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Connecting the green and brown worlds: Allometric and stoichiometric predictability of above- and below-ground networks

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapport/proceeding › Bidrag til bog/antologi › Forskning › peer review

DOI

  • Christian Mulder
    • ,
  • Farshid S. Ahrestani
    • ,
  • Michael Bahn
    • ,
  • D. A. Bohan
    • ,
  • Michael Bonkowski
    • ,
  • Bryan S. Griffiths
    • ,
  • Rannveig Anna Guicharnaud
    • ,
  • Jens Kattge
    • ,
  • Paul Henning Krogh
  • Sandra Lavorel
    • ,
  • Owen T. Lewis
    • ,
  • Giorgio Mancinelli
    • ,
  • Shahid Naeem
    • ,
  • Josep Peñuelas
    • ,
  • Hendrik Poorter
    • ,
  • Peter B. Reich
    • ,
  • Loreto Rossi
    • ,
  • Graciela M. Rusch
    • ,
  • Jordi Sardans
    • ,
  • Ian J. Wright

We examine the potential of trait-based parameters of taxa for linking above-ground and belowground ecological networks (hereafter ‘green’ and ‘brown’ worlds) to understand and predict community dynamics. This synthesis considers carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus-related traits, the abundance of component species and their size-distribution across trophic levels under different forms of management. We have analyzed existing and novel databases on plants, microbes and invertebrates that combine physico-chemical and biological information from (agro)ecosystems spanning the globe. We found (1) evidence that traits from above-ground and below-ground systems may be integrated in the same model and (2) a much greater than expected stoichiometric plasticity of plants and microbes which has implications for the entire food-web mass-abundance scaling. Nitrogen and phosphorus are primary basal resources (hence, drivers) and more retranslocation of P than of N from leaves will lead to higher N:P in the litter and soil organic matter. Thus, under nutrient-rich conditions, higher foliar concentrations of N and P are reflected by lower N:P in the brown litter, suggesting less P retranslocated than N. This apparent stoichiometric dichotomy between green and brown could result in shifts in threshold elemental ratios critical for ecosystem functioning. It has important implications for a general food-web model, given that resource C:N:P ratios are generally assumed to reflect environmental C:N:P ratios. We also provide the first evidence for large-scale allometric changes according to the stoichiometry of agroecosystems. Finally, we discuss insights that can be gained from integrating carbon and nitrogen isotope data into trait-based approaches, and address the origin of changes in Δ13C and Δ15N fractionation values in relation to consumer-resource body-mass ratios

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TitelAdvances in Ecological Research : Ecological Networks in an Agricultural World
RedaktørerG. Woodward, D. A. Bohan
Vol/bind49
ForlagAcademic Press
Udgivelsesår25 nov. 2013
Sider69–175
Kapitel2
ISBN (trykt)9780124200029
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 25 nov. 2013
SerietitelAdvances in Ecological Research
Nummer49
ISSN0065-2504

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