+353-1-416-8900REST OF WORLD
+44-20-3973-8888REST OF WORLD
1-917-300-0470EAST COAST U.S
1-800-526-8630U.S. (TOLL FREE)

The Ecological and Societal Consequences of Biodiversity Loss. Edition No. 1

  • Book

  • 384 Pages
  • April 2022
  • John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • ID: 5841093
The idea that changes in biodiversity can impact how ecosystems function has, over the last quarter century, gone from being a controversial notion to an accepted part of science and policy. As the field matures, it is high time to review progress, explore the links between this new research area and fundamental ecological concepts, and look ahead to the implementation of this knowledge.

This book is designed to both provide an up-to-date overview of research in the area and to serve as a useful textbook for those studying the relationship between biodiversity and the functioning, stability and services of ecosystems. The Ecological and Societal Consequences of Biodiversity Loss is aimed at a wide audience of upper undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and academic and research staff.

Table of Contents

Introduction the Ecological and Societal Consequences of Biodiversity Loss xiii
Michel LOREAU, Andy HECTOR, and Forest ISBELL

Part 1 Biodiversity and Ecosystems: An Overview 1

Chapter 1 Biodiversity Change: Past, Present, and Future 3
Andy PURVIS and Forest ISBELL

1.1 Setting the stage: difficulties of documenting, understanding, and communicating biodiversity change 3

1.2 Biodiversity change in Earth history 6

1.3 Pre-industrial biodiversity change 8

1.4 Biodiversity change in the “Anthropocene” 9

1.5 Future of biodiversity change 12

1.6 Future of biodiversity change research 14

1.7 Acknowledgements 17

1.8 References 17

Chapter 2 Biodiversity: Concepts, Dimensions, and Measures 25
Anne CHAO and Robert K COLWELL

2.1 Introduction 25

2.2 Progress in measuring taxonomic diversity 28

2.3 Taxonomic diversity and evenness measures 30

2.3.1 Taxonomic diversity: effective number of species 30

2.3.2 Evenness measures 32

2.4 A unified framework integrating diversities (TD, PD, and FD) 34

2.4.1 Phylogenetic diversity as a special case of attribute diversity 35

2.4.2 Functional diversity as a special case of attribute diversity 37

2.5 Diversity in space and time 39

2.6 Examples 40

2.6.1 Coral data 40

2.6.2 Saproxylic beetle data 41

2.7 Conclusion 43

2.8 Acknowledgements 43

2.9 References 44

Chapter 3 Ecosystems: An Overview 47
Amelia A WOLF, Sarah K ORTIZ, and Chase J RAKOWSKI

3.1 An introduction to ecosystems 47

3.1.1 Ecosystem extent: abiotic factors in terrestrial systems 48

3.1.2 Ecosystem extent: biotic factors 51

3.1.3 Major ecosystem types 53

3.1.4 Meta-ecosystems 55

3.1.5 Ecosystem dynamics and change over time and space 56

3.2 Ecosystem functioning 57

3.3 Ecosystem stability 65

3.4 Ecosystem services 66

3.5 Human alterations to ecosystems 68

3.6 References 68

Part 2 How Biodiversity Affects Ecosystem Functioning 73

Chapter 4 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Theoretical Foundations 75
Shaopeng WANG

4.1 Introduction 75

4.2 Biodiversity: from causes to consequences 77

4.3 Why does biodiversity promote ecosystem functioning? 81

4.4 Trophic diversity and ecosystem functioning 87

4.5 BEF over time and space 89

4.6 Conclusion 91

4.7 Acknowledgements 92

4.8 References 92

Chapter 5 Experimental Evidence for How Biodiversity Affects Ecosystem Functioning 97
Mary I O’CONNOR, Joey R BERNHARDT, Keila STARK, Jacob USINOWICZ, and Matthew A WHALEN

5.1 The role of experiments 98

5.1.1 The experiment that launched a thousand experiments 98

5.1.2 How do we gain knowledge from experiments? 100

5.2 BEF experiments as tests of theory 103

5.2.1 Diversity as a driver of change in ecosystem function 103

5.2.2 Evidence for selection and complementarity 107

5.2.3 Experimental evidence for key assumptions of BEF theory 108

5.2.4 Testing for diversity effects under broader abiotic and biotic conditions 109

5.2.5 Diversity effects in space and time 111

5.3 Experiments that extend classic theory 112

5.3.1 Does extinction order matter? 112

5.3.2 Experiments that bridge BEF and modern coexistence theory (MCT) 112

5.3.3 Experimental evidence for effects of biodiversity on ecosystem services 113

5.4 Conclusion 114

5.5 References 114

Chapter 6 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning in Observational Analyses 119
Laura E DEE, Kaitlin KIMMEL, and Meghan HAYDEN

6.1 Introduction 119

6.2 A historical perspective: returning to observational data 120

6.3 Benefits of observational data 121

6.4 The challenge of causal inference in observational studies 125

6.5 Observational studies: results and evidence to date 126

6.5.1 Across dimensions of biodiversity 127

6.5.2 Across ecosystem functions 128

6.5.3 Across ecosystem types 128

6.5.4 Summary of current evidence gaps 129

6.6 Reviewing study design to date: how are studies analysing observational data? 130

6.6.1 Moving forward: improving study designs for observational data and analyses 133

6.7 Future directions 135

6.8 Conclusion 136

6.9 References 137

Part 3 How Biodiversity Affects Ecosystem Stability 145

Chapter 7 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stability: New Theoretical Insights 147
Michel LOREAU

