Contributions of a global network of tree diversity experiments to sustainable forest plantations

status: publishe

Niche and fitness differences relate the maintenance of diversity to ecosystem function: comment.

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) has been one of the most vibrant research fields in ecology and environmental sciences over the past two decades. Hundreds of experiments have now manipulated species diversity to test its effects on a wide range of ecosystem properties. Methods that partition the effect of functional complementarity between species from that of selection for species with particular traits have been instrumental in clarifying the results of these experiments and in resolving debates about potential underlying mechanisms (Loreau and Hector 2001, Cardinale et al. 2007). Relatively few studies, however, have sought to disentangle the actual biological mechanisms at work in the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning. Yet theory shows that different coexistence mechanisms can lead to different BEF relationships (Mouquet et al. 2002). Understanding the mechanisms that drive the functional consequences of biodiversity and their connections with those that determine the maintenance of biodiversity is key to making BEF research more predictive and more relevant to natural, non-experimentally manipulated ecosystems (Loreau 2010). The recent theoretical study by Carroll, Cardinale, and Nisbet (2011; hereafter CCN) makes a valuable contribution toward the goal of linking the maintenance of diversity and its functional consequences. CCN use MacArthur’s (1972) classical consume

Tropical tree diversity enhances light capture through crown plasticity and spatial and temporal niche differences

Light partitioning is often invoked as 2 a mechanism for positive plant diversity effects on ecosystem functioning. Yet evidence for an improved distribution of foliage in space or time in 4 diverse plant communities remains scarce and restricted mostly to temperate grasslands. Here we identify the mechanisms through which tree species diversity affects community-level light capture 6 in a biodiversity experiment with tropical trees that displays overyielding, i.e. enhanced biomass production in mixtures. Using a combination of empirical data, mechanistic models and 8 statistical tools, we develop innovative methods to test for the isolated and combined effects of architectural and temporal niche differences among species as well as plastic changes in crown 10 shape within species. We show that all three mechanisms enhanced light capture in mixtures and that temporal niche differences were the most important driver of this result in our seasonal 12 tropical system. Our study mechanistically demonstrates that niche differences and phenotypic plasticity can generate significant biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning in tropical forests. 14 Keywords: Biodiversity; Ecosystem functioning; Phenology; Niche differences; Tree; Plantation; Light competition; Crown; Sardinilla project; Phenotypic plasticity; Intraspecific diversity; 16 Overyielding

Brochure et Jeu de cartes " La vie cachée des sols " : retour d'expérience sur deux outils de sensibilisation du jeune public à la biodiversité des sols

International audience"THE HIDDEN LIFE OF SOILS" BROCHURE AND CARD GAME : Feedback on two tools for raising awareness among young people on soil biodiversity Raising awareness among the general public, especially young people, about the importance of soils for our environment and our societies is one of the keys to their preservation. Between 2010 and 2018, the GESSOL research program "Sustainable soil management" of the French Ministry of Ecology has produced and distributed a brochure and a card game on the theme of "The hidden life of soils". These educational tools are available in French, English and Portuguese. The feedback shows that they met an expectation in the context of teaching and environmental animation. In particular, the card game is an effective awareness tool to arouse the curiosity of the young people. This confirms the interest of a playful approach around the "Biodiversity of the soils" to sensitize more generally to "Soils"

Brochure et Jeu de cartes " La vie cachée des sols " : retour d'expérience sur deux outils de sensibilisation du jeune public à la biodiversité des sols

International audience"THE HIDDEN LIFE OF SOILS" BROCHURE AND CARD GAME : Feedback on two tools for raising awareness among young people on soil biodiversity Raising awareness among the general public, especially young people, about the importance of soils for our environment and our societies is one of the keys to their preservation. Between 2010 and 2018, the GESSOL research program "Sustainable soil management" of the French Ministry of Ecology has produced and distributed a brochure and a card game on the theme of "The hidden life of soils". These educational tools are available in French, English and Portuguese. The feedback shows that they met an expectation in the context of teaching and environmental animation. In particular, the card game is an effective awareness tool to arouse the curiosity of the young people. This confirms the interest of a playful approach around the "Biodiversity of the soils" to sensitize more generally to "Soils"