Multitrophic interactions drive diversity-ecosystem function relationships

土壤群落是自然界中最丰富和最多样化的群落之一，负责许多关键的生态系统功能，包括养分循环和气候调节。该项目将确定考虑和量化不同生物群落之间的相互作用-特别是植物、土壤微生物和动物之间的相互作用，在营养级内和营养级之间-是否能够解决经典生物多样性生态系统功能理论预测中的潜在缺陷。 该项目通过增进对生物复杂性及其对生态系统功能影响的了解，将为了解不同尺度、不同生态系统类型和多种环境干扰下生态系统功能的变化提供一个统一框架。

Soil communities, among the most abundant and diverse in nature are responsible for many critical ecosystem functions, including nutrient cycling and climate regulation. This project will determine whether consideration and quantification of interactions between different biotic communities – specifically among plants, soil microbes and animals, within and across trophic levels - can address underlying shortcomings in predictions from classical biodiversity-ecosystem function theory. By advancing understanding of biological complexity and its impacts on ecosystem functions, the project will provide a unifying framework for understanding variation in ecosystem functions across scales, ecosystem types and multiple environmental disturbances.