Journal
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
Volume 37, Issue 9, Pages 768-776Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.05.006
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union [787638]
- Swiss National Science Foundation [173342]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Our study suggests using a species' interaction niche to assess its contribution to functional and phylogenetic diversity, in order to identify species and interspecific interactions that are particularly important for ecosystem conservation.
Reduction of functional diversity (FD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD) likely affects ecosystem functions and reduces the potential of communities to respond to changes, such as climate change. Mutualistic interactions are essential for main-taining diversity, but their role has largely been ignored in conservation planning. We propose using a species' interaction niche - the diversity of its interaction partners - to measure a species' contribution to the maintenance of FD and PD via mutualistic interactions, and thus identify species and interspecific interactions that are particularly important for the conservation of ecosystem functions and evolutionary lineages in ecological communities. Our approach represents a switch in perspective that allows a direct assessment of the importance of mutualistic interactions for the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available