167
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Jungblut et al. (eds.), YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93284-2_12
Biodiversity and the Functioning
of Ecosystems in the Age of Global
Change: Integrating Knowledge Across
Scales
Francisco R. Barboza, Maysa Ito, and Markus Franz
Abstract
The dramatic decline of biodiversity worldwide has raised
a general concern on the impacts this process could have
for the well-being of humanity. Human societies strongly
depend on the benefits provided by natural ecosystems,
which are the result of biogeochemical processes governed by species activities and their interaction with abiotic compartments. After decades of experimental
research on the biodiversity-functioning relationship, a
relative agreement has been reached on the mechanisms
underlying the impacts that biodiversity loss can have on
ecosystem processes. However, a general consensus is
still missing. We suggest that the reason preventing an
integration of existing knowledge is the scale discrepancy
between observations on global change impacts and
biodiversity- functioning experiments. The present chapter provides an overview of global change impacts on biodiversity across various ecological scales and its
consequences for ecosystem functioning, highlighting
what is known and where knowledge gaps still persist.
Furthermore, the reader will be introduced to a set of tools
that allow a multi-scale analysis of how global change
drivers impact ecosystem functioning.
What We Know and What We Do Not:
Biodiversity and Functioning
in the Anthropocene
Environmental changes have ruled the geological history of
Earth and have been responsible for the shifts that life has
undergone during the past 3.5 billion years (Hoegh-Guldberg
and Bruno 2010). Alternations between glacial and interglacial episodes, tectonic activity, and abrupt changes in atmospheric and oceanic chemistry have promoted five massive
extinctions in the last 500 million years (Barnosky et al.
2011 and citations therein). These catastrophic events, each
of which killed more than three-quarters of existing biota in
a period of less than 2 million years, erased or dramatically
rearranged ecosystems worldwide (Hull 2015). The expansion of the human population since the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, and its acceleration between the 1940s and 1960s, is severely altering the
biogeochemistry of our planet (Vitousek et al. 1997; Doney
2010). Imposed anthropogenic pressures on natural ecosystems are so extreme that the projected magnitude of their
effects is only comparable with those observed during massive extinctions (Barnosky et al. 2011). Degradation and loss
of habitats, biological invasions, overexploitation of natural
resources, pollution, and climate change are driving an
unprecedented loss of biodiversity at a global scale (Pimm
et al. 2014).
Humans, being unique in terms of the scale of their
impacts, are as vulnerable as any other species to changes in
the ecosystems to which they belong. Human societies rely
on the goods and services provided by the functioning of
ecosystems, which depends on the cycling of matter and flux
of energy that the interactions of living and non-living compartments make possible (Díaz et al. 2006). Thus, direct
impacts of global change stressors on biogeochemical processes (e.g., excessive increase of nutrient loads in land and
waters) or those mediated by the loss of biodiversity, alter the
dynamics and functioning of ecosystems compromising the
well-being of humans (Isbell et al. 2017). The consequences
that the current rates of biodiversity loss could have on ecosystem services called for research on the role that biodiversity plays in determining the structure, functioning and
stability of ecosystems (Cardinale et al. 2012). The extensive
body of theoretical, observational, and experimental evidence generated in the last decades, has led to a certain
F. R. Barboza (*) · M. Ito · M. Franz
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany
e-mail: fbarboza@geomar.de; mito@geomar.de; mfranz@geomar.de
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Jungblut et al. (eds.), YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93284-2_12
Biodiversity and the Functioning
of Ecosystems in the Age of Global
Change: Integrating Knowledge Across
Scales
Francisco R. Barboza, Maysa Ito, and Markus Franz
Abstract
The dramatic decline of biodiversity worldwide has raised
a general concern on the impacts this process could have
for the well-being of humanity. Human societies strongly
depend on the benefits provided by natural ecosystems,
which are the result of biogeochemical processes governed by species activities and their interaction with abiotic compartments. After decades of experimental
research on the biodiversity-functioning relationship, a
relative agreement has been reached on the mechanisms
underlying the impacts that biodiversity loss can have on
ecosystem processes. However, a general consensus is
still missing. We suggest that the reason preventing an
integration of existing knowledge is the scale discrepancy
between observations on global change impacts and
biodiversity- functioning experiments. The present chapter provides an overview of global change impacts on biodiversity across various ecological scales and its
consequences for ecosystem functioning, highlighting
what is known and where knowledge gaps still persist.
Furthermore, the reader will be introduced to a set of tools
that allow a multi-scale analysis of how global change
drivers impact ecosystem functioning.
What We Know and What We Do Not:
Biodiversity and Functioning
in the Anthropocene
Environmental changes have ruled the geological history of
Earth and have been responsible for the shifts that life has
undergone during the past 3.5 billion years (Hoegh-Guldberg
and Bruno 2010). Alternations between glacial and interglacial episodes, tectonic activity, and abrupt changes in atmospheric and oceanic chemistry have promoted five massive
extinctions in the last 500 million years (Barnosky et al.
2011 and citations therein). These catastrophic events, each
of which killed more than three-quarters of existing biota in
a period of less than 2 million years, erased or dramatically
rearranged ecosystems worldwide (Hull 2015). The expansion of the human population since the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, and its acceleration between the 1940s and 1960s, is severely altering the
biogeochemistry of our planet (Vitousek et al. 1997; Doney
2010). Imposed anthropogenic pressures on natural ecosystems are so extreme that the projected magnitude of their
effects is only comparable with those observed during massive extinctions (Barnosky et al. 2011). Degradation and loss
of habitats, biological invasions, overexploitation of natural
resources, pollution, and climate change are driving an
unprecedented loss of biodiversity at a global scale (Pimm
et al. 2014).
Humans, being unique in terms of the scale of their
impacts, are as vulnerable as any other species to changes in
the ecosystems to which they belong. Human societies rely
on the goods and services provided by the functioning of
ecosystems, which depends on the cycling of matter and flux
of energy that the interactions of living and non-living compartments make possible (Díaz et al. 2006). Thus, direct
impacts of global change stressors on biogeochemical processes (e.g., excessive increase of nutrient loads in land and
waters) or those mediated by the loss of biodiversity, alter the
dynamics and functioning of ecosystems compromising the
well-being of humans (Isbell et al. 2017). The consequences
that the current rates of biodiversity loss could have on ecosystem services called for research on the role that biodiversity plays in determining the structure, functioning and
stability of ecosystems (Cardinale et al. 2012). The extensive
body of theoretical, observational, and experimental evidence generated in the last decades, has led to a certain
F. R. Barboza (*) · M. Ito · M. Franz
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany
e-mail: fbarboza@geomar.de; mito@geomar.de; mfranz@geomar.de