The Ecological and Societal Consequences of Biodiversity Loss

The idea that changes in biodiversity can impact how ecosystems function has, over the last quarter century, gone from being a controversial notion to an accepted part of science and policy. As the field matures, it is high time to review progress, explore the links between this new research area and fundamental ecological concepts, and look ahead to the implementation of this knowledge.
 
This book is designed to both provide an up-to-date overview of research in the area and to serve as a useful textbook for those studying the relationship between biodiversity and the functioning, stability and services of ecosystems. The Ecological and Societal Consequences of Biodiversity Loss is aimed at a wide audience of upper undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and academic and research staff.

List of contents

Introduction the Ecological and Societal Consequences of Biodiversity Loss xiii
Michel LOREAU, Andy HECTOR, and Forest ISBELL
 
Part 1 Biodiversity and Ecosystems: An Overview 1
 
Chapter 1 Biodiversity Change: Past, Present, and Future 3
Andy PURVIS and Forest ISBELL
 
1.1 Setting the stage: difficulties of documenting, understanding, and communicating biodiversity change 3
 
1.2 Biodiversity change in Earth history 6
 
1.3 Pre-industrial biodiversity change 8
 
1.4 Biodiversity change in the "Anthropocene" 9
 
1.5 Future of biodiversity change 12
 
1.6 Future of biodiversity change research 14
 
1.7 Acknowledgements 17
 
1.8 References 17
 
Chapter 2 Biodiversity: Concepts, Dimensions, and Measures 25
Anne CHAO and Robert K COLWELL
 
2.1 Introduction 25
 
2.2 Progress in measuring taxonomic diversity 28
 
2.3 Taxonomic diversity and evenness measures 30
 
2.3.1 Taxonomic diversity: effective number of species 30
 
2.3.2 Evenness measures 32
 
2.4 A unified framework integrating diversities (TD, PD, and FD) 34
 
2.4.1 Phylogenetic diversity as a special case of attribute diversity 35
 
2.4.2 Functional diversity as a special case of attribute diversity 37
 
2.5 Diversity in space and time 39
 
2.6 Examples 40
 
2.6.1 Coral data 40
 
2.6.2 Saproxylic beetle data 41
 
2.7 Conclusion 43
 
2.8 Acknowledgements 43
 
2.9 References 44
 
Chapter 3 Ecosystems: An Overview 47
Amelia A WOLF, Sarah K ORTIZ, and Chase J RAKOWSKI
 
3.1 An introduction to ecosystems 47
 
3.1.1 Ecosystem extent: abiotic factors in terrestrial systems 48
 
3.1.2 Ecosystem extent: biotic factors 51
 
3.1.3 Major ecosystem types 53
 
3.1.4 Meta-ecosystems 55
 
3.1.5 Ecosystem dynamics and change over time and space 56
 
3.2 Ecosystem functioning 57
 
3.3 Ecosystem stability 65
 
3.4 Ecosystem services 66
 
3.5 Human alterations to ecosystems 68
 
3.6 References 68
 
Part 2 How Biodiversity Affects Ecosystem Functioning 73
 
Chapter 4 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Theoretical Foundations 75
Shaopeng WANG
 
4.1 Introduction 75
 
4.2 Biodiversity: from causes to consequences 77
 
4.3 Why does biodiversity promote ecosystem functioning? 81
 
4.4 Trophic diversity and ecosystem functioning 87
 
4.5 BEF over time and space 89
 
4.6 Conclusion 91
 
4.7 Acknowledgements 92
 
4.8 References 92
 
Chapter 5 Experimental Evidence for How Biodiversity Affects Ecosystem Functioning 97
Mary I O'CONNOR, Joey R BERNHARDT, Keila STARK, Jacob USINOWICZ, and Matthew A WHALEN
 
5.1 The role of experiments 98
 
5.1.1 The experiment that launched a thousand experiments 98
 
5.1.2 How do we gain knowledge from experiments? 100
 
5.2 BEF experiments as tests of theory 103
 
5.2.1 Diversity as a driver of change in ecosystem function 103
 
5.2.2 Evidence for selection and complementarity 107
 
5.2.3 Experimental evidence for key assumptions of BEF theory 108
 
5.2.4 Testing for diversity effects under broader abiotic and biotic conditions 109
 
5.2.5 Diversity effects in space and time 111
 
5.3 Experiments that extend classic theory 112
 
5.3.1 Does extinction order matter? 112
 
5.3.2 Experiments that bridge BEF and modern coexistence theory (MCT) 112
 
5.3.3 Experimental evidence for effects of biodiversity on ecosystem services 113
 
5.4 Conclusion 114
 
5.5 Refer

About the author

Michel Loreau is a theoretical ecologist with broad scientific interests. He is renowned internationally for his work on the relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and stability and the sustainability of coupled human-nature systems.
Andy Hector is an experimental ecologist with an interest in biodiversity, its loss and the consequences for ecosystem functioning and stability. He works primarily with plants, focusing on grassland and forest ecosystems, and is part of the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment in Malaysian Borneo.
Forest Isbell is an ecologist who studies grasslands, forests and agroecosystems. He investigates how changes in biodiversity are altering ecosystem functioning, stability and services, considering both the costs of biodiversity loss and the benefits of restoring biodiversity.

Summary

The idea that changes in biodiversity can impact how ecosystems function has, over the last quarter century, gone from being a controversial notion to an accepted part of science and policy. As the field matures, it is high time to review progress, explore the links between this new research area and fundamental ecological concepts, and look ahead to the implementation of this knowledge.

This book is designed to both provide an up-to-date overview of research in the area and to serve as a useful textbook for those studying the relationship between biodiversity and the functioning, stability and services of ecosystems. The Ecological and Societal Consequences of Biodiversity Loss is aimed at a wide audience of upper undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and academic and research staff.

Product details

• Authors: Andy Hector, Forest Isbell, Michel Loreau
• Publisher: Wiley & Sons
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.03.2022
• EAN: 9781789450729
• ISBN: 978-1-78945-072-9
• No. of pages: 384
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 253 mm x 25 mm
• Weight: 698 g
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; Biodiversität, Angewandte Ökologie, Life Sciences, Biogeographie, Biowissenschaften, Applied ecology, Biodiversity, Biogeography