The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) is a central issue in soil and microbial ecology. To date, most belowground BEF studies focus on the diversity of microbes analyzed by barcoding on total DNA, which targets both active and inactive microbes. This approach creates a bias as it mixes the part of the microbiome currently steering processes that provide actual ecosystem functions with the part not directly involved. Using experimental extensive grasslands under current and future climate, we used the bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) immunocapture technique combined with pair-end Illumina sequencing to characterize both total and active microbiomes (including both bacteria and fungi) in the rhizosphere of Trifolium pratense. Rhizosphere function was assessed by measuring the activity of three microbial extracellular enzymes (β-glucosidase, N-acetyl-glucosaminidase, and acid phosphatase), which play central roles in the C, N, and P acquisition. We showed that the richness of overall and specific functional groups of active microbes in rhizosphere soil significantly correlated with the measured enzyme activities, while total microbial richness did not. Active microbes of the rhizosphere represented 42.8 and 32.1% of the total bacterial and fungal taxa, respectively, and were taxonomically and functionally diverse. Nitrogen fixing bacteria were highly active in this system with 71% of the total operational taxonomic units (OTUs) assigned to this group detected as active. We found the total and active microbiomes to display different responses to variations in soil physicochemical factors in the grassland, but with some degree of resistance to a manipulation mimicking future climate. Our findings provide critical insights into the role of active microbes in defining soil ecosystem functions in a grassland ecosystem. We demonstrate that the relationship between biodiversity-ecosystem functioning in soil may be stronger than previously thought.

No description available.

No description available.

Les écosystèmes procurent de nombreux services essentiels aux sociétés humaines à travers les effets positifs de la biodiversité des communautés d'espèces. Par conséquent, identifier le rôle des organismes vivants et les facteurs influençant la diversité de leurs fonctions (ou diversité fonctionnelle), est indispensable pour prédire efficacement l'évolution des écosystèmes soumis aux pressions locales et globales.Cette thèse s'articule donc autour de deux axes: (i) établir un cadre méthodologique pour décrire la structure fonctionnelle locale et régionale des communautés, et (ii) améliorer la connaissance de l'impact des poissons sur la dégradation de la matière organique.Dans un premier temps, nous avons consolidé les outils méthodologiques permettant (i) d'améliorer la fiabilité des dendrogrammes fonctionnels, (ii) l'étude comparative des principaux indices de diversité fonctionnelle à l'échelle locale, et (iii) le développement d'une nouvelle décomposition de la diversité fonctionnelle en composantes locale (α), régionale (γ) et turnover (β). Appliqué aux communautés ichthyologiques échantillonnés le long d'un gradient de salinité, dans le système lagunaire de Patos-Mirim (Brésil), ce socle méthodologique nous a permis de révéler une structure fonctionnelle stable le long du gradient, en dépit d'une forte variabilité en composition d'espèces, ces communautés étant structurées majoritairement par un filtre environnemental agissant sur les capacités de locomotion des poissons.Dans un second temps, nous avons étudié l'impact des communautés ichthyologiques sur le cycle des nutriments. Plus précisément, nous avons estimé le potentiel de dégradation de la matière organique de plusieurs espèces de poissons, en étudiant la diversité fonctionnelle et génétique de leur flore bactérienne intestinale. Nous avons montré que les communautés ichthyologiques pouvaient influencer le recyclage des nutriments de façon non négligeable en raison d'un important potentiel de dégradation commun à la plupart des espèces étudiées, ce potentiel étant peu affecté par la diversité génétique ou les facteurs environnementaux. / Ecosystems provide many services essential to Human societies through the positive effects of biodiversity exhibited by species communities. Therefore, identifying the role of living organisms and the factors influencing the diversity of their functions (i.e. functional diversity) is fundamental to accurately predict the evolution of ecosystems undergoing local and global pressures.This thesis is organized around two axes: (i) establishing a methodological framework to describe the functional structure of local and regional communities, and (ii) improving our knowledge of the impact of fish on the degradation of organic matter.First, we have consolidated the methodological tools through (i) the improvement of functional dendrograms reliability, (ii) the comparative study of the main indices estimating local functional diversity, and (iii) the development of a new decomposition of functional diversity into local (α) and regional (γ) components, and functional turnover (β). Applied to fish assemblages sampled along a salinity gradient in Patos-Mirim lagoons complex (Brazil), this methodological framework allowed us to reveal a steady functional structure, despite a high variability in species composition, these communities being primarily structured by environmental filtering acting on fish locomotion abilities.   In a second step, we studied the impact of fish communities on nutrient cycling. More specifically, we estimated degradation of organic matter potential of several fish species by studying the genetic and functional diversity of their intestinal bacterial flora. We showed that the fish community could significantly influence nutrient cycling through an important degradation potential, common to most species studied, which is weakly affected by genetic diversity or environmental factors.

