Impacts of species richness on productivity in a large-scale subtropical forest experiment

Yuanyuan Huang; Yuxin Chen; Nadia Castro-Izaguirre; Martin Baruffol; Matteo Brezzi; Anne Lang; Ying Li; Werner Härdtle; Goddert Von Oheimb; Xuefei Yang; Xiaojuan Liu; Kequan Pei; Sabine Both; Bo Yang; David Eichenberg; Thorsten Assmann; Jürgen Bauhus; Thorsten Behrens; François Buscot; Xiao Yong Chen; Douglas Chesters; Bing Yang Ding; Walter Durka; Alexandra Erfmeier; Jingyun Fang; Markus Fischer; Liang Dong Guo; Dali Guo; Jessica L.M. Gutknecht; Jin Sheng He; Chun Ling He; Andy Hector; Lydia Hönig; Ren Yong Hu; Alexandra Maria Klein; Peter Kühn; Yu Liang; Shan Li; Stefan Michalski; Michael Scherer-Lorenzen; Karsten Schmidt; Thomas Scholten; Andreas Schuldt; Xuezheng Shi; Man Zhi Tan; Zhiyao Tang; Stefan Trogisch; Zhengwen Wang; Erik Welk; Christian Wirth; Tesfaye Wubet; Wenhua Xiang; Mingjian Yu; Xiao Dong Yu; Jiayong Zhang; Shouren Zhang; Naili Zhang; Hong Zhang Zhou; Chao Dong Zhu; Li Zhu; Helge Bruelheide; Keping Ma; Pascal A. Niklaus; Bernhard Schmid

doi:10.1126/science.aat6405

Impacts of species richness on productivity in a large-scale subtropical forest experiment

Yuanyuan Huang, Yuxin Chen, Nadia Castro-Izaguirre, Martin Baruffol, Matteo Brezzi, Anne Lang, Ying Li, Werner Härdtle, Goddert Von Oheimb, Xuefei Yang, Xiaojuan Liu, Kequan Pei, Sabine Both, Bo Yang, David Eichenberg, Thorsten Assmann, Jürgen Bauhus, Thorsten Behrens, François Buscot, Xiao Yong ChenDouglas Chesters, Bing Yang Ding, Walter Durka, Alexandra Erfmeier, Jingyun Fang, Markus Fischer, Liang Dong Guo, Dali Guo, Jessica L.M. Gutknecht, Jin Sheng He, Chun Ling He, Andy Hector, Lydia Hönig, Ren Yong Hu, Alexandra Maria Klein, Peter Kühn, Yu Liang, Shan Li, Stefan Michalski, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Karsten Schmidt, Thomas Scholten, Andreas Schuldt, Xuezheng Shi, Man Zhi Tan, Zhiyao Tang, Stefan Trogisch, Zhengwen Wang, Erik Welk, Christian Wirth, Tesfaye Wubet, Wenhua Xiang, Mingjian Yu, Xiao Dong Yu, Jiayong Zhang, Shouren Zhang, Naili Zhang, Hong Zhang Zhou, Chao Dong Zhu, Li Zhu, Helge Bruelheide, Keping Ma, Pascal A. Niklaus, Bernhard Schmid

Soil, Water, and Climate

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Abstract

Biodiversity experiments have shown that species loss reduces ecosystem functioning in grassland. To test whether this result can be extrapolated to forests, the main contributors to terrestrial primary productivity, requires large-scale experiments.We manipulated tree species richness by planting more than 150,000 trees in plots with 1 to 16 species. Simulating multiple extinction scenarios, we found that richness strongly increased stand-level productivity. After 8 years, 16-species mixtures had accumulated over twice the amount of carbon found in average monocultures and similar amounts as those of two commercial monocultures. Species richness effects were strongly associated with functional and phylogenetic diversity. A shrub addition treatment reduced tree productivity, but this reduction was smaller at high shrub species richness. Our results encourage multispecies afforestation strategies to restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	80-83
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	362
Issue number	6410
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat6405
State	Published - Oct 5 2018

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Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors.

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Huang, Y., Chen, Y., Castro-Izaguirre, N., Baruffol, M., Brezzi, M., Lang, A., Li, Y., Härdtle, W., Von Oheimb, G., Yang, X., Liu, X., Pei, K., Both, S., Yang, B., Eichenberg, D., Assmann, T., Bauhus, J., Behrens, T., Buscot, F., ... Schmid, B. (2018). Impacts of species richness on productivity in a large-scale subtropical forest experiment. Science, 362(6410), 80-83. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat6405

Huang, Y, Chen, Y, Castro-Izaguirre, N, Baruffol, M, Brezzi, M, Lang, A, Li, Y, Härdtle, W, Von Oheimb, G, Yang, X, Liu, X, Pei, K, Both, S, Yang, B, Eichenberg, D, Assmann, T, Bauhus, J, Behrens, T, Buscot, F, Chen, XY, Chesters, D, Ding, BY, Durka, W, Erfmeier, A, Fang, J, Fischer, M, Guo, LD, Guo, D, Gutknecht, JLM, He, JS, He, CL, Hector, A, Hönig, L, Hu, RY, Klein, AM, Kühn, P, Liang, Y, Li, S, Michalski, S, Scherer-Lorenzen, M, Schmidt, K, Scholten, T, Schuldt, A, Shi, X, Tan, MZ, Tang, Z, Trogisch, S, Wang, Z, Welk, E, Wirth, C, Wubet, T, Xiang, W, Yu, M, Yu, XD, Zhang, J, Zhang, S, Zhang, N, Zhou, HZ, Zhu, CD, Zhu, L, Bruelheide, H, Ma, K, Niklaus, PA & Schmid, B 2018, 'Impacts of species richness on productivity in a large-scale subtropical forest experiment', Science, vol. 362, no. 6410, pp. 80-83. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat6405

