Protecting biodiversity improves the chances that an ecosystem will contain a species that allows it to recover after an extreme environmental event, scientists have concluded.
Jasper van Ruijven and Frank Berendse at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands followed the progress of more than 100 small experimental plots planted with either individual species or varying mixtures of eight common species, including several grasses, before and after a natural drought. The drought occurred six years after planting.
They found that plots with greater biodiversity did not show improved resistance to the drought — but they were able to recover more efficiently. They attribute most of this effect to one species, Anthoxanthum odoratum. Recovery was independent of pre-drought biomass.
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Ecology: Diverse recovery. Nature 462, 547 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/462547a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/462547a
