Belowground energy fluxes determine tree diversity effects on above- and belowground food webs

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Huimin Yi - , German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle—Jena—Leipzig, Leipzig University (Author)
  • Olga Ferlian - , German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle—Jena—Leipzig, Leipzig University (Author)
  • Benoit Gauzens - , German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle—Jena—Leipzig, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Roberto Rebollo - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Stefan Scheu - , University of Göttingen (Author)
  • Angelos Amyntas - , German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle—Jena—Leipzig, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Author)
  • Marcel Ciobanu - , Romanian Academy (Author)
  • Anton Potapov - , Chair of Functional Soil Biodiversity Research (gB/SMNG), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle—Jena—Leipzig, Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz (Author)
  • Jörg Alfred Salamon - , University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (Author)
  • Nico Eisenhauer - , German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle—Jena—Leipzig, Leipzig University (Author)

Abstract

Worldwide tree diversity loss raises concerns about functional and energetic declines across trophic levels. In this study, we coupled 160 above- and belowground food webs, quantifying energy fluxes to microorganisms and invertebrates in a tree-mycorrhiza diversity experiment, to test how tree diversity affects fluxes of energy above and below the ground. The experiment differentiates three mycorrhizal type treatments: only AM tree species (with arbuscular mycorrhizae), only EcM tree species (with ectomycorrhizae; one, two, and four tree species), or mixtures of both AM and EcM tree species (AM+EcM; two and four tree species). Our results indicate that most energy initially flowed through belowground communities, with soil microorganisms contributing 97.7% of total energy and belowground fauna accounting for 60.9% of energy to animals. Consequently, belowground fauna fueled surface (62.3% of predation) and aboveground (30.5% of predation) predators. Tree diversity increased ecosystem multifunctionality (indicated by total and averaged energy fluxes) by ∼30% and energy across most trophic levels in EcM tree communities, while it shifted food webs from fast (such as bacterial-dominated) to slow (such as fungal-dominated) channels in AM tree communities. Tree diversity primarily impacted energy fluxes through belowground communities and strengthened the coupling of above- and belowground food webs, with increasing importance of belowground prey for predators at the soil surface and above the ground. These findings highlight that tree diversity and mycorrhizal types drive above- and belowground ecosystem functioning via belowground energy fluxes.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1870-1882.e6
JournalCurrent biology
Volume35
Issue number8
Publication statusPublished - 21 Apr 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 40209707

Keywords

Keywords

  • above- and belowground interactions, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, biodiversity loss, biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, ectomycorrhizal fungi, food web, multifunctionality, multitrophic diversity, soil biodiversity