title: The Overlooked Role of Facilitation in Biodiversity Experiments.
abstract: Past research has demonstrated that decreased biodiversity often reduces ecosystem productivity, but variation in the shape of biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) relationships begets the need for a deeper mechanistic understanding of what drives these patterns. While mechanisms involving competition are often invoked, the role of facilitation is overlooked, or lumped within several less explicitly defined processes (e.g., complementarity effects). Here, we explore recent advances in understanding how facilitation affects BEF relationships and identify three categories of facilitative mechanisms that can drive variation in those relationships. Species interactions underlying BEF relationships are complex, but the framework we present provides a step toward understanding this complexity and predicting how facilitation contributes to the ecosystem role of biodiversity in a rapidly changing environment.
authors.affiliation: FIT - Science & Mathematics, 227 W 27th St, New York, NY 10001, USA. Electronic address: sashajwright@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alexandra J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management, 901 83 Umea, Sweden; Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wardle
authors.affiliation: University of Montana, Division of Biological Sciences,32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.
authors.forename: Ragan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Callaway
authors.affiliation: Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Department of Ecology, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile; Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Las Palmeras 3427, Santiago, Chile; Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global (LINCGlobal, CSIC-PUC), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Aurora
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaxiola
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment
keywords: Climate change; Legumes; Microclimate amelioration; Niche complementarity; Overyielding; Pathogens; Sampling effects; Stress gradient hypothesis