Total nitrogen and community turnover determine phosphorus use efficiency of phytoplankton along nutrient gradients in plateau lakes

Numerous studies support that biodiversity predict most to ecosystem functioning,but whether other factors display a more significant direct impact on ecosystem functioning than biodiversity remains to be studied.We investigated 398 samples of the phytoplankton phosphorus resource use efficiency(RUE_(P)=chlorophyll-a concentration/dissolved phosphate)across two seasons in nine plateau lakes in Yunnan Province,China.We identified the main contributors to phytoplankton RUEP and analyzed their potential influences on RUEP at different lake trophic states.The results showed that total nitrogen(TN)contributed the most to RUEP among the nine lakes,whereas community turnover(measured as community dissimilarity)explained the most to RUEP variation across the two seasons.Moreover,TN also influenced RUEP by affecting biodiversity.Species richness(SR),functional attribute diversity(FAD2),and dendrogram-based functional diversity(FDc)were positively correlated with RUEP in both seasons,while evenness was negatively correlated with RUEP at the end of the rainy season.We also found that the effects of biodiversity and turnover on RUEP depended on the lake trophic states.SR and FAD2 were positively correlated with RUEP in all three trophic states.Evenness showed a negative correlation with RUEP at the eutrophic and oligotrophic levels,but a positive correlation at themesotrophic level.Turnover had a negative influence on RUEP at the eutrophic level,but a positive influence at the mesotrophic and oligotrophic levels.Overall,our results suggested that multiple factors and nutrient states need to be considered when the ecosystem functioning predictors and the biodiversityecosystem functioning relationships are investigated.

Plant functional and phylogenetic turnover correlate with climate and land use in the Western Swiss Alps

Aims Understanding the relative importance of historical and environ-mental processes in the structure and composition of communities is one of the longest quests in ecological research.Increasingly,researchers are relying on the functional and phylogeneticβ-diversity of natural communities to provide concise explanations on the mechanistic basis of community assembly and the drivers of trait variation among species.The present study investigated how plant functional and phylogeneticβ-diversity change along key environmental and spatial gradients in the Western Swiss Alps.Methods Using the quadratic diversity measure based on six functional traits-specific leaf area,leaf dry matter content,plant height,leaf carbon content,leaf nitrogen content and leaf carbon to nitrogen content alongside a species-resolved phylogenetic tree-we relate variations in climate,spatial geographic,land use and soil gradients to plant functional and phylogenetic turnover in mountain commu-nities of the Western Swiss Alps.Important Findings Our study highlights two main points.First,climate and land-use factors play an important role in mountain plant community turnover.Second,the overlap between plant functional and phy-logenetic turnover along these gradients correlates with the low phylogenetic signal in traits,suggesting that in mountain land-scapes,trait lability is likely an important factor in driving plant community assembly.Overall,we demonstrate the importance of climate and land-use factors in plant functional and phyloge-netic community turnover and provide valuable complementary insights into understanding patterns ofβ-diversity along several ecological gradients.