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Articles by David Tilman
Plant diversity modifies multi-trophic interactions in croplands, grasslands and forests
Abstract INTRODUCTION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION MATERIALS AND METHODS Acknowledgments Supplementary Materials REFERENCES Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Multitrophic interactions can strongly influence the structure and functioning of ecosystems, but how plant diversity influences the direction and predictability of multitrophic interactions across agricultural and natural ecosystems remains unclear.
Biodiversity effects under climate extremes intensify with aridity in grasslands but not forests
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By Takehiro Sasaki, Daniela Hoss, Yuanyuan Huang, Yuki Iwachido, Liting Zheng, Luis Abdala-Roberts, Eric Allan, Harald Auge, Nadia Barsoum, Jürgen Bauhus, Christel Baum, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Friderike Beyer, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Seraina L. Cappelli, Chengjin Chu, Dylan Craven, Caroline Daniel, Jiri Dolezal, Anne Ebeling, Marina Chagas Fagundes, Olga Ferlian, Gislene Ganade, Douglas L. Godbold, Nathaly R Guerrero-Ramirez, Joannès Guillemot, Peter Hajek, Andy Hector, Dirk Hölscher, Hervé Jactel, Anke Jentsch, Julia Koricheva, Holger Kreft, Juergen Kreyling, Jan Lepš, Wei Lin, Christian Messier, Sebastian Meyer, Florencia Montagnini, Bart Muys, Charles A. Nock, Alain Paquette, William Parker, John Parker, Víctor Parra-Tabla, John A. Parrotta, Gustavo B. Paterno, Noémie A. Pichon, Daniel Piotto, Quentin Ponette, Catherine Potvin, Peter B. Reich, Boris Rewald, Agnès Robin, Christiane Roscher, Hans Sandén, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Florian Schnabel, Eric B. Searle, Alrun Siebenkäs, Rachel J. Standish, David Tilman, Jasper van Ruijven, Kris Verheyen, Alexandra Weigelt, Martin Weih, Brian Wilsey, Bernhard Schmid, Forest Isbell, Nico Eisenhauer, Tobias Gebauer, Benoit Gendreau-Berthiaume, Vojtech Lanta, Maybeth Mendoza-Espinosa, Celine Meredieu, Wayne Polley, Ramona Werner
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Nature
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Predicting temporal stability and resilience from resistance and recovery
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Abstract Stability can be desirable for many natural and social systems. Temporal stability, the invariability of a system over time, can be enhanced by resisting displacement during perturbations, accelerating recovery after them, or both1,2,3,4. Likewise, resilience (sensu proximity to unperturbed levels after a perturbation5,6,7,8,9,10) also has components of withstanding (resistance) and recovering after perturbations11,12.
By Forest Isbell, Akira Mori, Michel Loreau, Peter B. Reich, David Tilman, Maggie Anderson, Caroline Brophy, Qingqing Chen, Amber C. Churchill, Adam Clark, Dylan Craven, Nico Eisenhauer, Yann Hautier, Miao He, Jin-Sheng He, Andy Hector, Sydney Hedberg, Sarah E. Hobbie, Pubin Hong, Guopeng Liang, Maowei Liang, Shan Luo, Neha Mohanbabu, Shahid Naeem, Pascal A. Niklaus, Xiaobin Pan, Bernhard Schmid, Harry Shepherd, Steph Varghese, Michiel P. Veldhuis, Shaopeng Wang, Qianna Xu, Liting Zheng, Chad R. Zirbel, Karen Castillioni, Hanan C. Farah, Lau A. Gherardi, Cristy Portales-Reyes, Carmen R. E. Watkins
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Nature
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Strategies for achieving healthy, sustainable, and equitable dietary transitions
Editor’s summary Our current food systems are major sources of pollution, greenhouse gases, and land-use change while also struggling to provide adequate nutrition equitably to more than 8 billion people. As development and incomes increase, people are shifting their diets toward more meat and processed foods, with negative effects on both human health and the environment. Yang et al. synthesized research on leverage points for more sustainable and healthy dietary transitions.
The economic value of grassland species for carbon storage
Trump Allies Near ‘Total Victory’ in Wiping Out U.S. Climate Regulation A small group of conservative activists has worked for 16 years to stop all government efforts to fight climate change. Their efforts seem poised to pay off. In the summer of 2022, Democrats in Congress were racing to pass the biggest climate law in the country’s history and President Joseph R. …
Crop rotations synergize yield, nutrition, and revenue: a meta-analysis - Nature Communications
Abstract Increasing agricultural yields through crop diversification may help achieve food and nutrition security. However, the benefits of a transition from monoculture to crop rotation may be reduced if trade-offs exist between yields, dietary energy, nutrients, and revenue.
