ecoSERVICES Project Publications
J.Cardinale, Diane S. Srivastava, J. Emmett Duffy, Justin P. Wright, Amy L. Downing, Mahesh Sankaran and Claire Jouseau, Effects of biodiversity on the functioning of trophic groups and ecosystems BROKEN LINK
Vegetation change: a reunifying concept in plant ecology (MarkA.Davis, Jan Pergl, Anne-Marie Truscott, Johannes Kollmann, Jan P.Bakker, Roser Domenech, Karel Prach, Anne-Hélène Prieur-Richard, Roos M.Veeneklaas, Petr Pyssek, Roger del Moral, Richard J.Hobbs, Scott L.Collins, Steward T.A.Pickett, Peter B.Reich
Effects of species diversity on the primary productivity of ecosystems: extending our spatial and temporal scales of inference (Bradley J. Cardinale, Anthony R. Ives and Pablo Inchausti)
Mark O. Gessner, Pablo Inchausti, Lennart Persson, David G. Raffaelli and Paul S. Giller (2004) Biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning: insights from aquatic systems
Biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning: emerging issues and their experimental test in aquatic environments (Paul S. Giller, Helmut Hillebrand, Ulrike-G. Berninger, Mark O. Gessner, Stephen Hawkins, Pablo Inchausti, Cheryl Inglis, Heather Leslie, Bjo¨ rn Malmqvist, Michael T. Monaghan, Peter J. Morin and Gregory O’Mullan)
Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in aquatic microbial systems: a new analysis of temporal variation and species richness-predictability relations (Peter J. Morin and Jill McGrady-Steed)
Species loss and the structure and functioning of multitrophic aquatic systems (http://diversitas-international.org/docs/publications/Petchey-et-al_2004_Oikos104-3.pdf) (Owen L. Petchey, Amy L. Downing, Gary G. Mittelbach, Lennart Persson, Christopher F. Steiner, Philip H. Warren and Guy Woodward)
Linking ecological function, biodiversity and habitat: a mini-review focusing on older ecological literature (Bernhard Statzner and Brian Moss)
Impacts of multiple stressors on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: the role of species co-tolerance (Rolf D. Vinebrooke, Kathryn L. Cottingham, Jon Norberg, Marten Scheffer, Stanley I. Dodson, Stephen C. Maberly and Ulrich Sommer)
D.U. Hooper, F.S. Chapin, J.J. Ewel, A. Hector, P. Inchausti, S. Lavorel, J.H. Lawton, D.M. Lodge, M. Loreau, S. Naeem, B. Schmid, H. Setälä, A.J. Symstad, U.S. Geological Survey, J. Vandermeer, D.A. Wardle. Effects of Biodiversity on Ecosystem Functioning: A Consensus of Current Knowledge IN ESA report: Ecological Monographs, 75 (1), 2005, pp. 3-35
Abstract
Humans are altering the composition of biological communities through a variety of activities that increase rates of species invasions and species extinctions, at all scales, from local to global. These changes in components of the Earth’s biodiversity cause concern for ethical and aesthetic reasons; but they also have a strong potential to alter ecosystem properties and the goods and services they provide to humanity: Ecological experiments, observations, and theoretical developments show that ecosystem properties depend greatly on biodiversity in terms of the functional characteristics of organisms present in the ecosystem and the distribution and abundance of those organisms over space and time. Species effects act in concert with the effects of climate, resource availability, and disturbance regimes in influencing ecosystem properties: Human activities can modify all of the above factures, here we focus on modification of these biotic controls.
The scientific community has come to a broad consensus on many aspects of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, including many points relevant to management of ecosystems. Further progress will require integration of knowledge about biotic and abiotic controls on ecosystem properties, how ecological communities are structured, and the forces driving species extinction and invasions. To strengthen links to policy and management, we also need to integrate our ecological knowledge with understanding of the social and economic constraints of potential management practices. 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.
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Synthesis and Perspectives by Michel Loreau, Shahid Naeem and Pablo Inchausti, eds (2002). Oxford University Press.
Determining the scientific relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is one of the most important challenges for ecological and environmental science. By providing a synthesis and critical assessment, this book helps to identify the main issues and to encourage new directions for future investigation.