Effects of Species Richness and Turnover on Ecosystem Functioning in Heterogeneous Environments of Two Tropical Mountains

Annemarie Wurz, Jörg Albrecht, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Roland Brandl, Eike Lena Neuschulz, Jörg Bendix, Markus Fischer, Andreas Hemp, Jürgen Homeier, Ralf Kiese, Yakov Kuzyakov, Christoph Leuschner, Marcell K. Peters, Stefan Scheu, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Andre Velescu, Wolfgang Wilcke, Matthias Schleuning, Nina Farwig

Aim: Progress has been made in understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) in both experimental and real-world ecosystems. Yet, we have a limited understanding of the extent to which biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning in heterogeneous environments and whether variation in ecosystem functioning between communities is related to variation in species richness or turnover. Here, we quantify the relative contribution of variation in species richness and species turnover to variation in ecosystem functioning between communities (i.e., the diversity effect) along two tropical elevational gradients.
Location: Andes (Ecuador) and Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania).
Taxa Studied: Woody plants, springtails, soil arthropods, ants and frugivorous birds.
Methods: We collected data on seven ecosystem functions, including biomass and process rates, across six ecosystem types along the two elevational gradients. We then combine the ecological Price equation with the concept of β-diversity to quantify how the diversity effect is shaped by environmental heterogeneity within and across ecosystem types, and whether the effect of environmental heterogeneity is primarily mediated by variation in species richness or species turnover.
Results: The diversity effect on ecosystem functioning increased consistently with environmental heterogeneity on both mountains. Species richness and turnover, on average, contributed similarly to the diversity effect on ecosystem functioning in both mountain regions, but effect sizes varied across functions. The increase in the diversity effect with environmental heterogeneity was primarily mediated by species richness, while species turnover played a secondary role in mediating the effects of environmental heterogeneity.
Main Conclusions: Our study reveals that the diversity effect on ecosystem functioning increases with environmental heterogeneity and that species richness, rather than species turnover, primarily drives this relationship. The dominant role of species richness in mediating the effect of environmental heterogeneity indicates that BEF relationships along environmental gradients are strongly influenced by environmental filters that limit local species coexistence.