Journal ArticleDOI
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
TLDR
Diversity loss has an effect as great as, or greater than, the effects of herbivory, fire, drought, nitrogen addition, elevated CO2, and other drivers of environm...Abstract:
Species diversity is a major determinant of ecosystem productivity, stability, invasibility, and nutrient dynamics. Hundreds of studies spanning terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems show that high-diversity mixtures are approximately twice as productive as monocultures of the same species and that this difference increases through time. These impacts of higher diversity have multiple causes, including interspecific complementarity, greater use of limiting resources, decreased herbivory and disease, and nutrient-cycling feedbacks that increase nutrient stores and supply rates over the long term. These experimentally observed effects of diversity are consistent with predictions based on a variety of theories that share a common feature: All have trade-off-based mechanisms that allow long-term coexistence of many different competing species. Diversity loss has an effect as great as, or greater than, the effects of herbivory, fire, drought, nitrogen addition, elevated CO2, and other drivers of environm...read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge
D. U. Hooper,F. S. Chapin,John J. Ewel,Andy Hector,P. Inchausti,Sandra Lavorel,John H. Lawton,David M. Lodge,Michel Loreau,Shahid Naeem,Bernhard Schmid,Heikki Setälä,Amy J. Symstad,John Vandermeer,David A. Wardle,David A. Wardle +15 more
TL;DR: Understanding this complexity, while taking strong steps to minimize current losses of species, is necessary for responsible management of Earth's ecosystems and the diverse biota they contain.
Journal ArticleDOI
Social and Ecological Resilience: Are They Related?
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define social resilience as the ability of groups or communities to cope with external stresses and disturbances as a result of social, political and environmental change, and explore potential links between social resilience and ecological resilience.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ecological linkages between aboveground and belowground biota.
David A. Wardle,David A. Wardle,Richard D. Bardgett,John N. Klironomos,Heikki Setälä,Wim H. van der Putten,Diana H. Wall +6 more
TL;DR: This work shows how aboveground and belowground components are closely interlinked at the community level, reinforced by a greater degree of specificity between plants and soil organisms than has been previously supposed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Landscape perspectives on agricultural intensification and biodiversity – ecosystem service management
TL;DR: In this article, the negative and positive effects of agricultural land use for the conservation of biodiversity, and its relation to ecosystem services, need a landscape perspective, which is difficult to be found in the literature.
REVIEWS AND SYNTHESES Landscape perspectives on agricultural intensification and biodiversity - ecosystem service management
TL;DR: In this article, the negative and positive effects of agricultural land use for the conservation of biodiversity, and its relation to ecosystem services, need a landscape perspective, which may compensate for local highintensity management.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge
D. U. Hooper,F. S. Chapin,John J. Ewel,Andy Hector,P. Inchausti,Sandra Lavorel,John H. Lawton,David M. Lodge,Michel Loreau,Shahid Naeem,Bernhard Schmid,Heikki Setälä,Amy J. Symstad,John Vandermeer,David A. Wardle,David A. Wardle +15 more
TL;DR: Understanding this complexity, while taking strong steps to minimize current losses of species, is necessary for responsible management of Earth's ecosystems and the diverse biota they contain.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity
Bradley J. Cardinale,J. Emmett Duffy,Andrew Gonzalez,David U. Hooper,Charles Perrings,Patrick Venail,Anita Narwani,Georgina M. Mace,David Tilman,David A. Wardle,Ann P. Kinzig,Gretchen C. Daily,Michel Loreau,James B. Grace,Anne Larigauderie,Diane S. Srivastava,Shahid Naeem +16 more
TL;DR: It is argued that human actions are dismantling the Earth’s ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate, and the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper is asked.