title: Changes in the location of biodiversity-ecosystem function hot spots across the seafloor landscape with increasing sediment nutrient loading.
abstract: Declining biodiversity and loss of ecosystem function threatens the ability of habitats to contribute ecosystem services. However, the form of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) and how relationships change with environmental change is poorly understood. This limits our ability to predict the consequences of biodiversity loss on ecosystem function, particularly in real-world marine ecosystems that are species rich, and where multiple ecosystem functions are represented by multiple indicators. We investigated spatial variation in BEF relationships across a 300 000 m2intertidal sandflat by nesting experimental manipulations of sediment pore water nitrogen concentration into sites with contrasting macrobenthic community composition. Our results highlight the significance of many different elements of biodiversity associated with environmental characteristics, community structure, functional diversity, ecological traits or particular species (ecosystem engineers) to important functions of coastal marine sediments (benthic oxygen consumption, ammonium pore water concentrations and flux across the sediment-water interface). Using the BEF relationships developed from our experiment, we demonstrate patchiness across a landscape in functional performance and the potential for changes in the location of functional hot and cold spots with increasing nutrient loading that have important implications for mapping and predicating change in functionality and the concomitant delivery of ecosystem services.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand simon.thrush@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Simon F
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4005-3882
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Thrush
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, PO Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Judi E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hewitt
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Ecology, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany.
authors.forename: Casper
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kraan
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, PO Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lohrer
authors.affiliation: School of Science, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Conrad A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Pilditch
authors.affiliation: School of Science, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Douglas
mesh_terms: D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000502:physiology*; D044822:Biodiversity; D005068:Eutrophication; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D009520:New Zealand; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D058458:Nitrogen Cycle; D010140:Pacific Ocean
chemical_list: D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: biodiversity function indicators; biodiversity–ecosystem function; ecosystem services; landscape scale; nitrogen dynamics; permeable marine sediments