Landscape heterogeneity and soil biota are central to multi-taxa diversity for landscape restoration

Montoya Sanchez, V.; Kreft, H.; Arimond, I.; Ballauff, J.; Berkelmann, D.; Brambach, F.; Daniel, R.; Grass, I.; Hines, J.; Hoelscher, D.; Irawan, B.; Krause, A.; Polle, A.; Potapov, A.; Sachsenmaier, L.; Scheu, S.; Sundawati, L.; Tscharntke, T.; Zemp, D. C.; Guerrero Ramirez, N. R.

doi:10.1101/2022.10.31.514517

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.10.31.514517

Landscape heterogeneity and soil biota are central to multi-taxa diversity for landscape restoration

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Abstract

How to enhance biodiversity in monoculture-dominated landscapes is a key sustainability question that requires considering the spatial organization of ecological communities (beta diversity). Here, we experimentally tested if increasing landscape heterogeneity - through tree islands - is a suitable landscape restoration strategy when aiming to enhance multi-taxa diversity. We found that multi-taxa diversity resulted from islands fostering unique species (turnover: between 0.18 - 0.73) rather than species losses and gains (nestedness: between 0.03 - 0.34), suggesting that tree islands enhance diversity at the landscape scale. Through partial correlation networks, we revealed that landscape heterogeneity is associated with multi-taxa diversity (strength = 0.84). Soil biota were also central to the overall community by connecting beta diversity patterns across taxa. Our results show that increasing landscape heterogeneity enhances multi-taxa diversity in monoculture-dominant landscapes. Furthermore, we highlight that strategies aiming to enhance multi-taxa diversity should consider that spatial distributions of above- and below-ground communities are associated.

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Montoya Sanchez, V., Kreft, H., Arimond, I., Ballauff, J., Berkelmann, D., Brambach, F., Daniel, R., Grass, I., Hines, J., Hoelscher, D., Irawan, B., Krause, A., Polle, A., Potapov, A., Sachsenmaier, L., Scheu, S., Sundawati, L., Tscharntke, T., Zemp, D. C., Guerrero Ramirez, N. R.. 2022-11-01. Landscape heterogeneity and soil biota are central to multi-taxa diversity for landscape restoration. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.31.514517

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