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, showing that continued biodiversity loss would result in an accelerating decline in forest productivity worldwide. The value of biodiversity in maintaining commercial forest productivity alone-US$166 billion to 490 billion per year according to our estimation-is more than twice what it would cost to implement effective global conservation. This highlights the need for a worldwide reassessment of biodiversity values, forest management strategies, and conservation priorities.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Liang, Jingjing Crowther, Thomas W Picard, Nicolas Wiser, Susan Zhou, Mo Alberti, Giorgio Schulze, Ernst Detlef McGuire, A. David Bozzato, Fabio Pretzsch, Hans de-Miguel, Sergio Paquette, Alain Hérault, Bruno Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael Barrett, Christopher B. Glick, Henry B. Hengeveld, Geerten M. Nabuurs, Gert Jan Pfautsch, Sebastian Viana, Helder Vibrans, Alexander C. Ammer, Christian Schall, Peter Verbyla, David Tchebakova, Nadja Fischer, Markus Watson, James V. Chen, Han Y.H. Lei, Xiangdong Schelhaas, Mart Jan Lu, Huicui Gianelle, Damiano Parfenova, Elena I. Salas, Christian Lee, Eungul Lee, Boknam Kim, Hyun Seok Bruelheide, Helge Coomes, David A. Piotto, Daniel Sunderland, Terry Schmid, Bernhard Gourlet-Fleury, Sylvie Sonké, Bonaventure Tavani, Rebecca Zhu, Jun Brandl, Susanne Vayreda, Jordi Kitahara, Fumiaki Searle, Eric B. Neldner, Victor J. Ngugi, Michael R. Baraloto, Christopher Frizzera, Lorenzo Bałazy, Radomir Oleksyn, Jacek Zawiła-Niedźwiecki, Tomasz Bouriaud, Olivier Bussotti, Filippo Finér, Leena Jaroszewicz, Bogdan Jucker, Tommaso Valladares, Fernando Jagodzinski, Andrzej M. Peri, Pablo L. Gonmadje, Christelle Marthy, William O'Brien, Timothy Martin, Emanuel H. Marshall, Andrew R. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4877-1018 Rovero, Francesco Bitariho, Robert Niklaus, Pascal A. Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia Chamuya, Nurdin Valencia, Renato Mortier, Frédéric Wortel, Verginia Engone-Obiang, Nestor L. Ferreira, Leandro V. Odeke, David E. Vasquez, Rodolfo M. Lewis, Simon L. Reich, Peter B.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Keywords:	Biodiversity,Climate Change,Conservation of Natural Resources,Extinction, Biological,Forests,Trees/physiology
Dates:	Published: 14 October 2016 Accepted: 22 August 2016
Institution:	The University of York
Academic Units:	The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Environment and Geography (York) The University of York
Depositing User:	Pure (York)
Date Deposited:	12 Apr 2017 13:00
Last Modified:	09 Feb 2025 00:07
Published Version:	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf8957
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1126/science.aaf8957
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:114846

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Positive biodiversity-productivity relationship predominant in global forests

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