Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2024
Abstract
The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) captivates ecologists, but the factors responsible for the direction of this relationship remain unclear. While higher ecosystem functioning at higher biodiversity levels (‘positive BEF’) is not universal in nature, negative BEF relationships seem puzzlingly rare. Here, we develop a dynamical consumer-resource model inspired by microbial decomposer communities in pitcher plant leaves to investigate BEF. We manipulate microbial diversity via controlled colonization and measure their function as total ammonia production. We test how niche partitioning among bacteria and other ecological processes influence BEF in the leaves. We find that a negative BEF can emerge from reciprocal interspecific inhibition in ammonia production causing a negative complementarity effect, or from competitive hierarchies causing a negative selection effect. Absent these factors, a positive BEF was the typical outcome. Our findings provide a potential explanation for the rarity of negative BEF in empirical data.
Copyright Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article:
D'Andrea, R., Khattar, G., Koffel, T., Frans, V.F., Bittleston, L.S., & Cuellar-Gempeler, C. (2024). Reciprocal Inhibition and Competitive Hierarchy Cause Negative Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function Relationships. Ecology Letters, 27(1), e14356,
which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14356. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Publication Information
D'Andrea, Rafael; Khattar, Gabriel; Koffel, Thomas; Frans, Veronica F.; Bittleston, Leonora S.; and Cuellar-Gempeler, Catalina. (2024). "Reciprocal Inhibition and Competitive Hierarchy Cause Negative Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function Relationships". Ecology Letters, 27(1), e14356. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14356