Multitrophic diversity and biotic associations influence subalpine forest ecosystem multifunctionality

Biodiversity across multiple trophic levels is required to maintain
multiple ecosystem functions. Yet, it remains unclear how multitrophic
diversity and species interactions regulate ecosystem multifunctionality.
Here, combining data from nine different trophic groups (including trees,
shrubs, herbs, leaf mites, small mammals, bacteria, pathogenic fungi,
saprophytic fungi and symbiotic fungi) and 13 ecosystem functions related
to supporting, provisioning and regulating services, we used a
multitrophic perspective to evaluate the effects of elevation, diversity
and network complexity on scale-dependent subalpine forest
multifunctionality. Our results demonstrate that elevation and soil pH
significantly modified species composition and richness across
multitrophic groups and influenced multiple functions simultaneously. We
provide evidence that species richness across multiple trophic groups had
stronger effects on multifunctionality than species richness at any single
trophic level. Moreover, biotic associations, indicating the complexity of
trophic networks, were positively associated with multifunctionality. The
relative effects of diversity on multifunctionality increased at the scale
of the larger community compared to a scale accounting for neighbouring
interactions. Our results highlight the paramount importance of scale- and
context- dependent multitrophic diversity and interactions for a better
understanding of mountain ecosystem multifunctionality in a changing
world.

搜集汇总

背景与挑战

背景概述

该数据集研究了亚高山森林生态系统中多营养级多样性和生物关联对生态系统多功能性的影响，涵盖了9个不同营养级的生物群体和13种生态系统功能。研究发现，多营养级多样性比单一营养级多样性对生态系统多功能性的影响更大，且生物关联与多功能性呈正相关。