Ecological effects of biodiversity

The diversity of species and genes in ecological communities affects the functioning of these communities. These ecological effects of biodiversity in turn are affected by both climate change through enhanced greenhouse gases, aerosols and loss of land cover[citation needed], and biological diversity, causing a rapid loss of biodiversity and extinctions of species and local populations. The current rate of extinction is sometimes considered a mass extinction, with current species extinction rates on the order of 100 to 1000 times as high as in the past.[1]

The two main areas where the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem function have been studied are the relationship between diversity and productivity, and the relationship between diversity and community stability.[2] More biologically diverse communities appear to be more productive (in terms of biomass production) than are less diverse communities, and they appear to be more stable in the face of perturbations.

Also animals that inhabit an area may alter the surviving conditions by factors assimilated by climate.

  1. ^ Vitousek, P. M.; Mooney, H. A.; Lubchenco, J.; et al. (1997). "Human domination of Earth's ecosystems". Science. 277 (5325): 494–499. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.318.6529. doi:10.1126/science.277.5325.494. S2CID 8610995.
  2. ^ Hines, J.; van der Putten, W. H.; De Deyn, G. B.; Wagg, C.; Voigt, W.; Mulder, C.; Weisser, W.; Engel, J.; Melian, C.; Scheu, S.; Birkhofer, K.; Ebeling, A.; Scherber, C.; Eisenhauer, N. (2015). "Towards an integration of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning and food-web theory to evaluate connections between multiple ecosystem services". In Woodward, Guy; Bohan, David A. (eds.). Ecosystem Services: From Biodiversity to Society, Part 1. Advances in Ecological Research. Vol. 53. UK: Academic Press. pp. 161–199. ISBN 978-0-12-803885-7.