Testing biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship in the world’s largest grassland: overview of the IMGRE project

Jianguo Wu; Shahid Naeem; James Elser; Yongfei Bai; Jianhui Huang; Le Kang; Qingmin Pan; Qibing Wang; Shuguang Hao; Xingguo Han

doi:10.1007/s10980-015-0155-y

Testing biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship in the world’s largest grassland: overview of the IMGRE project

Jianguo Wu
, Shahid Naeem
, James Elser
, Yongfei Bai
, Jianhui Huang
, Le Kang
, Qingmin Pan
, Qibing Wang
, Shuguang Hao
, Xingguo Han

Flathead Lake Biological Station

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Context: The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) is a central topic in ecology on local, regional, and global scales. A powerful approach to BEF studies is large-scale field manipulative experimentation. Objectives: The Inner Mongolian Grassland Removal Experiment (IMGRE) was designed to examine the mechanisms of the BEF relationship in the world’s largest grassland, explicitly considering multiple trophic levels and grazing by grasshoppers and sheep. Methods: IMGRE followed a randomized block design, with a total of 512 plots (6 m × 6 m each). The project involved massive field campaigns and laboratory analyses, and unprecedentedly employed two removal protocols in parallel: complete removal (eradicating all targeted functional types) and partial removal (an equal-disturbance removal scheme). Results: We summarize key findings on aboveground and belowground primary production, functional richness, identity, and composition, compensation at the species, PFT, and community levels, soil water and N retention, net N mineralization, microbial biomass, and grazing by grasshoppers and sheep. Comparing and contrasting results from the two removal protocols, we have found that the responses of ecosystem processes depend on plant functional richness and identity, as well as disturbance characteristics. Conclusions: As part of the special issue on the ecological patterns and processes in the Inner Mongolian Plateau, this article provides an overview of the IMGRE project. The findings of this project shed new light on the BEF relationship in natural grasslands, and have important implications for ecosystem management in the Mongolian Plateau.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1723-1736
Number of pages	14
Journal	Landscape Ecology
Volume	30
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0155-y
State	Published - Nov 30 2015

Funding

The IMGRE research was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF, DEB-0618193) as well as grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF, NSFC, or CAS. We thank all our collaborators and graduate students from both the Chinese and American institutions for their participation in the IMGRE project. Also, comments from two anonymous reviewers are greatly appreciated. To address these limitations of previous BEF experiments, we designed the Inner Mongolian Grassland Removal Experiment (IMGRE) in 2005, and the project officially started in the summer of 2006 with research funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The main purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the IMGRE project, with a particular focus of its conceptual framework, research hypotheses, experimental design, and field implementation. As some of the major discoveries of this project are yet to be published, a particular emphasis here is placed on the research hypotheses, field implementations, and major results in relatively broad categories. Thus, rather than a comprehensive synthesis of the IMGRE project, this article provides an overview of the experimental study for this special issue of Landscape Ecology on the ecological patterns and processes in the Inner Mongolian Plateau, and also serves as the primary background paper for other IMGRE-related publications.

Funders	Funder number
National Natural Science Foundation of China
DEB-0618193
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Chinese Academy of Sciences

Keywords

BEF removal experiments
Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relationship
Ecological stoichiometry
Inner Mongolian grasslands
Plant functional types

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10.1007/s10980-015-0155-y

Cite this

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title = "Testing biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship in the world{\textquoteright}s largest grassland: overview of the IMGRE project",

abstract = "Context: The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) is a central topic in ecology on local, regional, and global scales. A powerful approach to BEF studies is large-scale field manipulative experimentation. Objectives: The Inner Mongolian Grassland Removal Experiment (IMGRE) was designed to examine the mechanisms of the BEF relationship in the world{\textquoteright}s largest grassland, explicitly considering multiple trophic levels and grazing by grasshoppers and sheep. Methods: IMGRE followed a randomized block design, with a total of 512 plots (6 m × 6 m each). The project involved massive field campaigns and laboratory analyses, and unprecedentedly employed two removal protocols in parallel: complete removal (eradicating all targeted functional types) and partial removal (an equal-disturbance removal scheme). Results: We summarize key findings on aboveground and belowground primary production, functional richness, identity, and composition, compensation at the species, PFT, and community levels, soil water and N retention, net N mineralization, microbial biomass, and grazing by grasshoppers and sheep. Comparing and contrasting results from the two removal protocols, we have found that the responses of ecosystem processes depend on plant functional richness and identity, as well as disturbance characteristics. Conclusions: As part of the special issue on the ecological patterns and processes in the Inner Mongolian Plateau, this article provides an overview of the IMGRE project. The findings of this project shed new light on the BEF relationship in natural grasslands, and have important implications for ecosystem management in the Mongolian Plateau.",

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author = "Jianguo Wu and Shahid Naeem and James Elser and Yongfei Bai and Jianhui Huang and Le Kang and Qingmin Pan and Qibing Wang and Shuguang Hao and Xingguo Han",

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AU - Huang, Jianhui

AU - Kang, Le

AU - Pan, Qingmin

AU - Wang, Qibing

AU - Hao, Shuguang

AU - Han, Xingguo

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Testing biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship in the world’s largest grassland: overview of the IMGRE project

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