The functional role of producer diversity in ecosystems
Bradley J. Cardinale,Kristin L. Matulich,David U. Hooper,Jarrett E. K. Byrnes,Emmett Duffy,Lars Gamfeldt,Patricia Balvanera,Mary I. O'Connor,Andrew Gonzalez +8 more
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TLDR
Several new questions must now be addressed if this field is going to evolve into a predictive science that can help conserve and manage ecological processes in ecosystems, including questions about how primary producer diversity influences the efficiency of resource use and biomass production in ecosystems.Abstract:
Over the past several decades, a rapidly expanding field of research known as biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has begun to quantify how the world's biological diversity can, as an independent variable, control ecological processes that are both essential for, and fundamental to, the functioning of ecosystems. Research in this area has often been justified on grounds that (1) loss of biological diversity ranks among the most pronounced changes to the global environment and that (2) reductions in diversity, and corresponding changes in species composition, could alter important services that ecosystems provide to humanity (e.g., food production, pest/disease control, water purification). Here we review over two decades of experiments that have examined how species richness of primary producers influences the suite of ecological processes that are controlled by plants and algae in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. Using formal meta-analyses, we assess the balance of evidence for eight fundamental questions and corresponding hypotheses about the functional role of producer diversity in ecosystems. These include questions about how primary producer diversity influences the efficiency of resource use and biomass production in ecosystems, how primary producer diversity influences the transfer and recycling of biomass to other trophic groups in a food web, and the number of species and spatial /temporal scales at which diversity effects are most apparent. After summarizing the balance of evidence and stating our own confidence in the conclusions, we outline several new questions that must now be addressed if this field is going to evolve into a predictive science that can help conserve and manage ecological processes in ecosystems.read more
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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.
Journal ArticleDOI
A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change
David U. Hooper,E. Carol Adair,E. Carol Adair,Bradley J. Cardinale,Jarrett E. K. Byrnes,Bruce A. Hungate,Kristin L. Matulich,Andrew Gonzalez,J. Emmett Duffy,Lars Gamfeldt,Mary I. O'Connor,Mary I. O'Connor +11 more
TL;DR: The analyses clearly show that the ecosystem consequences of local species loss are as quantitatively significant as the direct effects of several global change stressors that have mobilized major international concern and remediation efforts.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
TL;DR: 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...
Journal ArticleDOI
High plant diversity is needed to maintain ecosystem services
Forest Isbell,Vincent Calcagno,Andy Hector,John Connolly,W. Stanley Harpole,Peter B. Reich,Peter B. Reich,Michael Scherer-Lorenzen,Bernhard Schmid,David Tilman,Jasper van Ruijven,Alexandra Weigelt,Brian J. Wilsey,Erika S. Zavaleta,Michel Loreau +14 more
TL;DR: It is shown that 84% of the 147 grassland plant species studied in 17 biodiversity experiments promoted ecosystem functioning at least once, and many species are needed to maintain multiple functions at multiple times and places in a changing world.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microbial diversity drives multifunctionality in terrestrial ecosystems
Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo,Fernando T. Maestre,Peter B. Reich,Peter B. Reich,Thomas C. Jeffries,Juan José Gaitán,Daniel Encinar,Miguel Berdugo,Colin Campbell,Brajesh K. Singh +9 more
TL;DR: The findings provide empirical evidence that any loss in microbial diversity will likely reduce multifunctionality, negatively impacting the provision of services such as climate regulation, soil fertility and food and fibre production by terrestrial ecosystems.
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