School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
PLoS Biol. 2018 Jul 13;16(7):e2006285. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2006285. eCollection 2018 Jul.
Ecosystem ecologists explore how different kinds of species fit together to drive ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling and productivity. This research is motivated by theories that assume that the suite of traits that characterize a species' form determines its function, that these traits have become fixed over evolutionary time, and that ensuing ecosystem process are not resilient to environmental change. Here, I explore new research that re-evaluates this theory. Recent results suggest that functional traits are malleable, enabling species to rapidly respond and adapt to each other as environmental conditions change with predictable effects on ecosystem processes. These basic research findings suggest that species adaptations may impart in ecosystems an inherent capacity to weather environmental changes, thereby offering deeper understanding about which biological attributes protect ecological functions and which are needed to restore damaged ecosystems.
生态学家探索不同种类的物种如何相互适应，以驱动生态系统过程，如养分循环和生产力。这项研究的动机是基于这样的理论，即一个物种的特征组合决定了它的功能，这些特征在进化过程中已经固定，并且随之而来的生态系统过程对环境变化没有弹性。在这里，我探讨了重新评估这一理论的新研究。最近的结果表明，功能特征是可塑的，使物种能够随着环境条件的变化而迅速相互响应和适应，对生态系统过程产生可预测的影响。这些基础研究结果表明，物种的适应可能赋予生态系统应对环境变化的内在能力，从而更深入地了解哪些生物特征保护生态功能，以及哪些特征需要用于恢复受损的生态系统。
