需要高的植物多样性来维持生态系统服务
Forest Isbell1, Vincent Calcagno, Andy Hector
1Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1B1, Canada. forest.isbell@gmail.com
Nature
|August 12, 2011
概括
许多草原植物物种对于维持生态系统功能和服务至关重要. 即使在某种条件下看起来是多余的物种,在不同的环境和不断变化的条件下也对多种功能至关重要.
科学领域:
- 生态生态学 生态生态学
- 环境科学 环境科学
- 生物多样性研究 生物多样性研究
背景情况:
- 全球生物多样性下降威胁到生态系统的功能和服务.
- 维持生态系统服务所需的物种的确切数量仍然不确定.
- 以前的研究还没有同时评估物种在多个时间,地点,功能和环境变化中的作用.
研究的目的:
- 研究大量草原植物物种在促进生态系统功能中的作用.
- 为了确定物种对生态系统运作的贡献是否在不同的年份,地点,功能和环境变化场景中有所不同.
- 评估许多物种在动态条件下维持生态系统服务的必要性.
主要方法:
- 在17个生物多样性实验中研究了147种草原植物.
- 评估物种对生态系统的贡献,这些生态系统在各种时间,空间,功能和环境变化条件下运行.
- 对单个和多个功能的物种要求进行比较,并跨越不同的时间尺度.
主要成果:
- 84%研究的草原植物物种至少有一次促进了生态系统的运作.
- 不同的物种对于生态系统在不同的年份,地点,不同的功能和不同的环境变化下发挥作用至关重要.
- 在多年内支持一个功能的物种与在一年内支持多个功能的物种有所不同.
结论:
- 很大一部分物种有助于生态系统在特定情况下运行.
- 维持生态系统的功能和服务可能需要比以前估计的更多物种.
- 当考虑多个生态系统功能,时间,地点和环境变化时,功能冗余可能会受到限制.
相关概念视频
01:19What is Biodiversity?
34.7K
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.
34.7K
01:17What is an Ecosystem?
48.1K
Overview
48.1K
01:24Biodiversity and Human Values
17.6K
Human civilization relies on biodiversity in many ways. Sudden changes in species biodiversity result in environmental changes that can modify weather patterns and therefore human civilizations.
17.6K
01:39Keystone Species
25.3K
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...
25.3K
02:23The Soil Ecosystem
25.6K
Plants obtain inorganic minerals and water from the soil, which acts as a natural medium for land plants. The composition and quality of soil depend not only on the chemical constituents but also on the presence of living organisms. In general, soils contain three major components:
25.6K
02:26Ecological Disturbance
21.4K
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.
21.4K