Impacts of Species Richness on Productivity in a Large-Scale Subtropical Forest Experiment

Impacts of Species Richness on Productivity in a Large-Scale Subtropical Forest Experiment. Huang, Y., Chen, Y., Castro-Izaguirre, N., Baruffol, M., Brezzi, M., Lang, A., Li, Y., Härdtle, W., von Oheimb, G., Yang, X., Liu, X., Pei, K., Both, S., Yang, B., Eichenberg, D., Assmann, T., Bauhus, J., Behrens, T., Buscot, F., Chen, X., Chesters, D., Ding, B., Durka, W., Erfmeier, A., Fang, J., Fischer, M., Guo, L., Guo, D., Gutknecht, J. L. M., He, J., He, C., Hector, A., Hönig, L., Hu, R., Klein, A., Kühn, P., Liang, Y., Li, S., Michalski, S., Scherer-Lorenzen, M., Schmidt, K., Scholten, T., Schuldt, A., Shi, X., Tan, M., Tang, Z., Trogisch, S., Wang, Z., Welk, E., Wirth, C., Wubet, T., Xiang, W., Yu, M., Yu, X., Zhang, J., Zhang, S., Zhang, N., Zhou, H., Zhu, C., Zhu, L., Bruelheide, H., Ma, K., Niklaus, P. A., & Schmid, B. 362(6410):80–83.

Paper doi abstract bibtex

[Tree diversity improves forest productivity] Experimental studies in grasslands have shown that the loss of species has negative consequences for ecosystem functioning. Is the same true for forests? Huang et al. report the first results from a large biodiversity experiment in a subtropical forest in China. The study combines many replicates, realistic tree densities, and large plot sizes with a wide range of species richness levels. After 8 years of the experiment, the findings suggest strong positive effects of tree diversity on forest productivity and carbon accumulation. Thus, changing from monocultures to more mixed forests could benefit both restoration of biodiversity and mitigation of climate change. [Abstract] Biodiversity experiments have shown that species loss reduces ecosystem functioning in grassland. To test whether this result can be extrapolated to forests, the main contributors to terrestrial primary productivity, requires large-scale experiments. We manipulated tree species richness by planting more than 150,000 trees in plots with 1 to 16 species. Simulating multiple extinction scenarios, we found that richness strongly increased stand-level productivity. After 8 years, 16-species mixtures had accumulated over twice the amount of carbon found in average monocultures and similar amounts as those of two commercial monocultures. Species richness effects were strongly associated with functional and phylogenetic diversity. A shrub addition treatment reduced tree productivity, but this reduction was smaller at high shrub species richness. Our results encourage multispecies afforestation strategies to restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change.

@article{huangImpactsSpeciesRichness2018,
  title = {Impacts of Species Richness on Productivity in a Large-Scale Subtropical Forest Experiment},
  author = {Huang, Yuanyuan and Chen, Yuxin and Castro-Izaguirre, Nadia and Baruffol, Martin and Brezzi, Matteo and Lang, Anne and Li, Ying and Härdtle, Werner and von Oheimb, Goddert and Yang, Xuefei and Liu, Xiaojuan and Pei, Kequan and Both, Sabine and Yang, Bo and Eichenberg, David and Assmann, Thorsten and Bauhus, Jürgen and Behrens, Thorsten and Buscot, François and Chen, Xiao-Yong and Chesters, Douglas and Ding, Bing-Yang and Durka, Walter and Erfmeier, Alexandra and Fang, Jingyun and Fischer, Markus and Guo, Liang-Dong and Guo, Dali and Gutknecht, Jessica L. M. and He, Jin-Sheng and He, Chun-Ling and Hector, Andy and Hönig, Lydia and Hu, Ren-Yong and Klein, Alexandra-Maria and Kühn, Peter and Liang, Yu and Li, Shan and Michalski, Stefan and Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael and Schmidt, Karsten and Scholten, Thomas and Schuldt, Andreas and Shi, Xuezheng and Tan, Man-Zhi and Tang, Zhiyao and Trogisch, Stefan and Wang, Zhengwen and Welk, Erik and Wirth, Christian and Wubet, Tesfaye and Xiang, Wenhua and Yu, Mingjian and Yu, Xiao-Dong and Zhang, Jiayong and Zhang, Shouren and Zhang, Naili and Zhou, Hong-Zhang and Zhu, Chao-Dong and Zhu, Li and Bruelheide, Helge and Ma, Keping and Niklaus, Pascal A. and Schmid, Bernhard},
  date = {2018-10},
  journaltitle = {Science},
  volume = {362},
  pages = {80--83},
  issn = {0036-8075},
  doi = {10.1126/science.aat6405},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat6405},
  abstract = {[Tree diversity improves forest productivity] Experimental studies in grasslands have shown that the loss of species has negative consequences for ecosystem functioning. Is the same true for forests? Huang et al. report the first results from a large biodiversity experiment in a subtropical forest in China. The study combines many replicates, realistic tree densities, and large plot sizes with a wide range of species richness levels. After 8 years of the experiment, the findings suggest strong positive effects of tree diversity on forest productivity and carbon accumulation. Thus, changing from monocultures to more mixed forests could benefit both restoration of biodiversity and mitigation of climate change.

[Abstract] Biodiversity experiments have shown that species loss reduces ecosystem functioning in grassland. To test whether this result can be extrapolated to forests, the main contributors to terrestrial primary productivity, requires large-scale experiments. We manipulated tree species richness by planting more than 150,000 trees in plots with 1 to 16 species. Simulating multiple extinction scenarios, we found that richness strongly increased stand-level productivity. After 8 years, 16-species mixtures had accumulated over twice the amount of carbon found in average monocultures and similar amounts as those of two commercial monocultures. Species richness effects were strongly associated with functional and phylogenetic diversity. A shrub addition treatment reduced tree productivity, but this reduction was smaller at high shrub species richness. Our results encourage multispecies afforestation strategies to restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change.},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-14643334,adaptation,biodiversity,biomass,carbon-stock,climate-change,diversity,forest-biomass,forest-resources,mixed-forests,productivity,species-richness,subtropical-forests},
  number = {6410},
  options = {useprefix=true}
}

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