About - We are investigating the causes and consequences of changes in biodiversity. We study how biodiversity and ecosystem functioning respond to global changes, such as land use changes, nutrient enrichment, exotic species introductions, and climate extremes. We also study the responses of ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services to changes in biodiversity.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- How do global changes impact communities and ecosystems?
- How do changes in biodiversity influence ecosystem functioning?
- How do changes in biodiversity influence stability?
- How do plant species coexist?
- To what extent do ecosystem services depend on biodiversity?
Isbell et al. 2011 Nature
Here we show that 84% of the 147 grassland plant species studied in 17 biodiversity experiments promoted ecosystem functioning at least once. Different species promoted ecosystem functioning during different years, at different places, for different functions and under different environmental change scenarios. Our results suggest that although species may appear functionally redundant when one function is considered under one set of environmental conditions, many species are needed to maintain multiple functions at multiple times and places in a changing world.
Isbell et al. 2013 PNAS
Here we found that although chronic nitrogen enrichment initially increased productivity, it also led to loss of plant species, including initially dominant species, which then caused substantial diminishing returns from nitrogen fertilization. In contrast, elevated CO2 did not decrease grassland plant diversity, and it consistently promoted productivity over time. Our results support the hypothesis that the long-term impacts of anthropogenic drivers of environmental change on ecosystem functioning can strongly depend on how such drivers gradually decrease biodiversity and restructure communities.
Isbell et al. 2013 Ecol. Lett.
Our 30-year grassland experiment shows that plant diversity decreased well below control levels after 10 years of chronic high rates of nitrogen addition, and did not recover to control levels 20 years after nitrogen addition ceased. Furthermore, we found a hysteretic response of plant diversity to increases and subsequent decreases in soil nitrate concentrations. Our results suggest that chronic nutrient enrichment created an alternative low-diversity state that persisted despite decreases in soil nitrate after cessation of nitrogen addition, and despite supply of propagules from nearby high-diversity plots.
Reich et al. 2012 Science
We found that the effects of diversity on biomass productivity increased and became less saturating over time. Our analyses suggest that effects of diversity-dependent ecosystem feedbacks and interspecific complementarity accumulate over time, causing high-diversity species combinations that appeared functionally redundant during early years to become more functionally unique through time. Consequently, even the loss of a few species from diverse ecosystems could impact ecosystem functioning.
Publications - Reprints are provided for single-user, noncommercial use.
Authors
Year
Title
Source
PDF
Clark, A. T., H. Ye, F. Isbell, E. R. Deyle, J. Cowles, D. Tilman, and G. Sugihara
2015
Spatial 'convergent cross mapping' to detect causal relationships from short time-series
Ecology
Byrnes, J., J. S. Lefcheck, L. Gamfeldt, J. N. Griffin, F. Isbell, and A. Hector
2015
Multifunctionality does not imply that all functions are positively correlated
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111:E5490
F. Isbell, D. Tilman, S. Polasky, and M. Loreau
2015
The biodiversity-dependent ecosystem services debt
Ecology Letters 18:119-134
Tilman, D., F. Isbell, and J. M. Cowles
2014
Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 45:471-493
Zhang, Y., X. Lu, F. Isbell, C. Stevens, X. Han, N. He, G. Zhang, Q. Yu, J. Huang, and X. Han
2014
Rapid plant species loss at high rates and at low frequency of N addition in temperate steppe
Global Change Biology 20:3520-3529
Isbell, F. and M. Loreau
2014
Sustainability of human ecological niche construction
Ecology and Society 19:45
Byrnes, J. E. K., L. Gamfeldt, F. Isbell, J. S. Lefcheck, J. N. Griffin, A. Hector, B. J. Cardinale, D. U. Hooper, L. E. Dee, and J. E. Duffy
2014
Investigating the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality: challenges and solutions
Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5:111-124
Isbell, F.