Climate change and habitat fragmentation are altering the structure and functioning of plant communities world-wide. Understanding how, why and with what consequences are major challenges of ecology today. Trait-based approaches focus on functional rather than taxonomic identity to facilitate process-based explanation and prediction. This thesis develops new ways of operationalising traits to understand plant community responses to the environment and community effects on ecosystem functioning and services. Wetlands, distinct in nature and patchy in their distribution, serve as a natural laboratory to extend plant trait theory and as inspiration for metacommunity modelling. The first part of the thesis (Papers 1 and 2) focuses on wetland plant traits in relation to current and future environmental conditions, ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services. Paper 1 surveys the state of knowledge regarding (i) ultimate and proximate drivers of wetland plant community functional composition, trait covariation and responses of individual traits along gradients, as well as (ii) trait effects on the sets of ecosystem properties and processes that underlie the generation of three key wetland ecosystem services (regulation of water flow, water quality, and climate). Paper 2 modifies species distribution modelling to predict future changes in plant community trait distributions due to climate change in central Sweden, which allows a qualitative estimate of changes in ecosystem service potential. Climate change induced functional changes may benefit water quality and flow regulation provided by fens and riparian wetlands, but compromise carbon sequestration capacity in bogs. The second part of the thesis (Papers 3 and 4) develops trait-based metacommunity models to study the interplay of local and regional dynamics on species, community and whole-metacommunity responses to climate change. Paper 3 finds model assumptions about species dispersal capacity to strongly influence predictions of diversity loss following climate change. While differences in species dispersal capacity drastically increase predicted extinction risk, more realistic models based on an empirically derived seed mass – seed number trade-off strongly moderate these predictions. Without considering fitness effects of covarying traits, models that include variable dispersal capacities thus might overestimate extinction risk from climate change. Paper 4 studies the development and recovery of the regional average trait-lag of response trait distributions, as a direct measure of the instantaneous realised metacommunity response to temperature change with implications for levels of ecosystem functioning. The dynamical response jointly depended on local response capacity and regional adaptive re-organisation via species range shifts. Where habitat was scarce, connectivity network properties mediated response capacity and may guide conservation priorities. This thesis makes contributions to plant trait ecology, wetland functional ecology, ecosystem service science and metacommunity theory. As a whole it furthers progress towards a predictive ecology that can bridge scales from individual physiology to ecosystem dynamics and anticipate global change effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p><p> </p>

Esta tese foca no papel dos misídeos em ecossistemas costeiros, considerando aspectos de sua distribuição, biologia e ecologia, tais como: distribuição zoogeográfica no Atlântico Sudoeste; dinâmica populacional dos misídeos no estuário de Cananéia, explorando sua distribuição espacial e temporal em relação às variáveis ambientais e abundância do zooplâncton; traços reprodutivos, produção anual e tolerância a gradientes de salinidade; taxas de alimentação, seletividade e respostas funcionais; predação inter- e intraespecífica; e predação sobre os misídeos. Atenção particular foi dada ao papel trófico dos misídeos no contexto da teoria da Biodiversidade e Funcionamento do Ecossistema em ecologia. Através de abordagens experimentais foram avaliados os efeitos da riqueza de espécies da comunidade de misídeos sobre sua seletividade alimentar e taxas de consumo. O efeito da riqueza de espécies da comunidade de predadores dos misídeos também foi considerado. Misídeos geralmente compõem a epifauna bêntica dominante em águas costeiras, tendo assim papel chave nas cadeias alimentares de regiões marinhas costeiras. No entanto, poucos estudos focaram esses organismos na América do Sul: apenas 31 de 1131 espécies de misídeos descritas no mundo foram registradas no Atlântico Sudoeste. No estuário de Cananéia, salinidade e temperatura foram parâmetros importantes na distribuição espacial e temporal dos misídeos. Maiores abundâncias e produção ocorreram na primavera, em decorrência de condições termohalinas mais favoráveis e a alta disponibilidade de alimento. Metamysidopsis elongata atlantica foi a espécie dominante numericamente, provavelmente por ser a única espécie de misídeo que consegue colonizar áreas de menor salinidade de forma efetiva, onde o alimento é mais