A study from the University of Minnesota study has this week shown that ecosystems benefit from a greater diversity of vegetation. The unprecedented long-term study of plant biodiversity found that each species plays a role in maintaining a productive ecosystem, especially over time.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota found that every additional species in a plot contributed to a gradual increase in both soil fertility and biomass production over a 14-year period. The research was undertaken at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve and results from the study were published in the May edition of Sicence.

According to the researchers, their study highlights the importance of maintaining diversity in prairies, forests and crops. Over the time period they examined how the effect of diversity on productivity of plants changed in two large field experiments.

The experiments, the longest-running biodiversity experiments of their kind in the world, contained plots with one, four, nine or 16 different species of plants. According to Professor Peter Reich, of the university's forest resources department, who led the study, the study serves as a model system for all vegetation, whether prairie, forest or row crop.

The study also showed how diversity works by demonstrating that different species have different ways to acquire water, nutrients and carbon and maintain them in the ecosystem.

Commenting on the research, Professor Reich said, "Prior shorter-term studies, most about two years long, found that diversity increased productivity, but that having more than six or eight species in a plot gave no additional benefit. But we found that over a 14-year time span, all 16 species in our most diverse plots contributed more and more each year to higher soil fertility and biomass production. The take-home message is that when we reduce diversity in the landscape--think of a cornfield or a pine plantation or a suburban lawn--we are failing to capitalize on the valuable natural services that biodiversity provides."

Matt Kane, a spokesperson for the National Science Foundation, also praised to study for its relevance. He said, "This study reveals what short-term experiments have missed: the effects of biodiversity loss on ecosystems are more complex, severe and unpredictable than previously thought. It also shows the importance of doing long-term research, in this case documenting for the first time the critical importance of biodiversity for ecosystem health and sustainability."

As part of forthcoming reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Commission has proposed new rules on cropping to ensure greater diversity in farm ecosystems. Experts have suggested that the problems caused by falling biodiversity across the world, which is being exacerbated in places by intensive farming methods, poses a more severe threat to future productivity than climate change.

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