Shifts of community composition and population density substantially affect ecosystem function despite invariant richness

Jurg W. Spaak, Jan M. Baert, Donald J. Baird, Nico Eisenhauer, Lorraine Maltby, Francesco Pomati, Viktoriia Radchuk, Jason R. Rohr, Paul J. Van den Brink, Frederik De Laender

Résultats de recherche: Contribution à un journal/une revueArticleRevue par des pairs

Résumé

There has been considerable focus on the impacts of environmental change on ecosystem function arising from changes in species richness. However, environmental change may affect ecosystem function without affecting richness, most notably by affecting population densities and community composition. Using a theoretical model, we find that, despite invariant richness, (1) small environmental effects may already lead to a collapse of function; (2) competitive strength may be a less important determinant of ecosystem function change than the selectivity of the environmental change driver and (3) effects on ecosystem function increase when effects on composition are larger. We also present a complementary statistical analysis of 13 data sets of phytoplankton and periphyton communities exposed to chemical stressors and show that effects on primary production under invariant richness ranged from −75% to +10%. We conclude that environmental protection goals relying on measures of richness could underestimate ecological impacts of environmental change.

langue originaleAnglais
Pages (de - à)1315-1324
Nombre de pages10
journalEcology Letters
Volume20
Numéro de publication10
Les DOIs
Etat de la publicationPublié - 17 sept. 2017

Financement

This article is a joint effort of the working group sEcoToxDiv and an outcome of a workshop kindly supported by sDiv, the Synthesis Centre of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig (DFG FZT 118). This research used resources of the Plateforme Technologique de Calcul Intensif (PTCI) (http://www.ptci.unamur.be) located at the University of Namur, Belgium, which is supported by the FRS-FNRS under convention No 2.4520.11. The PTCI is member of the Consortium des \u00C9quipements de Calcul Inten-sif (C\u00C9CI) (http://www.ceci-hpc.be). J.M.B. is indebted to the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) for his PhD research fellow grant (B/12958/01). J.R.R. was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (EF-1241889), the National Institutes of Health (R01GM109499, R01TW010286), the US Department of Agriculture (NRI 2006-01370, 2009-35102-0543), and the US Environmental Protection Agency (CAREER 83518801). F.D.L. received support from grants of the University of Namur (FSR Impul-sionnel 48454E1), and the Fund for Scientific Research, FNRS (PDR T.0048.16). D.J.B would like to acknowledge support through the Discovery Grant program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. F.P. was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF grant CRSII2_147654). We acknowledge the valuable input of three referees.

Bailleurs de fondsNuméro du bailleur de fonds
National Institutes of Health
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Synthesis Centre of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Fogarty International CenterR01TW010286
Université de NamurFSR Impul-sionnel 48454E1
United States Environmental Protection Agency 83518801
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft2.4520.11, FZT 118
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung147654, CRSII2_147654
National Science FoundationEF-1241889
Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRSPDR T.0048.16
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen (FWO)B/12958/01
U.S. Department of Agriculture2009-35102-0543, NRI 2006-01370
National Institute of General Medical SciencesR01GM109499

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