Trophic transfer of biodiversity effects: functional equivalence of prey diversity and enrichment?

Ecology and Evolution

Stephan Behl¹  Vera de Schryver²  Sebastian Diehl³ 

[1] Department Biology II, Aquatic Ecology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany;European Institute for Marine Studies, Place Nicolas Copernic, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Plouzané, France;Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

关键词: Biodiversity;    carbon‐to‐phosphorus ratio;    chlorophytes;    Daphnia magna;    enrichment;    light intensity;    niche complementarity;    phytoplankton;    resource use efficiency;    trophic transfer;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ece3.415

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Producer diversity is frequently assumed to be detrimental to herbivores, because less edible taxa are more likely to dominate diverse communities. Many producers are, however, complementary in their resource use, and primary production is often positively related to producer diversity. We performed an experiment with microalgae and a generalist herbivore to explore the hypothesis that such positive effects are transferred up the food chain and are functionally comparable to effects of enrichment with a limiting resource. In both absence and presence of grazers, primary production was positively affected by both light supply and producer diversity. Survival, reproduction, and biomass of herbivores were also positively affected by light supply and producer diversity, with both factors contributing equally to grazer performance. We conclude that producer diversity can indeed have similar positive effects on secondary production as enrichment with a limiting resource and discuss conditions under which such positive effects are likely to dominate over negative ones.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.