1. Drought soil legacy alters drivers of plant diversity-productivity relationships in oldfield systems
- Author
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Nianxun Xi, Dongxia Chen, Michael Bahn, Hangyu Wu, Chengjin Chu, Marc W. Cadotte, Juliette M. G. Bloor, Sun Yat-Sen University [Guangzhou] (SYSU), Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck - University of Innsbruck, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Unité Mixte de Recherche sur l'Ecosystème Prairial - UMR (UREP), VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA), VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS), and National Natural Science Foundation of China grant 31600342 National Natural Science Foundation of China grant 31925027
- Subjects
mesocosm experiment ,Multidisciplinary ,climate change ,parasitic diseases ,fungi ,food and beverages ,[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology ,Ecosystem functions ,biodiversity - Abstract
International audience; Ecosystem functions are threatened by both recurrent droughts and declines in biodiversity at a global scale, but the drought dependency of diversity-productivity relationships remains poorly understood. Here, we use a two-phase mesocosm experiment with simulated drought and model oldfield communities (360 experimental mesocosms/plant communities) to examine drought-induced changes in soil microbial communities along a plant species richness gradient and to assess interactions between past drought (soil legacies) and subsequent drought on plant diversity-productivity relationships. We show that (i) drought decreases bacterial and fungal richness and modifies relationships between plant species richness and microbial groups; (ii) drought soil legacy increases net biodiversity effects, but responses of net biodiversity effects to plant species richness are unaffected; and (iii) linkages between plant species richness and complementarity/selection effects vary depending on past and subsequent drought. These results provide mechanistic insight into biodiversity-productivity relationships in a changing environment, with implications for the stability of ecosystem function under climate change.
- Published
- 2022