Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

What is Biodiversity?01:19

What is Biodiversity?

27.7K
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.
27.7K
What is an Ecosystem?01:17

What is an Ecosystem?

40.3K
Overview
40.3K
Ecological Disturbance02:26

Ecological Disturbance

17.4K
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.
17.4K
Trophic Efficiency00:46

Trophic Efficiency

21.2K
Trophic level transfer efficiency (TLTE) is a measure of the total energy transfer from one trophic level to the next. Due to extensive energy loss as metabolic heat, an average of only 10% of the original energy obtained is passed on to the next level. This pattern of energy loss severely limits the possible number of trophic levels in a food chain.
21.2K
Symbiosis00:58

Symbiosis

29.9K
Symbiotic relationships are long-term, close interactions between individuals of different species that affect the distribution and abundance of those species. When a relationship is beneficial to both species, this is called mutualism. When the relationship is beneficial to one species but neither beneficial nor harmful to the other species, this is called commensalism. When one organism is harmed to benefit another, the relationship is known as parasitism. These types of relationships often...
29.9K
Keystone Species01:39

Keystone Species

22.0K
Measures of species biodiversity, such as richness (i.e., the number of species present) and evenness (i.e., their relative abundance), describe an ecological community’s structure. Many factors affect community structure, including abiotic factors (e.g., sunlight and nutrients), disturbances (e.g., fire or flood), species interactions (e.g., predation or competition), and chance events (e.g., foreign species invasion). Certain species—such as keystone species—also play a...
22.0K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Divergence From Temperate Models: Pollution Dominance and Stochastic Assembly in a Continental Freshwater System Under Compressed Modernity.

Global change biology·2026
Same author

Global synthesis reveals systematic variation in trophic transfer efficiency across and within ecosystems.

Science advances·2026
Same author

Mechanistic links between coexistence, productivity, and stability in experimental grasslands.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same author

Meta-analysis reveals asymmetric root and microbial phenology shifts under global change.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Biodiversity and habitat complexity buffer the destabilizing effects of anthropogenic activities on riverine fish communities.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Predicting temporal stability and resilience from resistance and recovery.

Nature·2026
Same journal

Convergent digestive adaptation to resource limitation in an insular lizard across a microgeographic archipelago.

The Journal of animal ecology·2026
Same journal

Pollinator community composition and pollen resource use in calcareous grasslands under different landscape contexts across Europe.

The Journal of animal ecology·2026
Same journal

A global comparison of structural properties across ecological network types: The role of connectance, degree distribution and sampling inconsistencies.

The Journal of animal ecology·2026
Same journal

Native habitat affinities predict fish invasions with post-invasion habitat shifts.

The Journal of animal ecology·2026
Same journal

Understanding mammal avoidance of human settlements.

The Journal of animal ecology·2026
Same journal

Environmental factors associated with nesting habits and age shape the composition and connection between skin and uropygial gland microbiomes of birds.

The Journal of animal ecology·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 29, 2025

JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning
09:23

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

Published on: March 21, 2025

1.2K

Why are biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships so elusive? Trophic interactions may amplify ecosystem

Dan Wu1,2, Chi Xu3, Shaopeng Wang4

  • 1School of Mathematical Science, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.

The Journal of Animal Ecology
|September 5, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Biodiversity loss impacts ecosystem functions (BEFs) unpredictably. Increased species richness initially reduces function variability, but complex trophic interactions and reduced basal species diversity can increase variation, affecting ecosystem stability.

Keywords:
biodiversity-ecosystem functioningecosystem function variationecosystem stabilityfood webfunctional responsemulti-functionality

More Related Videos

Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity
08:16

Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity

Published on: March 13, 2014

19.0K
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

13.5K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Aug 29, 2025

JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning
09:23

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

Published on: March 21, 2025

1.2K
Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity
08:16

Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity

Published on: March 13, 2014

19.0K
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

13.5K

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Biodiversity Research
  • Ecosystem Functioning

Background:

  • The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions (BEFs) is well-studied, focusing on average trends.
  • However, significant variation in ecosystem functions (VEFs) across similar species diversity levels remains poorly understood.
  • This variability can obscure the general patterns of BEFs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between species richness and the variation in ecosystem functions (VEFs).
  • To identify the mechanisms driving VEFs, particularly the role of trophic interactions.
  • To reconcile debates on the generality of BEF relationships and understand ecosystem stability.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a multi-trophic food web model integrated with empirical data.
  • Examined VEFs across various ecosystem functions: biomass, metabolism, decomposition, primary, and secondary production.
  • Analyzed a 34-year empirical food web time series from the Gulf of Riga.

Main Results:

  • Confirmed previously documented positive BEF relationships.
  • Observed a hump-shaped relationship between species richness and the magnitude of VEFs.
  • Found that VEFs decrease with increased consumer diversity (due to nonlinear trophic interactions) and decreased basal species diversity.

Conclusions:

  • Biodiversity loss can lead to declining ecosystem functions and reduced predictability due to increased function variability.
  • Trophic interactions and their nonlinearities are key drivers of VEFs.
  • Understanding VEFs is crucial for predicting ecosystem stability and informing biodiversity conservation strategies.