Publication
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New publication from Albracht et al. in Frontiers in Soil Science: Effects of recurrent summer droughts on arbuscular mycorrhizal and total fungal communities in experimental grasslands differing in plant diversity and community composition
Introduction: Biodiversity loss and climate change have been determined as major global drivers affecting ecosystems and their functioning. In this context, drought was shown to have negative effects on ecosystems…
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New publication from Eisenhauer et al. in npj Biodiversity: Reconsidering functional redundancy in biodiversity research
A key question in ecological research is whether biodiversity is important for ecosystem functioning. After approximately three decades of empirical studies on this topic, it is clear that biodiversity promotes…
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New publication from Bonato Asato et al. in Ecology and Evolution: On the phenology of soil organisms: Current knowledge and future steps
Phenology is the study of timing of periodic activities in biological life cycles. It describes an inherent component of ecosystem dynamics, and shifts in biological activity have been increasingly recognized…
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New publication from Eisenhauer et al. in National Science Review: The heterogeneity–diversity–system performance nexus
Ever-growing human population and nutritional demands, supply chain disruptions, and advancing climate change have led to the realization that changes in diversity and system performance are intimately linked. Moreover, diversity…
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New publication from Maciá-Vicente et al. in Molecular Ecology: The structure of root-associated fungal communities is related to the long-term effects of plant diversity on productivity
Root-associated fungi could play a role in determining both the positive relationship between plant diversity and productivity in experimental grasslands, and its strengthening over time. This hypothesis assumes that specialized…
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New publication from Bröcher et al. in Oecologia: Effects of plant diversity on species-specific herbivory: patterns and mechanisms
Invertebrate herbivory can shape plant communities when impacting growth and fitness of some plant species more than other species. Previous studies showed that herbivory varies among plant species and that…
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New publication from Dietrich et al. in Ecology and Evolution: Linking plant diversity–productivity relationships to plant functional traits of dominant species and changes in soil properties in 15-year-old experimental grasslands
Positive plant diversity–productivity relationships are known to be driven by complementary resource use via differences in plant functional traits. Moreover, soil properties related to nutrient availability were shown to change…
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New publication from Lange et al. in Global Change Biology: Increased soil carbon storage through plant diversity strengthens with time and extends into the subsoil
Soils are important for ecosystem functioning and service provisioning. Soil communities and their functions, in turn, are strongly promoted by plant diversity, and such positive effects strengthen with time. However,…
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New publication from Lange et al. in Scientific Reports: Restoration of insect communities after land use change is shaped by plant diversity: a case study on carabid beetles (Carabidae)
There is no doubt about the insect decline currently taking place in ecosystems with large anthropogenic impacts. Thus, there is a need for practices that avoid insect decline and or…
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New publication from Wagg et al. in Nature Communication: Biodiversity–stability relationships strengthen over time in a long-term grassland experiment
Numerous studies have demonstrated that biodiversity drives ecosystem functioning, yet how biodiversity loss alters ecosystems functioning and stability in the long-term lacks experimental evidence. We report temporal effects of species…
