Consumer Diversity and Secondary Production

Abstract

Thirty years of ecosystem research have demonstrated unequivocally that certain species of plants, microbes, or animals can have dramatic effects on such ecosystem processes and properties as primary productivity, soil chemistry and structure, evapotranspiration, leaf area and fluxes of trace gases. However, the significance of having a particular number of species participating in a particular ecosystem process or continuum of ecosystem processes is less obvious. Apparently well-functioning natural ecosystems can be found in which most of the biomass is composed of one or two species of plants or other functional groups. Likewise, many ecosystems apparently maintain full functionality despite major changes in the identities and total number of species over time. Thus it is difficult to conclude that biodiversity per se has any particular significance for ecosystem processes. Many species are not necessarily better than few species for carrying out or maintaining a particular ecosystem process.

The manuscript has been authored by a contractor of the U.S. Government under contract No. DE-AC05-84OR21400. Accordingly, the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free licence to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes