Delayed biodiversity responses to environmental changes occur from genes over communities to ecosystem functions. Despite growing insights into the mechanisms governing both the magnitude and time lags of biodiversity responses at individual levels of biodiversity, how interactions among levels of biodiversity affect ecosystem‐wide inertia in response to an environmental forcing event remains a largely unanswered question. As several sources causing time lags interact within and across multiple biodiversity levels, we hypothesise these mechanisms control how time lags at one biodiversity level may cascade into increasingly extended lags at higher biodiversity levels. We analysed empirical data on genetic diversity, species distributions, community diversity and functional diversity in semi‐natural grassland patches for the existence and length of lagged responses across biodiversity levels in response to 165 years of land‐use change. Time lags were present at all tested biodiversity levels (from genes to traits), none yet in equilibrium with the current landscape. Significant variation in delays among individual species possibly controlled by delayed loss in genetic diversity may affect the scale of future biodiversity losses at the community level. Functional diversity appeared to have the most delayed response, likely due to high functional redundancy in species‐rich grassland communities. Synthesis . Species identity seems central in governing the observed delays at each level of biodiversity, from genetic to functional diversity. In particular, species identity controls the slowest responses at the genetic level, potentially leading to accumulating underestimations of the size and duration of time lags at species, community and functional diversity levels compared to average community responses. Conservation and restoration actions must therefore anticipate the potentially systematic underestimation of time lags in biodiversity responses following habitat change to ensure their effectiveness in halting biodiversity loss.
{"title":"Accumulating time lags across biodiversity levels following land‐use change","authors":"Jan Plue, Franz Essl, Sara A. O. Cousins","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70203","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item> Delayed biodiversity responses to environmental changes occur from genes over communities to ecosystem functions. Despite growing insights into the mechanisms governing both the magnitude and time lags of biodiversity responses at individual levels of biodiversity, how interactions among levels of biodiversity affect ecosystem‐wide inertia in response to an environmental forcing event remains a largely unanswered question. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> As several sources causing time lags interact within and across multiple biodiversity levels, we hypothesise these mechanisms control how time lags at one biodiversity level may cascade into increasingly extended lags at higher biodiversity levels. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> We analysed empirical data on genetic diversity, species distributions, community diversity and functional diversity in semi‐natural grassland patches for the existence and length of lagged responses across biodiversity levels in response to 165 years of land‐use change. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Time lags were present at all tested biodiversity levels (from genes to traits), none yet in equilibrium with the current landscape. Significant variation in delays among individual species possibly controlled by delayed loss in genetic diversity may affect the scale of future biodiversity losses at the community level. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Functional diversity appeared to have the most delayed response, likely due to high functional redundancy in species‐rich grassland communities. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic> . Species identity seems central in governing the observed delays at each level of biodiversity, from genetic to functional diversity. In particular, species identity controls the slowest responses at the genetic level, potentially leading to accumulating underestimations of the size and duration of time lags at species, community and functional diversity levels compared to average community responses. Conservation and restoration actions must therefore anticipate the potentially systematic underestimation of time lags in biodiversity responses following habitat change to ensure their effectiveness in halting biodiversity loss. </jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"185 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145567419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Understanding the relationship between biological diversity and ecosystem productivity is a central challenge in ecology. Structural diversity—the variation in size, height, and spatial arrangement of individuals within communities—has been proposed as a key driver of productivity, yet previous studies have reported mixed results, leaving its role in ecosystem functioning unclear. Clarifying the structural diversity and productivity relationship (SDPR) is essential not only for advancing ecological theory but also for informing biodiversity conservation, resource management, and climate adaptation strategies across ecosystems. Here, we utilized the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database, encompassing 95,602 trees within 3307 plots throughout most types of forest ecosystems in the contiguous U.S. We investigated the variation of SDPR by analyzing the growth of existing trees under the interactive effects of structural diversity with basal area, stand age, and annual precipitation with other factors. We also compiled the studies of SDPR published during 1974–2022 and compared the mean annual precipitation between studies showing the negative and positive SDPR. We found that: (1) SDPR was negative under the low range of structural diversity, but became positive under the high range; (2) SDPR was more positive with greater basal areas; (3) SDPR was more positive with stand development, and (4) SDPR was more positive with greater annual precipitation in the range of low structural diversity but switched to be more negative in the high range, and the negative SDPR with greater precipitation aligns with the analysis of published studies showing greater precipitation in studies with negative SDPR than the positive ones. Synthesis . Our findings reveal that structural diversity plays a context‐dependent role in regulating ecosystem productivity, shaped by interactions with stand structure and climate. This study offers broad implications for understanding ecosystem functioning, particularly how biodiversity interacts with environmental and structural attributes to shape productivity under global change.
