Comment on "Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness"

Andrew T Tredennick; Peter B Adler; James B Grace; W Stanley Harpole; Elizabeth T Borer; Eric W Seabloom; T Michael Anderson; Jonathan D Bakker; Lori A Biederman; Cynthia S Brown; Yvonne M Buckley; Chengjin Chu; Scott L Collins; Michael J Crawley; Philip A Fay; Jennifer Firn; Daniel S Gruner; Nicole Hagenah; Yann Hautier; Andy Hector; Helmut Hillebrand; Kevin Kirkman; Johannes M H Knops; Ramesh Laungani; Eric M Lind; Andrew S MacDougall; Rebecca L McCulley; Charles E Mitchell; Joslin L Moore; John W Morgan; John L Orrock; Pablo L Peri; Suzanne M Prober; Anita C Risch; Martin Schütz; Karina L Speziale; Rachel J Standish; Lauren L Sullivan; Glenda M Wardle; Ryan J Williams; Louie H Yang

doi:10.1126/science.aad6236

Comment on "Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness"

Science. 2016 Jan 29;351(6272):457. doi: 10.1126/science.aad6236.

Authors

Andrew T Tredennick¹, Peter B Adler², James B Grace³, W Stanley Harpole⁴, Elizabeth T Borer⁵, Eric W Seabloom⁵, T Michael Anderson⁶, Jonathan D Bakker⁷, Lori A Biederman⁸, Cynthia S Brown⁹, Yvonne M Buckley¹⁰, Chengjin Chu¹¹, Scott L Collins¹², Michael J Crawley¹³, Philip A Fay¹⁴, Jennifer Firn¹⁵, Daniel S Gruner¹⁶, Nicole Hagenah¹⁷, Yann Hautier¹⁸, Andy Hector¹⁹, Helmut Hillebrand²⁰, Kevin Kirkman¹⁷, Johannes M H Knops²¹, Ramesh Laungani²², Eric M Lind⁵, Andrew S MacDougall²³, Rebecca L McCulley²⁴, Charles E Mitchell²⁵, Joslin L Moore²⁶, John W Morgan²⁷, John L Orrock²⁸, Pablo L Peri²⁹, Suzanne M Prober³⁰, Anita C Risch³¹, Martin Schütz³¹, Karina L Speziale³², Rachel J Standish³³, Lauren L Sullivan⁵, Glenda M Wardle³⁴, Ryan J Williams³⁵, Louie H Yang³⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5230 Old Main, Logan, UT 84322, USA. atredenn@gmail.com.
² Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, 5230 Old Main, Logan, UT 84322, USA.
³ U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, 700 Cajundome Boulevard, Lafayette, LA 70506, USA.
⁴ Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
⁵ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
⁶ Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Box 7325 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA.
⁷ School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, 3501 NE 41st Street, Box 354115, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁸ Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, 251 Bessey Hall, Ames, IA 50010, USA.
⁹ Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, Colorado State University, 307 University Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
¹⁰ School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Zoology, Dublin 2, Ireland.
¹¹ School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Xingang Xi Road 135, Guangzhou, 510275, China.
¹² Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
¹³ Department of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK.
¹⁴ Grassland, Soil, and Water Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, 808 East Blackland Road, Temple, TX 76502, USA.
¹⁵ School of Earth, Environmental and Biological 42 Sciences, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Gardens Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 4001.
¹⁶ Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, 4112 Plant Sciences, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
¹⁷ School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 1 Carbis Road, Pietermaritzburg, 3201, South Africa.
¹⁸ Department of Biology, Ecology and Biodiversity group, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, Netherlands.
¹⁹ Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK.
²⁰ Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Schleusenstrasse 1, 26382 Wihlhemshaven, Germany.
²¹ School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, 211 Manter Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
²² Biology Department, Doane College, 1014 Boswell Avenue, Crete, NE 68333, USA.
²³ Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
²⁴ Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Kentucky, N-222D Ag Science North, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, USA.
²⁵ Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB#3280, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
²⁶ School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, Victoria, Australia.
²⁷ Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Kingsbury Drive, Bundoora 3086, Victoria, Australia.
²⁸ Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
²⁹ Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Water, Southern Patagonia National University-INTA-CONICET, CC 332 (CP 9400), Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina.
³⁰ Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Land and Water, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA 6913, Australia.
³¹ Community Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zuercherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
³² Department of Ecology, INIBIOMA (CONICET-UNCO), Quintral 1250, Bariloche (8400), Rio Negro, Argentina.
³³ School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, 90 South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150.
³⁴ School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Heydon-Laurence Building, A08, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
³⁵ Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
³⁶ Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

PMID: 26823418
DOI: 10.1126/science.aad6236

Abstract

Fraser et al. (Reports, 17 July 2015, p. 302) report a unimodal relationship between productivity and species richness at regional and global scales, which they contrast with the results of Adler et al. (Reports, 23 September 2011, p. 1750). However, both data sets, when analyzed correctly, show clearly and consistently that productivity is a poor predictor of local species richness.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Comment

MeSH terms

Biodiversity*
Grassland*
Plant Development*