Biodiversity and the functioning of seagrass ecosystems
2006; Inter-Research; Volume: 311; Linguagem: Inglês
10.3354/meps311233
ISSN1616-1599
Autores Tópico(s)Marine Biology and Ecology Research
ResumoMEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 311:233-250 (2006) - doi:10.3354/meps311233 Biodiversity and the functioning of seagrass ecosystems J. Emmett Duffy* School of Marine Science and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062-1346, USA *Email: jeduffy@vims.edu ABSTRACT: Biodiversity at multiple levelsgenotypes within species, species within functional groups, habitats within a landscapeenhances productivity, resource use, and stability of seagrass ecosystems. Several themes emerge from a review of the mostly indirect evidence and the few experiments that explicitly manipulated diversity in seagrass systems. First, because many seagrass communities are dominated by 1 or a few plant species, genetic and phenotypic diversity within such foundation species has important influences on ecosystem productivity and stability. Second, in seagrass beds and many other aquatic systems, consumer control is strong, extinction is biased toward large body size and high trophic levels, and thus human impacts are often mediated by interactions of changing vertical diversity (food chain length) with changing horizontal diversity (heterogeneity within trophic levels). Third, the openness of marine systems means that ecosystem structure and processes often depend on interactions among habitats within a landscape (landscape diversity). There is clear evidence from seagrass systems that advection of resources and active movement of consumers among adjacent habitats influence nutrient fluxes, trophic transfer, fishery production, and species diversity. Future investigations of biodiversity effects on processes within seagrass and other aquatic ecosystems would benefit from broadening the concept of biodiversity to encompass the hierarchy of genetic through landscape diversity, focusing on links between diversity and trophic interactions, and on links between regional diversity, local diversity, and ecosystem processes. Maintaining biodiversity and biocomplexity of seagrass and other coastal ecosystems has important conservation and management implications. KEY WORDS: Food web · Habitat structure · Landscape · Production · Stability · Trophic transfer Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 311. Online publication date: April 13, 2006 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2006 Inter-Research.
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