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Consumer diversity across kingdoms supports multiple functions in a coastal ecosystem

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hensel, MJS; Silliman, BR
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
December 17, 2013

The global biodiversity crisis impairs the valuable benefits ecosystems provide humans. These nature-generated benefits are defined by a multitude of different ecosystem functions that operate simultaneously. Although several studies have simulated species loss in communities and tracked the response of single functions such as productivity or nutrient cycling, these studies have involved relatively similar taxa, and seldom are strikingly different functions examined. With the exception of highly managed ecosystems such as agricultural fields, rarely are we interested in only one function being performed well. Instead, we rely on ecosystems to deliver several different functions at the same time. Here, we experimentally investigated the extinction impacts of dominant consumers in a salt marsh. These consumers are remarkably phylogenetically diverse, spanning two kingdoms (i.e., Animalia and Fungi). Our field studies reveal that a diverse consumer assemblage significantly enhances simultaneous functioning of disparate ecosystem processes (i.e., productivity, decomposition, and infiltration). Extreme functional and phylogenetic differences among consumers underlie this relationship. Each marsh consumer affected at least one different ecosystem function, and each individual function was affected by no more than two consumers. The implications of these findings are profound: If we want ecosystems to perform many different functions well, it is not just number of species that matter. Rather, the presence of species representing markedly different ecologies and biology is also essential to maximizing multiple functions. Moreover, this work emphasizes the need to incorporate both microcomponents and macrocomponents of food webs to accurately predict biodiversity declines on integrated-ecosystem functioning.

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Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

December 17, 2013

Volume

110

Issue

51

Start / End Page

20621 / 20626
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
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Hensel, M. J. S., & Silliman, B. R. (2013). Consumer diversity across kingdoms supports multiple functions in a coastal ecosystem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(51), 20621–20626. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1312317110
Hensel, M. J. S., and B. R. Silliman. “Consumer diversity across kingdoms supports multiple functions in a coastal ecosystem.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110, no. 51 (December 17, 2013): 20621–26. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1312317110.
Hensel MJS, Silliman BR. Consumer diversity across kingdoms supports multiple functions in a coastal ecosystem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2013 Dec 17;110(51):20621–6.
Hensel, M. J. S., and B. R. Silliman. “Consumer diversity across kingdoms supports multiple functions in a coastal ecosystem.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 110, no. 51, Dec. 2013, pp. 20621–26. Scopus, doi:10.1073/pnas.1312317110.
Hensel MJS, Silliman BR. Consumer diversity across kingdoms supports multiple functions in a coastal ecosystem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2013 Dec 17;110(51):20621–20626.
Journal cover image

Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

December 17, 2013

Volume

110

Issue

51

Start / End Page

20621 / 20626