2014
Ecosystem Services
In Oxford Bibliographies in Ecology. Ed. David Gibson. New York: Oxford University Press
Balvanera, P., I. Siddique, L. Dee, A. Paquette, F. Isbell, A. Gonzalez, J. Byrnes, M. I. O’Conner, B. A. Hungate, and J. N. Griffin
2014
Linking biodiversity and ecosystem services: current uncertainties and the necessary next step
Bioscience 64:49-57
Isbell, F. and M. Loreau
2013
Human impacts on minimum subsets of species critical for maintaining ecosystem structure
Basic and Applied Ecology 14:623-629
PDF
Isbell, F., P. B. Reich, D. Tilman, S. E. Hobbie, S. Polasky, and S. Binder
2013
Nutrient enrichment, biodiversity loss, and consequent declines in ecosystem productivity
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 110:11911–11916
PDF
Polley, H. W., F. Isbell, and B. J. Wilsey
2013
Plant functional traits improve diversity-based predictions of temporal stability of grassland productivity
Oikos 122:1275-1282
PDF
Huang, Y., L. M. Martin, F. Isbell, and B. J. Wilsey
2013
Is community persistence related to diversity? A test with prairie species in a long-term experiment
Basic and Applied Ecology 14:199-207
PDF
de Mazancourt, C., F. Isbell, A. Larocque, F. Berendse, E. De Luca, B. Haegeman, H. W. Polley, C. Roscher, B. Schmid, D. Tilman, J. van Ruijven, A. Weigelt, B. J. Wilsey, and M. Loreau
2013
Predicting ecosystem stability from community composition and biodiversity
Ecology Letters 16:617-625
PDF
Isbell, F., D. Tilman, S. Polasky, S. Binder, and P. Hawthorne
2013
Low biodiversity state persists two decades after cessation of nutrient enrichment
Ecology Letters 16:454-460
PDF
Connolly, J., T. Bell, T. Bolger, C. Brophy, T. Carnus, J. A. Finn, L. Kirwan, F. Isbell, J. Levine, A. Lüscher, V. Picasso, C. Roscher, M. T. Sebastia , M. Suter, A. Weigelt
2013
An improved model to predict the effects of changing biodiversity levels on ecosystem function
Journal of Ecology 101:344-355
PDF
Reich, P. B., D. Tilman, F. Isbell, K. Mueller, S. E. Hobbie, D. Flynn and N. Eisenhauer
2012
Impacts of biodiversity loss escalate through time as redundancy fades
Science 336:589-592
PDF
Tilman, D., P. B. Reich, and F. Isbell
2012
Biodiversity impacts ecosystem productivity as much as resources, disturbance, or herbivory
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 109:10394-10397
PDF
Loreau, M., J. Sapijanskas, F. Isbell, and A. Hector
2012
Niche and fitness differences relate the maintenance of diversity to ecosystem function: comment
Ecology 93:1482-1487
PDF
Eisenhauer, N., P. B. Reich, and F. Isbell
2012
Decomposer diversity and identity influence plant diversity effects on ecosystem functioning
Ecology 93:2227-2240
PDF
Isbell, F., V. Calcagno, A. Hector, J. Connolly, W. S. Harpole, P. B. Reich, M. Scherer-Lorenzen, B. Schmid, D. Tilman, J. van Ruijven, A. Weigelt, B. J. Wilsey, E. S. Zavaleta, and M. Loreau
2011
High plant diversity is needed to maintain ecosystem services
Nature 477:199-202
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Isbell, F. I., and B. J. Wilsey
2011
Increasing native, but not exotic, biodiversity increases aboveground productivity in ungrazed and intensely grazed grasslands
Oecologia 165: 771-781
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Isbell, F. I., and B. J. Wilsey
2011
Rapid biodiversity declines in both ungrazed and intensely grazed exotic grasslands
Plant Ecology 212:1663-1674
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Hector, A., T. Bell, Y. Hautier, F. Isbell, M. Kery, P. B. Reich, J. van Ruijven, and B. Schmid
2011
BUGS in the analysis of biodiversity experiments: species richness and composition are of similar importance for grassland productivity
PLoS ONE 6: e17434
PDF
Isbell, F. I.
2010
Causes and consequences of changing biodiversity
Nature Education Knowledge 1: 11
Isbell, F. I., H. W. Polley, and B. J. Wilsey
2009
Species interaction mechanisms maintain grassland plant species diversity
Ecology 90: 1821-1830
PDF
Isbell, F. I., H. W. Polley, and B. J. Wilsey
2009
Biodiversity, productivity, and the temporal stability of productivity: patterns and processes
Ecology Letters 12: 443-451
PDF
Wilsey, B. J., T. B. Teaschner, P. P. Daneshgar, F. I. Isbell, and H. W. Polley
2009
Biodiversity maintenance mechanisms differ between native and exotic communities
Ecology Letters 12: 432-442
PDF
Isbell, F. I., D. A. Losure, K. A. Yurkonis, and B. J. Wilsey
2008
Diversity-productivity relationships in two ecologically realistic rarity-extinction scenarios
Oikos 117: 996-1005
PDF
Contact -
Contact via Email
Forest Isbell
Associate Director
Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve
CCESR Long-Term Ecological Research | CCESR College of Biological Sciences
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior
University of Minnesota
1987 Upper Buford Circle, Saint Paul MN 55108