Short time series obscure compensatory dynamics in ecological communities - Nature Ecology & Evolution
Abstract The degree of synchronous versus compensatory dynamics among species is crucial for determining the stability of ecological communities. Although robust quantification of species synchrony requires long-term observations, empirical studies are often based on short time series. Here we explore the effects of time series length on species synchrony by combining spectral analysis, dynamical community models and empirical plant community data.
Consumers Modulate Effects of Plant Diversity on Community Stability
1 Introduction Elton (1958) proposed that ecosystems with greater diversity are inherently more stable against perturbations, attributing this stability to complex food webs that support myriad interactions among species. These interactions occur both within trophic levels (e.g., competitive interactions) and among trophic levels (e.g., consumptive interactions).
Beyond the Abyss
Beyond The Abyss is a shareware fantasy shooter game. The player takes the role of the lone paladin, Roman, who lives near the village of Olin. The evil ruler Medak has sent an army of magic beasts to over throw the castle of Olin. The corridor that links Medak's realm to Olin is known as 'The Abyss'. The game is divided into a series of mazes, or levels with each level representing an area that Roman must travel through as he storms Medak's fortress.
Crop diversity benefits increase with nation size - Nature Food
Crop diversity and cropland area stabilize food production as much as irrigation, but larger countries are likely to benefit more. This relationship can guide policy development and nation-specific management strategies in the pursuit of stable food supplies.
Effects of plant diversity on productivity strengthen over time due to trait-dependent shifts in species overyielding - Nature Communications
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Abstract Plant diversity effects on community productivity often increase over time. Whether the strengthening of diversity effects is caused by temporal shifts in species-level overyielding (i.e., higher species-level productivity in diverse communities compared with monocultures) remains unclear.
By Liting Zheng, Kathryn E. Barry, Peter B. Reich, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Nico Eisenhauer, Jürgen Bauhus, Helge Bruelheide, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Jiri Dolezal, Harald Auge, Olga Ferlian, Sebastian Fiedler, Gislene Ganade, Peter Hajek, Andy Hector, Bruno Hérault, Dirk Hölscher, Julia Koricheva, Holger Kreft, Jan Lepš, Christian Messier, Sandra Muller, Alain Paquette, Gustavo B. Paterno, Michael P. Perring, Quentin Ponette, Rachel J. Standish, Laura Williams, Yongchuan Yang, Bernhard Schmid, Markus Fischer, David Tilman, Enrong Yan, David I. Forrester, Charles A. Nock, John A. Parrotta, Boris Rewald, Douglas L. Godbold, Martyna M. Kotowska, Cecilia Palmborg
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Nature
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Higher plant colonisation and lower resident diversity in grasslands more recently abandoned from agriculture
1 INTRODUCTION Rates of species colonisation, where species establish new populations in previously unoccupied sites, are increasing in communities across the world (Dornelas et al., 2019; Finderup Nielsen et al., 2019). Colonisation is integral to population and community dynamics and is required for species persistence and community diversity (Chesson, 2000; Vahsen et al., 2018).
Plant chemical traits define functional and phylogenetic axes of plant biodiversity
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Plant chemical traits define functional and phylogenetic axes of plant biodiversity
Analyses All analyses were run using R version 4.2.1 (R core Team 2022). Data processing and figure generation used packages within tidyverse (Wickham, 2017). The analyses are reproducible using a targets pipeline (Landau, 2021). Phylogenetic signal Based on the Leipzig catalogue of vascular plants lcvplants (Freiberg et al., 2020), on the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group et al.
Cultivate biodiversity to harvest food security and sustainability
Summry A confluence of discoveries in ecology and agriculture suggests that biodiversity can help address the sustainability problems facing modern intensive agriculture. Here we explore several questions related to this possibility. Can increases in national crop diversity help increase the stability and security of national food systems? Can practices based on greater crop biodiversity produce yields that compete with those obtained through the long-standing, high-input monoculture model?
Reply to: Crop asynchrony stabilizes food production
References 1. Egli, L., Schröter, M., Scherber, C., Tscharntke, T. & Seppelt, R. Crop asynchrony stabilizes food production. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2965-6 (2020). 2. Renard, D. & Tilman, D. National food production stabilized by crop diversity. Nature 571, 257–260 (2019). CAS Article Google Scholar 3. Doak, D. F. et al. The statistical inevitability of stability–diversity relationships in community ecology. Am. Nat. 151, 264–276 (1998). CAS Article Google Scholar 4. Loreau, M.
Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets
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Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets
Report View ORCID ProfileMichael A. Clark1,*, View ORCID ProfileNina G. G. Domingo2, View ORCID ProfileKimberly Colgan2, View ORCID ProfileSumil K. Thakrar2, View ORCID ProfileDavid Tilman3,4, View ORCID ProfileJohn Lynch5, View ORCID ProfileInês L. Azevedo6,7, View ORCID ProfileJason D. Hill2 1Oxford Martin School and Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 2Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Global environmental impacts of agricultural expansion: The need for sustainable and efficient practices
Abstract The recent intensification of agriculture, and the prospects of future intensification, will have major detrimental impacts on the nonagricultural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the world. The doubling of agricultural food production during the past 35 years was associated with a 6.87-fold increase in nitrogen fertilization, a 3.48-fold increase in phosphorus fertilization, a 1.68-fold increase in the amount of irrigated cropland, and a 1.1-fold increase in land in cultivation.
