Consequences of realistic patterns of biodiversity loss: an experimental test from the intertidal zone

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meaghan K. Walker ◽  
Ross M. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Species Identity ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function ◽  
Positive Effect

Studies of the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem function (BDEF) have largely found positive, saturating relationships. However, these studies have been criticised for generating species loss randomly when real extinctions are strongly biased toward rare species. We investigated BDEF relationships in the mollusc fauna of an intertidal rock platform at Griffiths Point, San Remo, south-east Victoria, Australia. Field surveys found that areas with the lowest function (mollusc biomass) were associated with lowest diversity. Excluding individual species from experimental enclosures affected function differentially depending on species’ initial abundance. Rectangular enclosures were attached to the rock platform enabling molluscs to be enclosed while allowing sea water to flow through. Removal of the most abundant species had a positive effect on mollusc biomass, suggesting an inhibition of the other species in the community. In the absence of the most common species, the less abundant species were more productive in combination than when present singly. Taken collectively, these results provide evidence for a relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function which is a product of both diversity per se and species identity.

scholarly journals Environmental and Social Risks to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health—A Bottom-Up, Resource-Focused Assessment Framework

Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-456
Author(s):  
Roger A. Pielke ◽  
Jimmy Adegoke ◽  
Faisal Hossain ◽  
Dev Niyogi
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Ecosystem Health ◽  
Interactive System ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function

Risks from human intervention in the climate system are raising concerns with respect to individual species and ecosystem health and resiliency. A dominant approach uses global climate models to predict changes in climate in the coming decades and then to downscale this information to assess impacts to plant communities, animal habitats, agricultural and urban ecosystems, and other parts of the Earth’s life system. To achieve robust assessments of the threats to these systems in this top-down, outcome vulnerability approach, however, requires skillful prediction, and representation of changes in regional and local climate processes, which has not yet been satisfactorily achieved. Moreover, threats to biodiversity and ecosystem function, such as from invasive species, are in general, not adequately included in the assessments. We discuss a complementary assessment framework that builds on a bottom-up vulnerability concept that requires the determination of the major human and natural forcings on the environment including extreme events, and the interactions between these forcings. After these forcings and interactions are identified, then the relative risks of each issue can be compared with other risks or forcings in order to adopt optimal mitigation/adaptation strategies. This framework is a more inclusive way of assessing risks, including climate variability and longer-term natural and anthropogenic-driven change, than the outcome vulnerability approach which is mainly based on multi-decadal global and regional climate model predictions. We therefore conclude that the top-down approach alone is outmoded as it is inadequate for robustly assessing risks to biodiversity and ecosystem function. In contrast the bottom-up, integrative approach is feasible and much more in line with the needs of the assessment and conservation community. A key message of our paper is to emphasize the need to consider coupled feedbacks since the Earth is a dynamically interactive system. This should be done not just in the model structure, but also in its application and subsequent analyses. We recognize that the community is moving toward that goal and we urge an accelerated pace.

Biodiversity–ecosystem function

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-146
Author(s):  
Simon F. Thrush ◽  
Judi E. Hewitt ◽  
Conrad A. Pilditch ◽  
Alf Norkko
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Functional Performance ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Soft Sediment ◽  
Multiple Functions ◽  
Service Relationships ◽  
Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function ◽  
Up Scaling

This chapter looks at the links between biodiversity and ecosystem function in soft sediments to help understand the implications of biodiversity loss on ecosystem services. The chapter contains a focus on the challenges in developing real-world tests of biodiversity–ecosystem function (BEF) relationships. The various forms of BEF relationships, their implications and the different elements of biodiversity that link to function are described. Given the multiple functions that occur in soft-sediment ecosystems, this has important implications for the assessment and implications of BEF relationships and functional performance in the up-scaling of BEF relationships. The role of BEF in underpinning many ecosystem services and the interconnections in biodiversity and ecosystem service relationships close out the chapter.

scholarly journals Influence of Spartina alterniflora and tide level on the structure of polychaete associations in an euryhallne salt marsh in cananéia lagoon estuarine region (SE Brazil)

1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 24-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiano da Silva Attolini ◽  
Máurea Nicoletti Flynn ◽  
Airton Santo Tarararn
Keyword(s):  
Spartina Alterniflora ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
High Water ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Mean High Water ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Se Brazil ◽  
Tide Level

Polychaete species composition, abundance and seasonal variation were analyzed in relation to Spartina alterniflora cover and tide level at Ponta do Arrozal, Cananéia, during 1989/1990. Two intertidal stations were located on the S. alterniflora bellt, one ca mean high water of neap tides (MHWN) and the other ca mean high water of spring tides (MHWS). Two other stations were established at corresponding tide levels at an adjacent site devoid of vegetation. A total of 17 species were collected. Each station was sampled twice seasonally with a 20 cm of diameter corer. Capitella capitata, Isolda pulchella, Nereis oligohalina and Lumbrineris sp were the most abundant species. Statistically significant differences bettween the vegetated and bare sites considered were observed for the number of species, density, diversity and evenness, with their values being higher at the vegetated site. Multivariate analysis showed spatial variations of the fauna according to vegetation cover and tide level. In relation to vegetation cover, polychaetes assemblages were distinguishable mainly by individual species densities of the more common species, since the most abundant species were present at the vegetated and bare sites. In relation to tide level, the faunal densities and number of species at the MHWN station were significantly higher than those at the MHWS station mainly at the bare site.

Are local losses of biodiversity causing degraded ecosystem function?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Degraded Ecosystem ◽  
Biodiversity Change ◽  
Local Extirpation

This chapter highlights the scale dependence of biodiversity change over time and its consequences for arguments about the instrumental value of biodiversity. While biodiversity is in decline on a global scale, the temporal trends on regional and local scales include cases of biodiversity increase, no change, and decline. Environmental change, anthropogenic or otherwise, causes both local extirpation and colonization of species, and thus turnover in species composition, but not necessarily declines in biodiversity. In some situations, such as plants at the regional scale, human-mediated colonizations have greatly outnumbered extinctions, thus causing a marked increase in species richness. Since the potential influence of biodiversity on ecosystem function and services is mediated to a large degree by local or neighborhood species interactions, these results challenge the generality of the argument that biodiversity loss is putting at risk the ecosystem service benefits people receive from nature.

scholarly journals Locally rare species influence grassland ecosystem multifunctionality

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1694) ◽  
pp. 20150269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Soliveres ◽  
Peter Manning ◽  
Daniel Prati ◽  
Martin M. Gossner ◽  
Fabian Alt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Rare Species ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Conservation Priorities ◽  
Below Ground ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ecosystem Multifunctionality

Species diversity promotes the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). However, the relative functional importance of rare and common species in driving the biodiversity–multifunctionality relationship remains unknown. We studied the relationship between the diversity of rare and common species (according to their local abundances and across nine different trophic groups), and multifunctionality indices derived from 14 ecosystem functions on 150 grasslands across a land-use intensity (LUI) gradient. The diversity of above- and below-ground rare species had opposite effects, with rare above-ground species being associated with high levels of multifunctionality, probably because their effects on different functions did not trade off against each other. Conversely, common species were only related to average, not high, levels of multifunctionality, and their functional effects declined with LUI. Apart from the community-level effects of diversity, we found significant positive associations between the abundance of individual species and multifunctionality in 6% of the species tested. Species-specific functional effects were best predicted by their response to LUI: species that declined in abundance with land use intensification were those associated with higher levels of multifunctionality. Our results highlight the importance of rare species for ecosystem multifunctionality and help guiding future conservation priorities.

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