TY - JOUR
T1 - Diversity and productivity in a long-term grassland experiment
AU - Tilman, David
AU - Reich, Peter B
AU - Knops, J.
AU - Wedin, D.
AU - Mielke, T.
AU - Lehman, Clarence
PY - 2001/10/26
Y1 - 2001/10/26
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.1060391
DO - 10.1126/science.1060391
M3 - Article
C2 - 11679667
AN - SCOPUS:0035955396
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 294
SP - 843
EP - 845
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 5543
ER -