Positive Biodiversity–Productivity Relationship Predominant in Global Forests

Abstract

The biodiversity–productivity relationship (BPR) is foundational to our understanding of the global extinction crisis and its impacts on ecosystem functioning. Understanding BPR is critical for the accurate valuation and effective conservation of biodiversity. Using ground-sourced data from 777,126 permanent plots, spanning 44 countries and most terrestrial biomes, we reveal a globally consistent positive concave-down BPR, whereby a continued biodiversity loss would result in an accelerating decline in forest productivity worldwide. The value of biodiversity in

maintaining forest productivity—US$396–579 billion per year according to our estimation—is by itself over five times greater than the total cost of effective global conservation. This highlights the need for a worldwide re-assessment of biodiversity values, forest management strategies, and conservation priorities.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Liang, J Crowther, TW Picard, N Wiser, S Zhou, M Alberti, G Schulze, E-D McGuire, AD Bozzato, F Pretzsch, H de-Miguel, S Paquette, A Hérault, B Scherer-Lorenzen, M Barrett, CB Glick, HB Hengeveld, GM Nabuurs, GJ Pfautsch, S Viana, H Vibrans, AC Ammer, C Schall, P Verbyla, D Tchebakova, N Fischer, M Watson, JV Chen, HYH Lei, X Schelhaas, M-J Lu, H Gianelle, D Parfenova, EI Salas, C Lee, E Lee, B Kim, HS Bruelheide, H Coomes, DA Piotto, D Sunderland, T Schmid, B Gourlet-Fleury, S Sonké, B Tavani, R Zhu, J Brandl, S Vayreda, J Kitahara, F Searle, EB Neldner, VJ Ngugi, MR Baraloto, B Frizzera, L Bałazy, R Oleksyn, J Zawiła-Niedźwiecki, T Bouriaud, O Bussotti, F Finér, L Jaroszewicz, B Jucker, T Valladares, V Jagodzinski, AM Peri, PL Gonmadje, C Marthy, W O'Brien, T Martin, EH Marshall, AR Rovero, F Bitariho, R Niklaus, PA Alvarez-Loayza, P Chamuya, N Valencia, R Mortier, F Wortel, V Engone-Obiang, NL Ferreira, LV Odeke, DE Vasquez, RM Lewis, SL Reich, PB
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Science. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Dates:	Published: 14 October 2016 Published (online): 14 October 2016 Accepted: 22 August 2016
Institution:	The University of Leeds
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Ecology & Global Change (Leeds)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Publications
Date Deposited:	25 Aug 2016 15:55
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2019 13:09
Published Version:	http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf8957
Status:	Published
Publisher:	American Association for the Advancement of Science
Identification Number:	10.1126/science.aaf8957
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:104055

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

Positive Biodiversity–Productivity Relationship Predominant in Global Forests

Abstract

Metadata

Download

Accepted Version

Export

Statistics