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title = "Impacts of species richness on productivity in a large-scale subtropical forest experiment",

abstract = "Biodiversity experiments have shown that species loss reduces ecosystem functioning in grassland. To test whether this result can be extrapolated to forests, the main contributors to terrestrial primary productivity, requires large-scale experiments.We manipulated tree species richness by planting more than 150,000 trees in plots with 1 to 16 species. Simulating multiple extinction scenarios, we found that richness strongly increased stand-level productivity. After 8 years, 16-species mixtures had accumulated over twice the amount of carbon found in average monocultures and similar amounts as those of two commercial monocultures. Species richness effects were strongly associated with functional and phylogenetic diversity. A shrub addition treatment reduced tree productivity, but this reduction was smaller at high shrub species richness. Our results encourage multispecies afforestation strategies to restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change.",

author = "Yuanyuan Huang and Yuxin Chen and Nadia Castro-Izaguirre and Martin Baruffol and Matteo Brezzi and Anne Lang and Ying Li and Werner H{\"a}rdtle and {Von Oheimb}, Goddert and Xuefei Yang and Xiaojuan Liu and Kequan Pei and Sabine Both and Bo Yang and David Eichenberg and Thorsten Assmann and J{\"u}rgen Bauhus and Thorsten Behrens and Fran{\c c}ois Buscot and Chen, {Xiao Yong} and Douglas Chesters and Ding, {Bing Yang} and Walter Durka and Alexandra Erfmeier and Jingyun Fang and Markus Fischer and Guo, {Liang Dong} and Dali Guo and Gutknecht, {Jessica L.M.} and He, {Jin Sheng} and He, {Chun Ling} and Andy Hector and Lydia H{\"o}nig and Hu, {Ren Yong} and Klein, {Alexandra Maria} and Peter K{\"u}hn and Yu Liang and Shan Li and Stefan Michalski and Michael Scherer-Lorenzen and Karsten Schmidt and Thomas Scholten and Andreas Schuldt and Xuezheng Shi and Tan, {Man Zhi} and Zhiyao Tang and Stefan Trogisch and Zhengwen Wang and Erik Welk and Christian Wirth and Tesfaye Wubet and Wenhua Xiang and Mingjian Yu and Yu, {Xiao Dong} and Jiayong Zhang and Shouren Zhang and Naili Zhang and Zhou, {Hong Zhang} and Zhu, {Chao Dong} and Li Zhu and Helge Bruelheide and Keping Ma and Niklaus, {Pascal A.} and Bernhard Schmid",

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AU - Chen, Yuxin

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AU - Brezzi, Matteo

AU - Lang, Anne

AU - Li, Ying

AU - Härdtle, Werner

AU - Von Oheimb, Goddert

AU - Yang, Xuefei

AU - Liu, Xiaojuan

AU - Pei, Kequan

AU - Both, Sabine

AU - Yang, Bo

AU - Eichenberg, David

AU - Assmann, Thorsten

AU - Bauhus, Jürgen

AU - Behrens, Thorsten

AU - Buscot, François

AU - Chen, Xiao Yong

AU - Chesters, Douglas

AU - Ding, Bing Yang

AU - Durka, Walter

AU - Erfmeier, Alexandra

AU - Fang, Jingyun

AU - Fischer, Markus

AU - Guo, Liang Dong

AU - Guo, Dali

AU - Gutknecht, Jessica L.M.

AU - He, Jin Sheng

AU - He, Chun Ling

AU - Hector, Andy

AU - Hönig, Lydia

AU - Hu, Ren Yong

AU - Klein, Alexandra Maria

AU - Kühn, Peter

AU - Liang, Yu

AU - Li, Shan

AU - Michalski, Stefan

AU - Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael

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AU - Scholten, Thomas

AU - Schuldt, Andreas

AU - Shi, Xuezheng

AU - Tan, Man Zhi

AU - Tang, Zhiyao

AU - Trogisch, Stefan

AU - Wang, Zhengwen

AU - Welk, Erik

AU - Wirth, Christian

AU - Wubet, Tesfaye

AU - Xiang, Wenhua

AU - Yu, Mingjian

AU - Yu, Xiao Dong

AU - Zhang, Jiayong

AU - Zhang, Shouren

AU - Zhang, Naili

AU - Zhou, Hong Zhang

AU - Zhu, Chao Dong

AU - Zhu, Li

AU - Bruelheide, Helge

AU - Ma, Keping

AU - Niklaus, Pascal A.

AU - Schmid, Bernhard

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AB - Biodiversity experiments have shown that species loss reduces ecosystem functioning in grassland. To test whether this result can be extrapolated to forests, the main contributors to terrestrial primary productivity, requires large-scale experiments.We manipulated tree species richness by planting more than 150,000 trees in plots with 1 to 16 species. Simulating multiple extinction scenarios, we found that richness strongly increased stand-level productivity. After 8 years, 16-species mixtures had accumulated over twice the amount of carbon found in average monocultures and similar amounts as those of two commercial monocultures. Species richness effects were strongly associated with functional and phylogenetic diversity. A shrub addition treatment reduced tree productivity, but this reduction was smaller at high shrub species richness. Our results encourage multispecies afforestation strategies to restore biodiversity and mitigate climate change.

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Impacts of species richness on productivity in a large-scale subtropical forest experiment

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