TY - JOUR
T1 - A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change
AU - Hooper, David U.
AU - Adair, E. Carol
AU - Cardinale, Bradley J.
AU - Byrnes, Jarrett E.K.
AU - Hungate, Bruce A.
AU - Matulich, Kristin L.
AU - Gonzalez, Andrew
AU - Duffy, J. Emmett
AU - Gamfeldt, Lars
AU - Connor, Mary I.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements We thank the authors of the original data sets, both published and unpublished, who shared data with us. We thank the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) for funding the workshop ‘‘Biodiversity and the Functioning of Ecosystems: Translating Results from Model Experiments into Functional Reality’’. Support for NCEAS comes from University of California Santa Barbara and the National Science Foundation. J.E.K.B., E.C.A. and M.I.O. had NCEAS post-doctoral fellowships, J.E.D. had support from NSF OCE-1031061; B.J.C. had support from NSF DEB-1046121; L.G. was supported by grant 621-2009-5457 from the Swedish Research Council VR; A.G. is supported by the Canada Research Chair Program and NSERC.
PY - 2012/6/7
Y1 - 2012/6/7
N2 - Evidence is mounting that extinctions are altering key processes important to the productivity and sustainability of Earth's ecosystems1-4. Further species loss will accelerate change in ecosystem processes 5-8, but it is unclear how these effects compare to the direct effects of other forms of environmental change that are both driving diversity loss and altering ecosystem function. Here we use a suite of meta-analyses of published data to show that the effects of species loss on productivity and decomposition-two processes important in all ecosystems-are of comparable magnitude to the effects of many other global environmental changes. In experiments, intermediate levels of species loss (21-40%) reduced plant production by 5-10%, comparable to previously documented effects of ultraviolet radiation and climate warming. Higher levels of extinction (41-60%) had effects rivalling those of ozone, acidification, elevated CO2 and nutrient pollution. At intermediate levels, species loss generally had equal or greater effects on decomposition than did elevated CO2 and nitrogen addition. The identity of species lost also had a large effect on changes in productivity and decomposition, generating a wide range of plausible outcomes for extinction. Despite the need for more studies on interactive effects of diversity loss and environmental changes, our analyses clearly show that the ecosystem consequences of local species loss are as quantitatively significant as the direct effects of several global change stressors that have mobilized major international concern and remediation efforts9.
AB - Evidence is mounting that extinctions are altering key processes important to the productivity and sustainability of Earth's ecosystems1-4. Further species loss will accelerate change in ecosystem processes 5-8, but it is unclear how these effects compare to the direct effects of other forms of environmental change that are both driving diversity loss and altering ecosystem function. Here we use a suite of meta-analyses of published data to show that the effects of species loss on productivity and decomposition-two processes important in all ecosystems-are of comparable magnitude to the effects of many other global environmental changes. In experiments, intermediate levels of species loss (21-40%) reduced plant production by 5-10%, comparable to previously documented effects of ultraviolet radiation and climate warming. Higher levels of extinction (41-60%) had effects rivalling those of ozone, acidification, elevated CO2 and nutrient pollution. At intermediate levels, species loss generally had equal or greater effects on decomposition than did elevated CO2 and nitrogen addition. The identity of species lost also had a large effect on changes in productivity and decomposition, generating a wide range of plausible outcomes for extinction. Despite the need for more studies on interactive effects of diversity loss and environmental changes, our analyses clearly show that the ecosystem consequences of local species loss are as quantitatively significant as the direct effects of several global change stressors that have mobilized major international concern and remediation efforts9.
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U2 - 10.1038/nature11118
DO - 10.1038/nature11118
M3 - Article
C2 - 22678289
AN - SCOPUS:84861946973
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 486
SP - 105
EP - 108
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7401
ER -