IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v411y2001i6833d10.1038_35075055.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consistent patterns and the idiosyncratic effects of biodiversity in marine ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Mark C. Emmerson

    (Culterty Field Station, University of Aberdeen)

  • Martin Solan

    (Culterty Field Station, University of Aberdeen)

  • Chas Emes

    (Culterty Field Station, University of Aberdeen)

  • David M. Paterson

    (Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St Andrews)

  • Dave Raffaelli

    (Culterty Field Station, University of Aberdeen
    University of York)

Abstract

Revealing the consequences of species extinctions for ecosystem function has been a chief research goal1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and has been accompanied by enthusiastic debate8,9,10,11. Studies carried out predominantly in terrestrial grassland and soil ecosystems have demonstrated that as the number of species in assembled communities increases, so too do certain ecosystem processes, such as productivity, whereas others such as decomposition can remain unaffected12. Diversity can influence aspects of ecosystem function, but questions remain as to how generic the patterns observed are, and whether they are the product of diversity, as such, or of the functional roles and traits that characterize species in ecological systems. Here we demonstrate variable diversity effects for species representative of marine coastal systems at both global and regional scales. We provide evidence for an increase in complementary resource use as diversity increases and show strong evidence for diversity effects in naturally assembled communities at a regional scale. The variability among individual species responses is consistent with a positive but idiosyncratic pattern of ecosystem function with increased diversity.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark C. Emmerson & Martin Solan & Chas Emes & David M. Paterson & Dave Raffaelli, 2001. "Consistent patterns and the idiosyncratic effects of biodiversity in marine ecosystems," Nature, Nature, vol. 411(6833), pages 73-77, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:411:y:2001:i:6833:d:10.1038_35075055
    DOI: 10.1038/35075055
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/35075055
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/35075055?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Silke Langenheder & Mark T Bulling & Martin Solan & James I Prosser, 2010. "Bacterial Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Relations Are Modified by Environmental Complexity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(5), pages 1-9, May.
    2. David S Clare & Matthew Spencer & Leonie A Robinson & Christopher L J Frid, 2016. "Species-Specific Effects on Ecosystem Functioning Can Be Altered by Interspecific Interactions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:411:y:2001:i:6833:d:10.1038_35075055. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.