Foliar fungi and plant diversity drive ecosystem carbon fluxes in experimental prairies

Plant diversity and plant–consumer/pathogen interactions likely interact to influence ecosystem carbon fluxes but experimental evidence is scarce. We examined how experimental removal of foliar fungi, soil fungi and arthropods from experimental prairies planted with 1, 4 or 16 plant species affected instantaneous rates of carbon uptake (GPP), ecosystem respiration (R e ) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE). Increasing plant diversity increased...