Plant diversity enhances productivity and soil carbon storage
Open accessAbstract
Despite evidence from experimental grasslands that plant diversity increases biomass production and soil organic carbon (SOC) storage, it remains unclear whether this is true in natural ecosystems, especially under climatic variations and human disturbances. Based on field observations from 6,098 forest, shrubland, and grassland sites across China and predictions from an integrative model combining multiple theories, we systematically examined the direct effects of climate, soils, and human impacts on SOC storage versus the indirect effects mediated by species richness (SR), aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), and belowground biomass (BB). We found that favorable climates (high temperature and precipitation) had a consistent negative effect on SOC storage in forests and shrublands, but not in grasslands. Climate favorability, particularly high precipitation, was associated with both higher SR and higher BB, which had consistent positive effects on SOC storage, thus offsetting the direct negative effect of favorable climate on SOC. The indirect effects of climate on SOC storage depended on the relationships of SR with ANPP and BB, which were consistently positive in all biome types. In addition, human disturbance and soil pH had both direct and indirect effects on SOC storage, with the indirect effects mediated by changes in SR, ANPP, and BB. High soil pH had a consistently negative effect on SOC storage. Our findings have important implications for improving global carbon cycling models and ecosystem management: Maintaining high levels of diversity can enhance soil carbon sequestration and help sustain the benefits of plant diversity and productivity.
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A favorable climate (especially high precipitation) is directly associated with high biomass production and species diversity, which could promote SOC stock, offsetting negative impact of favorable climate on SOC.
“A favorable climate (especially high precipitation) was directly associated with high biomass production and species diversity, which could promote soil organic carbon (SOC) stock, thus offsetting the negative impact of favorable climate on SOC.158,159”
From Technologies and perspectives for achieving carbon neutrality (2021) · cites this paper as [158]
SOC storage and favorable climates (high temperature and precipitation) are consistently negatively related in shrub lands and forests, but not in grasslands.
“the SOC storage and favorable climates (e.g., high temperature and precipitation) are consistently negatively related in shrub lands and forests, but not in grasslands.160”
From Technologies and perspectives for achieving carbon neutrality (2021) · cites this paper as [160]
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- Authors
- Chen, S., Wang, W., Xu, W., Wang, Y., Wan, H., Chen, D., Tang, Z., Tang, X., Zhou, G., Xie, Z., Zhou, D., Shangguan, Z., Huang, J., He, J.-S., Wang, Y., Sheng, J., Tang, L., Li, X., Dong, M., Wu, Y., Wang, Q., Wang, Z., Wu, J., Chapin, F. S., & Bai, Y.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau (CN)
- Xinjiang Agricultural University (CN)
- Hangzhou Normal University (CN)
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
- University of Alaska Fairbanks (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2018-04-16
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 16
- Pages
- 4027-4032
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC5910804
- OpenAlex
- W2799728970
- Cited by
- 743
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 78 · 2025: 131 · 2024: 128 · 2023: 114 · 2022: 96 · 2021: 75 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 11
- FWCI
- 45.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Institute of Botany, CAS Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05050000)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (31630010 and 31320103916)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Forest, Soil, and Plant Ecology in China
- Keywords
- plant diversity, soil organic carbon storage, species richness, aboveground net primary productivity, belowground biomass, precipitation, temperature, human disturbance, soil pH, carbon sequestration, ecosystem management
- MeSH terms
- Farms, Carbon, China, Conservation of Natural Resources, Humans, Human Activities, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Nitrogen, Plants, Rain, Soil, Temperature, Ecosystem, Biomass, Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Plant Dispersal, Forests, Grassland, Datasets as Topic
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