ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7940-2023
Current Organisation
University of Bergen
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-03-2014
DOI: 10.1111/JVS.12068
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-08-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-018-0647-7
Abstract: A substantial body of evidence has demonstrated that bio ersity stabilizes ecosystem functioning over time in grassland ecosystems. However, the relative importance of different facets of bio ersity underlying the ersity-stability relationship remains unclear. Here we use data from 39 grassland bio ersity experiments and structural equation modelling to investigate the roles of species richness, phylogenetic ersity and both the ersity and community-weighted mean of functional traits representing the 'fast-slow' leaf economics spectrum in driving the ersity-stability relationship. We found that high species richness and phylogenetic ersity stabilize biomass production via enhanced asynchrony in the performance of co-occurring species. Contrary to expectations, low phylogenetic ersity enhances ecosystem stability directly, albeit weakly. While the ersity of fast-slow functional traits has a weak effect on ecosystem stability, communities dominated by slow species enhance ecosystem stability by increasing mean biomass production relative to the standard deviation of biomass over time. Our in-depth, integrative assessment of factors influencing the ersity-stability relationship demonstrates a more multicausal relationship than has been previously acknowledged.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-02-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-03-2016
DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS11109
Abstract: There is considerable evidence that bio ersity promotes multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality), thus ensuring the delivery of ecosystem services important for human well-being. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are poorly understood, especially in natural ecosystems. We develop a novel approach to partition bio ersity effects on multifunctionality into three mechanisms and apply this to European forest data. We show that throughout Europe, tree ersity is positively related with multifunctionality when moderate levels of functioning are required, but negatively when very high function levels are desired. For two well-known mechanisms, ‘complementarity’ and ‘selection’, we detect only minor effects on multifunctionality. Instead a third, so far overlooked mechanism, the ‘jack-of-all-trades’ effect, caused by the averaging of in idual species effects on function, drives observed patterns. Simulations demonstrate that jack-of-all-trades effects occur whenever species effects on different functions are not perfectly correlated, meaning they may contribute to ersity–multifunctionality relationships in many of the world’s ecosystems.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-01-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-06-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-021-23931-1
Abstract: Land-use intensification is a major driver of bio ersity loss. However, understanding how different components of land use drive bio ersity loss requires the investigation of multiple trophic levels across spatial scales. Using data from 150 agricultural grasslands in central Europe, we assess the influence of multiple components of local- and landscape-level land use on more than 4,000 above- and belowground taxa, spanning 20 trophic groups. Plot-level land-use intensity is strongly and negatively associated with aboveground trophic groups, but positively or not associated with belowground trophic groups. Meanwhile, both above- and belowground trophic groups respond to landscape-level land use, but to different drivers: aboveground ersity of grasslands is promoted by erse surrounding land-cover, while belowground ersity is positively related to a high permanent forest cover in the surrounding landscape. These results highlight a role of landscape-level land use in shaping belowground communities, and suggest that revised agroecosystem management strategies are needed to conserve whole-ecosystem bio ersity.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-09-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-018-0563-7
Abstract: The tundra is warming more rapidly than any other biome on Earth, and the potential ramifications are far-reaching because of global feedback effects between vegetation and climate. A better understanding of how environmental factors shape plant structure and function is crucial for predicting the consequences of environmental change for ecosystem functioning. Here we explore the biome-wide relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits both across space and over three decades of warming at 117 tundra locations. Spatial temperature-trait relationships were generally strong but soil moisture had a marked influence on the strength and direction of these relationships, highlighting the potentially important influence of changes in water availability on future trait shifts in tundra plant communities. Community height increased with warming across all sites over the past three decades, but other traits lagged far behind predicted rates of change. Our findings highlight the challenge of using space-for-time substitution to predict the functional consequences of future warming and suggest that functions that are tied closely to plant height will experience the most rapid change. They also reveal the strength with which environmental factors shape biotic communities at the coldest extremes of the planet and will help to improve projections of functional changes in tundra ecosystems with climate warming.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-08-2021
