Ecosystem Function of Biodiversity: A Summary

In light of past and projected global changes in land use and climate, there has been increasing concern about the loss of genetic diversity in fragmented populations, the loss of species diversity through habitat destruction, and the role of landscape diversity in regional processes. However, it is unclear exactly how and why a change in biodiversity might alter the functioning of ecosystems, i.e., the transfer of carbon, water, and nutrients, and the maintenance of ecosystem stability. One reason for this is that we know too little about the population biology and functional properties of most species. Furthermore, we lack a full understanding about the mechanisms which underlie the self-assembly and organization of species in communities and about the effects of variations in the arrangement of components in such complex systems.

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