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2016
Journal Article
Titel
Reintroducing environmental change drivers in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research
Abstract
For the past 20 years, research on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (B-EF) has only implicitly considered the underlying role of environmental change. We illustrate that explicitly reintroducing environmental change drivers in B-EF research is needed to predict the functioning of ecosystems facing changes in biodiversity. Next we show how this reintroduction improves experimental control over community composition and structure, which helps to provide mechanistic insight on how multiple aspects of biodiversity relate to function and how biodiversity and function relate in food webs. We also highlight challenges for the proposed reintroduction and suggest analyses and experiments to better understand how random biodiversity changes, as studied by classic approaches in B-EF research, contribute to the shifts in function that follow environmental change.
Author(s)
Laender, Frederik de
Research Unit in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
Baird, Donald J.
Environment Canada, Canadian Rivers Institute, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada
Berger, Uta
Institute of Forest Growth and Computer Sciences, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Maltby, Lorraine
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Meliàn, Carlos J.
Center for Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland
Pomati, Francesco
Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology - Dübendorf - Switzerland