EFFECTS OF BIODIVERSITY ON ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING: A CONSENSUS OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE
Western Washington University · University of Alaska Fairbanks · +18 more institutions
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…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 213.33
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 377
Authors
15- DUDavid U. HooperCorresponding
Western Washington University
- FSF. Stuart Chapin
University of Alaska Fairbanks
- JJJohn J. Ewel
US Forest Service
- AHAndy Hector
ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, University of Zurich
- PIPablo Inchausti
Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Topics & keywords
- Biodiversity
- Ecosystem
- Ecosystem services
- Ecology
- Environmental resource management
- Ecosystem management
- Abundance (ecology)
- Abiotic component
- Life in Land