The first paper from Theo Linders’s PhD work has been published in the Journal of Ecology.

The study assessed how Prosopis impacts a range of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning indicators in Afar, Ethiopia, and Baringo, Kenya. We found that Prosopis had a clear negative impact on both plant species richness and herbaceous biomass. Losses in plant species richness and biomass cascaded through the system, resulting in changes in invertebrate abundance and decreasing soil fertility and stability.

Our results highlight that not only plant species richness can affect ecosystem functioning, but changes to one ecosystem function, herbaceous biomass, can also significantly affect other ecosystem functions. For Prosopis management the results mean that just removing Prosopis is unlikely to be enough to restore healthy ecosystems, and that high plant species richness and herbaceous biomass are prerequisites for a healthy ecosystem.

Reference: Linders, T.E.W., Schaffner, U., Eschen, R., Abebe, A., Choge, S.K., Nigatu, L., Mbaabu, P.R., Shiferaw, H., Allan, E. (2019) Direct and indirect effects of invasive species: biodiversity loss is a major mechanism by which an invasive tree affects ecosystem functioning. Journal of Ecology. doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13268