Biodiversity Critical for Maintaining Multiple 'Ecosystem Services'

[Staff]

Biodiversity Critical for Maintaining Multiple 'Ecosystem Services'
ScienceDaily (Aug. 19, 2011)

Biodiversity critical for maintaining multiple 'ecosystem services'
excerpt from above:

…The scientists involved in the study also offer recommendations for using these results to prioritize conservation efforts and predict consequences of species extinctions. "It is nice to know which groups of species promoted ecosystem functioning under hundreds of sets of environmental conditions," says Isbell, "because this will allow us to determine whether some species often provide ecosystem services under environmental conditions that are currently common, or under conditions that will become increasingly common in the future." But Michel Loreau, of McGill, adds au cautionary note: "We should be careful when making predictions. The uncertainty over future environmental changes means that conserving as much biodiversity as possible could be a good precautionary approach."

[Staff]

Most Plant Species Important in Various and Varying Ecosystems
ScienceDaily (Aug. 10, 2011)

Most plant species important in various and varying ecosystems
excerpt from above:

Prior to this multi-year, multi-context research, Wilsey said that the argument for diversity was more difficult.

"In any single context, only about 27 percent of plant species were seen as important," he said.

Since previous research had shown that such a small number of plant species were important to ecosystem processes, there was less reason to be concerned if grasslands lost different species and…