Plant functional β diversity is an important mediator of effects of aridity on soil multifunctionality.

Previous studies have demonstrated that plant diversity not only plays an important role in maintaining ecosystem functions but can also mediate the impact of climate change on ecosystem functions. However, the relative importance of multiple aspects of diversity at different scales remains unclear. In this study, we investigated species, functional, and phylogenetic aspects of diversity at α and β scales, and measured eight soil functions (aboveground productivity, soil organic carbon, total soil nitrogen, total soil phosphorus, soil available nitrogen, soil available phosphorus, soil carbon-nitrogen ratio, and soil nitrogen-phosphorus ratio) to comprehensively assess the relationship between multiple aspects and scales of plant diversity and soil multifunctionality along an aridity gradient across the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

Intensive land-use drives regional-scale homogenization of plant communities.

Intensive anthropogenic land-use causes habitat loss and landscape homogenization, which leads to the decrease of biodiversity and ecosystem degradation. Therefore, it is important to study the influence of landscape heterogeneity on biodiversity. In this study, vegetation surveys conducted at 53 sites in the Tabu River basin, located at the agro-pastoral ecotone of Inner Mongolia of China, revealed 146 species.

Functional dominance rather than taxonomic diversity and functional diversity mainly affects community aboveground biomass in the Inner Mongolia grassland.

The relationship between biodiversity and productivity has been a hot topic in ecology. However, the relative importance of taxonomic diversity and functional characteristics (including functional dominance and functional diversity) in maintaining community productivity and the underlying mechanisms (including selection and complementarity effects) of the relationship between diversity and community productivity have been widely controversial. In this study, 194 sites were surveyed in five grassland types along a precipitation gradient in the Inner Mongolia grassland of China.