abundante e as outras espécies de misídeos não ocorrem, evitando assim competição interespecífica e predação intraguilda. Metamysidopsis e. atlantica teve alta produção anual, fato que confirma a importância dos misídeos no fluxo de carbono em águas costeiras de regiões tropicas e subtropicais. Chlamydopleon dissimile, M. e. atlantica e Mysidopsis coelhoi tiveram comportamento alimentar oportunista sobre a comunidade de zooplâncton natural, mas houve evidência de que eles evitaram presas medindo entre 300 e 400 &#181;m, compostas principalmente por Oithona spp. As taxas de ingestão tiveram um aumento não linear com o aumento da concentração de alimento, sugerindo resposta funcional do tipo II para as três espécies de misídeos. Houve tanto efeitos positivos (complementaridade) quanto negativos da combinação de espécies sobre a resposta alimentar das mesmas. Interações negativas estiveram provavelmente ligadas à predação intraguilda, resultando na redução da predação dos misídeos sobre o zooplâncton. Um aumento no número de espécies de predadores de misídeos resultou em um aumento na predação de misídeos em relação ao desempenho médio das monoculturas de predadores, mas não em comparação ao predador mais efetivo. Efeitos positivos da diversidade de predadores aumentaram com a heterogeneidade espacial, pois esta permitiu que efeitos de complementaridade interespecífica entre os predadores fossem melhor expressados. Além disso, a morte de predadores foi reduzida nos tratamentos com maior heterogeneidade espacial, provavelmente porque esta amenizou a ocorrência de predação intraguilda e/ou interações comportamentais negativas entre os predadores. E por último, efeitos de cascata trófica não foram observados, provavelmente em decorrência dos misídeos serem onívoros generalistas. / This thesis focuses on the role of mysids in coastal ecosystems. It considers aspects of their distribution, biology, and ecology, such as: zoogeographical distribution in the Southwest Atlantic; their population dynamics in the Cananeia estuary, exploring spatial and temporal distribution in relation to environmental variables and zooplankton abundance; reproductive traits, annual production and tolerance to salinity gradients; feeding rates, selectivity, and functional responses; inter- and intraspecific predation; and the suppression of mysid abundance by predators. Particular attention was put to the trophic role of mysids in the context of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning theory in ecology (BEF). Experimental approaches were employed to evaluate the effects of species richness of the mysid assemblage on their feeding selectivity and consumption fluxes. Also, the effect of species richness of the mysids predador assemblage was taken into account. Mysids are usually the dominant benthic epifauna in coastal waters, and thus they play a key role in marine coastal food webs. However, few studies focused on these organisms in the South American region: only 31 out of 1131 mysid species described worldwide have been registered in the Southwest Atlantic. In the Cananeia estuary, salinity and temperature were important factors influencing mysid spatio-temporal distribution. Higher abundance and production occurred in spring, when thermohaline conditions were more favorable and food availability was high. Metamysidopsis elongata atlantica was the numerically dominant species, probably because it is the single mysid species that effectively colonizes low salinity areas, where food is more abundant and other mysid species are absent, thus avoiding interspecific competition and intraguild predation. Metamysidopsis e. atlantica had high annual production values, confirming the importance of mysids in the carbon flux of tropical and subtropical coastal waters. Chlamydopleon dissimile, M. e. atlantica, and Mysidopsis coelhoi had opportunistic feeding behavior on the natural zooplankton assemblage, but there was evidence of avoidance of medium-size prey (300-400 &#181;m), mostly comprised by Oithona spp. Ingestion rates showed a non-linear increase with increasing food concentrations, suggesting a type II functional response for the three mysid species. There were both positive (complementarity effect) and negative effects of species combinations on their feeding response. Negative interactions were probably linked to intraguild predation, resulting in a reduction of mysid predation over the zooplankton. An increase in the number of mysid predator species enhanced mysid suppression relative to the mean performance of predator monocultures, but not in comparison to the most effective predator. Positive effects of predator diversity increased with spatial heterogeneity, as it allowed interspecific complementarity effects between predators to be expressed. Moreover, mortality of predators was reduced in spatially heterogeneous treatments, most likely because it dampened intraguild predation and/or negative behavioral interactions between predators. Finally, trophic cascades were not observed, probably due to the omnivorous - generalist character of mysids.