{"title":"Structural diversity shifts from negative to positive associations with forest productivity via basal area, stand age, and precipitation thresholds","authors":"Kyungrok Hwang, Lu Zhai","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70200","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item> Understanding the relationship between biological diversity and ecosystem productivity is a central challenge in ecology. Structural diversity—the variation in size, height, and spatial arrangement of individuals within communities—has been proposed as a key driver of productivity, yet previous studies have reported mixed results, leaving its role in ecosystem functioning unclear. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Clarifying the structural diversity and productivity relationship (SDPR) is essential not only for advancing ecological theory but also for informing biodiversity conservation, resource management, and climate adaptation strategies across ecosystems. Here, we utilized the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database, encompassing 95,602 trees within 3307 plots throughout most types of forest ecosystems in the contiguous U.S. We investigated the variation of SDPR by analyzing the growth of existing trees under the interactive effects of structural diversity with basal area, stand age, and annual precipitation with other factors. We also compiled the studies of SDPR published during 1974–2022 and compared the mean annual precipitation between studies showing the negative and positive SDPR. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> We found that: (1) SDPR was negative under the low range of structural diversity, but became positive under the high range; (2) SDPR was more positive with greater basal areas; (3) SDPR was more positive with stand development, and (4) SDPR was more positive with greater annual precipitation in the range of low structural diversity but switched to be more negative in the high range, and the negative SDPR with greater precipitation aligns with the analysis of published studies showing greater precipitation in studies with negative SDPR than the positive ones. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic> . Our findings reveal that structural diversity plays a context‐dependent role in regulating ecosystem productivity, shaped by interactions with stand structure and climate. This study offers broad implications for understanding ecosystem functioning, particularly how biodiversity interacts with environmental and structural attributes to shape productivity under global change. </jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"104 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145559484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Grégoire T. Freschet, Janna Wambsganss, Vincent Poirier, Raoul Huys
Globally, the constrained stoichiometry of living organisms is responsible for the coupling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) elements in living organic matter, with afterlife effects in dead organic matter. This coupling has long been thought to foster trade‐offs among several key functions of ecosystems, such as soil fertility and C sequestration. However, while there is evidence for a general coupling of C and N cycling in ecosystems, there are many ways in which these cycles also diverge, both temporally and spatially, under the influence of multiple biotic and abiotic drivers. Here, focusing on the role of plant residues in feeding and steering the C and N cycles in soil, we examine how 24 leaf and root litters with contrasting chemistry differentially influence the temporal release of compounds with varying C:N stoichiometry to soil, and how C and N elements end up as stabilized (mineral‐associated organic matter, MAOM) or more bioavailable organic (particulate organic matter, POM) or mineral forms (e.g. CO 2 , NO 3− , NH 4+ ). There were major differences in the C:N stoichiometry of compounds released during decomposition, from low C:N early on to very high C:N at later stages. We observed a trade‐off in the role of litters towards increasing soil N availability (i.e. N in the soil solution) versus soil C stabilization (i.e. C in MAOM). Slow‐decomposing litters (with high lignin and low N concentrations, C‐poor leachates), particularly roots, favoured soil C stabilization over N availability. For each gram of litter decomposed, roots contributed 33% more C to the MAOM fraction of the soil, whereas leaves contributed 87% more N to the soil solution. This pattern was strongly driven (44% of variance explained) by the contrasting biochemistry of leaf versus root litters. Synthesis . These results suggest that leaf and root litters are highly complementary in the way they contribute to soil C stabilization and N availability. As such, global changes that influence the production and turnover of above and below‐ground litter inputs will likely have cascading effects on the balance between these functions. Our results also reveal substantial variation around the trade‐off between soil C stabilization and N availability, suggesting a continuum from ‘underachieving species’ to ‘versatile species’ contributing more to both functions. This opens perspectives for selecting versatile species capable of influencing positively several agro‐ecosystem functions.
{"title":"Plant litter effects on soil carbon stabilization and nitrogen availability: A trade‐off and some versatile species","authors":"Grégoire T. Freschet, Janna Wambsganss, Vincent Poirier, Raoul Huys","doi":"10.1111/1365-2745.70205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70205","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item> Globally, the constrained stoichiometry of living organisms is responsible for the coupling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) elements in living organic matter, with afterlife effects in dead organic matter. This coupling has long been thought to foster trade‐offs among several key functions of ecosystems, such as soil fertility and C sequestration. However, while there is evidence for a general coupling of C and N cycling in ecosystems, there are many ways in which these cycles also diverge, both temporally and spatially, under the influence of multiple biotic and abiotic drivers. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> Here, focusing on the role of plant residues in feeding and steering the C and N cycles in soil, we examine how 24 leaf and root litters with contrasting chemistry differentially influence the temporal release of compounds with varying C:N stoichiometry to soil, and how C and N elements end up as stabilized (mineral‐associated organic matter, MAOM) or more bioavailable organic (particulate organic matter, POM) or mineral forms (e.g. CO <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> , NO <jats:sub>3</jats:sub> <jats:sup>−</jats:sup> , NH <jats:sub>4</jats:sub> <jats:sup>+</jats:sup> ). </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> There were major differences in the C:N stoichiometry of compounds released during decomposition, from low C:N early on to very high C:N at later stages. We observed a trade‐off in the role of litters towards increasing soil N availability (i.e. N in the soil solution) versus soil C stabilization (i.e. C in MAOM). Slow‐decomposing litters (with high lignin and low N concentrations, C‐poor leachates), particularly roots, favoured soil C stabilization over N availability. For each gram of litter decomposed, roots contributed 33% more C to the MAOM fraction of the soil, whereas leaves contributed 87% more N to the soil solution. This pattern was strongly driven (44% of variance explained) by the contrasting biochemistry of leaf versus root litters. </jats:list-item> <jats:list-item> <jats:italic>Synthesis</jats:italic> . These results suggest that leaf and root litters are highly complementary in the way they contribute to soil C stabilization and N availability. As such, global changes that influence the production and turnover of above and below‐ground litter inputs will likely have cascading effects on the balance between these functions. Our results also reveal substantial variation around the trade‐off between soil C stabilization and N availability, suggesting a continuum from ‘underachieving species’ to ‘versatile species’ contributing more to both functions. This opens perspectives for selecting versatile species capable of influencing positively several agro‐ecosystem functions. </jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":191,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ecology","volume":"111 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145553994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}