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BIBTEX RIS

Plant Species Richness and Ecosystem Multifunctionality in Global Drylands

2012; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 335; Issue: 6065 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1215442

ISSN

1095-9203

Autores

Fernando T. Maestre, José L. Quero, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Adrián Escudero, Victoria Ochoa, Manuel Delgado‐Baquerizo, Miguel García‐Gómez, Matthew A. Bowker, Santiago Soliveres, Cristina Escolar, Pablo García‐Palacios, Miguel Berdugo, Enrique Valencia, Beatriz Gozalo, Antonio Gallardo, Lorgio E. Aguilera, Tulio Arredondo, Julio Blones, Bertrand Boeken, Donaldo Bran, Abel Augusto Conceição, Omar Cabrera, Mohamed Chaïeb, Mchich Derak, David J. Eldridge, Carlos I. Espinosa, Adriana Florentino, Juan Gaitán, Gabriel Gatica, Wahida Ghiloufi, Susana Gómez‐González, Julio R. Gutiérrez, Rosa Mary Hernández, Xuewen Huang, Elisabeth Huber‐Sannwald, Mohammad Jankju, Maria N. Miriti, Jorge Monerris, Rebecca L. Mau, E. Morici, Kamal Naseri, Abelardo Ospina, Vicente Polo, Anıbal Prina, Eduardo Pucheta, David A. Ramírez, Roberto L. Romão, Matthew Tighe, Cristian Torres‐Díaz, James Val, José P. Veiga, Deli Wang, Eli Zaady,

Tópico(s)

Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

Resumo

Experiments suggest that biodiversity enhances the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple functions, such as carbon storage, productivity, and the buildup of nutrient pools (multifunctionality). However, the relationship between biodiversity and multifunctionality has never been assessed globally in natural ecosystems. We report here on a global empirical study relating plant species richness and abiotic factors to multifunctionality in drylands, which collectively cover 41% of Earth's land surface and support over 38% of the human population. Multifunctionality was positively and significantly related to species richness. The best-fitting models accounted for over 55% of the variation in multifunctionality and always included species richness as a predictor variable. Our results suggest that the preservation of plant biodiversity is crucial to buffer negative effects of climate change and desertification in drylands.

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