Ecological multifunctionality of watersheds increases with tree species richness
Watersheds are natural units and meta-ecosystems of the earth's land surface providing multiple ecological functions. However, little is known about the biodiversity-ecological multifunctionality relationships of watersheds, particularly regarding how these relationships scale to large and complex landscapes. Here, we explore the impact of forest tree species richness on the ecological multifunctionality of watersheds in terms of carbon sequestration, carbon storage, water supply, water regulation, and soil conservation, by utilizing integrated ground-sourced forest inventory datasets comprising 846 forest watersheds from the Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative, the Global Streamflow Indices and Metadata Archive, and remote sensing data products. We find a consistently positive relationship between forest tree species richness and watershed ecological multifunctionality by accounting for factors such as forest structural characteristics and environmental conditions. Furthermore, we find that this biodiversity-multifunctionality link is dependent on spatial scale and climatic context, becoming stronger in larger watersheds but diminishing in arid climatic conditions. These insights enhance our understanding of ecosystem multifunctionality and underscore the importance of considering watershed-scale ecological processes and biodiversity in ecosystem management and conservation strategies.
Authors
- Alain Paquette (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1048-9674)
- Conghe Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4099-4906)
- Peter Schall (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4808-818X)
- Quanfa Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7192-8514)
- Bogdan Jaroszewicz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2042-8245)
- Hélder Viana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4024-3472)
- G.J. Nabuurs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9761-074X)
- Peter B. Reich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4424-662X)
- Tiehu He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8902-5412)
- Pablo L. Peri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5398-4408)
- Michael Scherer‐Lorenzen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9566-590X)
- Sebastian Pfautsch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4390-4195)
- N. M. Tchebakova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4208-6792)
- Giorgio Alberti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2422-3009)
- Han Y. H. Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9477-5541)
- Jiehao Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1159-9712)
- Yulong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6967-0051)
- Kerong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7209-7639)
- Sergio de-Miguel
- Jiri Dolezal
- Xia Wang
- Thomas W. Crowther
- Nicolas Picard
- Jingjing Liang
- Elena Parfenova
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- University of Udine (IT)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (US)
- Tibet University (CN)
- University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (PT)
- Universitat de Lleida (ES)
- Université du Québec à Montréal (CA)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Duke University (US)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- National University of Austral Patagonia (AR)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Triangle (US)
- Southern Research Station (US)
- Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (ES)
- Wuhan Botanical Garden (CN)
- Białowieża National Park (PL)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany (CZ)
- Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane (GF)
- Zhanjiang Experimental Station (CN)
- University of Warsaw (PL)
- Sukachev Institute of Forest (RU)
- Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (PT)
- Western Sydney University (AU)
- Lakehead University (CA)
- University of Göttingen (DE)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-06-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74914-z
- Primary Topic
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences