title: Addition of multiple limiting resources reduces grassland diversity.
abstract: Niche dimensionality provides a general theoretical explanation for biodiversity-more niches, defined by more limiting factors, allow for more ways that species can coexist. Because plant species compete for the same set of limiting resources, theory predicts that addition of a limiting resource eliminates potential trade-offs, reducing the number of species that can coexist. Multiple nutrient limitation of plant production is common and therefore fertilization may reduce diversity by reducing the number or dimensionality of belowground limiting factors. At the same time, nutrient addition, by increasing biomass, should ultimately shift competition from belowground nutrients towards a one-dimensional competitive trade-off for light. Here we show that plant species diversity decreased when a greater number of limiting nutrients were added across 45 grassland sites from a multi-continent experimental network. The number of added nutrients predicted diversity loss, even after controlling for effects of plant biomass, and even where biomass production was not nutrient-limited. We found that elevated resource supply reduced niche dimensionality and diversity and increased both productivity and compositional turnover. Our results point to the importance of understanding dimensionality in ecological systems that are undergoing diversity loss in response to multiple global change factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, Leipzig 04318, Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig 04103, Germany.|Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, Halle (Saale) 06108, Germany.
authors.forename: W Stanley
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Harpole
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Lind
authors.affiliation: School of Earth, Environment and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Firn
authors.affiliation: Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322, USA.
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Borer
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig 04103, Germany.|Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, Halle (Saale) 06108, Germany.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chase
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS Grassland Soil and Water Research Lab, Temple, Texas 76502, USA.
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Fay
authors.affiliation: Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, Utrecht, CH 3584, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hautier
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, University of Oldenburg, Schleusenstrasse 1, Wilhelmshaven, D-26381, Germany.
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hillebrand
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: MacDougall
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Eric W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Seabloom
authors.affiliation: Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto - Scarborough, 1265 Military trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Cadotte
authors.affiliation: IFEVA/CONICET - Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Av. San Martín 4453 (C1417DSE) Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Enrique J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Chaneton
authors.affiliation: SYSU-Alberta Joint Lab for Biodiversity Conservation, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
authors.forename: Chengjin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Ecology, Behavior &Evolution Section, University of California, La Jolla, San Diego, California 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Elsa E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Cleland
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9620 USA.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: D'Antonio
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Kendi F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Gruner
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hagenah
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirkman
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, USA.
authors.forename: Johannes M H
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Knops
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: La Pierre
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40546, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: McCulley
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Joslin L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Land and Water, Private Bag 5, Wembley, Western Australia 6913, Australia.
authors.forename: Suzanne M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Prober
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Community Ecology, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anita C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Risch
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Community Ecology, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schuetz
authors.affiliation: Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.
authors.forename: Carly J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology &Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Wragg
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D018533:Biomass; D005308:Fertilizers; D005502:Food; D065948:Grassland; D008027:Light; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects; D006109:Poaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers