Abstract
Recent experiments in macrophyte dominated communities on the relationship between biological diversity and ecosystem functioning suggest that effects and mechanisms of genetic-genotypic and species diversity are analogous. As previously shown for species diversity, genotypic diversity enhances ecosystem productivity and recovery from disturbance. These findings generalize ecological theory, and provide an empirical basis for explicitly considering the maintenance of genetic or genotypic diversity for conservation strategies. Macrophyte systems such as seagrasses or salt-marshes may be excellent systems to test the interaction between diversity across several (genetic versus species) levels of biological organization because they are relatively species poor while simultaneously allowing the manipulation of genotypic diversity by taking advantage of clonal propagation in many species.
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Sources of Unpublished Meterials
Ehlers, A. , B. Worm, and T. B. H. Reusch, unpublished data. Ehlers — Leibniz Institute für Meereswissenschaften, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany. Worm — Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4JI.
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Reusch, T.B.H., Hughes, A.R. The emerging role of genetic diversity for ecosystem functioning: Estuarine macrophytes as models. Estuaries and Coasts: J ERF 29, 159–164 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02784707
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02784707