1461-0248/asset/olbannerleft.gif?v=1&s=3cdd97f41173d141f3f51773629729a6ad3be0ef)
1461-0248/asset/ele_centre.gif?v=1&s=8f1a28c45a6b32f9407a8bd9efb9c5b2aaffe521)
Biodiversity maintenance mechanisms differ between native and novel exotic-dominated communities
Article first published online: 10 MAR 2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01298.x
© 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS
Additional Information
How to Cite
Wilsey, B. J., Teaschner, T. B., Daneshgar, P. P., Isbell, F. I. and Polley, H. W. (2009), Biodiversity maintenance mechanisms differ between native and novel exotic-dominated communities. Ecology Letters, 12: 432–442. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01298.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 6 APR 2009
- Article first published online: 10 MAR 2009
- Editor, Helmut Hillebrand Manuscript received 13 October 2008 First decision made 13 November 2008 Second decision made 22 January 2009 Manuscript accepted 6 February 2009
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- biodiversity loss;
- biodiversity–ecosystem functioning;
- grasslands;
- invasive species;
- net biodiversity effect;
- novel ecosystems;
- restoration ecology;
- species diversity;
- species richness;
- tallgrass prairie
Abstract
In many systems, native communities are being replaced by novel exotic-dominated ones. We experimentally compared species diversity decline between nine-species grassland communities under field conditions to test whether diversity maintenance mechanisms differed between communities containing all exotic or all native species using a pool of 40 species. Aboveground biomass was greater in exotic than native plots, and this difference was larger in mixtures than in monocultures. Species diversity declined more in exotic than native communities and declines were explained by different mechanisms. In exotic communities, overyielding species had high biomass in monoculture and diversity declined linearly as this selection effect increased. In native communities, however, overyielding species had low biomass in monoculture and there was no relationship between the selection effect and diversity decline. This suggests that, for this system, yielding behaviour is fundamentally different between presumably co-evolved natives and coevolutionarily naive exotic species, and that native-exotic status is important to consider.