FN Archimer Export Format PT J TI Dominance of individual plant species is more important than diversity in explaining plant biomass in the forest understorey BT AF WASOF, Safaa LENOIR, Jonathan HATTAB, Tarek JAMONEAU, Aurelien GALLET-MORON, Emilie AMPOORTER, Evy SAGUEZ, Robert BENNSADEK, Lamine BERTRAND, Romain VALDES, Alicia VERHEYEN, Kris DECOCQ, Guillaume AS 1:1,2;2:1;3:1,3;4:1,4;5:1;6:2;7:1;8:1;9:5;10:1,6;11:2;12:1; FF 1:;2:;3:PDG-RBE-MARBEC-LHM;4:;5:;6:;7:;8:;9:;10:;11:;12:; C1 Jules Verne Univ Picardie, Unite Rech Ecol & Dynam Syst Anthropises EDYSAN, UMR 7058, Amiens 1, France. Univ Ghent, Dept Forest & Water Management, Forest & Nat Lab ForNaLab, Gontrode, Belgium. IFREMER UMR 248 MARBEC, Sete, France. IRSTEA, Unite Rech Ecosyst Aquat & Changements Globaux EA, Cestas, France. Paul Sabatier Univ, CNRS, Ctr Biodivers Theory & Modelling, Theoret & Ecol Stn,UMR CNRS 5321, Moulis, France. Stockholm Univ, Dept Ecol Environm & Plant Sci, Stockholm, Sweden. C2 UNIV PICARDIE, FRANCE UNIV GHENT, BELGIUM IFREMER, FRANCE IRSTEA, FRANCE CNRS, FRANCE UNIV STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN SI SETE SE PDG-RBE-MARBEC-LHM UM MARBEC IN WOS Ifremer jusqu'en 2018 copubli-france copubli-p187 copubli-europe copubli-univ-france IF 2.944 TC 23 UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00433/54441/55799.pdf LA English DT Article DE ;biodiversity;biomass;biomass ratio hypothesis;forest understorey;functional diversity;ivy;phylogeny;production AB Questions How does plant community diversity influence variation in plant biomass? There are two competing hypotheses: the ‘biomass‐ratio hypothesis’, where biomass is influenced by the abundance and traits of the most dominant species, and the ‘diversity hypothesis’, where the diversity of organisms influences biomass through mechanisms such as niche complementarity. However, no studies have tested which one of these two hypotheses better explains the variation in plant biomass in the forest understorey. Location Temperate deciduous forests in Northern France. Methods For the forest understorey, we assessed species diversity and biomass as well as soil and light conditions in 133 forest plots of 100m² each. Using mixed‐effect models and after controlling for 2 Please note that this is an author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available on the publisher Web site. potential confounding factors, we tested the ‘biomass‐ratio hypothesis’ by relating the relative abundance of the most dominant species across our study sites and the community‐weighted mean values (CWM) of plant traits (leaf area and plant height) to biomass. The ‘diversity hypothesis’ was tested by relating biomass to various measures of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity. Results Biomass of the forest understorey was mainly related to the relative abundance and the trait values of the most dominant species, supporting the ‘biomass‐ratio hypothesis’. In contrast with the ‘diversity hypothesis’, functional diversity indices had a negative impact on biomass. We found no contribution of taxonomic or phylogenetic diversity indices. Conclusion The abundance and traits of the most dominant species matter more than taxonomic, functional or phylogenetic diversity of the forest understorey in explaining its biomass. Thus, there is a need for experiments that aim to fully understand keystone species’ responses to ongoing changing biotic and abiotic conditions and to predict their effects on ecosystem functioning and processes. PY 2018 PD MAY SO Journal Of Vegetation Science SN 1100-9233 PU Wiley VL 29 IS 3 UT 000438651900017 BP 521 EP 531 DI 10.1111/jvs.12624 ID 54441 ER EF