Effects of Non-Random Sources of Alteration on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

Download or read book Effects of Non-Random Sources of Alteration on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning written by Tian Zhao and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-11-15 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding how biological diversity affects ecosystem functioning is a key question in modern ecology. This is of particular importance in the general context of recent global changes caused by human activities, such as water abstraction, flow regulation, shifts in agricultural practices, contamination, climate changes, and biological invasions. These changes are affecting biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and their complex interactions simultaneously. However, our ability to understand how genes, individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems may respond to such changes is limited, despite ecologists frequently being requested to provide policymakers and managers with predictions. Indeed, the species that composed biodiversity can establish complex trophic links between them in the ecosystems. This structure of food webs is under the permanent constraint of community dynamics, which connects species, populations, communities, and ecosystems. Therefore, the response of food webs to perturbations can help ecologists to better understand the relationship between biological diversity and ecosystem functioning.