Plant diversity effects on arthropods and arthropod-dependent ecosystem functions in a biodiversity experiment

摘要: Abstract Biodiversity-ecosystem function experiments test how species diversity influences fundamental ecosystem processes. Historically, arthropod driven functions, such as herbivory and pest-control, have been thought to be influenced by direct indirect associations among species. Although a number of studies evaluated plant affects communities arthropod-mediated processes, it remains unclear whether effects on arthropods are sufficiently consistent over time that observed responses can adequately predicted classical hypotheses based associational effects. By combining existing results from long-term grassland biodiversity experiment (Jena Experiment) with new analyses, we evaluate the consistency consumer within across taxonomic, trophic, trait-based (i.e. vertical stratification) groupings, consider which changes in community composition associated consumer-mediated functions. Overall, higher richness supported more diverse complex this pattern was multiple years. Vegetation-associated responded strongly than ground-dwelling arthropods. Additionally, increases were shifts species-abundance distributions for many, but not all taxa. For example, highly specialized consumers showed decrease dominance an increase rare increasing richness. Most processes investigated same way trophic group mediating process, e.g. both herbivore In Jena Experiment other studies, inconsistencies between predictions classic relationships likely reflect influence multi-trophic dynamics functional trait distributions. Future research should focus testing broader array mechanisms unravel biological underlying biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.