Esta tese foca no papel dos misídeos em ecossistemas costeiros, considerando aspectos de sua distribuição, biologia e ecologia, tais como: distribuição zoogeográfica no Atlântico Sudoeste; dinâmica populacional dos misídeos no estuário de Cananéia, explorando sua distribuição espacial e temporal em relação às variáveis ambientais e abundância do zooplâncton; traços reprodutivos, produção anual e tolerância a gradientes de salinidade; taxas de alimentação, seletividade e respostas funcionais; predação inter- e intraespecífica; e predação sobre os misídeos. Atenção particular foi dada ao papel trófico dos misídeos no contexto da teoria da Biodiversidade e Funcionamento do Ecossistema em ecologia. Através de abordagens experimentais foram avaliados os efeitos da riqueza de espécies da comunidade de misídeos sobre sua seletividade alimentar e taxas de consumo. O efeito da riqueza de espécies da comunidade de predadores dos misídeos também foi considerado. Misídeos geralmente compõem a epifauna bêntica dominante em águas costeiras, tendo assim papel chave nas cadeias alimentares de regiões marinhas costeiras. No entanto, poucos estudos focaram esses organismos na América do Sul: apenas 31 de 1131 espécies de misídeos descritas no mundo foram registradas no Atlântico Sudoeste. No estuário de Cananéia, salinidade e temperatura foram parâmetros importantes na distribuição espacial e temporal dos misídeos. Maiores abundâncias e produção ocorreram na primavera, em decorrência de condições termohalinas mais favoráveis e a alta disponibilidade de alimento. Metamysidopsis elongata atlantica foi a espécie dominante numericamente, provavelmente por ser a única espécie de misídeo que consegue colonizar áreas de menor salinidade de forma efetiva, onde o alimento é mais abundante e as outras espécies de misídeos não ocorrem, evitando assim competição interespecífica e predação intraguilda. Metamysidopsis e. atlantica teve alta produção anual, fato que confirma a importância dos misídeos no fluxo de carbono em águas costeiras de regiões tropicas e subtropicais. Chlamydopleon dissimile, M. e. atlantica e Mysidopsis coelhoi tiveram comportamento alimentar oportunista sobre a comunidade de zooplâncton natural, mas houve evidência de que eles evitaram presas medindo entre 300 e 400 &#181;m, compostas principalmente por Oithona spp. As taxas de ingestão tiveram um aumento não linear com o aumento da concentração de alimento, sugerindo resposta funcional do tipo II para as três espécies de misídeos. Houve tanto efeitos positivos (complementaridade) quanto negativos da combinação de espécies sobre a resposta alimentar das mesmas. Interações negativas estiveram provavelmente ligadas à predação intraguilda, resultando na redução da predação dos misídeos sobre o zooplâncton. Um aumento no número de espécies de predadores de misídeos resultou em um aumento na predação de misídeos em relação ao desempenho médio das monoculturas de predadores, mas não em comparação ao predador mais efetivo. Efeitos positivos da diversidade de predadores aumentaram com a heterogeneidade espacial, pois esta permitiu que efeitos de complementaridade interespecífica entre os predadores fossem melhor expressados. Além disso, a morte de predadores foi reduzida nos tratamentos com maior heterogeneidade espacial, provavelmente porque esta amenizou a ocorrência de predação intraguilda e/ou interações comportamentais negativas entre os predadores. E por último, efeitos de cascata trófica não foram observados, provavelmente em decorrência dos misídeos serem onívoros generalistas. / This thesis focuses on the role of mysids in coastal ecosystems. It considers aspects of their distribution, biology, and ecology, such as: zoogeographical distribution in the Southwest Atlantic; their population dynamics in the Cananeia estuary, exploring spatial and temporal distribution in relation to environmental variables and zooplankton abundance; reproductive traits, annual production and tolerance to salinity gradients; feeding rates, selectivity, and functional responses; inter- and intraspecific predation; and the suppression of mysid abundance by predators. Particular attention was put to the trophic role of mysids in the context of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning theory in ecology (BEF). Experimental approaches were employed to evaluate the effects of species richness of the mysid assemblage on their feeding selectivity and consumption fluxes. Also, the effect of species richness of the mysids predador assemblage was taken into account. Mysids are usually the dominant benthic epifauna in coastal waters, and thus they play a key role in marine coastal food webs. However, few studies focused on these organisms in the South American region: only 31 out of 1131 mysid species described worldwide have been registered in the Southwest Atlantic. In the Cananeia estuary, salinity and temperature were important factors influencing mysid spatio-temporal distribution. Higher abundance and production occurred in spring, when thermohaline conditions were more favorable and food availability was high. Metamysidopsis elongata atlantica was the numerically dominant species, probably because it is the single mysid species that effectively colonizes low salinity areas, where food is more abundant and other mysid species are absent, thus avoiding interspecific competition and intraguild predation. Metamysidopsis e. atlantica had high annual production values, confirming the importance of mysids in the carbon flux of tropical and subtropical coastal waters. Chlamydopleon dissimile, M. e. atlantica, and Mysidopsis coelhoi had opportunistic feeding behavior on the natural zooplankton assemblage, but there was evidence of avoidance of medium-size prey (300-400 &#181;m), mostly comprised by Oithona spp. Ingestion rates showed a non-linear increase with increasing food concentrations, suggesting a type II functional response for the three mysid species. There were both positive (complementarity effect) and negative effects of species combinations on their feeding response. Negative interactions were probably linked to intraguild predation, resulting in a reduction of mysid predation over the zooplankton. An increase in the number of mysid predator species enhanced mysid suppression relative to the mean performance of predator monocultures, but not in comparison to the most effective predator. Positive effects of predator diversity increased with spatial heterogeneity, as it allowed interspecific complementarity effects between predators to be expressed. Moreover, mortality of predators was reduced in spatially heterogeneous treatments, most likely because it dampened intraguild predation and/or negative behavioral interactions between predators. Finally, trophic cascades were not observed, probably due to the omnivorous - generalist character of mysids.

Die Ökosysteme unserer Erde sind durch das rasante Artensterben infolge von Umweltveränderungen durch den Menschen und des globalen Klimawandels stark betroffen. Mit den Auswirkungen dieses Artenverlustes und der damit einhergehenden Veränderung der Diversität beschäftigt sich die heutige Biodiversitätsforschung. Spezieller wird der Effekt der Diversität auf Ökosystemprozesse wie beispielsweise den Biomasseaufbau von Primärproduzenten oder der Resistenz einer Gemeinschaft gegen die Einwanderung neuer Arten untersucht. Die Quantifizierung des Einflusses der Diversität auf die Primärproduktion und das Verständnis der zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen ist von besonderer Wichtigkeit. In terrestrischen Pflanzengemeinschaften wurde bereits ein positiver Diversitätseffekt auf die Gemeinschaftsbiomasse beobachtet. Dies wird hauptsächlich durch den Komplementaritäts- und/oder den Dominanzeffekt erklärt. Die Komplementarität zwischen Arten ist beispielsweise bei Unterschieden in der Ressourcenausnutzung gegeben (z.B. unterschiedliche Wurzeltiefen). Diese kann zu einer besseren Nährstoffausnutzung in diverseren Gemeinschaften führen, die letztlich deren höhere Biomassen erklärt. Der Dominanzeffekt hingegen beruht auf der in diverseren Gemeinschaften höheren Wahrscheinlichkeit, eine hochproduktive Art anzutreffen, was letztlich die höhere Biomasse der Gemeinschaft verursacht. Diversitätseffekte auf Ökosystemprozesse wurden bisher hauptsächlich auf der Gemeinschaftsebene untersucht. Analysen über die Reaktionen, die alle Arten einer Gemeinschaft einschließen, fehlen bisher. Daher wurde der Einfluss der Diversität auf die individuelle Performance von Pflanzenarten innerhalb des Biodiversitätsprojektes „Das Jena Experiment“ untersucht. Dieses Experiment umfasst 60 Arten, die charakteristisch für Mitteleuropäische Graslandschaften sind. Die Arten wurden in die 4 funktionellen Gruppen Gräser, kleine Kräuter, große Kräuter und Leguminosen eingeteilt. Im Freilandversuch zeigte sich, dass mit steigender Artenzahl die individuelle Pflanzenhöhe zunahm, während die individuelle oberirdische Biomasse sank. Der positive Diversitätseffekt auf die pflanzliche Gemeinschaftsbiomasse kann folglich nicht auf der individuellen oberirdischen Biomassezunahme beruhen. Überdies reagierten die einzelnen funktionellen Gruppen und sogar die einzelnen Arten innerhalb einer funktionellen Gruppe unterschiedlich auf Diversitätsveränderungen. Folglich ist zu vermuten, dass einige Ökosystemprozesse auf