Researchers manipulating the number of plant species in an experimental plot to determine how biodiversity impacts the productivity of ecosystems. (photo credit: David Tilman)
ANN ARBOR-Hundreds of experiments have suggested that biodiversity fosters healthier, more productive ecosystems. But many experts doubted that results from small-scale experiments would hold up in real-world ecosystems where nature is most unpredictable and complex. A Smithsonian Institution and University of Michigan study scheduled for publication Sept. 6 has put that doubt to rest: Biodiversity's power in the wild does not match that predicted by experiments-it surpasses it. The new study shows that the production of biomass, the total amount of living matter produced in one place, increases with biodiversity across a wide range of the world's ecosystems. In fact, after controlling for other environmental factors, the researchers found that increases in biomass with biodiversity are stronger in nature than had previously been documented in experiments. The increases are comparable to or stronger than the effects of other well-known drivers of an ecosystem's productivity, including climate and nutrient availability.
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