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- Title
Biodiversity effects on soil processes explained by interspecific functional dissimilarity.
- Authors
Heemsbergen, D A; Berg, M P; Loreau, M; van Hal, J R; Faber, J H; Verhoef, H A
- Abstract
The loss of biodiversity can have significant impacts on ecosystem functioning, but the mechanisms involved lack empirical confirmation. Using soil microcosms, we show experimentally that functional dissimilarity among detritivorous species, not species number, drives community compositional effects on leaf litter mass loss and soil respiration, two key soil ecosystem processes. These experiments confirm theoretical predictions that biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning can be predicted by the degree of functional differences among species.
- Publication
Science (New York, N.Y.), 2004, Vol 306, Issue 5698, p1019
- ISSN
1095-9203
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1126/science.1101865