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Clarifying the effect of biodiversity on productivity in natural ecosystems with longitudinal data and methods for causal inference

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dc.contributor.authorDee, Laura E.
dc.contributor.authorFerraro, Paul J.
dc.contributor.authorSeveren, Christopher N.
dc.contributor.authorKimmel, Kaitlin A.
dc.contributor.authorBorer, Elizabeth T.
dc.contributor.authorByrnes, Jarrett E. K.
dc.contributor.authorClark, Adam Thomas
dc.contributor.authorHautier, Yann
dc.contributor.authorHector, Andrew
dc.contributor.authorRaynaud, Xavier
dc.contributor.authorReich, Peter B.
dc.contributor.authorWright, Alexandra J.
dc.contributor.authorArnillas, Carlos A.
dc.contributor.authorDavies, Kendi F.
dc.contributor.authorMacDougall, Andrew
dc.contributor.authorMori, Akira S.
dc.contributor.authorSmith, Melinda D.
dc.contributor.authorAdler, Peter B.
dc.contributor.authorBakker, Jonathan D.
dc.contributor.authorBrauman, Kate A.
dc.contributor.authorCowles, Jane
dc.contributor.authorKomatsu, Kimberly
dc.contributor.authorKnops, Johannes M. H.
dc.contributor.authorMcCulley, Rebecca L.
dc.contributor.authorMoore, Joslin L.
dc.contributor.authorMorgan, John W.
dc.contributor.authorOhlert, Timothy
dc.contributor.authorPower, Sally A.
dc.contributor.authorSullivan, Lauren L.
dc.contributor.authorStevens, Carly
dc.contributor.authorLoreau, Michel
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Colorado Boulder
dc.contributor.otherJohns Hopkins University
dc.contributor.otherJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
dc.contributor.otherFederal Reserve System - USA
dc.contributor.otherFederal Reserve Bank - Philadelphia
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Minnesota Twin Cities
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Massachusetts Boston
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Graz
dc.contributor.otherUtrecht University
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Oxford
dc.contributor.otherUniversite Paris-Est-Creteil-Val-de-Marne (UPEC)
dc.contributor.otherCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
dc.contributor.otherCNRS - Institute of Ecology & Environment (INEE)
dc.contributor.otherUDICE-French Research Universities
dc.contributor.otherSorbonne Universite
dc.contributor.otherUniversite Paris Cite
dc.contributor.otherInstitut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD)
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Michigan
dc.contributor.otherWestern Sydney University
dc.contributor.otherCalifornia State University Los Angeles
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Toronto
dc.contributor.otherUniversity Toronto Scarborough
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Guelph
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Tokyo
dc.contributor.otherColorado State University
dc.contributor.otherUtah State University
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Washington
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Washington Seattle
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.contributor.otherSmithsonian Institution
dc.contributor.otherSmithsonian Environmental Research Center
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Kentucky
dc.contributor.otherMonash University
dc.contributor.otherLa Trobe University
dc.contributor.otherMichigan State University
dc.contributor.otherLancaster University
dc.date.accessioned2023-10-02T15:14:43Z
dc.date.available2023-10-02T15:14:43Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractIsolating the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in natural ecosystems is challenging. Here, the authors apply a causal inference approach to observational data from grasslands and find a negative effect of biodiversity on productivity driven by non-native and rare species. Causal effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functions can be estimated using experimental or observational designs - designs that pose a tradeoff between drawing credible causal inferences from correlations and drawing generalizable inferences. Here, we develop a design that reduces this tradeoff and revisits the question of how plant species diversity affects productivity. Our design leverages longitudinal data from 43 grasslands in 11 countries and approaches borrowed from fields outside of ecology to draw causal inferences from observational data. Contrary to many prior studies, we estimate that increases in plot-level species richness caused productivity to decline: a 10% increase in richness decreased productivity by 2.4%, 95% CI [-4.1, -0.74]. This contradiction stems from two sources. First, prior observational studies incompletely control for confounding factors. Second, most experiments plant fewer rare and non-native species than exist in nature. Although increases in native, dominant species increased productivity, increases in rare and non-native species decreased productivity, making the average effect negative in our study. By reducing the tradeoff between experimental and observational designs, our study demonstrates how observational studies can complement prior ecological experiments and inform future ones.en_US
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationDee, L. E., Ferraro, P. J., Severen, C. N., Kimmel, K. A., Borer, E. T., Byrnes, J. E. K., Clark, A. T., Hautier, Y., Hector, A., Raynaud, X., Reich, P. B., Wright, A. J., Arnillas, C. A., Davies, K. F., MacDougall, A., Mori, A. S., Smith, M. D., Adler, P. B., Bakker, J. D., … Loreau, M. (2023). Clarifying the effect of biodiversity on productivity in natural ecosystems with longitudinal data and methods for causal inference. In Nature Communications (Vol. 14, Issue 1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37194-5
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41467-023-37194-5
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9065-2867
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2259-5853
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0471-1371
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4777-5108
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4347-7741
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8099-285X
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/12467
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherNature Portfolio
dc.rights.licenseAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectPLANT DIVERSITY
dc.subjectINSTRUMENTAL VARIABLES
dc.subjectIN-DIFFERENCES
dc.subjectECOLOGY
dc.subjectIDENTIFICATION
dc.subjectRESISTANCE
dc.subjectGUIDE
dc.subjectALTER
dc.subjectTIME
dc.subjectMultidisciplinary Sciences
dc.titleClarifying the effect of biodiversity on productivity in natural ecosystems with longitudinal data and methods for causal inferenceen_US
dc.typeArticle
dc.typetext

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