Plateau pika interferes with the relationship between biodiversity and
ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine meadows
Abstract
Plateau pikas cause changes in alpine meadow biodiversity and
consequently impair ecosystem function through foraging, burrowing and
defecation. However, existing studies often focus on a limited number of
taxa, ignoring the fact that biodiversity loss occurs across many taxa
and that the functional effects of any trophic group may depend on the
diversity of other trophic groups. In this study, we analyzed the
effects of disturbance by plateau pika on the diversity of organisms
(plants, earthworms, ciliates, fungi and bacteria) and ecosystem
multifunctionality (EMF) in different trophic groups. The results showed
that: (1) disturbance by plateau pika significantly altered
multi-trophic biodiversity and simultaneously affected EMF. (2) Plant
species richness (25.52%) and functional richness (22.25%) were the
most important factors driving EMF, followed by higher trophic level
soil ciliates (18.35%) and earthworms (14.03%), and lower trophic
level soil bacteria (9.88%), fungi, fungi, and bacteria (9.88%).
Bacterial (9.88%) richness at lower trophic levels also drove EMF. (3)
The relationship between biodiversity and EMF at each trophic level
changed when the density of active burrows of plateau pikas was around
550 burrows/ha. At lower burrow densities (<530 burrows/ha),
soil biodiversity had a greater effect on EMF, while at higher densities
(>575 burrows/ha), plant diversity was more critical to EMF.
(4) Disturbance by plateau pika had a negative effect on EMF, explaining
68% of the variation in EMF. This study reveals the important role of
higher trophic level biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem function
under the disturbance of plateau pika.