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Related Concept Videos

What is Biodiversity?01:19

What is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity describes the variety of living things at multiple organizational levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. Species diversity includes all branches of the evolutionary tree from single-celled prokaryotic organisms, bacteria, and archaea, to the eukaryotic kingdoms: plants; animals; fungi; and protists. To date, there have been about 1.75 million species identified, and new species are discovered every week.
Ecological Succession02:17

Ecological Succession

Ecological succession is influenced by the processes of facilitation, inhibition, and toleration. Facilitation occurs when early successional species create more favorable ecological conditions for subsequent species, such as enhanced nutrient, water, or light availability. In contrast, inhibition happens when early successional species create unfavorable ecological conditions for potential successive species, such as limiting resource availability. In some cases, later successional species...
Competition02:34

Competition

When organisms require the same limited resources within an environment, they may have to compete for them. Competition is a net-negative interaction. Even if two competing individuals or populations do not interact directly, the overall fitness of both competitors is lowered as a result of not having full access to the limited resource.Intraspecific competition, which occurs between individuals of the same species, serves as a natural mechanism for regulating population size. Too much...
Ecological Disturbance02:26

Ecological Disturbance

An ecological disturbance is a temporary disruption in the environment resulting from abiotic, biotic, or anthropogenic factors, causing a pronounced change in an ecosystem. The impact of an ecological disturbance, which can depend on its intensity, frequency, and spatial distribution, plays a significant role in shaping the species diversity within the ecosystem.Ecological disturbances can be caused by an event as small as the trampling of underbrush to an incident as wide-ranging as a forest...
Diversity of Protists II01:27

Diversity of Protists II

Alveolates are a group of organisms recognized by the presence of alveoli, which are cytoplasmic sacs located beneath the cell membrane. While their function remains uncertain, alveoli may help regulate water balance by controlling how much water enters and leaves the cell. In dinoflagellates, these structures may serve as armor plates. There are three major types of alveolates: ciliates, which move using cilia; dinoflagellates, which use flagella for movement; and apicomplexans, which are...
Marine Microbial Ecology01:30

Marine Microbial Ecology

Marine microbial ecosystems are shaped by distinct physicochemical limits, including high salinity, low nutrient availability, and fluctuating oxygen levels. These conditions favor smaller microbial cell sizes, which maximize their surface-to-volume ratio for efficient nutrient uptake.Microbial activity and community composition are closely linked to biogeochemical cycles, particularly in dynamic environments like estuaries, where halotolerant microbes thrive in response to variable salinity...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter
10:20

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Published on: March 12, 2013

Diversity-dependent production can decrease the stability of ecosystem functioning.

Andrea B Pfisterer1, Bernhard Schmid

  • 1Institut für Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Zürich, Switzerland.

Nature
|March 8, 2002
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Biodiversity boosts grassland biomass production. However, species-poor ecosystems show greater resistance and initial resilience to drought, challenging the direct link between biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

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Last Updated: Jun 27, 2026

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Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Published on: March 12, 2013

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JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning
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JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Environmental Science
  • Biodiversity Research

Background:

  • Species loss raises concerns about ecosystem functioning and stability.
  • While biodiversity loss impacts biomass production, direct evidence on ecosystem resistance and resilience is limited.
  • Theory and experiments suggest a link between biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem stability under perturbation.
  • To assess how biodiversity affects ecosystem resistance and resilience to drought in grassland ecosystems.

Main Methods:

  • A field experiment was conducted on constructed grassland ecosystems.
  • Factorial manipulations of plant diversity (1, 2, 4, 8, or 32 species) and drought perturbation were implemented.
  • Ecosystem resistance and resilience were measured under simulated drought conditions.

Main Results:

  • Species-rich systems produced higher biomass under unperturbed conditions.
  • Species-poor systems exhibited greater resistance to drought perturbation.
  • Species-poor systems showed higher initial resilience, with diversity-productivity restored after one year.

Conclusions:

  • Biodiversity enhances ecosystem biomass production.
  • An inverse relationship exists between biodiversity and ecosystem stability, as species-poor systems are more resistant to perturbation.
  • Findings challenge the assumption that higher biodiversity always equates to greater ecosystem stability.