Above- and belowground biodiversity jointly tighten the P cycle in agricultural grasslands

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 4431
• Main Authors: Oelmann, Yvonne, Lange, Markus, Leimer, Sophia, Roscher, Christiane, Aburto, Felipe, Alt, Fabian, Bange, Nina, Berner, Doreen, Boch, Steffen, Boeddinghaus, Runa S., Buscot, François, Dassen, Sigrid, De Deyn, Gerlinde, Eisenhauer, Nico, Gleixner, Gerd, Goldmann, Kezia, Hölzel, Norbert, Jochum, Malte, Kandeler, Ellen, Klaus, Valentin H., Kleinebecker, Till, Le Provost, Gaëtane, Manning, Peter, Marhan, Sven, Prati, Daniel, Schäfer, Deborah, Schöning, Ingo, Schrumpf, Marion, Schurig, Elisabeth, Wagg, Cameron, Wubet, Tesfaye, Wilcke, Wolfgang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.07.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/158/2456; 704/158/670; 704/47/4112; Agricultural management; Agriculture - economics; Agriculture - methods; Biodiversity; Biodiversity loss; Biomass; Environmental Sciences; Experiments; Exploitation; Farmers; Fertilizers; Fertilizers - economics; Grassland; Grassland management; Grasslands; Humanities and Social Sciences; Latent Class Analysis; multidisciplinary; Mycorrhizae - classification; Mycorrhizae - metabolism; Phosphorus; Phosphorus - analysis; Phosphorus - economics; Phosphorus - metabolism; Plant communities; Plant diversity; Plant populations; Plants - classification; Plants - metabolism; Plants - microbiology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Soil - chemistry; Soil Microbiology
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24714-4

Experiments showed that biodiversity increases grassland productivity and nutrient exploitation, potentially reducing fertiliser needs. Enhancing biodiversity could improve P-use efficiency of grasslands, which is beneficial given that rock-derived P fertilisers are expected to become scarce in the future. Here, we show in a biodiversity experiment that more diverse plant communities were able to exploit P resources more completely than less diverse ones. In the agricultural grasslands that we studied, management effects either overruled or modified the driving role of plant diversity observed in the biodiversity experiment. Nevertheless, we show that greater above- (plants) and belowground (mycorrhizal fungi) biodiversity contributed to tightening the P cycle in agricultural grasslands, as reduced management intensity and the associated increased biodiversity fostered the exploitation of P resources. Our results demonstrate that promoting a high above- and belowground biodiversity has ecological (biodiversity protection) and economical (fertiliser savings) benefits. Such win-win situations for farmers and biodiversity are crucial to convince farmers of the benefits of biodiversity and thus counteract global biodiversity loss. Relationships between biodiversity and phosphorus cycling and the underlying processes are complex. Here the authors analyse a biodiversity manipulation experiment and an agricultural management gradient to show how plant and mycorrhizal fungal diversity promote phosphorus exploitation.