Biodiversity is more closely related to ecosystem function than imagined

Recently, Gao Lianming Research Group, a researcher at the Kunming Plant Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Li De baht Research Group, in collaboration with scientists from Canada and the United States, studied the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem function at different spatial scales, using the Yulong Snow Mountain coastal gradient-like zone as a platform. The results are published in the Journal of Ecology.
complex geology, climatic history and diverse topographical features in northwest Yunnan have created characteristic biodiversity, and the region is one of the most sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. Yulong Snow Mountain coastal gradient has a variety of climatic types, a wide variety of plants, showing a relatively complete vertical spectrum of mountain plants, is the microcosm of plant diversity in northwest China, but also an important ecological safety barrier, for the study of forest ecosystem functions to provide a natural place.The
team's combined multi-dimensional biodiversity (species diversity, system developmental diversity and functional diversity) and forest vertical structure (trees, shrubs and herbs) found a positive correlation between above-ground biomass and community composition and functional diversity, suggesting that selection and ecological level complementarities were the dominant factors. The above-ground biomass of trees did not significantly reduce the above-ground biomass of plants under the forest, while the biomass of shrubs was associated with the diversity of seed sizes or the functional diversity of polysexual synthesis, while the above-ground biomass of herbs was mainly influenced by systemic developmental diversity and species diversity, indicating that complementary effects played an important role in forest community. Altitude gradients have indirect effects on biomass mainly through species diversity, system developmental diversity and functional diversity. In the context of global change, the results of the study contribute to scientific support for the conservation and management of forest biodiversity.
study found that as spatial scales increase, the correlation between diversity and ecosystem functions increases, suggesting that the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions may be closer on a larger spatial scale. Therefore, in the implementation of natural forest protection or artificial forest construction in mountain forest ecosystem, not only consider the diversity of tree species, shrubs and herbs under the forest as a unique system also need to be included in the ecosystem service function. (Source: Feng Lifei, China Science Journal)
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