Increasing drying changes the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality
Increased drying of rivers under global climate change is leading to biodiversity loss. However, it is not clear whether biodiversity loss affects river functions. In this study, we investigated the changes in biofilm community diversity and functions in an artificial stream after different drying durations. A critical drying duration of around 60 days was found in the microbial composition and functions. Therefore, different drying durations can be divided into short-term drying (~0-20 days) and long-term drying (~60-130 days) to analyse the effect of biodiversity in terms of ecosystem functions. In summary, the dominant relationship of biodiversity on community stability got uncoupled after long-term drying. Community assembly became dominant in maintaining multifunctionality with increasing drying duration rather than biodiversity as traditionally perceived. This study reveals the importance of community assembly, extending theoretical knowledge of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality.
Authors
- Yu Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3162-9680)
- Jun Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0412-4874)
- Songqi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1623-2952)
- Tanveer M. Adyel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5940-5406)
- Lingzhan Miao
- Yue Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0155-5588)
- Zijun Yang
- Chaoran Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9762-8827)
- Guoxiang You (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4479-2583)
- Jun Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1518-6701)
- Ming Kong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3246-5518)
Institutions
- Nanjing Normal University (CN)
- Hohai University (CN)
- Ministry of Ecology and Environment (CN)
- Suzhou University of Science and Technology (CN)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- MIT University (MK)
- Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences (CN)
- RMIT University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
- Published
- 2025-05-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-025-00711-z
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.32
Funders
- Australian Academy of Science
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Government of Jiangsu Province
- Graduate Research and Innovation Projects of Jiangsu Province
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities