TY - JOUR

T1 - Multitrophic arthropod diversity mediates tree diversity effects on primary productivity

AU - Li, Yi

AU - Schmid, Bernhard

AU - Schuldt, Andreas

AU - Li, Shan

AU - Wang, Ming Qiang

AU - Fornoff, Felix

AU - Staab, Michael

AU - Guo, Peng Fei

AU - Anttonen, Perttu

AU - Chesters, Douglas

AU - Bruelheide, Helge

AU - Zhu, Chao Dong

AU - Ma, Keping

AU - Liu, Xiaojuan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

PY - 2023/6

Y1 - 2023/6

N2 - Forests sustain 80% of terrestrial biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services. Biodiversity experiments have demonstrated that plant diversity correlates with both primary productivity and higher trophic diversity. However, whether higher trophic diversity can mediate the effects of plant diversity on productivity remains unclear. Here, using 5 years of data on aboveground herbivorous, predatory and parasitoid arthropods along with tree growth data within a large-scale forest biodiversity experiment in southeast China, we provide evidence of multidirectional enhancement among the diversity of trees and higher trophic groups and tree productivity. We show that the effects of experimentally increased tree species richness were consistently positive for species richness and abundance of herbivores, predators and parasitoids. Richness effects decreased as trophic levels increased for species richness and abundance of all trophic groups. Multitrophic species richness and abundance of arthropods were important mediators of plant diversity effects on tree productivity, suggesting that optimizing forest management for increased carbon capture can be more effective when the diversity of higher trophic groups is promoted in concert with that of trees.

AB - Forests sustain 80% of terrestrial biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services. Biodiversity experiments have demonstrated that plant diversity correlates with both primary productivity and higher trophic diversity. However, whether higher trophic diversity can mediate the effects of plant diversity on productivity remains unclear. Here, using 5 years of data on aboveground herbivorous, predatory and parasitoid arthropods along with tree growth data within a large-scale forest biodiversity experiment in southeast China, we provide evidence of multidirectional enhancement among the diversity of trees and higher trophic groups and tree productivity. We show that the effects of experimentally increased tree species richness were consistently positive for species richness and abundance of herbivores, predators and parasitoids. Richness effects decreased as trophic levels increased for species richness and abundance of all trophic groups. Multitrophic species richness and abundance of arthropods were important mediators of plant diversity effects on tree productivity, suggesting that optimizing forest management for increased carbon capture can be more effective when the diversity of higher trophic groups is promoted in concert with that of trees.

KW - Biology

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153730622&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.5167/uzh-239123

DO - 10.5167/uzh-239123

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 37106157

AN - SCOPUS:85153730622

VL - 7

SP - 832

EP - 840

JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2397-334X

IS - 6

ER -