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Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function pp 255–270Cite as

Redundancy in Ecosystems

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Abstract

Redundant means surplus to requirements. Redundant words in a sentence can be deleted with no loss of clarity of meaning; factories make workers redundant but continue to produce cars, and so on. How much species redundancy is built into ecological processes? To what extent are patterns of biological diversity important in determining the behaviour of ecological systems (Lubchenco et al. 1991; Solbrig 1991; Walker 1991)?

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Authors
  1. J. H. Lawton
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  2. V. K. Brown
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenökologie, Universität Bayreuth, Postfach 1021 51, D-95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Ernst-Detlef Schulze

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Harold A. Mooney

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Lawton, J.H., Brown, V.K. (1994). Redundancy in Ecosystems. In: Schulze, ED., Mooney, H.A. (eds) Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function. Praktische Zahnmedizin Odonto-Stomatologie Pratique Practical Dental Medicine, vol 99. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58001-7_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58001-7_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-58103-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-58001-7

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