Grassland ecosystem recovery after soil disturbance depends on nutrient supply rate
Letter Eric W. Seabloom Corresponding Author E-mail address: seabloom@umn.edu https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6780-9259 Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of MN, St. Paul, MN, 55108 USA Correspondence: E‐mail: seabloom@umn.edu Search for more papers by this author PDF ShareShare Get access to the full version of this article. View access options below. Institutional Login Loading institution options...
Benefits of intensive agricultural intercropping
The need for increased crop yields has led to growing interest and research in agricultural intensification, which has a myriad of environmental impacts. Intercropping can bring the benefits of intensification within a reasonable footprint. Fig. 1: Agricultural intensification, cereal yields and malnourishment as averaged across values for the countries of each economic group. References 1. Tilman, D. et al. Science 292, 281 (2001). 2. Foley, J. A. et al. Nature 478, 337–342 (2011). 3.
Deficits of biodiversity and productivity linger a century after agricultural abandonment
Abstract At the global scale, human activities are threatening the extinction of many species. It remains debated, however, whether there has been corresponding loss of biodiversity at the smaller spatial scales at which species loss often erodes ecosystem functioning, stability and services. Here we consider changes in local biodiversity and productivity over 37 years in 21 grasslands and savannahs with known agricultural land-use histories.
Multiple health and environmental impacts of foods
Significance Dietary choices are a leading global cause of mortality and environmental degradation and threaten the attainability of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. To inform decision making and to better identify the multifaceted health and environmental impacts of dietary choices, we describe how consuming 15 different food groups is associated with 5 health outcomes and 5 aspects of environmental degradation.
National food production stabilized by crop diversity
Abstract Increasing global food demand, low grain reserves and climate change threaten the stability of food systems on national to global scales1,2,3,4,5. Policies to increase yields, irrigation and tolerance of crops to drought have been proposed as stability-enhancing solutions1,6,7. Here we evaluate a complementary possibility—that greater diversity of crops at the national level may increase the year-to-year stability of the total national harvest of all crops combined.
Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture
Abstract Global food demand is increasing rapidly, as are the environmental impacts of agricultural expansion. Here, we project global demand for crop production in 2050 and evaluate the environmental impacts of alternative ways that this demand might be met. We find that per capita demand for crops, when measured as caloric or protein content of all crops combined, has been a similarly increasing function of per capita real income since 1960.
Soil carbon sequestration accelerated by restoration of grassland biodiversity - Nature Communications
Experimental design Our experiment was located in an abandoned agricultural field at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, Minnesota, USA25. In 1993, the field was treated with the herbicide glyphosate and then burned once its herbaceous vegetation had died, had the top 6–8 cm of soil removed to reduce seed bank, and was plowed and repeatedly harrowed. In 1994, 168 plots were established, each 13 m × 13 m (later reduced to 9 m × 9 m).
Nexus approaches to global sustainable development
Abstract Many global challenges, though interconnected, have been addressed singly, at times reducing one problem while exacerbating others. Nexus approaches simultaneously examine interactions among multiple sectors. Recent quantitative studies have revealed that nexus approaches can uncover synergies and detect trade-offs among sectors. If well implemented, nexus approaches have the potential to reduce negative surprises and promote integrated planning, management and governance.
Insect species diversity, abundance and body size relationships
BIOLOGICAL diversity, population size and body size are interde-pendent1–8, but there is little consensus on the nature or causes of these relations. Here we analyse the most thoroughly sampled ecological community to date, a grassland insect community sample containing 89,596 individuals of 1,167 species. Each taxonomic order had a distinct body size at which both species richness and number of individuals were highest, but these peak sizes varied more than 100-fold among five major orders.
Climate warming promotes species diversity, but with greater taxonomic redundancy, in complex environments
Climate warming is predicted to alter species interactions, which could potentially lead to extinction events. However, there is an ongoing debate whether the effects of warming on biodiversity may be moderated by biodiversity itself. We tested warming effects on soil nematodes, one of the most diverse and abundant metazoans in terrestrial ecosystems, along a gradient of environmental complexity created by a gradient of plant species richness.
Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice
Global agriculture feeds over 7 billion people, but is also a major cause of multiple types of environmental degradation.
Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice
Global agricultural feeds over 7 billion people, but is also a leading cause of environmental degradation. Understanding how alternative agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice drive environmental degradation is necessary for reducing agriculture's environmental impacts.
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