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.17667
Abstract: Though it is well established that species composition affects ecosystem function, the way in which species combine to control overall ecosystem functioning is still debated. In experimental mesocosms, we planted three functionally distinct dry‐heath species in varying proportions and measured multiple ecosystem properties related to nutrient cycling and carbon storage (hereafter functions). Overall ecosystem functioning was described as the main axes of variation in ecosystem functioning (functional space) and the proportion of ecosystem functions at high levels for ex le, fast carbon and nutrient cycling (cluster‐based multifunctionality). The first functional space axis, related to nitrogen availability, was driven by plant species abundance, particularly that of legumes, which strongly affected many in idual functions. The second, related to total plant biomass and woodiness, was mostly driven by the abundance of dwarf shrubs. Similarly, cluster‐based multifunctionality was related to the initial abundance of all species, but particularly the legume. Interactions between species also affected ecosystem multifunctionality, but these effects were smaller in magnitude. These results indicate that species interactions could play a secondary role to species abundance and identity in driving the overall ecosystem functioning of heathlands, but also that axes of variation in functional space are clearly linked to plant functional composition.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 05-08-2019
DOI: 10.1101/725812
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-07-2023
Abstract: Experimental evidence shows that grassland plant ersity enhances ecosystem functioning. Yet, the transfer of results from controlled bio ersity experiments to naturally assembled ‘real world’ ecosystems remains challenging due to environmental variation among sites , confounding bio ersity ecosystem functioning relations in observational studies. To bridge the gap between classical bio ersity‐ecosystem functioning experiments and observational studies of naturally assembled and managed ecosystems, we created regionally replicated, within‐site gradients of species richness by seeding across agricultural grasslands differing in land‐use intensity (LUI) and abiotic site conditions. Within each of 73 grassland sites, we established a full‐factorial experiment with high‐ ersity seeding and topsoil disturbance and measured 12 ecosystem functions related to productivity, and carbon and nutrient cycling after 4 years. We then analysed the effects of plant ersity (seeded richness as well as realized richness), functional community composition, land use and abiotic conditions on the ecosystem functions within (local scale) as well as among grassland sites (landscape scale). Despite the successful creation of a within‐site gradient in plant ersity (average increase in species richness in seeding treatments by 10%–35%), we found that only one to two of the 12 ecosystem functions responded to realized species richness, resulting in more closed nitrogen cycles in more erse plant communities. Similar results were found when analysing the effect of the seeding treatment instead of realized species richness. Among sites , ecosystem functioning was mostly driven by environmental conditions and LUI. Also here, the only functions related to plant species richness were those associated with a more closed nitrogen cycle under increased ersity. The minor effects of species enrichment we found suggest that the functionally‐relevant niche space is largely saturated in naturally assembled grasslands, and that competitive, high‐functioning species are already present. Synthesis : While nature conservation and cultural ecosystem services can certainly benefit from plant species enrichment, our study indicates that restoration of plant ersity in naturally assembled communities may deliver only relatively weak increases in ecosystem functioning, such as a more closed nitrogen cycle, within the extensively to moderate intensively managed agricultural grasslands of our study.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2018.07.089
Abstract: Understorey communities can dominate forest plant ersity and strongly affect forest ecosystem structure and function. Understoreys often respond sensitively but inconsistently to drivers of ecological change, including nitrogen (N) deposition. Nitrogen deposition effects, reflected in the concept of critical loads, vary greatly not only among species and guilds, but also among forest types. Here, we characterize such context dependency as driven by differences in the amounts and forms of deposited N, cumulative deposition, the filtering of N by overstoreys, and available plant species pools. Nitrogen effects on understorey trajectories can also vary due to differences in surrounding landscape conditions ambient browsing pressure soils and geology other environmental factors controlling plant growth and, historical and current disturbance/management regimes. The number of these factors and their potentially complex interactions complicate our efforts to make simple predictions about how N deposition affects forest understoreys. We review the literature to examine evidence for context dependency in N deposition effects on forest understoreys. We also use data from 1814 European temperate forest plots to test the ability of multi-level models to characterize context-dependent understorey responses across sites that differ in levels of N deposition, community composition, local conditions and management history. This analysis demonstrated that historical management, and plot location on light and pH-fertility gradients, significantly affect how understorey communities respond to N deposition. We conclude that species' and communities' responses to N deposition, and thus the determination of critical loads, vary greatly depending on environmental contexts. This complicates our efforts to predict how N deposition will affect forest understoreys and thus how best to conserve and restore understorey bio ersity. To reduce uncertainty and incorporate context dependency in critical load setting, we should assemble data on underlying environmental conditions, conduct globally distributed field experiments, and analyse a wider range of habitat types.