Plant Species diversity Along Productivity Gradients: Testing the Role of Resource Heterogeneity

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GrossDEB-9903904Understanding the relationships between species diversity and productivity is fundamental to the management and preservation of biodiversity. Despite years of study and intense theoretical interest however, the overall relationship remains poorly understood. This project will examine this relationship experimentally in a field project that will manipulate soil resource heterogeneity and examine the effect on species diversity. Diversity will also be manipulated by a seed addition treatment. These experiments will examine how resource heterogeneity can influence changes in species diversity that parallel similar patterns in overall productivity. It will provide a test of one of the basic hypotheses explaining productivity-diversity relationships.