x PSRN x PSRCO2 x N x PSR
FpFpFpFpFpFpFpFp
Plant community responses
Realized plant species richness0.010.9381.110.355<0.010.9491040.30<0.0010.640.4240.010.90812.34<0.0017.200.008
Shannon diversity0.820.3650.860.5260.400.528761.67<0.0010.260.5905.810.01711.62<0.0015.030.026
Shannon evenness0.110.7360.400.8800.270.604445.43<0.001<0.010.9820.120.7265.020.0260.090.965
Simpson evenness0.910.3421.050.3920.720.397622.34<0.0010.090.7636.280.0138.050.0053.430.065
Functional richness0.060.8020.440.8530.030.874597.98<0.0010.040.8420.190.6670.130.7241.410.236
Functional evenness1.680.2033.330.0071.160.28330.52<0.0012.940.0892.360.1270.290.5920.870.353
Functional divergence0.460.4980.960.4550.610.434970.50<0.0010.110.7400.670.4150.150.7030.510.475
Functional dispersion0.570.4531.120.3530.350.555905.91<0.0010.020.8937.710.0064.710.0310.710.399
Aboveground plant biomass0.990.3231.520.1716.710.01065.37<0.0010.540.4630.280.5960.010.9260.200.657
Ecosystem multifunctionality
Shannon diversity index of soil functions0.050.8275.93<0.0012.030.155115.34<0.0010.910.3400.430.5121.390.2340.130.718
Evenness of soil functions0.110.6526.24<0.0010.580.449135.63<0.0010.800.3710.460.5000.960.3270.510.477

Additional files

Supplementary file 1

Supplementary Table S1.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.014
Supplementary file 2

Supplementary Document A1.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.015
Supplementary file 3

Supplementary Table S2.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.016
Transparent reporting form
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228.017

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  1. Nico Eisenhauer
  2. Jes Hines
  3. Forest Isbell
  4. Fons van der Plas
  5. Sarah E Hobbie
  6. Clare E Kazanski
  7. Anika Lehmann
  8. Mengyun Liu
  9. Alfred Lochner
  10. Matthias C Rillig
  11. Anja Vogel
  12. Kally Worm
  13. Peter B Reich
(2018)
Plant diversity maintains multiple soil functions in future environments
eLife 7:e41228.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41228