When Do More Species Maximize More Ecosystem Services?

Eleanor M Slade; Robert Bagchi; Nadine Keller; Christopher D Philipson

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2019.06.014

When Do More Species Maximize More Ecosystem Services?

Trends Plant Sci. 2019 Sep;24(9):790-793. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2019.06.014. Epub 2019 Jul 17.

Authors

Eleanor M Slade¹, Robert Bagchi², Nadine Keller³, Christopher D Philipson⁴

Affiliations

¹ Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798 Singapore.
² Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 N. Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT 06269-3043, USA.
³ Department of Environmental Systems Science, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Environmental Systems Science, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland. Electronic address: christopher.philipson@usys.ethz.ch.

PMID: 31326334
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2019.06.014

Abstract

Maximizing more ecosystem functions may require more species. This relationship results from imperfect correlations among ecosystem functions because species contribute differently to each function. These correlations among species contributions to functions and the extent of interspecific competition are crucial when determining how many species are necessary to maximize additional functionality.

Keywords: biodiversity; ecosystem function; ecosystem service; interspecific competition; multifunctionality.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biodiversity*
Ecosystem*