Tree species and genetic diversity increase productivity via functional diversity and trophic feedbacks
- Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
- Beijing Forestry University, China
- Technical University Darmstadt, Germany
- Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany
- University of Freiburg, Germany
- Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, China
- University of Minnesota, United States
- Morton Arboretum, United States
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany
- University of Zurich, Switzerland
Abstract
Addressing global biodiversity loss requires an expanded focus on multiple dimensions of biodiversity. While most studies have focused on the consequences of plant interspecific diversity, our mechanistic understanding of how genetic diversity within plant species affects plant productivity remains limited. Here, we use a tree species × genetic diversity experiment to disentangle the effects of species diversity and genetic diversity, and how they are related to tree functional diversity and trophic feedbacks. We found that tree species diversity increased tree productivity via increased tree functional diversity, reduced soil fungal diversity and marginally reduced herbivory. The effects of tree genetic diversity on productivity via functional diversity and soil fungal diversity were negative in monocultures but positive in the mixture of the four tree species tested. Given the complexity of interactions between species and genetic diversity, tree functional diversity and trophic feedbacks on productivity, we suggest that both tree species and genetic diversity should be considered in afforestation.
Data availability
All numerical data were used to generate the figures that have been deposited in Dryad.
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Gata from: Tree species and genetic diversity increase productivity via functional diversity and trophic feedbacksDryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryadgf1vhhmqx.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870409)
- Ting Tang
- Franca J Bongers
- Xiaojuan Liu
Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB31000000)
- Naili Zhang
- Xiaojuan Liu
National Natural Science Foundation of China (32161123003)
- Naili Zhang
- Yu Liang
- Keping Ma
- Xiaojuan Liu
Younth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2019082)
- Xiaojuan Liu
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2022, Tang et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Tree species and genetic diversity increase productivity via functional diversity and trophic feedbacks
eLife 11:e78703.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78703
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