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Updated: Apr 8, 2026

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Beyond Biomass: How Interactions Shape Species' Contribution to Ecosystem Functioning.

Alice N Ardichvili¹, Michel Loreau^1,2, Thomas Onimus¹

¹Station D'écologie Théorique et Expérimentale (SETE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Moulis, France.

Ecology Letters

|April 6, 2026

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Understanding species

Keywords:

biodiversity and ecosystem functioning community‐weighted means ecological dynamics functional traits rare species theory

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Ecosystem Functioning
Biodiversity Research

Background:

Assessing species functional roles is vital for ecosystem preservation in a changing world.
Traditional measures focus on direct impacts, potentially overlooking complex ecological dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce and evaluate the concept of species dynamic contribution.
To differentiate dynamic contribution from static contribution by incorporating biotic interactions over time.

Main Methods:

Utilized computational model simulations.
Analyzed empirical data from a ciliate microcosm experiment.

Main Results:

Demonstrated that dynamic and static contributions of species are generally unrelated.
Revealed that rare species without unique traits can be crucial for ecosystem functioning due to biotic interactions.

Conclusions:

Species' dynamic contribution offers a novel perspective on their functional roles.
Biotic interactions significantly influence a species' impact on ecosystem functioning, irrespective of trait uniqueness or abundance.