Authors: Katharine Nash Suding Amy E Miller Heather Bechtold William D Bowman
Publish Date: 2006/04/12
Volume: 149, Issue: 1, Pages: 141-149
Abstract
Repercussions of species loss on ecosystem processes depend on the effects of the lost species as well as the compensatory responses of the remaining species in the community We experimentally removed two codominant plant species and added a 15N tracer in alpine tundra to compare how species’ functional differences influence community structure and N cycling For both of the species production compensated for the biomass removed by the second year However the responses of the remaining species depended on which species was removed These differences in compensation influenced how species loss impacted ecosystem processes After the removal of one of the codominant species Acomastylis rossii there were few changes in the relative abundance of the remaining species and differences in functioning could be predicted based on effects associated with the removed species In contrast the removal of the other codominant Deschampsia caespitosa was associated with subsequent changes in community structure species relative abundances and diversity and impacts on ecosystem properties microbial biomass N dissolved organic N and N uptake of subordinate species Variation in compensation may contribute to the resulting effects on ecosystem functioning with the potential to buffer or accelerate the effects of species lossThis work was funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation with support from the Niwot Ridge LongTerm Ecological Research Program NSF 0423662 We thank I Ashton R Inouye A Kahmen B Schmid and an anonymous reviewer for critical comments on this manuscript E Hayes J Larson K Lohnas M Talluto and E Thorsos for help in the field and laboratory and C Seibold for analytical support The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed
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