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Biodiversity

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Plant Ecology

Abstract

In this chapter, the concept of biological diversity, or biodiversity, is illustrated using different definitions of the term and by describing the different facets of plant diversity, including compositional, structural and functional diversity. In the second section, the causes that determine plant diversity at different spatial scales are presented. Here, we discuss the underlying factors of latitudinal gradients of diversity, the role of environmental heterogeneity for plant diversity at the scale of single ecosystems or communities, and the relationship between productivity and plant species richness. The section ends with an introduction to assembly rules and environmental filters that determine species coexistence and, hence, the number of species present. The third section elaborates the recently burgeoning field of functional biodiversity research, which studies the role of biodiversity for ecosystem functioning. It begins with a description of species identity and dominance effects, followed by examples of how plant diversity affects biomass production, other ecosystem processes such as biogeochemical cycling, multitrophic interactions and the simultaneous provision of a multitude of ecosystem functions and services, that is, multifunctionality. We then explore the role of diversity for ecosystem stability and ask the question whether biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships differ with context. The underlying mechanisms of these relationships are discussed, followed by a critical discourse about the value and relevance of this field of research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany

    Ernst-Detlef Schulze

  2. Department of Plant Physiology, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Erwin Beck & Stephan Clemens

  3. Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Nina Buchmann

  4. Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Klaus Müller-Hohenstein

  5. Chair of Geobotany, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Michael Scherer-Lorenzen

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Schulze, ED., Beck, E., Buchmann, N., Clemens, S., Müller-Hohenstein, K., Scherer-Lorenzen, M. (2019). Biodiversity. In: Plant Ecology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56233-8_20

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