Papers in the Biological Sciences
Date of this Version
10-2001
Abstract
Plant diversity and niche complementarity had progressively stronger effects on ecosystem functioning during a 7-year experiment, with 16-species plots attaining 2.7 times greater biomass than monocultures. Diversity effects were neither transients nor explained solely by a few productive or unviable species. Rather, many higher-diversity plots outperformed the best monoculture. These results help resolve debate over biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, show effects at higher than expected diversity levels, and demonstrate, for these ecosystems, that even the best-chosen monocultures cannot achieve greater productivity or carbon stores than higher-diversity sites.
Includes Supplementary Material.
Comments
Published in Science Vol. 294. no. 5543 (October 26, 2001), pp. 843–845; doi: 10.1126/science.1060391 Copyright © 2001 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Used by permission.