4.6 Review

Linking Terrestrial and Aquatic Biodiversity to Ecosystem Function Across Scales, Trophic Levels, and Realms

Journal

FRONTIERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Volume 9, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2021.692401

Keywords

biodiversity; cross-system subsidies; ecological realms; ecosystem engineering; ecosystem function; hydrology

Funding

  1. Michigan State University Watercube award
  2. United States National Science Foundation (NSF) [DBI-1639145]
  3. United States NSF Macrosystems Biology Program [EF-1638679]
  4. USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Hatch project [1010055, 1013544, 1025001]
  5. NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program-Grant [80NSSC17K0395]
  6. NIFA [913568, 1010055] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Global declines in biodiversity can impact ecosystem function, and more research is needed to explore the biodiversity-ecosystem function connections across different ecological realms. Various linkages include cross-system subsidies, ecosystem engineering, and hydrology.
Global declines in biodiversity have the potential to affect ecosystem function, and vice versa, in both terrestrial and aquatic ecological realms. While many studies have considered biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) relationships at local scales within single realms, there is a critical need for more studies examining BEF linkages among ecological realms, across scales, and across trophic levels. We present a framework linking abiotic attributes, productivity, and biodiversity across terrestrial and inland aquatic realms. We review examples of the major ways that BEF linkages form across realms-cross-system subsidies, ecosystem engineering, and hydrology. We then formulate testable hypotheses about the relative strength of these connections across spatial scales, realms, and trophic levels. While some studies have addressed these hypotheses individually, to holistically understand and predict the impact of biodiversity loss on ecosystem function, researchers need to move beyond local and simplified systems and explicitly investigate cross-realm and trophic interactions and large-scale patterns and processes. Recent advances in computational power, data synthesis, and geographic information science can facilitate studies spanning multiple ecological realms that will lead to a more comprehensive understanding of BEF connections.

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