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2015
DOI: 10.1890/14-1307.1
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-04-2018
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.15161
Abstract: We lack strong empirical evidence for links between plant attributes (plant community attributes and functional traits) and the distribution of soil microbial communities at large spatial scales. Using datasets from two contrasting regions and ecosystem types in Australia and England, we report that aboveground plant community attributes, such as ersity (species richness) and cover, and functional traits can predict a unique portion of the variation in the ersity (number of phylotypes) and community composition of soil bacteria and fungi that cannot be explained by soil abiotic properties and climate. We further identify the relative importance and evaluate the potential direct and indirect effects of climate, soil properties and plant attributes in regulating the ersity and community composition of soil microbial communities. Finally, we deliver a list of ex les of common taxa from Australia and England that are strongly related to specific plant traits, such as specific leaf area index, leaf nitrogen and nitrogen fixation. Together, our work provides new evidence that plant attributes, especially plant functional traits, can predict the distribution of soil microbial communities at the regional scale and across two hemispheres.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-04-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-020-15014-4
Abstract: The majority of variation in six traits critical to the growth, survival and reproduction of plant species is thought to be organised along just two dimensions, corresponding to strategies of plant size and resource acquisition. However, it is unknown whether global plant trait relationships extend to climatic extremes, and if these interspecific relationships are confounded by trait variation within species. We test whether trait relationships extend to the cold extremes of life on Earth using the largest database of tundra plant traits yet compiled. We show that tundra plants demonstrate remarkably similar resource economic traits, but not size traits, compared to global distributions, and exhibit the same two dimensions of trait variation. Three quarters of trait variation occurs among species, mirroring global estimates of interspecific trait variation. Plant trait relationships are thus generalizable to the edge of global trait-space, informing prediction of plant community change in a warming world.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-09-2014
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-014-3077-5
Abstract: Grasslands provide many ecosystem services including carbon storage, bio ersity preservation and livestock forage production. These ecosystem services will change in the future in response to multiple global environmental changes, including climate change and increased nitrogen inputs. We conducted an experimental study over 3 years in a mesotrophic grassland ecosystem in southern England. We aimed to expose plots to rainfall manipulation that simulated IPCC 4th Assessment projections for 2100 (+15% winter rainfall and -30% summer rainfall) or ambient climate, achieving +15% winter rainfall and -39% summer rainfall in rainfall-manipulated plots. Nitrogen (40 kg ha(-1) year(-1)) was also added to half of the experimental plots in factorial combination. Plant species composition and above ground biomass were not affected by rainfall in the first 2 years and the plant community did not respond to nitrogen enrichment throughout the experiment. In the third year, above-ground plant biomass declined in rainfall-manipulated plots, driven by a decline in the abundances of grass species characteristic of moist soils. Declining plant biomass was also associated with changes to arthropod communities, with lower abundances of plant-feeding Auchenorrhyncha and carnivorous Araneae indicating multi-trophic responses to rainfall manipulation. Plant and arthropod community composition and plant biomass responses to rainfall manipulation were not modified by nitrogen enrichment, which was not expected, but may have resulted from prior nitrogen saturation and/or phosphorus limitation. Overall, our study demonstrates that climate change may in future influence plant productivity and induce multi-trophic responses in grasslands.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-09-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-11-2017
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.12868
