Biology 3445F Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Species Richness, Goodwill Ambassador, Intercropping
Document Summary
Eeb july 27, 2010 enhanced biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships in polluted systems. Important to understand link between biodiversity and functioning of species assemblages. Found that communities with more species or functional types results in higher levels of ecosystem functioning (e. g. nutrient processing rates, carbon sequestration, productivity) Hypothesized biodiversity even more important for maintenance of ecosystem functioning during times of environmental stress/change rather than in stable, controlled conditions. Pressure for management strategies to maintain maximal diversity as insurance against an uncertain future findings that in the presence of stress, high biodiversity is able to minimize negative effects. Ecosystem function consequences to biodiversity becoming more similar: cycling of materials, nutrients, energy; productivity. Three main early hypotheses very basic: no effect (null, a linear relationship between diversity and function true to a certain point (led to 3rd hypothesis, an asymptotic relationship (redundancy) Led to large scale field experiments manipulating field plots with different levels of diversity: e. g.
