Owing to the present global biodiversity crisis, the biodiversity-stability relationship and the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning have become major topics in ecology(1-3). Biodiversity is a complex term that includes taxonomic, functional, spatial and temporal aspects of organismic diversity, with species richness (the number of species) and evenness (the relative abundance of species) considered among the most important measures(4,5). With few exceptions (see, for example, ref. 6), the majority of studies of biodiversity-functioning and biodiversity-stability theory have predominantly examined richness(7-11). Here we show, using microbial microcosms, that initial community evenness is a key factor in preserving the functional stability of an ecosystem. Using experimental manipulations of both richness and initial evenness in microcosms with denitrifying bacterial communities, we found that the stability of the net ecosystem denitrification in the face of salinity stress was strongly influenced by the initial evenness of the community. Therefore, when communities are highly uneven, or there is extreme dominance by one or a few species, their functioning is less resistant to environmental stress. Further unravelling how evenness influences ecosystem processes in natural and humanized environments constitutes a major future conceptual challenge.

Initial community evenness favours functionality under selective stress / L. Wittebolle, M. Marzorati, L. Clement, A. Balloi, D.G. Daffonchio, K. Heylen, P. De Vos, W. Verstraete, N. Boon. - In: NATURE. - ISSN 0028-0836. - 458:7238(2009 Apr 02), pp. 623-626. [10.1038/nature07840]

Initial community evenness favours functionality under selective stress

A. Balloi;D.G. Daffonchio;
2009

Abstract

Owing to the present global biodiversity crisis, the biodiversity-stability relationship and the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning have become major topics in ecology(1-3). Biodiversity is a complex term that includes taxonomic, functional, spatial and temporal aspects of organismic diversity, with species richness (the number of species) and evenness (the relative abundance of species) considered among the most important measures(4,5). With few exceptions (see, for example, ref. 6), the majority of studies of biodiversity-functioning and biodiversity-stability theory have predominantly examined richness(7-11). Here we show, using microbial microcosms, that initial community evenness is a key factor in preserving the functional stability of an ecosystem. Using experimental manipulations of both richness and initial evenness in microcosms with denitrifying bacterial communities, we found that the stability of the net ecosystem denitrification in the face of salinity stress was strongly influenced by the initial evenness of the community. Therefore, when communities are highly uneven, or there is extreme dominance by one or a few species, their functioning is less resistant to environmental stress. Further unravelling how evenness influences ecosystem processes in natural and humanized environments constitutes a major future conceptual challenge.
English
Settore AGR/16 - Microbiologia Agraria
Articolo
Sì, ma tipo non specificato
2-apr-2009
Nature Publishing Group
458
7238
623
626
Pubblicato
Periodico con rilevanza internazionale
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Initial community evenness favours functionality under selective stress / L. Wittebolle, M. Marzorati, L. Clement, A. Balloi, D.G. Daffonchio, K. Heylen, P. De Vos, W. Verstraete, N. Boon. - In: NATURE. - ISSN 0028-0836. - 458:7238(2009 Apr 02), pp. 623-626. [10.1038/nature07840]
none
Prodotti della ricerca::01 - Articolo su periodico
9
262
Article (author)
Periodico con Impact Factor
L. Wittebolle, M. Marzorati, L. Clement, A. Balloi, D.G. Daffonchio, K. Heylen, P. De Vos, W. Verstraete, N. Boon
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/57345
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 186
  • Scopus 765
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 731
social impact