Emmerson M C, Solan M, Emes C, Paterson D M, Raffaelli D
Culterty Field Station, University of Aberdeen, Newburgh, Ellon, AB41 6AA, Scotland.
Nature. 2001 May 3;411(6833):73-7. doi: 10.1038/35075055.
Revealing the consequences of species extinctions for ecosystem function has been a chief research goal and has been accompanied by enthusiastic debate. 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 unaffected. 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.
揭示物种灭绝对生态系统功能的影响一直是主要的研究目标，并且引发了热烈的争论。主要在陆地草原和土壤生态系统中开展的研究表明，随着群落中物种数量的增加，某些生态系统过程，如生产力也会增加，而其他过程，如分解则可能不受影响。多样性能够影响生态系统功能的各个方面，但关于所观察到的模式有多普遍，以及它们究竟是多样性本身的产物，还是生态系统中物种所具有的功能角色和特征的产物，仍然存在疑问。在这里，我们展示了全球和区域尺度上海洋沿岸系统物种代表性的多样性效应变化。我们提供了证据，表明随着多样性增加，互补资源利用也会增加，并有力地证明了区域尺度上自然群落中存在多样性效应。个体物种反应的变异性与多样性增加时生态系统功能呈正向但特异的模式相一致。
