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Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Standard

Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning. / van der Plas, Fons; Schröder-Georgi, Thomas; Weigelt, Alexandra et al.
In: Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 4, No. 12, 12.2020, p. 1602-1611.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Harvard

van der Plas, F, Schröder-Georgi, T, Weigelt, A, Barry, K, Meyer, S, Alzate, A, Barnard, RL, Buchmann, N, de Kroon, H, Ebeling, A, Eisenhauer, N, Engels, C, Fischer, M, Gleixner, G, Hildebrandt, A, Koller-France, E, Leimer, S, Milcu, A, Mommer, L, Niklaus, PA, Oelmann, Y, Roscher, C, Scherber, C, Scherer-Lorenzen, M, Scheu, S, Schmid, B, Schulze, ED, Temperton, V, Tscharntke, T, Voigt, W, Weisser, W, Wilcke, W & Wirth, C 2020, 'Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning', Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 4, no. 12, pp. 1602-1611. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-199915, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01316-9

APA

van der Plas, F., Schröder-Georgi, T., Weigelt, A., Barry, K., Meyer, S., Alzate, A., Barnard, R. L., Buchmann, N., de Kroon, H., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Engels, C., Fischer, M., Gleixner, G., Hildebrandt, A., Koller-France, E., Leimer, S., Milcu, A., Mommer, L., ... Wirth, C. (2020). Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 4(12), 1602-1611. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-199915, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01316-9

Vancouver

van der Plas F, Schröder-Georgi T, Weigelt A, Barry K, Meyer S, Alzate A et al. Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 2020 Dec;4(12):1602-1611. doi: 10.5167/uzh-199915, 10.1038/s41559-020-01316-9

Bibtex

@article{99b4dd428a5b42c4a992c5c66df4fbd3,
title = "Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning",
abstract = "Earth is home to over 350,000 vascular plant species that differ in their traits in innumerable ways. A key challenge is to predict how natural or anthropogenically driven changes in the identity, abundance and diversity of co-occurring plant species drive important ecosystem-level properties such as biomass production or carbon storage. Here, we analyse the extent to which 42 different ecosystem properties can be predicted by 41 plant traits in 78 experimentally manipulated grassland plots over 10 years. Despite the unprecedented number of traits analysed, the average percentage of variation in ecosystem properties jointly explained was only moderate (32.6%) within individual years, and even much lower (12.7%) across years. Most other studies linking ecosystem properties to plant traits analysed no more than six traits and, when including only six traits in our analysis, the average percentage of variation explained in across-year levels of ecosystem properties dropped to 4.8%. Furthermore, we found on average only 12.2% overlap in significant predictors among ecosystem properties, indicating that a small set of key traits able to explain multiple ecosystem properties does not exist. Our results therefore suggest that there are specific limits to the extent to which traits per se can predict the long-term functional consequences of biodiversity change, so that data on additional drivers, such as interacting abiotic factors, may be required to improve predictions of ecosystem property levels.",
keywords = "Ecosystems Research, tree species-diversity, litter decomposition, phylogenetic diversity, subtropical forest, carbon storage, land-use, community composition, aboveground biomass, global metaanalysis, taxonomic diversity, biodiversity, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, grassland ecology",
author = "{van der Plas}, Fons and Thomas Schr{\"o}der-Georgi and Alexandra Weigelt and Kathryn Barry and Sebastian Meyer and Adriana Alzate and Barnard, {Romain L.} and Nina Buchmann and {de Kroon}, Hans and Anne Ebeling and Nico Eisenhauer and Christof Engels and Markus Fischer and Gerd Gleixner and Anke Hildebrandt and Eva Koller-France and Sophia Leimer and Alexandru Milcu and Liesje Mommer and Niklaus, {Pascal A.} and Yvonne Oelmann and Christiane Roscher and Christoph Scherber and Michael Scherer-Lorenzen and Stefan Scheu and Bernhard Schmid and Schulze, {Ernst Detlef} and Vicky Temperton and Teja Tscharntke and Winfried Voigt and Wolfgang Weisser and Wolfgang Wilcke and Christian Wirth",
year = "2020",
month = dec,
doi = "10.5167/uzh-199915",
language = "English",
volume = "4",
pages = "1602--1611",
journal = "Nature Ecology & Evolution",
issn = "2397-334X",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "12",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning

AU - van der Plas, Fons

AU - Schröder-Georgi, Thomas

AU - Weigelt, Alexandra

AU - Barry, Kathryn

AU - Meyer, Sebastian

AU - Alzate, Adriana

AU - Barnard, Romain L.

