Multi-BEF: Impacts of the surrounding multitrophic biodiversity on ecosystem multifunctionality

• Applicant: Gaetane Le Provost, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions ; Ecology of Land Use
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 512276583

Global threats to biodiversity and the multiple ecosystem services it underpins have motivated much research into the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This work has provided substantial evidence that plot-scale biodiversity can affect multiple ecosystem functions. However, most of these studies have mainly focused on the effects of biodiversity at small spatial scales on ecosystem functions, rather than on the impact of large-scale biodiversity change on ecosystem services. This gap is significant as biodiversity change is occurring at all spatial scales, leading to large-scale homogenization. Considering the multiscale nature of biodiversity is therefore essential if we are to understand how biodiversity underpins ecosystem services. Recent empirical studies demonstrated the key role of the surrounding plant diversity in supporting ecosystem services. These studies however focused only on plant diversity, while previous studies revealed the importance of biodiversity across multiple trophic levels to support ecosystem functioning. This is where the here proposed project comes into play. The Multi-BEF project aims at investigating how the surrounding biodiversity of multiple trophic levels (soil decomposer microorganisms, insect herbivores, arthropod predators) affects the delivery of multiple ecosystem services in grasslands. More specifically, we will (i) identify the effects of land-use intensification operating at different spatial scales on landscape biodiversity; (ii) use trait-based approaches to investigate the mechanisms underlying biodiversity response (e.g. niche partitioning, dispersal processes); (ii) assess the role of landscape biodiversity in the delivery of multiple ecosystem services.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1374: Biodiversity Exploratories
• International Connection: France