Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Synthesis and Perspectives

by Loreau, Michel; Naeem, Shahid; Inchausti, Pablo

• ISBN13: 9780198515708
• ISBN10: 0198515707
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has emerged as one of the most exciting and dynamic areas in contemporary ecology. Increasing domination of ecosystems by humans is steadily transforming them into depauperate systems. How will this loss of biodiversity affect thefunctioning and stability of natural and managed ecosystems? This volume provides the first comprehensive and balanced coverage of recent empirical and theoretical research on this question. It reviews the evidence, provides bases for the resolution of the debate that has divided scientists on theseissues, and offers perspectives on how current knowledge can be extended to other ecosystems, other organisms and other spatial and temporal scales. It cuts across the traditional division between community ecology and ecosystem ecology, and announces a new ecological synthesis in which the dynamicsof biological diversity and the biogeochemical functioning of the earth system are merged.

Table of Contents

Contributors	x
PART I Introduction
Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: the emergence of a synthetic ecological framework	3	(9)
S. Naeem
M. Loreau
P. Inchausti
The debate on the role of biodiversity in ecosystem functioning	12	(9)
H. A. Mooney
PART II Core areas of debate: biodiversity and ecosystem processes in grassland ecosystems
Plant diversity and composition: effects on productivity and nutrient dynamics of experimental grasslands	21	(15)
D. Tilman
J. Knops
D. Wedin
P. Reich
Biodiversity manipulation experiments: studies replicated at multiple sites	36	(11)
A. Hector
M. Loreau
B. Schmid
Evaluating the relative strengths of biotic versus abiotic controls on ecosystem processes	47	(14)
M. A. Huston
A. C. McBride
The design and analysis of biodiversity experiments	61	(18)
B. Schmid
A. Hector
M. A. Huston
P. Inchausti
I. Nijs
P. W. Leadley
D. Tilman
PART III New perspectives on ecosystem stability
A new look at the relationship between diversity and stability	79	(13)
M. Loreau
A. Downing
M. Emmerson
A. Gonzalez
J. Hughes
P. Inchausti
J. Joshi
J. Norberg
O. Sala
Do species interactions buffer environmental variation (in theory)?	92	(10)
J. B. Hughes
A. R. Ives
J. Norberg
Biodiversity and stability in soil ecosystems: patterns, processes and the effects of disturbance	102	(12)
P. C. de Ruiter
B. Griffiths
J. C. Moore
Neighbourhood scale effects of species diversity on biological invasions and their relationship to community patterns	114	(13)
J. M. Levine
T. Kennedy
S. Naeem
PART IV Extending the scope to other systems
Contributions of aquatic model systems to our understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning	127	(12)
O. L. Petchey
P. J. Morin
F. D. Hulot
M. Loreau
J. McGrady-Steed
S. Naeem
How can marine ecology contribute to the biodiversity--ecosystem functioning debate?	139	(8)
M. Emmerson
M. Huxham
Multi-trophic dynamics and ecosystem processes	147	(8)
D. Raffaelli
W. H. van der Putten
L. Persson
D. A. Wardle
O. L. Petchey
J. Koricheva
M. van der Heijden
J. Mikola
T. Kennedy
Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and above-ground-below-ground linkages	155	(14)
D. A. Wardle
W. H. van der Putten
Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and soil decomposer food webs	169	(12)
J. Mikola
R. D. Bardgett
K. Hedlund
The critical role of plant-microbe interactions on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: arbuscular mycorrhizal associations as an example	181	(14)
M. G. A. van der Heijden
J. H. C. Cornelissen
PART V Extending the scope to other dimensions
Species diversity, functional diversity, and ecosystem functioning	195	(14)
D. U. Hooper
M. Solan
A. Symstad
S. Diaz
M. O. Gessner
N. Buchmann
V. Degrange
P. Grime
F. Hulot
F. Mermillod-Blondin
J. Roy
E. Spehn
L. van Peer
Slippin' and slidin' between the scales: the scaling components of biodiversity--ecosystem functioning relations	209	(12)
J. Bengtsson
K. Engelhardt
P. Giller
S. Hobbie
D. Lawrence
J. Levine
M. Vila
V. Wolters
Effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning in managed ecosystems	221	(16)
J. Vandermeer
D. Lawrence
A. Symstad
S. Hobbie
PART VI Synthesis
Perspectives and challenges	237	(6)
M. Loreau
S. Naeem
P. Inchausti
Bibliography	243	(40)
Index	283