Dimensions of Biodiversity: The ecosystem consequence of agro-

biodiversity loss.

Shahid Naeem Columbia University

Nutrients (C0)

Plants (C1) Microbes (C2)

DeAngelis, D. L. (1992) Dynamics of nutrient cycling and food webs.

DeAngelis type model

dP

dM r1[C0/(k + C0)]

Nutrients (C0)

Plants (C1) Microbes (C2)

DeAngelis, D. L. (1992) Dynamics of nutrient cycling and food webs.

DeAngelis type model (grossly simplified!)

dP

dM r1[C0/(k + C0)]

Nutrients (C0)

Plants (C1) Microbes (C2)

dP

dM r1[C0/(k + C0)]

0 02 1 1

1 0M

dC Cd C C rdt k C

= −+

011 1 1

1 0p

CdC r C d Cdt k C

= −+

21 2p M

dC d C d Cdt

= −

Nutrients (C0)

Plants (C1) Microbes (C2)

dP

dM r1[C0/(k + C0)]

What happens if r1 increases?

A

t

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

C plants C microbes C nutrients

plants win

t

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

C plants C microbes C nutrients

B microbes win

t

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

C plants C microbes C nutrients

C

nutrients win

t

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

C plants C microbes C nutrients

D

tie between plants and microbes

At high values of r (plant growth), what would happen?

7 June 2012

Diversity begets stability • Over-yielding enhances stability when mean biomass

production increases with diversity more rapidly than its standard deviation.

• Statistical averaging occurs when random variation in the population abundances of different species reduces the variability of aggregate ecosystem variables.

• Compensatory dynamics are driven by competitive interactions and/or differential responses to environmental fluctuations among different life forms, both of which lead to asynchrony in their environmental responses

Resilience Carpenter and Folke (2006) TREE

• magnitude of exogenous change or disturbance that a system can experience without undergoing a regime shift under specified conditions, functions or processes;

• the degree to which the system can organize itself (versus lack of organization, or organization forced by external factors) and

• the degree to which the system can build and increase the capacity for learning and adaptation

Biodiversity

Eco

syst

em F

unct

ioni

ng

Redundancy

Biodiversity

Eco

syst

em F

unct

ioni

ng

Biodiversity

Eco

syst

em F

unct

ioni

ng

Realm of Total Variation

Biodiversity

Eco

syst

em F

unct

ioni

ng

Realm of Natural Variation in Managed systems

Realm of Natural Variation in Managed Systems

Biodiversity

Eco

syst

em F

unct

ioni

ng

Realm of Natural Variation in Unmanaged Systems

Biodiversity

Eco

syst

em F

unct

ioni

ng

maxmax

min

low

low

x cI

low IcIB x

E BF E dBB B

′

=

= −+∫

Hmanaged

Hrestored

xm1 xm2 xn1 xn2

Biodiversity

Eco

syst

em F

unct

ioni

ng Variance in Functioning

(in the absence of subsidies!)

Naeem, S. 2002. Nature 416:23-24

0 5 10 15 20Species richness

1.70

1.75

1.80

1.85

1.90M

ean

[log 1

0(Pr

oduc

tion)

]

0.005

0.010

0.015

0.020

0.025 Variance [log10 (Production)]

Above-ground Biomass

Biodiversity loss and carbon storage in the BCI Forest Dynamics Plot

Daniel E. Bunker1, Fabrice De Clerck2, Robert K. Colwell3, Ivette Perfecto4, Oliver Phillips5, Mahesh

Sankaran6 and Shahid Naeem1

1. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University 2. Earth Institute, Columbia University 3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut 4. School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan 5. Earth and Biosphere Institute, School of Geography, University of Leeds 6. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University

FUTURE ECOSYSTEMPROPERTY / SERVICE

EXTINCTIONCOMPENSATORY

GROWTH

CURRENT ECOSYSTEMPROPERTY / SERVICE

Standing crop / C storageVariability (Standing crop / C storage)

SPECIES TRAITS

TRAIT-BASEDEXTINCTIONSCENARIO

RGRDBHWOOD DENSITY...

(BASAL AREARESTORED)

CURRENT ECOSYSTEM FUTURE ECOSYSTEM

Standing crop / C storageVariability (Standing crop / C storage)

High wood-density species lost first

CV

Car

bon

010

020

0 J K

00.

