title: Plant diversity impacts decomposition and herbivory via changes in aboveground arthropods.
abstract: Loss of plant diversity influences essential ecosystem processes as aboveground productivity, and can have cascading effects on the arthropod communities in adjacent trophic levels. However, few studies have examined how those changes in arthropod communities can have additional impacts on ecosystem processes caused by them (e.g. pollination, bioturbation, predation, decomposition, herbivory). Therefore, including arthropod effects in predictions of the impact of plant diversity loss on such ecosystem processes is an important but little studied piece of information. In a grassland biodiversity experiment, we addressed this gap by assessing aboveground decomposer and herbivore communities and linking their abundance and diversity to rates of decomposition and herbivory. Path analyses showed that increasing plant diversity led to higher abundance and diversity of decomposing arthropods through higher plant biomass. Higher species richness of decomposers, in turn, enhanced decomposition. Similarly, species-rich plant communities hosted a higher abundance and diversity of herbivores through elevated plant biomass and C:N ratio, leading to higher herbivory rates. Integrating trophic interactions into the study of biodiversity effects is required to understand the multiple pathways by which biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, University of Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ebeling
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Center for Food and Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl-von-Ossietzky-University Oldenburg, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
authors.forename: Maike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, University of Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eisenhauer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl-von-Ossietzky-University Oldenburg, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hillebrand
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.affiliation: DNPW, Agroecology, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scherber
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, University of Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.affiliation: Department for Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weigelt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, University of Jena, Jena, Germany; Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Center for Food and Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Weisser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D005858:Germany; D060434:Herbivory; D010944:Plants