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Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities
Published on: January 6, 2023
Real world biodiversity-ecosystem functioning: a seafloor perspective
Paul V R Snelgrove1, Simon F Thrush2, Diana H Wall3
1Department of Ocean Sciences and Biology Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada.
Abstract:
The effective application of biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) research to societal needs amid the Anthropocene represents the next grand challenge for ecology. Biodiversity knowledge that is most meaningful to society must reconcile insights derived from theory with detailed experiments and broad-scale trends. This perspective requires science that addresses high species richness, redundancy, and natural variability, which simplified 'model systems' cannot mimic. Here, we illustrate solutions of biodiversity knowledge to management and societal problems that combine BEF with scaling experiments, analysis of BEF along environmental gradients, and mapping technologies. We primarily draw examples from biophysical interactions in seafloor environments, which cover 70% of the Earth and add significantly to global ecosystem functions and services.
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