AU - Buchmann, Nina

AU - de Kroon, Hans

AU - Ebeling, Anne

AU - Eisenhauer, Nico

AU - Engels, Christof

AU - Fischer, Markus

AU - Gleixner, Gerd

AU - Hildebrandt, Anke

AU - Koller-France, Eva

AU - Leimer, Sophia

AU - Milcu, Alexandru

AU - Mommer, Liesje

AU - Niklaus, Pascal A.

AU - Oelmann, Yvonne

AU - Roscher, Christiane

AU - Scherber, Christoph

AU - Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael

AU - Scheu, Stefan

AU - Schmid, Bernhard

AU - Schulze, Ernst Detlef

AU - Temperton, Vicky

AU - Tscharntke, Teja

AU - Voigt, Winfried

AU - Weisser, Wolfgang

AU - Wilcke, Wolfgang

AU - Wirth, Christian

PY - 2020/12

Y1 - 2020/12

N2 - Earth is home to over 350,000 vascular plant species that differ in their traits in innumerable ways. A key challenge is to predict how natural or anthropogenically driven changes in the identity, abundance and diversity of co-occurring plant species drive important ecosystem-level properties such as biomass production or carbon storage. Here, we analyse the extent to which 42 different ecosystem properties can be predicted by 41 plant traits in 78 experimentally manipulated grassland plots over 10 years. Despite the unprecedented number of traits analysed, the average percentage of variation in ecosystem properties jointly explained was only moderate (32.6%) within individual years, and even much lower (12.7%) across years. Most other studies linking ecosystem properties to plant traits analysed no more than six traits and, when including only six traits in our analysis, the average percentage of variation explained in across-year levels of ecosystem properties dropped to 4.8%. Furthermore, we found on average only 12.2% overlap in significant predictors among ecosystem properties, indicating that a small set of key traits able to explain multiple ecosystem properties does not exist. Our results therefore suggest that there are specific limits to the extent to which traits per se can predict the long-term functional consequences of biodiversity change, so that data on additional drivers, such as interacting abiotic factors, may be required to improve predictions of ecosystem property levels.

AB - Earth is home to over 350,000 vascular plant species that differ in their traits in innumerable ways. A key challenge is to predict how natural or anthropogenically driven changes in the identity, abundance and diversity of co-occurring plant species drive important ecosystem-level properties such as biomass production or carbon storage. Here, we analyse the extent to which 42 different ecosystem properties can be predicted by 41 plant traits in 78 experimentally manipulated grassland plots over 10 years. Despite the unprecedented number of traits analysed, the average percentage of variation in ecosystem properties jointly explained was only moderate (32.6%) within individual years, and even much lower (12.7%) across years. Most other studies linking ecosystem properties to plant traits analysed no more than six traits and, when including only six traits in our analysis, the average percentage of variation explained in across-year levels of ecosystem properties dropped to 4.8%. Furthermore, we found on average only 12.2% overlap in significant predictors among ecosystem properties, indicating that a small set of key traits able to explain multiple ecosystem properties does not exist. Our results therefore suggest that there are specific limits to the extent to which traits per se can predict the long-term functional consequences of biodiversity change, so that data on additional drivers, such as interacting abiotic factors, may be required to improve predictions of ecosystem property levels.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - tree species-diversity

KW - litter decomposition

KW - phylogenetic diversity

KW - subtropical forest

KW - carbon storage

KW - land-use

KW - community composition

KW - aboveground biomass

KW - global metaanalysis

KW - taxonomic diversity

KW - biodiversity

KW - community ecology

KW - ecosystem ecology

KW - grassland ecology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092089670&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.5167/uzh-199915

DO - 10.5167/uzh-199915

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 33020598

AN - SCOPUS:85092089670

VL - 4

SP - 1602

EP - 1611

JO - Nature Ecology & Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology & Evolution

SN - 2397-334X

IS - 12

ER -

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