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Science 29 August 1997:
Vol. 277. no. 5330, pp. 1300 - 1302
DOI: 10.1126/science.277.5330.1300
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Reports

The Influence of Functional Diversity and Composition on Ecosystem Processes

David Tilman, * Johannes Knops, David Wedin, Peter Reich, Mark Ritchie, Evan Siemann

Humans are modifying both the identities and numbers of species in ecosystems, but the impacts of such changes on ecosystem processes are controversial. Plant species diversity, functional diversity, and functional composition were experimentally varied in grassland plots. Each factor by itself had significant effects on many ecosystem processes, but functional composition and functional diversity were the principal factors explaining plant productivity, plant percent nitrogen, plant total nitrogen, and light penetration. Thus, habitat modifications and management practices that change functional diversity and functional composition are likely to have large impacts on ecosystem processes.

D. Tilman, J. Knops, E. Siemann, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
D. Wedin, Department of Botany, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B2, Canada.
P. Reich, Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
M. Ritchie, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tilman{at}lter.umn.edu

Volume 277, Number 5330, Issue of 29 August 1997, pp. 1300-1302
©1997 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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