ALBERT

Description: The most unique feature of Earth is the existence of life, and the most extraordinary feature of life is its diversity. Approximately 9 million types of plants, animals, protists and fungi inhabit the Earth. So, too, do 7 billion people. Two decades ago, at the first Earth Summit, the vast majority of the world's nations declared that human actions were dismantling the Earth's ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate. This observation led to the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Cardinale, Bradley J -- Duffy, J Emmett -- Gonzalez, Andrew -- Hooper, David U -- Perrings, Charles -- Venail, Patrick -- Narwani, Anita -- Mace, Georgina M -- Tilman, David -- Wardle, David A -- Kinzig, Ann P -- Daily, Gretchen C -- Loreau, Michel -- Grace, James B -- Larigauderie, Anne -- Srivastava, Diane S -- Naeem, Shahid -- England -- Nature. 2012 Jun 6;486(7401):59-67. doi: 10.1038/nature11148.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. bradcard@umich.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22678280" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: For more than 30 years, the relationship between net primary productivity and species richness has generated intense debate in ecology about the processes regulating local diversity. The original view, which is still widely accepted, holds that the relationship is hump-shaped, with richness first rising and then declining with increasing productivity. Although recent meta-analyses questioned the generality of hump-shaped patterns, these syntheses have been criticized for failing to account for methodological differences among studies. We addressed such concerns by conducting standardized sampling in 48 herbaceous-dominated plant communities on five continents. We found no clear relationship between productivity and fine-scale (meters(-2)) richness within sites, within regions, or across the globe. Ecologists should focus on fresh, mechanistic approaches to understanding the multivariate links between productivity and richness.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Adler, Peter B -- Seabloom, Eric W -- Borer, Elizabeth T -- Hillebrand, Helmut -- Hautier, Yann -- Hector, Andy -- Harpole, W Stanley -- O'Halloran, Lydia R -- Grace, James B -- Anderson, T Michael -- Bakker, Jonathan D -- Biederman, Lori A -- Brown, Cynthia S -- Buckley, Yvonne M -- Calabrese, Laura B -- Chu, Cheng-Jin -- Cleland, Elsa E -- Collins, Scott L -- Cottingham, Kathryn L -- Crawley, Michael J -- Damschen, Ellen I -- Davies, Kendi F -- DeCrappeo, Nicole M -- Fay, Philip A -- Firn, Jennifer -- Frater, Paul -- Gasarch, Eve I -- Gruner, Daniel S -- Hagenah, Nicole -- Hille Ris Lambers, Janneke -- Humphries, Hope -- Jin, Virginia L -- Kay, Adam D -- Kirkman, Kevin P -- Klein, Julia A -- Knops, Johannes M H -- La Pierre, Kimberly J -- Lambrinos, John G -- Li, Wei -- MacDougall, Andrew S -- McCulley, Rebecca L -- Melbourne, Brett A -- Mitchell, Charles E -- Moore, Joslin L -- Morgan, John W -- Mortensen, Brent -- Orrock, John L -- Prober, Suzanne M -- Pyke, David A -- Risch, Anita C -- Schuetz, Martin -- Smith, Melinda D -- Stevens, Carly J -- Sullivan, Lauren L -- Wang, Gang -- Wragg, Peter D -- Wright, Justin P -- Yang, Louie H -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 Sep 23;333(6050):1750-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1204498.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5230 Old Main, Logan, UT 84322, USA. peter.adler@usu.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21940895" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Fraser et al. (Reports, 17 July 2015, p. 302) report a unimodal relationship between productivity and species richness at regional and global scales, which they contrast with the results of Adler et al. (Reports, 23 September 2011, p. 1750). However, both data sets, when analyzed correctly, show clearly and consistently that productivity is a poor predictor of local species richness.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tredennick, Andrew T -- Adler, Peter B -- Grace, James B -- Harpole, W Stanley -- Borer, Elizabeth T -- Seabloom, Eric W -- Anderson, T Michael -- Bakker, Jonathan D -- Biederman, Lori A -- Brown, Cynthia S -- Buckley, Yvonne M -- Chu, Chengjin -- Collins, Scott L -- Crawley, Michael J -- Fay, Philip A -- Firn, Jennifer -- Gruner, Daniel S -- Hagenah, Nicole -- Hautier, Yann -- Hector, Andy -- Hillebrand, Helmut -- Kirkman, Kevin -- Knops, Johannes M H -- Laungani, Ramesh -- Lind, Eric M -- MacDougall, Andrew S -- McCulley, Rebecca L -- Mitchell, Charles E -- Moore, Joslin L -- Morgan, John W -- Orrock, John L -- Peri, Pablo L -- Prober, Suzanne M -- Risch, Anita C -- Schutz, Martin -- Speziale, Karina L -- Standish, Rachel J -- Sullivan, Lauren L -- Wardle, Glenda M -- Williams, Ryan J -- Yang, Louie H -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Jan 29;351(6272):457. doi: 10.1126/science.aad6236.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5230 Old Main, Logan, UT 84322, USA. atredenn@gmail.com. ; Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5230 Old Main, Logan, UT 84322, USA. ; U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, 700 Cajundome Boulevard, Lafayette, LA 70506, USA. ; Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. ; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. ; Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Box 7325 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA. ; School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, 3501 NE 41st Street, Box 354115, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. ; Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, 251 Bessey Hall, Ames, IA 50010, USA. ; Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, Colorado State University, 307 University Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. ; School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Zoology, Dublin 2, Ireland. ; School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Xingang Xi Road 135, Guangzhou, 510275, China. ; Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. ; Department of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK. ; Grassland, Soil, and Water Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, 808 East Blackland Road, Temple, TX 76502, USA. ; School of Earth, Environmental and Biological 42 Sciences, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Gardens Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 4001. ; Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, 