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QUESTION: A positive plant diversity–above‐ground productivity relationship is often demonstrated in synthetic grassland stands established for functional biodiversity research, but this relationship is rarely found along diversity gradients in natural and semi‐natural grasslands. One of the key mechanisms proposed to cause a positive species diversity–above‐ground productivity relationship is increased complementarity in resource use. Using light transmittance to the ground as a measure of resource use intensity in semi‐natural grasslands, we tested the hypothesis that peak above‐ground biomass (as a proxy for productivity) increases and light transmittance decreases with increasing species richness, which would reflect higher complementarity in light capture. LOCATION: Semi‐natural temperate grasslands in Lower Saxony, Germany. METHODS: We investigated 31 grasslands with variable species richness on three different geological substrates (greywacke, limestone and sandstone) at two spatial scales (sub‐regional and regional). RESULTS: Structural equation modelling (SEM) and generalized linear models (GLM) revealed that species richness (5–22 species · 0.09 m⁻²) was negatively related to above‐ground biomass (AGB; 200–1350 g·m⁻²) and sward cover. The most influential determinant of AGB at the regional scale was temperature. Light transmittance was determined by sward cover, the cover of competitive species and AGB at the regional, and in part also at the sub‐regional level. We found no evidence for increased light capture complementarity with higher species richness. CONCLUSION: This suggests that competitive exclusion, but not complementarity in above‐ground resource use, mediates above‐ground productivity in species‐rich plant assemblages.

In this study, we investigated the emergence of spatial self‐organized patterns on intertidal flats, resulting from the interaction between biological and geomorphological processes. Autocorrelation analysis of aerial photographs revealed that diatoms occur in regularly spaced patterns consisting of elevated hummocks alternating with water‐filled hollows. Hummocks were characterized by high diatom content and a high sediment erosion threshold, while both were low in hollows. These results highlight the interaction between diatom growth and sedimentary processes as a potential mechanism for spatial patterning. Several alternative mechanisms could be excluded as important mechanisms in the formation of spatial patterns. We developed a spatially explicit mathematical model that revealed that scale‐dependent interactions between sedimentation, diatom growth, and water redistribution explain the observed patterns. The model predicts that areas exhibiting spatially self‐organized patterns have increased sediment accretion and diatom biomass compared with areas lacking spatial patterns, a prediction confirmed by empirical evidence. Our study on intertidal mudflats provides a simple but clear‐cut example of how the interaction between biological and sedimentary processes, through the process of self‐organization, induces spatial patterns at a landscape level.