TY - JOUR T1 - Spatial heterogeneity in species composition constrains plant community responses to herbivory and fertilisation JF - Ecology Letters Y1 - 2018 A1 - Hodapp, Dorothee A1 - E.T. Borer A1 - Harpole, W. Stanley A1 - Lind, Eric M. A1 - Seabloom, Eric W. A1 - P. Adler A1 - J. Alberti A1 - Arnillas, Carlos A. A1 - J.D. Bakker A1 - L.A. Biederman A1 - Cadotte, Marc A1 - Cleland, Elsa E. A1 - Scott. L. Collins A1 - Fay, Philip A. A1 - Firn, Jennifer A1 - Hagenah, Nicole A1 - Hautier, Yann A1 - Iribarne, Oscar A1 - Knops, Johannes M. H. A1 - McCulley, Rebecca L. A1 - MacDougall, Andrew A1 - Joslin L. Moore A1 - J.W. Morgan A1 - Mortensen, Brent A1 - Kimberly J. La Pierre A1 - Risch, Anita C. A1 - Schütz, Martin A1 - Peri, Pablo A1 - Stevens, Carly J. A1 - Wright, Justin A1 - Hillebrand, Helmut ED - Gurevitch, Jessica AB -

Environmental change can result in substantial shifts in community composition. The associated immigration and extinction events are likely constrained by the spatial distribution of species. Still, studies on environmental change typically quantify biotic responses at single spatial (time series within a single plot) or temporal (spatial beta diversity at single time points) scales, ignoring their potential interdependence. Here, we use data from a global network of grassland experiments to determine how turnover responses to two major forms of environmental change – fertilisation and herbivore loss – are affected by species pool size and spatial compositional heterogeneity. Fertilisation led to higher rates of local extinction, whereas turnover in herbivore exclusion plots was driven by species replacement. Overall, sites with more spatially heterogeneous composition showed significantly higher rates of annual turnover, independent of species pool size and treatment. Taking into account spatial biodiversity aspects will therefore improve our understanding of consequences of global and anthropogenic change on community dynamics.

VL - 21 UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ele.13102 IS - 9 ER -