Functional consequences of realistic biodiversity changes in a marine ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: Declines in biodiversity have prompted concern over the consequences of species loss for the goods and services provided by natural ecosystems. However, relatively few studies have evaluated the functional consequences of realistic, nonrandom changes in biodiversity. Instead, most designs have used randomly selected assemblages from a local species pool to construct diversity gradients. It is therefore difficult, based on current evidence, to predict the functional consequences of realistic declines in biodiversity. In this study, we used tide pool microcosms to demonstrate that the effects of real-world changes in biodiversity may be very different from those of random diversity changes. Specifically, we measured the relationship between the diversity of a seaweed assemblage and its abili

SUBMITTER: Bracken ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2242673 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature