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

全球可持续性和人类繁荣最终取决于生物多样性和生态系统服务，这些服务来自初级生产力和养分循环等生态功能。 随着全球生物多样性的加速丧失，了解生物多样性和生态系统功能（BEF）之间的关系至关重要。 然而，目前的知识是不完整的，因为迄今为止几乎所有的BEF研究都是在人工草地上进行的，只关注植物。 该项目将直接操作大规模实验区的植物多样性，并测量一些生态系统功能变量，以测试现有的BEF，并评估内蒙古草原（世界上最大的天然草原的一部分）多营养级（植物，草食动物和土壤微生物）生态系统功能的新假设。这项研究将有助于更好地评估未来全球和地方生物多样性丧失的潜在影响。 它还将改进干旱和半干旱生态系统的管理做法。 该项目将为美国和中国的科学家和学生提供卓越的教育，文化和研究经验，并为全球参与的劳动力的发展做出贡献。 最后，它将有助于在内蒙古草原建立一个长期的科学平台，以促进中美在生态研究和可持续发展科学方面的合作。

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.