Abstract: Humans require multiple services from ecosystems, but it is largely unknown whether trade-offs between ecosystem functions prevent the realisation of high ecosystem multifunctionality across spatial scales. Here, we combined a comprehensive dataset (28 ecosystem functions measured on 209 forest plots) with a forest inventory dataset (105,316 plots) to extrapolate and map relationships between various ecosystem multifunctionality measures across Europe. These multifunctionality measures reflected different management objectives, related to timber production, climate regulation and bio ersity conservation/recreation. We found that trade-offs among them were rare across Europe, at both local and continental scales. This suggests a high potential for 'win-win' forest management strategies, where overall multifunctionality is maximised. However, across sites, multifunctionality was on average 45.8-49.8% below maximum levels and not necessarily highest in protected areas. Therefore, using one of the most comprehensive assessments so far, our study suggests a high but largely unrealised potential for management to promote multifunctional forests.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-01-2013
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-05-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-09-2020
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13179
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-11-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12783
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-09-2015
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.13011
Abstract: Soil microbial biomass is a key determinant of carbon dynamics in the soil. Several studies have shown that soil microbial biomass significantly increases with plant species ersity, but it remains unclear whether plant species ersity can also stabilize soil microbial biomass in a changing environment. This question is particularly relevant as many global environmental change (GEC) factors, such as drought and nutrient enrichment, have been shown to reduce soil microbial biomass. Experiments with orthogonal manipulations of plant ersity and GEC factors can provide insights whether plant ersity can attenuate such detrimental effects on soil microbial biomass. Here, we present the analysis of 12 different studies with 14 unique orthogonal plant ersity × GEC manipulations in grasslands, where plant ersity and at least one GEC factor (elevated CO2 , nutrient enrichment, drought, earthworm presence, or warming) were manipulated. Our results show that higher plant ersity significantly enhances soil microbial biomass with the strongest effects in long-term field experiments. In contrast, GEC factors had inconsistent effects with only drought having a significant negative effect. Importantly, we report consistent non-significant effects for all 14 interactions between plant ersity and GEC factors, which indicates a limited potential of plant ersity to attenuate the effects of GEC factors on soil microbial biomass. We highlight that plant ersity is a major determinant of soil microbial biomass in experimental grasslands that can influence soil carbon dynamics irrespective of GEC.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 12-07-2010
Abstract: Grassland ecosystems cover vast areas of the Earth's surface and provide many ecosystem services including carbon (C) storage, bio ersity preservation and the production of livestock forage. Predicting the future delivery of these services is difficult, because widespread changes in atmospheric CO 2 concentration, climate and nitrogen (N) inputs are expected. We compiled published data from global change driver manipulation experiments and combined these with climate data to assess grassland biomass responses to CO 2 and N enrichment across a range of climates. CO 2 and N enrichment generally increased aboveground biomass (AGB) but effects of CO 2 enrichment were weaker than those of N. The response to N was also dependent on the amount of N added and rainfall, with a greater response in high precipitation regions. No relationship between response to CO 2 and climate was detected within our dataset, thus suggesting that other site characteristics, e.g. soils and plant community composition, are more important regulators of grassland responses to CO 2 . A statistical model of AGB response to N was used in conjunction with projected N deposition data to estimate changes to future biomass stocks. This highlighted several potential hotspots (e.g. in some regions of China and India) of grassland AGB gain. Possible benefits for C sequestration and forage production in these regions may be offset by declines in plant bio ersity caused by these biomass gains, thus necessitating careful management if ecosystem service delivery is to be maximized. An approach such as ours, in which meta-analysis is combined with global scale model outputs to make large-scale predictions, may complement the results of dynamic global vegetation models, thus allowing us to form better predictions of biosphere responses to environmental change.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 20-02-2013
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-11-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-022-01918-5
