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Ecosystem consequences of species richness and composition in pond food webs

Nature volume 416, pages 837–841 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Resolving current concerns about the role of biodiversity on ecosystems calls for understanding the separate roles of changes in species numbers and of composition. Recent work shows that primary productivity often, but not always, saturates with species richness within single trophic levels1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. However, any interpretation of such patterns must consider that variation in biodiversity is necessarily associated with changes in species composition (identity)9,10,11,12, and that changes in biodiversity often occur across multiple trophic levels13,14. Here we present results from a mesocosm experiment in which we independently manipulated species richness and species composition across multiple trophic levels in pond food webs. In contrast to previous studies that focused on single trophic levels, we found that productivity is either idiosyncratic or increases with respect to species richness, and that richness influences trophic structure. However, the composition of species within richness levels can have equally or more marked effects on ecosystems than average effects of richness per se. Indirect evidence suggests that richness and associated changes in species composition affect ecosystem attributes through indirect effects and trophic interactions among species, features that are highly characteristic of natural, complex ecosystems.

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Figure 1: The response of ecosystem rates and trophic structure to species diversity.
Figure 2: The response of ecosystem rates to species composition nested in species diversity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Naeem, J. T. Wootton, J. Bergelson, C. Pfister and M. Huston for comments on the manuscript, and J. Chase and J. Shurin for help in the field. The paper is a Kellogg Biological Station contribution, and was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, US Department of Education, and the University of Chicago.

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Author notes

  1. Amy L. Downing

    Present address: Department of Zoology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, 43015, USA

  2. Amy L. Downing: Correspondence and requests for materials and should be addressed to A.L.D.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 1101 E. 57th Street, Chicago, 60637, Illinois, USA

    Mathew A. Leibold

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Correspondence to Amy L. Downing.

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Downing, A., Leibold, M. Ecosystem consequences of species richness and composition in pond food webs. Nature 416, 837–841 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/416837a

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