Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Literature review › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Literature review › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Terrestrial Ecosystem Responses to Species Gains and Losses
AU - Wardle, David A.
AU - Bardgett, Richard D.
AU - Callaway, Ragan M.
AU - Van der Putten, Wim H.
PY - 2011/6/10
Y1 - 2011/6/10
N2 - Ecosystems worldwide are losing some species and gaining others, resulting in an interchange of species that is having profound impacts on how these ecosystems function. However, research on the effects of species gains and losses has developed largely independently of one another. Recent conceptual advances regarding effects of species gain have arisen from studies that have unraveled the mechanistic basis of how invading species with novel traits alter biotic interactions and ecosystem processes. In contrast, studies on traits associated with species loss are fewer, and much remains unknown about how traits that predispose species to extinction affect ecological processes. Species gains and losses are both consequences and drivers of global change; thus, explicit integration of research on how both processes simultaneously affect ecosystem functioning is key to determining the response of the Earth system to current and future human activities.
AB - Ecosystems worldwide are losing some species and gaining others, resulting in an interchange of species that is having profound impacts on how these ecosystems function. However, research on the effects of species gains and losses has developed largely independently of one another. Recent conceptual advances regarding effects of species gain have arisen from studies that have unraveled the mechanistic basis of how invading species with novel traits alter biotic interactions and ecosystem processes. In contrast, studies on traits associated with species loss are fewer, and much remains unknown about how traits that predispose species to extinction affect ecological processes. Species gains and losses are both consequences and drivers of global change; thus, explicit integration of research on how both processes simultaneously affect ecosystem functioning is key to determining the response of the Earth system to current and future human activities.
U2 - 10.1126/science.1197479
DO - 10.1126/science.1197479
M3 - Literature review
VL - 332
SP - 1273
EP - 1277
JO - Science
JF - Science
SN - 0036-8075
IS - 6035
ER -