7.1 Introduction 147

7.2 What is stability? 149

7.3 Why does local biodiversity promote ecosystem stability? 154

7.4 Scaling up diversity-stability relationships 158

7.5 Conclusion 162

7.6 Acknowledgements 163

7.7 References 164

Chapter 8 What Do Biodiversity Experiments Tell Us About Biodiversity and Ecological Stability Relationships? 167
Lin JIANG and Qianna XU

8.1 Introduction 167

8.2 Insight from models 169

8.3 A brief account of earlier diversity-stability experiments 170

8.4 The relationships between biodiversity and temporal stability 170

8.4.1 Grassland biodiversity experiments 170

8.4.2 Forest biodiversity experiments 172

8.4.3 Aquatic biodiversity experiments 173

8.4.4 Microbial biodiversity experiments 176

8.4.5 How general are the effects of species diversity on temporal stability? 177

8.4.6 Other dimensions of biodiversity 179

8.5 The relationships between biodiversity and resistance/resilience 180

8.6 The relevance of biodiversity experiments to real-world ecosystems 181

8.7 Conclusion 182

8.8 Acknowledgements 183

8.9 References 183

Chapter 9 Biodiversity and Temporal Stability of Naturally Assembled Ecosystems Across Spatial Scales in a Changing World 189
Yann HAUTIER and Fons VAN DER PLAS

9.1 Introduction 189

9.2 Biodiversity-stability relationships along natural gradients 193

9.3 Global change drivers and biodiversity-stability relationships 196

9.4 Contribution of dominant and rare species to stability 200

9.5 Future directions 202

9.6 References 204

Part 4 How Biodiversity Affects Human Societies 211

Chapter 10 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Managed Ecosystems 213
Bernhard SCHMID and Christian SCHÖB

10.1 A brief history of the role of biodiversity in managed ecosystems 213

10.2 Biodiversity as the basis for a new green revolution 214

10.3 Biodiversity in agriculture 217

10.3.1 Crop genetic diversity 217

10.3.2 Species diversity in grasslands and intercropping 218

10.3.3 Farm-scale diversity 220

10.4 Biodiversity in forestry 221

10.4.1 Evidence for positive biodiversity effects on forest ecosystem services 221

10.4.2 Ecosystem services provided by agroforestry 223

10.5 Outlook 224

10.5.1 Potential of biodiversity to support the next green revolution 224

10.5.2 Obstacles 224

10.5.3 Solutions 225

10.6 Acknowledgements 225

10.7 References 225

Chapter 11 Biodiversity and Human Health: On the Necessity of Combining Ecology and Public Health 233
Jean-François GUÉGAN, Benjamin ROCHE, and Serge MORAND

11.1 Introduction 233

11.2 Microbial biodiversity is a key component of ecosystems 235

11.3 The linkages between biodiversity and human infectious diseases 238

11.4 The evolution of human society is punctuated by epidemiological phases 241

11.5 The new ecology and evolution of zoonotic and sapronotic establishment in the Anthropocene 243

11.6 The process of globalization of human infectious diseases 246

11.7 A livestock-dominated planet 248

11.8 Conclusion 249

11.9 Acknowledgements 253

11.10 References 253

Chapter 12 Economic Valuation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 261
Seth BINDER

12.1 Introduction 261

12.2 What valuation is and is not 261

12.3 Non-market economic valuation methods 263

12.3.1 Production function methods 263

12.3.2 Revealed preference methods 269

12.3.3 Stated preference methods 272

12.3.4 Benefit transfer methods 273

12.4 Conclusion 274

12.5 References 276

Part 5 Zooming Out: Biodiversity in a Changing Planet 281

Chapter 13 Feedbacks Between Biodiversity and Climate Change 283
Akira S MORI, Takehiro SASAKI, Maiko KAGAMI, Takeshi MIKI, and Moriaki YASUHARA

13.1 Introduction 283

13.2 Vulnerability and responses of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning to the changing climate in different biomes 288

13.3 Societal and political challenges to these twin crises and their interlinkages 294

13.4 The potential of biodiversity to cope with the changing climate 297

13.5 Conclusion 299

13.6 Acknowledgements 299

13.7 References 299

Chapter 14 Feedbacks Between Biodiversity and Society 305
Kirsten HENDERSON

14.1 Introduction 305

14.2 Society’s impact on biodiversity 307

14.2.1 Agriculture 307

14.2.2 Income 308

14.3 How societies view biodiversity 311

14.3.1 Biodiversity and culture 311

14.3.2 Biodiversity and well-being 313

14.3.3 Value of biodiversity 313

14.4 Biodiversity policy and society 314

14.4.1 Awareness and perception 314

14.4.2 Management strategies 316

14.4.3 Conflicts in biodiversity management 317

14.4.4 Successful initiatives 318

14.5 Conclusion 319

14.6 Acknowledgements 321

14.7 References 321

Chapter 15 Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 325
Forest ISBELL

15.1 Introduction 325

15.2 Protecting biodiversity and ecosystems 326

15.2.1 What are protected areas and what are they intended to protect? 326

15.2.2 What global targets have been established for protected areas? 328

15.2.3 Where are protected areas and how effective are they? 329

15.2.4 Does protecting biodiversity also protect ecosystem services? 331

15.2.5 What are the limitations of protected areas? 332

15.3 Restoring biodiversity and ecosystems by reversing degradation 333

15.3.1 What is restoration and why is it needed? 333

15.3.2 What global targets have been established for restoration? 336

15.3.3 How extensive and effective is restoration? 337

15.3.4 Increasing the diversity of restorations can increase their efficacy 338

15.3.5 What are the limitations of restoration? 339

15.4 Looking ahead 340

15.5 Conclusion 343

15.6 Acknowledgements 343

15.7 References 343

List of Authors 347

Index 351

Authors

Michel Loreau Andy Hector Forest Isbell