Gemeinschaftsebene durch die Reaktionen von bestimmten funktionellen Gruppen bzw. Arten hervorgerufen werden. Diversitätseffekte auf Gemeinschaftsbiomassen wurden bislang hauptsächlich mit terrestrischen Pflanzen und weniger mit frei-schwebenden Algenarten (Phytoplankton) erforscht. Demzufolge wurde der Einfluss der Diversität auf die Biomasse von Phytoplankton-Gemeinschaften experimentell untersucht, wobei es sowohl zu negativen als auch positiven Diversitätseffekten kam. Eine negative Beziehung zwischen Diversität und Gemeinschaftsbiomasse zeigte sich, wenn schnell-wüchsige Algenarten nur geringe Biomassen in Mono- und Mischkultur aufbauten. Die vorhandenen Nährstoffe in der Mischkultur wurden von den schnell-wüchsigen Arten monopolisiert und folglich standen sie den langsam-wüchsigen Algenarten, welche viel Biomasse in Monokultur aufbauten, nicht mehr zur Verfügung. Zu einem positiven Diversitätseffekt auf die Gemeinschaftsbiomasse kam es, wenn die Artengemeinschaft eine positive Beziehung zwischen Wachstumsrate und Biomasse in Monokultur zeigte, sodass die schnell-wüchsige Algenarten viel Biomasse aufbauten. Da diese schnell-wüchsigen Algen in der Mischkultur dominant wurden, bestand die Gemeinschaft letztlich aus hoch-produktiven Algenarten, was zu einer erhöhten Gesamtbiomasse führte. Diese beiden Versuchsansätze verdeutlichen Mechanismen für die unterschiedlichen Reaktionen der Gemeinschaften auf Diversitätsveränderungen, welche auch für terrestrische Pflanzengemeinschaften gefunden wurden. Ein anderer wichtiger Ökosystemprozess, der von der Diversität beeinflusst wird, ist die Anfälligkeit von Gemeinschaften gegenüber invasiven Arten (Invasibilität). Die Invasibilität wird von einer Vielzahl von Faktoren beeinflusst und demzufolge wurde der Effekt der Diversität und der Produktivität (Nährstoffgehalt) auf die Invasibilität von Phytoplankton-Gemeinschaften in An- und Abwesenheit eines Herbivoren untersucht. Die zwei funktionell unterschiedlichen invasiven Arten waren die Blaualge Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii (schlecht fressbar) und der Phytoflagellat Cryptomonas sp. (gut fressbar). Es zeigte sich, dass der Fraßdruck, welcher selber durch die Produktivität beeinflusst wurde, einen bedeutenden Effekt auf die Invasibilität von Phytoplankton-Gemeinschaften hat. Die funktionellen Eigenschaften der invasiven und residenten Arten waren zudem bedeutender als die Artenzahl. / To date, positive relationships between diversity and community biomass have been mainly found, especially in terrestrial ecosystems due to the complementarity and/or dominance effect. In this thesis, the effect of diversity on the performance of terrestrial plant and phytoplankton communities was investigated to get a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms in the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning context. In a large grassland biodiversity experiment, the Jena Experiment, the effect of community diversity on the individual plant performance was investigated for all species. The species pool consisted of 60 plant species belonging to 4 functional groups (grasses, small herbs, tall herbs, legumes). The experiment included 82 large plots which differed in species richness (1-60), functional richness (1-4), and community composition. Individual plant height increased with increasing species richness suggesting stronger competition for light in more diverse communities. The aboveground biomass of the individual plants decreased with increasing species richness indicating stronger competition in more species-rich communities. Moreover, in more species-rich communities plant individuals were less likely to flower out and had fewer inflorescences which may be resulting from a trade-off between resource allocation to vegetative height growth and to reproduction. Responses to changing species richness differed strongly between functional groups and between species of similar functional groups. To conclude, individual plant performance can largely depend on the diversity of the surrounding community. Positive diversity effects on biomass have been mainly found for substrate-bound plant communities. Therefore, the effect of diversity on the community biomass of phytoplankton was studied using microcosms. The communities consisted of 8 algal species belonging to 4 functional groups (green algae, diatoms, cyanobacteria, phytoflagellates) and were grown at different functional richness levels (1-4). Functional richness and community biomass were negatively correlated and all community biomasses were lower than their average monoculture biomasses of the component species, revealing community underyielding. This was mainly