In the face of rapidly declining diversity interest in how plant diversity and ecosystem functioning interrelate and how this relationship may differ across various systems is high. We know that grasslands with more species and
functional traits interacting can positively affect ecosystem functioning such as productivity or nutrient cycling.
These findings usually relate to highly managed experiments, however, and we still know little of how diversity and ecosystem function relate in more natural systems subjected to invasion. Latest findings also point to the need
to focus on more than a few ecosystem functions (multifunctionality), and hence also a suite of traits of species, at the same time to better understand how diversity and ecosystem properties are connected. Ecosystems are subjected to dynamic changes at many different spatial and time scales. There are short-term variabilities, rhythms over days or years, and changes and interaction happening on longer time scales. These dynamic changes in nature can lead to alteration of ecosystem functions over time. To describe these changes and the multifunctionality of ecosystems, spatial and temporal analyses at various scales are essential and new approaches are necessary to complement traditionalecological measurements.
Here we present a combined approach linking community assembly and physiological research with an automated non-invasive positioning system for measuring multiple traits of vegetation in the field. The “FieldScreen” is set up
over the “Habitat Garden” Experiment, a grassland assembly experiment. The FieldScreen can accurately position a set of sensors enabling automated measurements of the plants and soil surface below by means of high-resolution
photos, hyper-spectral reflectance or sun-induced fluorescence measurements. The Habitat Garden Experiment addresses how priority effects of species that arrive first in a system may affect both productivity and diversity (assembly)
over time.
The first 3 years of observation showed that with the FieldScreen it is possible to non-invasively follow changes of species turnover and selected plant traits over time. With the photos taken with a camera mounted on the FieldScreen
trolley we can clearly distinguish that sowing initially different diversity levels has an abiding influence on the further development of the plant communities, the spatial spread of species and the overall vegetation cover. These time
series have the potential to address research questions on the dynamic nature of ecosystem functioning. This could include measuring several traits of plants at the same time and hence helping to address the need to measure multifunctionality in natural systems if we are to better understand how diversity and ecosystem functioning are linked in natural systems subjected to many disturbances and drivers.