Dantas De Paula, M.; Forrest, M.; Langan, L.; Bendix, J.; Homeier, J.; Velescu, A.; Wilcke, W. & Hickler, T. (2021): <b>Nutrient cycling drives plant community trait assembly and ecosystem functioning in a tropical mountain biodiversity hotspot</b>. <i>New Phytologist</i> <b>-</b>(-), -.
Resource Description
Title:
Nutrient cycling drives plant community trait assembly and ecosystem functioning in a tropical mountain biodiversity hotspot
FOR816dw ID:
1933
Publication Date:
2021-07-06
License and Usage Rights:
Resource Owner(s):
Individual:
Mateus Dantas De Paula
Contact:
email:
mateus.dantas <at> senckenberg.de
Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center
60325 Frankfurt am Main
Hessen
Germany
Individual:
Matthew Forrest
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> tropicalmountainforest.org
Individual:
Liam Langan
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> tropicalmountainforest.org
Individual:
Jörg Bendix
Contact:
email:
webmaster <at> tropicalmountainforest.org
Individual:
Jürgen Homeier
Contact:
email:
jhomeie <at> gwdg.de
Faculty of Resource Management
University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HAWK)
37077 Göttingen
Germany
Individual:
Andre Velescu
Contact:
email:
andre.velescu <at> kit.edu
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Institut für Geographie und Geoökologie
Arbeitsgruppe Geomorphologie und Bodenkunde
Reinhard-Baumeister-Platz 1
76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
Individual:
Wolfgang Wilcke
Contact:
email:
wolfgang.wilcke <at> kit.edu
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Institute of Geography and Geoecology
Reinhard-Baumeister-Platz 1
76131 Karlsruhe
Baden-Württemberg
Germany
Individual:
Thomas Hickler
Contact:
email:
thomas.hickler <at> senckenberg.de
60325 Frankfurt am Main
Hesse
Germany
Abstract:
Summary Community trait assembly in highly diverse tropical rainforests is still poorly understood. Based on more than a decade of field measurements in a biodiversity hotspot of southern Ecuador, we implemented plant trait variation and improved soil organic matter dynamics in a widely used dynamic vegetation model (the Lund-Potsdam-Jena General Ecosystem Simulator, LPJ-GUESS) to explore the main drivers of community assembly along an elevational gradient. In the model used here (LPJ-GUESS-NTD, where NTD stands for nutrient-trait dynamics), each plant individual can possess different trait combinations, and the community trait composition emerges via ecological sorting. Further model developments include plant growth limitation by phosphorous (P) and mycorrhizal nutrient uptake. The new model version reproduced the main observed community trait shift and related vegetation processes along the elevational gradient, but only if nutrient limitations to plant growth were activated. In turn, when traits were fixed, low productivity communities emerged due to reduced nutrient-use efficiency. Mycorrhizal nutrient uptake, when deactivated, reduced net primary production (NPP) by 61–72% along the gradient. Our results strongly suggest that the elevational temperature gradient drives community assembly and ecosystem functioning indirectly through its effect on soil nutrient dynamics and vegetation traits. This illustrates the importance of considering these processes to yield realistic model predictions.
email:
dobberma <at> staff.uni-marburg.de
Laboratory for Climatology and Remote Sensing
Faculty of Geography
Deutschhausstr. 12
Philipps University of Marburg
35032 Marburg
Germany
