Climate and land-use change lead to decreasing invertebrate biomass and alter invertebrate communities. These biotic changes may affect plant species abundance and phenology. Using 24 controlled experimental units in the iDiv Ecotron, we assessed the effects of invertebrate decline on an artificial grassland community formed by 12 herbaceous plant species. More specifically, we used Malaise traps and sweep nets to collect invertebrates from a local tall oatgrass meadow and included them in our Ecotron units at two different invertebrate densities: 100% (no invertebrate decline) and 25% (invertebrate decline of 75%). Another eight EcoUnits received no fauna and served as a control. Plant species abundance and flowering phenology was observed weekly over a period of 18 weeks. Our results showed that invertebrate densities affected the abundance and phenology of plant species. We observed a distinct species abundance shift with respect to the invertebrate treatment. Notably, this shift included a reduction in the abundance of the dominant plant species, Trifolium pratense, when invertebrates were present. Additionally, we found that the species shifted their flowering phenology as a response to the different invertebrate treatments, e.g. with decreasing invertebrate biomass Lotus corniculatus showed a later peak flowering time. We demonstrated that in addition to already well-studied abiotic drivers, biotic components may also drive phenological changes in plant communities. This study clearly suggests that invertebrate decline may contribute to already observed mismatches between plants and animals, with potential negative consequences for ecosystem services like food provision and pollination success. This deterioration of ecosystem function could enhance the loss of insects and plant biodiversity.

气候和土地利用的变化导致无脊椎动物生物量减少并改变了无脊椎动物群落。这些生物变化可能影响植物物种的丰度和物候。使用iDiv Ecotron中的24个受控实验单位，我们评估了无脊椎动物对由12种草本植物物种形成的人工草地群落的影响。更具体地说，我们使用Malaise捕集阱和扫网从当地高燕麦草草甸收集无脊椎动物，并将它们以两种不同的无脊椎动物密度包括在我们的Ecotron装置中：100％（无脊椎动物下降）和25％（无脊椎动物下降75％）。另外八个EcoUnit未收到任何动物区系，并作为对照。在18周内每周观察一次植物种类的丰度和开花物候。我们的结果表明，无脊椎动物的密度影响植物物种的丰度和物候。我们观察到相对于无脊椎动物治疗而言，物种的丰度发生了明显变化。值得注意的是，这种转变包括减少了优势植物物种的丰度，三叶草，当无脊椎动物出现时。此外，我们发现该物种改变了其开花物候，以响应不同的无脊椎动物治疗，例如，无脊椎动物生物量减少莲花山茱tus表现出较晚的高峰开花时间。我们证明，除了已经被充分研究的非生物驱动因素外，生物成分还可能驱动植物群落的物候变化。这项研究清楚地表明，无脊椎动物的衰落可能导致已经观察到的动植物之间的失配，从而对诸如粮食供应和授粉成功等生态系统服务产生潜在的负面影响。生态系统功能的这种恶化可能会加剧昆虫和植物生物多样性的丧失。