Species and functional group diversity independently influence biomass accumulation and its response to CO2 and N

Abstract

The characteristics of plant assemblages influence ecosystem processes such as biomass accumulation and modulate terrestrial responses to global change factors such as elevated atmospheric CO2 and N deposition, but covariation between species richness (S) and functional group richness (F) among assemblages obscures the specific role of each in these ecosystem responses. In a 4-year study of grassland species grown under ambient and elevated CO2 and N in Minnesota, we experimentally varied plant S and F to assess their independent effects. We show here that at all CO2 and N levels, biomass increased with S, even with F constant at 1 or 4 groups. Likewise, with S at 4, biomass increased as F varied continuously from 1 to 4. The S and F effects were not dependent upon specific species or functional groups or combinations and resulted from complementarity. Biomass increases in response to CO2 and N, moreover, varied with time but were generally larger with increasing S (with F constant) and with increasing F (with S constant). These results indicate that S and F independently influence biomass accumulation and its response to elevated CO2 and N.