Dataset Information

Consumers control diversity and functioning of a natural marine ecosystem.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Our understanding of the functional consequences of changes in biodiversity has been hampered by several limitations of previous work, including limited attention to trophic interactions, a focus on species richness rather than evenness, and the use of artificially assembled communities.

Methodology and principal findings

In this study, we manipulated the density of an herbivorous snail in natural tide pools and allowed seaweed communities to assemble in an ecologically relevant and non-random manner. Seaweed species evenness and biomass-specific primary productivity (mg O(2) h(-1) g(-1)) were higher in tide pools with snails because snails preferentially consumed an otherwise dominant seaweed species that can reduce biomass-specific productivity rates of algal assemblages. Although snails reduced overall seaweed biomass in tide pools, they did not affect gross primary productivity at the scale of tide pools (mg O(2) h(-1) pool(-1) or mg O(2) h(-1) m(-2)) because of the enhanced biomass-specific productivity associated with grazer-mediated increases in algal evenness.

Significance

Our results suggest that increased attention to trophic interactions, diversity measures other than richness, and particularly the effects of consumers on evenness and primary productivity, will improve our understanding of the relationship between diversity and ecosystem functioning and allow more effective links between experimental results and real-world changes in biodiversity.

SUBMITTER: Altieri AH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2668074 | biostudies-literature | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Consumers control diversity and functioning of a natural marine ecosystem.

Altieri Andrew H AH Trussell Geoffrey C GC Ewanchuk Patrick J PJ Bernatchez Genevieve G Bracken Matthew E S ME

PloS one 20090422 4

<h4>Background</h4>Our understanding of the functional consequences of changes in biodiversity has been hampered by several limitations of previous work, including limited attention to trophic interactions, a focus on species richness rather than evenness, and the use of artificially assembled communities.<h4>Methodology and principal findings</h4>In this study, we manipulated the density of an herbivorous snail in natural tide pools and allowed seaweed communities to assemble in an ecologically ...[more]

PMID: 19384410

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Dataset Information

Consumers control diversity and functioning of a natural marine ecosystem.

Background

Methodology and principal findings

Significance

Publications

Consumers control diversity and functioning of a natural marine ecosystem.

Similar Datasets

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