change in diversity-productivity relationship along vegetative succession

多样性-生产力假说认为，植物群落的生产力随着物种丰富度的增加而增加。许多研究证明了这种关系下人工合成，植物群落。相比之下，自然植物群落往往没有模式或负模式。调和人工群落和自然群落之间矛盾的机制尚不清楚。本研究假设植物多样性与生产力的关系会随着植物演替的进行而改变。为了验证这一假设，在半天然草地上进行了一项田间试验，操纵演替阶段。结果表明，在演替初期，物种丰富度与生物量呈正相关，而在演替后期，物种丰富度与生物量不呈正相关。这一发现表明，生物多样性的生态系统功能，如植被动态，演替和干扰会随着时间的推移而变化。

Diversity-productivity hypothesis predicts that community productivity increases with increasing species richness in a plant community. Many studies demonstrated this relationship under artificially synthesized, plant communities. In contrast, natural plant communities often showed no patterns or negative patterns. Mechanisms reconciling this contradiction between artificial and natural communities remain unclear. This study hypothesized that diversity-productivity relationship would change with the progress of vegetative succession. To test this hypothesis, a field experiment with manipulation of successional stages was conducted in a semi-natural grassland. The result demonstrated that in the treatment of early successional stage, species richness was positively correlated with biomass, but not in the treatment of late successional stage. This finding indicates ecosystem functioning of biodiversity will change with time, such as vegetation dynamics, succession, and disturbance.