Abstract

Ecosystems worldwide are facing habitat homogenization due to human activities. Although it is commonly proposed that such habitat homogenization can have negative repercussions for ecosystem functioning, this question has yet to receive explicit scientific attention. We expand on the framework for evaluating the functional consequences of bio-diversity loss by scaling up from the level of species to the level of the entire habitats. Just as species diversity generally fosters ecosystem functioning through positive interspecies interactions, we hypothesize that different habitats within ecosystems can facilitate each other through structural complementarity and through exchange of material and energy across habitats. We show that experimental ecosystems comprised of a diversity of habitats show higher levels of multiple ecosystem functions than ecosystems with low habitat diversity. Our results demonstrate that the effect of habitat diversity on multifunctionality varies with season; it has direct effects on ecosystem functioning in summer and indirect effects, via changes in species diversity, in autumn, but no effect in spring. We propose that joint consideration of habitat diversity and species diversity will prove valuable for both environmental management and basic research.

Published in

Science Advances
2017, Volume: 3, number: 2, pages: 1-9
Publisher: AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE

SLU Authors

• Juhanson, Jaanis

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hallin, Sara

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns


UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology
Other Biological Topics


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601475

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/88211