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Related Concept Videos

What is Biodiversity?01:19

What is Biodiversity?

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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.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 23, 2025

Divergence of Root Microbiota in Different Habitats based on Weighted Correlation Networks
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A graphical causal model for resolving species identity effects and biodiversity-ecosystem function correlations.

Donald R Schoolmaster1,2, Chad R Zirbel3,4, James Patrick Cronin1

  • 1US Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, 700 Cajundome Blvd, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70506, USA.

Ecology
|April 18, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Biodiversity-ecosystem function correlations are often noncausal associations. This study introduces a formal framework to accurately identify how functional traits mediate community structure

Keywords:
BEF experimentsbiodiversity effectscausal inferencecomposite variablesdirected acyclic graphsecosystem functionfunctional traitsgraphical causal modelingspecies identity effects

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Causal Inference
  • Trait-based Ecology

Background:

  • Identifying drivers of ecosystem function is vital but challenging due to correlated factors like environment, species identity, and biodiversity.
  • A formal framework is lacking to link theoretical ecological concepts to quantitative expressions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and test analytical strategies for understanding how community structure influences ecosystem function through functional traits.
  • To formally test if functional traits mediate the relationship between community structure and ecosystem function.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a causal diagram for complex hypotheses using a formal graphical framework.
  • Employed causal analysis, simulations, and field data to test analytical strategies.
  • Analyzed model misspecifications to diagnose gaps in functional trait hypotheses.

Main Results:

  • Biodiversity-ecosystem function correlations were identified as noncausal associations.
  • Simulations demonstrated how biodiversity correlations and species identity effects arise from model misspecification or incomplete trait mediation.
  • Addressing model misspecifications eliminated spurious associations between species identity/biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Conclusions:

  • Functional traits are crucial mediators linking community structure to ecosystem function.
  • Formal causal analysis is essential to distinguish correlation from causation in ecological studies.
  • The developed framework and methods enable robust research into trait-mediated ecosystem functions.