COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Testing Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relationships in an Ecological Stoichiometry Framework in the World's Largest Natural Grassland

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Global sustainability and human prosperity ultimately depend on biodiversity and ecosystem services that result from ecological functions such as primary productivity and nutrient cycling. With accelerating biodiversity loss worldwide, it is critically important to understand how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) are related. However, current knowledge is incomplete because almost all BEF studies so far have been conducted in artificial grasslands, focusing solely on plants. This project will directly manipulate plant diversity in large-scale experimental plots and measure a number of ecosystem function variables to test existing BEF and evaluate new hypotheses regarding ecosystem function for multiple trophic levels (plants, herbivores, and soil microbes) in the Inner Mongolian Grassland, part of the largest natural grassland in the world. This study will permit a better assessment of potential impacts of future global and local biodiversity loss. It will also improve management practices for arid and semi-arid ecosystems. The project will provide exceptional educational, cultural, and research experiences for US and Chinese scientists and students, and contribute to the development of a globally engaged workforce. Finally, it will help establish a long-term scientific platform in the Inner Mongolia Grassland for US-China collaborations on ecological research and sustainability science.