RT journal article
T1 Ecosystem consequences of invertebrate decline
A1 Eisenhauer, Nico
A1 Ochoa Hueso, Raúl
A1 Huang, Yuanyuan
A1 Barry, Kathryn E.
A1 Gebler, Alban
A1 Guerra, Carlos A.
A1 Hines, Jes
A1 Jochum, Malte
A1 Andraczek, Karl
A1 Bucher, Solveig Franziska
A1 Buscot, François
A1 Ciobanu, Marcel
A1 Chen, Hongmei
A1 Junker, Robert
A1 Lange, Markus
A1 Lehmann, Anika
A1 Rillig, Matthias C.
A1 Römermann, Christine
A1 Ulrich, Josephine
A1 Weigelt, Alexandra
A1 Schmidt, Anja
A1 Türke, Manfred
A2 Biología
K1 decomposition
K1 ecosystem coupling
K1 ecosystem services
K1 iDiv Ecotron
K1 invertebrate decline
K1 multifunctionality
K1 pest control
AB Human activities cause substantial changes in biodiversity.1,2 Despite ongoing concern about the implications of invertebrate decline,3,4,5,6,7 few empirical studies have examined the ecosystem consequences of invertebrate biomass loss. Here, we test the responses of six ecosystem services informed by 30 above- and belowground ecosystem variables to three levels of aboveground (i.e., vegetation associated) invertebrate community biomass (100%, 36%, and 0% of ambient biomass) in experimental grassland mesocosms in a controlled Ecotron facility. In line with recent reports on invertebrate biomass loss over the last decade, our 36% biomass treatment also represented a decrease in invertebrate abundance (−70%) and richness (−44%). Moreover, we simulated the pronounced change in invertebrate biomass and turnover in community composition across the season. We found that the loss of invertebrate biomass decreases ecosystem multifunctionality, including two critical ecosystem services, aboveground pest control and belowground decomposition, while harvested plant biomass increases, likely because less energy was channeled up the food chain. Moreover, communities and ecosystem functions become decoupled with a lower biomass of invertebrates. Our study shows that invertebrate loss threatens the integrity of grasslands by decoupling ecosystem processes and decreasing ecosystem-service supply.
PB Cell Press
SN 1879-0445
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32298
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32298
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 06-nov-2026