Abstract: The impact of local bio ersity loss on ecosystem functioning is well established, but the role of larger-scale bio ersity dynamics in the delivery of ecosystem services remains poorly understood. Here we address this gap using a comprehensive dataset describing the supply of 16 cultural, regulating and provisioning ecosystem services in 150 European agricultural grassland plots, and detailed multi-scale data on land use and plant ersity. After controlling for land-use and abiotic factors, we show that both plot-level and surrounding plant ersity play an important role in the supply of cultural and aboveground regulating ecosystem services. In contrast, provisioning and belowground regulating ecosystem services are more strongly driven by field-level management and abiotic factors. Structural equation models revealed that surrounding plant ersity promotes ecosystem services both directly, probably by fostering the spill-over of ecosystem service providers from surrounding areas, and indirectly, by maintaining plot-level ersity. By influencing the ecosystem services that local stakeholders prioritized, bio ersity at different scales was also shown to positively influence a wide range of stakeholder groups. These results provide a comprehensive picture of which ecosystem services rely most strongly on bio ersity, and the respective scales of bio ersity that drive these services. This key information is required for the upscaling of bio ersity-ecosystem service relationships, and the informed management of bio ersity within agricultural landscapes.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 15-03-2016
Abstract: Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of bio ersity in maintaining multiple ecosystem functions and services (multifunctionality) at local spatial scales, but it is unknown whether similar relationships are found at larger spatial scales in real-world landscapes. Here, we show, for the first time to our knowledge, that bio ersity can also be important for multifunctionality at larger spatial scales in European forest landscapes. Both high local (α-) ersity and a high turnover in species composition between locations (high β- ersity) were found to be potentially important drivers of ecosystem multifunctionality. Our study provides evidence that it is important to conserve the landscape-scale bio ersity that is being eroded by biotic homogenization if ecosystem multifunctionality is to be maintained.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-06-2014
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 19-05-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.05.17.095851
Abstract: Trait data are fundamental to quantitatively describe plant form and function. Although root traits capture key dimensions related to plant responses to changing environmental conditions and effects on ecosystem processes, they have rarely been included in large-scale comparative studies and global models. For instance, root traits remain absent from nearly all studies that define the global spectrum of plant form and function. Thus, to overcome conceptual and methodological roadblocks preventing a widespread integration of root trait data into large-scale analyses we created the Global Root Trait (GRooT) Database. GRooT provides ready-to-use data by combining the expertise of root ecologists with data mobilization and curation. Specifically, we (i) determined a set of core root traits relevant to the description of plant form and function based on an assessment by experts, (ii) maximized species coverage through data standardization within and among traits, and (iii) implemented data quality checks. GRooT contains 114,222 trait records on 38 continuous root traits. Global coverage with data from arid, continental, polar, temperate, and tropical biomes. Data on root traits derived from experimental studies and field studies. Data recorded between 1911 and 2019 GRooT includes root trait data for which taxonomic information is available. Trait records vary in their taxonomic resolution, with sub-species or varieties being the highest and genera the lowest taxonomic resolution available. It contains information for 184 sub-species or varieties, 6,214 species, 1,967 genera and 254 families. Due to variation in data sources, trait records in the database include both in idual observations and mean values. GRooT includes two csv file. A GitHub repository contains the csv files and a script in R to query the database.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14904
Abstract: Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to bio ersity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on in idual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-12-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-022-01774-9
Abstract: Here we provide the ‘Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function Dataset’, containing species mean values for six vascular plant traits. Together, these traits –plant height, stem specific density, leaf area, leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen content per dry mass, and diaspore (seed or spore) mass – define the primary axes of variation in plant form and function. The dataset is based on ca. 1 million trait records received via the TRY database (representing ca. 2,500 original publications) and additional unpublished data. It provides 92,159 species mean values for the six traits, covering 46,047 species. The data are complemented by higher-level taxonomic classification and six categorical traits (woodiness, growth form, succulence, adaptation to terrestrial or aquatic habitats, nutrition type and leaf type). Data quality management is based on a probabilistic approach combined with comprehensive validation against expert knowledge and external information. Intense data acquisition and thorough quality control produced the largest and, to our knowledge, most accurate compilation of empirically observed vascular plant species mean traits to date.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-03-2020
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 02-05-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-08-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1111/JVS.12710
Location: Germany
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Peter Manning.