Mechanisms of Positive Biodiversity-Production Relationships: Insights Provided by δ13C Analysis in Experimental Mediterranean Grassland Plots

Authors

Maria C. Caldeira, Instituto Superior de Agronomia
Ronald J. Ryel, Utah State UniversityFollow
John H. Lawton, NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College, U.K.
Joao S. Periera, Instituto Superior de Agronomia

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Ecology Letters

Volume

4

Issue

5

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Publication Date

2001

First Page

439

Last Page

443

Abstract

We investigated the role of water use in a Mediterranean grassland, in which diversity was experimentally manipulated, and a positive relationship was observed between plant species richness and productivity. Soil moisture patterns and stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) in leaves indicated greater water use by plants growing in species-rich mixtures compared to monocultures. These results suggest that complementarity or facilitation may be the mechanism responsible for the positive relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem processes.

Comments

Originally published by Wiley-Blackwell. Publisher's PDF and HTML fulltext available through remote link.

Recommended Citation

Caldeira MC, Ryel RJ, Hector A, Lawton JH, Pereira JS (2001) Mechanisms of positive biodiversity-production relationships: insights provided by 13C analysis in experimental Mediterranean grassland plots. Ecology Letters 4:439-443.