4112 Plant Sciences, College Park, MD 20742, USA. ; School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 1 Carbis Road, Pietermaritzburg, 3201, South Africa. ; Department of Biology, Ecology and Biodiversity group, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, Netherlands. ; Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK. ; Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Schleusenstrasse 1, 26382 Wihlhemshaven, Germany. ; School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, 211 Manter Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA. ; Biology Department, Doane College, 1014 Boswell Avenue, Crete, NE 68333, USA. ; Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1. ; Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Kentucky, N-222D Ag Science North, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, USA. ; Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB#3280, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. ; School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, Victoria, Australia. ; Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Kingsbury Drive, Bundoora 3086, Victoria, Australia. ; Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA. ; Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Water, Southern Patagonia National University-INTA-CONICET, CC 332 (CP 9400), Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina. ; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Land and Water, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA 6913, Australia. ; Community Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zuercherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland. ; Department of Ecology, INIBIOMA (CONICET-UNCO), Quintral 1250, Bariloche (8400), Rio Negro, Argentina. ; School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, 90 South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150. ; School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Heydon-Laurence Building, A08, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia. ; Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA. ; Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26823418" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: How ecosystem productivity and species richness are interrelated is one of the most debated subjects in the history of ecology. Decades of intensive study have yet to discern the actual mechanisms behind observed global patterns. Here, by integrating the predictions from multiple theories into a single model and using data from 1,126 grassland plots spanning five continents, we detect the clear signals of numerous underlying mechanisms linking productivity and richness. We find that an integrative model has substantially higher explanatory power than traditional bivariate analyses. In addition, the specific results unveil several surprising findings that conflict with classical models. These include the isolation of a strong and consistent enhancement of productivity by richness, an effect in striking contrast with superficial data patterns. Also revealed is a consistent importance of competition across the full range of productivity values, in direct conflict with some (but not all) proposed models. The promotion of local richness by macroecological gradients in climatic favourability, generally seen as a competing hypothesis, is also found to be important in our analysis. The results demonstrate that an integrative modelling approach leads to a major advance in our ability to discern the underlying processes operating in ecological systems.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Grace, James B -- Anderson, T Michael -- Seabloom, Eric W -- Borer, Elizabeth T -- Adler, Peter B -- Harpole, W Stanley -- Hautier, Yann -- Hillebrand, Helmut -- Lind, Eric M -- Partel, Meelis -- Bakker, Jonathan D -- Buckley, Yvonne M -- Crawley, Michael J -- Damschen, Ellen I -- Davies, Kendi F -- Fay, Philip A -- Firn, Jennifer -- Gruner, Daniel S -- Hector, Andy -- Knops, Johannes M H -- MacDougall, Andrew S -- Melbourne, Brett A -- Morgan, John W -- Orrock, John L -- Prober, Suzanne M -- Smith, Melinda D -- England -- Nature. 2016 Jan 21;529(7586):390-3. doi: 10.1038/nature16524. Epub 2016 Jan 13.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉US Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, 700 Cajundome Boulevard, Lafayette, Louisiana 70506, USA. ; Department of Biology, 206 Winston Hall, Wake Forest University, Box 7325 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27109, USA. ; Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA. ; Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5230 Old Main, Logan, Utah 84322, USA. ; Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. ; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Deutscher Platz 5e, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. ; Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108 Halle (Saale), Germany. ; Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands. ; Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, University of Oldenburg, Schleusenstrasse 1, Wilhelmshaven D-26381, Germany. ; Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai 40, Tartu 51005, Estonia. ; School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Box 354115, Seattle, Washington 98195-4115, USA. ; School of Natural Sciences, Zoology, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK. ; Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCB 334, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. ; Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, 808 East Blackland Road, Temple, Texas 76502, USA. ; #15 Queensland University of Technology, School of Earth, Environment and Biological Sciences, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia. ; Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, 4112 Plant Sciences, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA. ; Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK. ; School of Biological Sciences, 348 Manter Hall, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, USA. ; Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. ; Department of Ecology, Environment, and Evolution, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia. ; CSIRO Land and Water, Private Bag 5, Wembley, Western Australia, 6913, Australia. ; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, 1878 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26760203" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