51

L

01

2

1 2

1 2 4 8 1 3 6 1 1 2 4 8 1 3 6 1 1 2 4 8 1 3 6 1

Species richness

Mg

C h

a-1

Raw data

ext

inct

Mean and CVMean and CV reto random extin

MeanCV

CV

of C

arbo

n

Rel

ativ

e

Large-statured species lost first

010

020

0 D E

00.

51

01

2

1 2

1 2 4 8 1 3 6 1 1 2 4 8 1 3 6 1 1 2 4 8 1 3 6 1

Species richness

Mg

C h

a-1

CV

of C

arbo

n

Raw data

ext

inct

Mean and CVMean and CV reto random extin

MeanCV

Rel

ativ

e

Biological Diversity What do we mean?

Biological Diversity: What do We Mean? What is the best predictor of ecosystem function?

S, FD, or PD?

S x FD

S x PD

PD x FD

But aren’t FD, PD, and S all correlated?

What is the right dimension of biodiversity?

A. Biological Capacity

Edenic Peaceable Kingdom Human-dominated

Functional (Bio-) Capacity: Functional Trait Volume (FTV): Convex Hull

Lin et al. 2010

Eisenhauer et al. 2012

• “Microorganisms represent the functional backbone of virtually any ecosystem, and it is essential to understand their response under changing abiotic and biotic conditions.”

• Stability of microbial productivity = f(genotypic richness, functional diversity)

• Stability = reliability = ecosystem function variability across treatments.

Eisenhauer et al. 2012

• 8 Pseudomonas fluorescens strains. • Microbial productivity = OD600 • Varied resources • Varied invasion by Seratia liquefaciens or

Pseudomonas putida • Reliability = 1/CV • Functional diversity = 5 carbon sources they

could use

Eisenhauer et al. 2012

Eisenhauer et al. 2012

Serial dependency

Parallel redundancy

Ecosystem Reliability

R1 t( ) e λ t.

R2 t( ) R1 t( )Nserial dependency

R3 t( ) 1 1 R1 t( )( )Nparallel redundant

Rls t( ) 2 e λ2 t.. e 2 λ. t. 2 e λ λ2( ) t..Load sharing for a 2 component system

Rls2 t( ) 2 e λ3 t.. e 2 λ. t. 2 e λ λ3( ) t..

RmN t( ) 1

N m 1( )

N

n

N !

N n( ) ! n !.1 R1 t( )( )n. R1 t( )N n.

=m/N parallel

(N = 10 components)

(N = 10 components, fully redundant)

(λ1 = 0.1, λ2 = 2 x λ1 , λ3 = 0.2 x λ1 )

(λ1 = 0.1)

(m = 3)

Bonaaso, Ghana Ikram, Nigeria Sauri, Kenya Ruhira, Uganda Koraro, Ethiopia

Natural Slash & Burn Degraded Rehabilitation Intensive

Ecosystem Services: Time line

Ecos

yste

m fu

nctio

n, se

rvic

es

Time and population density Natural Slash & Burn Degraded Rehabilitation Intensive

Ecos

yste

m fu

nctio

n, se

rvic

es

Time and population density Natural Slash & Burn Degraded Rehabilitation Intensive

Food production

Cultural values

Nutritional diversity, health, disease, pollination,

biological control

Or does the bundle or basket of ecosystem services follow this trajectory?

Ecos

yste

m fu

nctio

n, se

rvic

es

Time and population density Natural Slash & Burn Degraded Rehabilitation Intensive

Food production

Cultural values

Stability

Or does the bundle or basket of ecosystem services follow this trajectory?

Summary • Biodiversity begets stability (lower variability)

– Over-yielding (mean increases faster than variance) – Statistical averaging (portfolio effect) – Compensatory dynamics (insurance)

• BEF experiments critical, yet not done with agriculture – can we extrapolate?

• Biodiversity has many dimensions – They all correlate – They have different effects on resilience – We need to assemble universally accessible databases for taxonomy, phylogeny,

and traits • Reliability is important for interconnected systems (soil

invertebrate/microbial communities) • Resilience has multiple meanings

– Ecological resilience – short return time – Holling-type resilience – resisting regime shifts, reorganization, structural failure