caused by the dominance of a fast-growing species which built up low biomasses in monoculture and mixture. A trade-off between biomass and growth rate in monoculture was found for all species, and thus fast-growing species built up low biomasses and slow-growing species reached high biomasses in monoculture. As the fast-growing, low-productive species monopolised nutrients in the mixtures, they became the dominant species resulting in the observed community underyielding. These findings suggest community overyielding when biomasses of the component species are positively correlated with their growth rates in monocultures. Aquatic microcosm experiments with an extensive design were performed to get a broad range of community responses. The phytoplankton communities differed in species diversity (1, 2, 4, 8, and 12), functional diversity (1, 2, 3, and 4) and community composition. The species/functional diversity positively affected community biomass, revealing overyielding in most of the communities. This was mainly caused by a positive complementarity effect which can be attributed to resource use complementarity and/or facilitative interaction among the species. Overyielding of more diverse communities occurred when the biomass of the component species was correlated positively with their growth rates in monoculture and thus, fast-growing and high-productive species were dominant in mixtures. This and the study mentioned above generated an emergent pattern for community overyielding and underyielding from the relationship between biomass and growth rate in monoculture as long as the initial community structure prevailed. Invasive species can largely affect ecosystem processes, whereas invasion is also influenced by diversity. To date, studies revealed negative and positive diversity effects on the invasibility (susceptibility of a community to the invasion by new species). The effect of productivity (nutrient concentration ranging from 10 to 640 µg P L-1), herbivory (presence/absence of the generalist feeder) and diversity (3, 4, 6 species were randomly chosen from the resident species pool) on the invasibility of phytoplankton communities consisting of 10 resident species was investigated using semi-continuous microcosms. Two functionally diverse invaders were chosen: the filamentous and less-edible cynaobacterium C. raciborskii and the unicellular and well-edible phytoflagellate Cryptomonas sp. The phytoflagellate indirectly benefited from grazing pressure of herbivores whereas C. raciborskii suffered more from it. Diversity did not affect the invasibility of the phytoplankton communities. Rather, it was strongly influenced by the functional traits of the resident and invasive species.

No description available.

Animals living in marine sediments (the second largest habitat on earth) play a major role in global biogeochemical cycling. By feeding on organic matter from settled phytoplankton blooms they produce food for higher trophic levels and nutrients that can fuel primary production. In the Baltic Sea, anthropogenic stresses, such as eutrophication and introductions of invasive species, have altered phytoplankton dynamics and benthic communities. This thesis discusses the effects of different types of phytoplankton on the deposit-feeding community and the importance of benthic biodiversity for fate of the phytoplankton bloom-derived organic matter. Deposit-feeders survived and fed on settled cyanobacterial bloom material and in doing so accumulated the cyanobacterial toxin nodularin. Their growth after feeding on cyanobacteria was much slower than on a diet of spring bloom diatoms. The results show that settling blooms of cyanobacteria are used as food without obvious toxic effects, although they do not sustain rapid growth of the fauna. Since all tested species accumulated the cyanotoxin, negative effects higher up in the food web can not be ruled out. Both species composition and richness of deposit-feeding macrofauna influenced how much of the phytoplankton bloom material that was incorporated in fauna or retained in the sediment. The mechanism behind the positive effect of species richness was mainly niche differentiation among functionally different species, resulting in a more efficient utilization of resources at greater biodiversity. This was observed even after addition of an invasive polychaete species. Hence, species loss can be expected to affect benthic productivity negatively. In conclusion, efficiency in organic matter processing depends both on pelagic phytoplankton quality and benthic community composition and species richness. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 4: In press. Paper 5: Manuscript.</p>