Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

VIMS Articles

Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Biodiversity; decomposition; ecosystem functioning; herbivory; nutrient cycling; primary production.

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Functional Role Of Producer Diversity In Ecosystems, Bradley J. Cardinale, Kristin L. Matulich, David U. Hooper, Jarrett E. K. Byrnes, Emmett J. Duffy, Lars Gamfeldt, Patricia Balvanera, Mary I. O'Connor, Andrew Gonzalez Mar 2011

The Functional Role Of Producer Diversity In Ecosystems, Bradley J. Cardinale, Kristin L. Matulich, David U. Hooper, Jarrett E. K. Byrnes, Emmett J. Duffy, Lars Gamfeldt, Patricia Balvanera, Mary I. O'Connor, Andrew Gonzalez

VIMS Articles

Over the past several decades, a rapidly expanding field of research known as biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has begun to quantify how the world's biological diversity can, as an independent variable, control ecological processes that are both essential for, and fundamental to, the functioning of ecosystems. Research in this area has often been justified on grounds that (1) loss of biological diversity ranks among the most pronounced changes to the global environment and that (2) reductions in diversity, and corresponding changes in species composition, could alter important services that ecosystems provide to humanity (e.g., food production, pest/disease control, water purification). …