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Science 5 November 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5442, pp. 1123 - 1127
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5442.1123
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Research Articles

Plant Diversity and Productivity Experiments in European Grasslands

A. Hector, 1* B. Schmid, 2 C. Beierkuhnlein, 3 M. C. Caldeira, 4 M. Diemer, 2 P. G. Dimitrakopoulos, 5 J. A. Finn, 6dagger H. Freitas, 4ddagger P. S. Giller, 6 J. Good, 6 R. Harris, 6 P. Högberg, 7 K. Huss-Danell, 8 J. Joshi, 2 A. Jumpponen, 78 C. Körner, 9 P. W. Leadley, 9§ M. Loreau, 10 A. Minns, 1 C. P. H. Mulder, 78parallel G. O'Donovan, 6 S. J. Otway, 1 J. S. Pereira, 4 A. Prinz, 3 D. J. Read, 11 M. Scherer-Lorenzen, 12 E.-D. Schulze, 12 A.-S. D. Siamantziouras, 5 E. M. Spehn, 9 A. C. Terry, 11 A. Y. Troumbis, 5 F. I. Woodward, 11 S. Yachi, 10 # J. H. Lawton 1

At eight European field sites, the impact of loss of plant diversity on primary productivity was simulated by synthesizing grassland communities with different numbers of plant species. Results differed in detail at each location, but there was an overall log-linear reduction of average aboveground biomass with loss of species. For a given number of species, communities with fewer functional groups were less productive. These diversity effects occurred along with differences associated with species composition and geographic location. Niche complementarity and positive species interactions appear to play a role in generating diversity-productivity relationships within sites in addition to sampling from the species pool.

1 Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire, UK, GB-SL5 7PY.
2 Institut für Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, Switzerland, CH-8057.
3 Lehrstuhl Biogeographie, Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany, D-95440.
4 Departmentos de Engenharia Florestal e de Botânica, Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa, Portugal, PT-1399.
5 Biodiversity Conservation Laboratory, Department of Environmental Studies, University of the Aegean, Karadoni 17, Mytilene, Lesbos, Greece, GR-811 00.
6 Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, University College Cork, Lee Maltings, Prospect Row, Cork, Ireland.
7 Department of Forest Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, SE-90183.
8 Crop Science Section, Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Box 4097, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden, SE-90403.
9 Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schoenbeinstrasse 6, Basel, Switzerland, CH-4056.
10 Laboratoire d'Ecologie, UMR 7625, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46 Rue d'Ulm, F-72530 Paris Cedex 05, France, FR-75230.
11 Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, U.K., GB-S10 2TN.
12 Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Postfach 10 01 64, Jena, Germany, D-07701.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.hector01{at}ic.ac.uk

dagger    Present address: Department of Agriculture, The University of Reading, Earley Gate, Post Office Box 236, Reading, Berkshire, UK, GB-RG6 6AT.

ddagger    Present address: Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de Coimbra, 3000 Coimbra, Portugal.

§   Present address: Ecologie des Populations et Communautés, Université Paris Sud XI, URA CNRS 2154, Bâtiment 326, Orsay Cedex, France, FR-91405.

parallel    Present address: Victoria University of Wellington, School of Biological Sciences, Post Office Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand.

   Present address: Department of Environmental Resource Management, University College of Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland.

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