Note: Front Cover -- Mechanisms underlying the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function -- Copyright -- Contents -- Contributors -- Preface: Mechanistic links between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Further reading -- Chapter One: A multitrophic perspective on biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research -- 1. What are the key achievements of BEF research? -- 1.1. A short history of BEF research -- 1.2. A new BEF era provides novel insights -- 1.3. Identification of BEF mechanisms -- 1.4. BEF in multitrophic communities -- 1.5. BEF implications for ecosystem services -- 2. What are the key challenges of future BEF research? -- 2.1. Non-random biodiversity change across trophic levels -- 2.2. Predicting the strength of BEF relationships across environmental contexts -- 2.3. Spatial scaling of BEF relationships -- 2.4. Eco-evolutionary implications of multitrophic BEF -- 2.5. FAIR data and beyond -- 2.6. Operationalizing BEF insights for ecosystem management, society, and decision making -- 3. Concluding remarks -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Two: Above- and belowground overyielding are related at the community and species level in a grassland biodiversit ... -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Methods -- 2.1. Site description -- 2.2. Biomass sampling -- 2.3. Estimating species root biomass using molecular methods -- 2.4. Data analysis -- 3. Results -- 3.1. Hypothesis 1: At the community level, above- and belowground overyielding are correlated -- 3.2. Hypothesis 2: At the pool level, species from the `spatial pool overyield more aboveground, whereas the species from ... -- 3.3. Hypothesis 3: At the species level, some species exhibit trade-offs between above- and belowground overyielding -- 4. Discussion -- 4.1. Are above- and belowground overyielding correlated at the community level?. , 4.2. Above- and belowground overyielding relationships differ between species pools -- 5. Conclusions -- Authorship statement -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Three: Lost in trait space: species-poor communities are inflexible in properties that drive ecosystem functioning -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Methods -- 2.1. Study sites and experimental designs -- 2.1.1. Cedar Creek -- 2.1.2. Jena -- 2.2. Data -- 2.3. Calculation of functional and phylogenetic indices and statistical analyses -- 3. Results -- 3.1. Temporal shift of the functional and phylogenetic diversity of plant communities -- 3.2. Temporal shifts in community trait space -- 4. Discussion -- 4.1. Temporal shift of the functional and phylogenetic diversity of plant communities -- 4.2. Temporal shift of the trait space of plant communities -- 5. Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Four: Terrestrial laser scanning reveals temporal changes in biodiversity mechanisms driving grassland productivity -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Material and methods -- 2.1. Study site and trait based-experiment -- 2.2. Terrestrial laser scanning: Data acquisition and processing -- 2.3. Diversity drivers: Functional diversity, functional identity, and species richness -- 2.4. Data analyses -- 2.4.1. Estimation of plant biomass from terrestrial laser scanning metrics -- 2.4.2. Temporal changes in diversity effects on plant productivity -- 3. Results -- 3.1. Intra- and inter-annual variation in mean height as a proxy for abovegroundbiomass -- 3.2. Intra-annual diversity and identity effects on plant development -- 4. Discussion -- 4.1. Intra-annual changes in functional diversity effects on plant development -- 4.2. Intra-annual changes in identity effects on plant development -- 4.3. Species richness effects and inter-annual differences. , 4.4. A new method for biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research in grasslands -- 5. Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Five: Plant functional trait identity and diversity effects on soil meso- and macrofauna in an experimental grassland -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Material and methods -- 2.1. Experimental design -- 2.1.1. Soil fauna sampling -- 2.1.2. Plant cover measurement -- 2.2. Plant community indices -- 2.3. Statistical analyses -- 3. Results -- 3.1. Plant species richness effects -- 3.2. Trait-based models -- 3.3. Comparison of plant species richness-based and trait-based models -- 4. Discussion -- 4.1. Plant species richness has a weak effect on soil communities -- 4.2. Plant traits as more powerful predictors of soil fauna communities -- 4.3. The importance of plant trait identity effects across soil fauna groups -- 4.4. Soil fauna responses to spatial resource acquisition traits -- 4.5. Soil fauna responses to temporal resource acquisition traits -- 5. Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Further reading -- Chapter Six: How plant diversity impacts the coupled water, nutrient and carbon cycles -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Plant diversity effects on the soil microbial community and soil processes and functions -- 2.1. Microbial community composition and diversity -- 2.2. Soil water balance -- 2.3. Nutrient cycling -- 2.4. Plant carbon allocation to soil, microbial net assimilation and microbial carbon storage -- 3. Consequences of the element and water cycles and their coupling for the BEF relationships -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Seven: A new experimental approach to test why biodiversity effects strengthen as ecosystems age -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Methods -- 2.1. Study site -- 2.2. The DeltaBEF experiment -- 2.3. Measurements -- 2.4. Data analysis -- 2.5. The soil barrier experiment. , 3. Results -- 3.1. Establishment of the treatments -- 3.1.1. Treatment effects on plant communities -- 3.1.2. Treatment effects on soil properties -- 3.1.3. Treatment effects on the plant diversity-productivity relationship -- 4. Discussion -- 4.1. Establishment of the treatments -- 4.2. Treatment effects on the plant diversity-productivity relationship -- 5. Conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Eight: Linking local species coexistence to ecosystem functioning: a conceptual framework from ecological first pr ... -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Jointly emerging local coexistence and ecosystem functioning from ecological first principles -- 2.1. Abiotic conditions -- 2.1.1. Resources -- 2.1.2. Other abiotic factors -- 2.2. Biotic conditions -- 3. Population level effects of abiotic and biotic conditions on fecundity, growth, and survival (Fig. 2) -- 3.1. Abiotic conditions -- 3.1.1. Resources -- 3.1.2. Other abiotic factors -- 3.2. Biotic conditions -- 4. How ecological first principles influence trade-offs between fecundity, growth, and survival and in turn influence loc ... -- 4.1. Productivity -- 4.2. Root decomposition -- 5. Conclusion -- Author contributions -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Further reading -- Chapter Nine: Mapping change in biodiversity and ecosystem function research: food webs foster integration of experiments ... -- 1. Topic networks as a way to visualize global conversation about biodiversity and ecosystem functioning -- 1.1. Core research domains persist through time: `BEF experiments and `Science policy -- 1.2. Integrative research domains connect the scientific landscape: Aquatic food webs and agricultural landscapes -- 2. Divisions among research domains: influences on food webs -- 2.1. Baseline comparisons across research domains: Random, null, and gradient based hypotheses. , 2.2. Scaling multi-trophic diversity -- 2.3. Currency across domains: Biomass, energy, valuation -- 3. Summary and outlook: towards integrative food-web ecology -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Ten: Transferring biodiversity-ecosystem function research to the management of `real-world ecosystems -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Small-grain and highly-controlled experiments (Cluster A) -- 2.1. What can be transferred -- 2.2. Barriers to transfer and directions for future research -- 3. Small-grain studies with low experimental control (Cluster B) -- 3.1. What can be transferred -- 3.2. Barriers to transfer and directions for future research -- 4. Large-grain studies without experimental control (Cluster C) -- 4.1. What can be transferred -- 4.2. Barriers to transfer and directions for future research -- 5. Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Back Cover.