Abstract
Biodiversity is a key driver of ecosystem functioning, while disturbances are a key driver of biodiversity. Consequently, disturbances crucially influence ecosystem functioning—both directly via affecting ecosystem processes but also indirectly via altering biodiversity. We thus need to disclose the joint relationships between disturbances, biodiversity and functioning (DBF) to understand and predict ecosystem dynamics under realistic conditions. However, biodiversity responses to disturbances have so far insufficiently been studied together with biodiversity effects on functions. For many ecosystems, such integrative exploration of DBF relationships would require too extensive manipulations and observations over unfeasible spatial and temporal scales. We argue that microbial systems offer a bright perspective to overcome these limitations, and present a roadmap for doing so. Microbial systems allow us exposing different, well-characterized communities to multiple, reproducible disturbance regimes and precisely measuring both biodiversity and associated functions over time. Comprehensive data can be obtained by systematically varying and replicating representative environmental scenarios. These data can further be explored and explained with computational models. Microbial systems thus reveal mechanisms that underlie DBF relationships and allow scrutinizing ecological hypotheses. This advancement of theory will be essential for ecology as a whole. It is particularly relevant in the context of global change, which is expected to promote disturbances as well as loss of biodiversity and functions in many ecosystems.
Highlights
Biodiversity is a key driver of ecosystem functioning, while disturbances are a key driver of biodiversity
We argue that microbial systems offer a bright perspective to overcome these limitations, and present a roadmap for doing so
biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) research focused heavily on species richness, awareness increased that additional biodiversity measures, such as evenness or trait diversity, are needed to explain what in a community composition is or is not relevant for functioning (Díaz et al, 2007; Tilman et al, 2014; Gagic et al, 2015)
Summary
Biodiversity is a key driver of ecosystem functioning, while disturbances are a key driver of biodiversity. We need to disclose the joint relationships between disturbances, biodiversity and functioning (DBF) to understand and predict ecosystem dynamics under realistic conditions. Microbial systems allow us exposing different, wellcharacterized communities to multiple, reproducible disturbance regimes, and precisely measuring both biodiversity and associated functions over time.
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