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Plant community composition, not diversity, regulates soil respiration in grasslands

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Plant community composition, not diversity, regulates soil respiration in grasslands. / Johnson, David; Phoenix, Gareth K.; Grime, J. Philip.
In: Biology Letters, Vol. 4, No. 4, 23.08.2008, p. 345-348.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Johnson, D, Phoenix, GK & Grime, JP 2008, 'Plant community composition, not diversity, regulates soil respiration in grasslands', Biology Letters, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 345-348. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0121

APA

Johnson, D., Phoenix, G. K., & Grime, J. P. (2008). Plant community composition, not diversity, regulates soil respiration in grasslands. Biology Letters, 4(4), 345-348. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0121

Vancouver

Johnson D, Phoenix GK, Grime JP. Plant community composition, not diversity, regulates soil respiration in grasslands. Biology Letters. 2008 Aug 23;4(4):345-348. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0121

Author

Johnson, David ; Phoenix, Gareth K. ; Grime, J. Philip. / Plant community composition, not diversity, regulates soil respiration in grasslands. In: Biology Letters. 2008 ; Vol. 4, No. 4. pp. 345-348.

Bibtex

@article{0c3b07535abb4ff3b48131ac3e54940f,
title = "Plant community composition, not diversity, regulates soil respiration in grasslands",
abstract = "Soil respiration is responsible for recycling considerable quantities of carbon from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that the richness of plants in a community can have significant impacts on ecosystem functioning, but the specific influences of plant species richness (SR), plant functional-type richness and plant community composition on soil respiration rates are unknown. Here we use 10-year-old model plant communities, comprising mature plants transplanted into natural non-sterile soil, to determine how the diversity and composition of plant communities influence soil respiration rates. Our analysis revealed that soil respiration was driven by plant community composition and that there was no significant effect of biodiversity at the three levels tested (SR, functional group and species per functional group). Above-ground plant biomass and root density were included in the analysis as covariates and found to have no effect on soil respiration. This finding is important, because it suggests that loss of particular species will have the greatest impact on soil respiration, rather than changes in biodiversity per se.",
keywords = "grassland, microbial activity, plant community composition",
author = "David Johnson and Phoenix, {Gareth K.} and Grime, {J. Philip}",
year = "2008",
month = aug,
day = "23",
doi = "10.1098/rsbl.2008.0121",
language = "English",
volume = "4",
pages = "345--348",
journal = "Biology Letters",
issn = "1744-9561",
publisher = "Royal Society of London",
number = "4",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Plant community composition, not diversity, regulates soil respiration in grasslands

AU - Johnson, David

AU - Phoenix, Gareth K.

AU - Grime, J. Philip

PY - 2008/8/23

Y1 - 2008/8/23

N2 - Soil respiration is responsible for recycling considerable quantities of carbon from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that the richness of plants in a community can have significant impacts on ecosystem functioning, but the specific influences of plant species richness (SR), plant functional-type richness and plant community composition on soil respiration rates are unknown. Here we use 10-year-old model plant communities, comprising mature plants transplanted into natural non-sterile soil, to determine how the diversity and composition of plant communities influence soil respiration rates. Our analysis revealed that soil respiration was driven by plant community composition and that there was no significant effect of biodiversity at the three levels tested (SR, functional group and species per functional group). Above-ground plant biomass and root density were included in the analysis as covariates and found to have no effect on soil respiration. This finding is important, because it suggests that loss of particular species will have the greatest impact on soil respiration, rather than changes in biodiversity per se.

AB - Soil respiration is responsible for recycling considerable quantities of carbon from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that the richness of plants in a community can have significant impacts on ecosystem functioning, but the specific influences of plant species richness (SR), plant functional-type richness and plant community composition on soil respiration rates are unknown. Here we use 10-year-old model plant communities, comprising mature plants transplanted into natural non-sterile soil, to determine how the diversity and composition of plant communities influence soil respiration rates. Our analysis revealed that soil respiration was driven by plant community composition and that there was no significant effect of biodiversity at the three levels tested (SR, functional group and species per functional group). Above-ground plant biomass and root density were included in the analysis as covariates and found to have no effect on soil respiration. This finding is important, because it suggests that loss of particular species will have the greatest impact on soil respiration, rather than changes in biodiversity per se.

KW - grassland

KW - microbial activity

KW - plant community composition

U2 - 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0121

DO - 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0121

M3 - Journal article

VL - 4

SP - 345

EP - 348

JO - Biology Letters

JF - Biology Letters

SN - 1744-9561

IS - 4

ER -