TY - JOUR
T1 - Diversifying livestock promotes multidiversity and multifunctionality in managed grasslands
AU - Wang, Ling
AU - Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel
AU - Wang, Deli
AU - Isbell, Forest
AU - Liu, Jun
AU - Feng, Chao
AU - Liu, Jushan
AU - Zhong, Zhiwei
AU - Zhu, Hui
AU - Yuan, Xia
AU - Chang, Qing
AU - Liu, Chen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Increasing plant diversity can increase ecosystem functioning, stability, and services in both natural and managed grasslands, but the effects of herbivore diversity, and especially of livestock diversity, remain underexplored. Given that managed grazing is the most extensive land use worldwide, and that land managers can readily change livestock diversity, we experimentally tested how livestock diversification (sheep, cattle, or both) influenced multidiversity (the diversity of plants, insects, soil microbes, and nematodes) and ecosystem multifunctionality (including plant biomass production, plant leaf N and P, above-ground insect abundance, nutrient cycling, soil C stocks, water regulation, and plant-microbe symbiosis) in the world's largest remaining grassland. We also considered the potential dependence of ecosystem multifunctionality on multidiversity. We found that livestock diversification substantially increased ecosystem multifunctionality by increasing multidiversity. The link between multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality was always stronger than the link between single diversity components and functions. Our work provides insights into the importance of multitrophic diversity to maintain multifunctionality in managed ecosystems and suggests that diversifying livestock could promote both multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in an increasingly managed world.
AB - Increasing plant diversity can increase ecosystem functioning, stability, and services in both natural and managed grasslands, but the effects of herbivore diversity, and especially of livestock diversity, remain underexplored. Given that managed grazing is the most extensive land use worldwide, and that land managers can readily change livestock diversity, we experimentally tested how livestock diversification (sheep, cattle, or both) influenced multidiversity (the diversity of plants, insects, soil microbes, and nematodes) and ecosystem multifunctionality (including plant biomass production, plant leaf N and P, above-ground insect abundance, nutrient cycling, soil C stocks, water regulation, and plant-microbe symbiosis) in the world's largest remaining grassland. We also considered the potential dependence of ecosystem multifunctionality on multidiversity. We found that livestock diversification substantially increased ecosystem multifunctionality by increasing multidiversity. The link between multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality was always stronger than the link between single diversity components and functions. Our work provides insights into the importance of multitrophic diversity to maintain multifunctionality in managed ecosystems and suggests that diversifying livestock could promote both multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in an increasingly managed world.
KW - Ecosystem multifunctionality
KW - Grassland grazing management
KW - Livestock diversity
KW - Mixed grazing
KW - Multiple trophic diversity
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1807354116
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1807354116
M3 - Article
C2 - 30850539
AN - SCOPUS:85063961430
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 116
SP - 6187
EP - 6192
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 13
ER -