Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING

Human modification of the earth ecosystems across the world has probably triggered the sixth major biodiversity extinction crisis. Beside the ethical issues associated to the human impact on earth ecosystems, ecologists have been pointing out consequences on ecosystems functioning. Species diversity has by definition some functional consequences on ecosystems because the nature of the species present in assemblages will determine ecosystems function and services (Loreau et al. 2001; Hooper et al. 2005).Biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning (BEF) may be even more important and significant at larger spatial and temporal scales than those studied first. These correspond to the scales traditionally studied by biogeography and evolutionary ecologists.

Loreau M., Naeem S., Inchausti P., Bengtsson J., Grime J.P., Hector A., Hooper D.U., Huston M.A., Raffaelli D., Schmid B., Tilman D. & Wardle D.A. (2001). Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science, 294, 804-808. Hooper D.U., Chapin F.S., Ewel J.J., Hector A., Inchausti P., Lavorel S., Lawton J.H., Lodge D.M., Loreau M., Naeem S., Schmid B., Setala H., Symstad A.J., Vandermeer J. & Wardle D.A. (2005). Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: A consensus of current knowledge. Ecological Monographs, 75, 3-35.

My research has been built on the integration of these different areas to understand the BEF relationship. I believe that such integrated approach is one of the main ways that ecology can begin to address issues and problems that occur over larger scales than have not been addressed by conventional theory. I have mainly focused on how the mechanisms of species coexistence and evolutionary dynamics at the local and the regional scales affect the shape of the BEF relationship. I combined modelling approaches, analysis of empirical datasets and experimental approaches with microorganisms and plants.

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Figure by Isabelle Gounand, adapted from Mouquet N., Gounand I. et Gravel D. (2010). Biodiversite et fonctionnement des ecosystemes. Regards et Debat sur la Biodiversite #3, SFE.

How coexistence mechanisms shape the BEF
Poisot T., Mouquet N. and Gravel D. (2013). Trophic complementarity drives the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship in food webs. Ecology Letters, 16, 853-861, doi:10.1111/ele.12118
Matias, M., Combe, M., Barbera, C., Mouquet, N. (2013). Ecological strategies shape the insurance potential of biodiversity. Frontiers in Microbiology 3: 1-9, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00432
Bouvier T., Venail P., Pommier T.,Bouvier C., Barbera C., and Mouquet N. (2012). Contrasted Effects of Diversity and Immigration on Ecological Insurance in Marine Bacterioplankton Communities. PLoS ONE, 7, e37620, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037620
Mouillot D. and Mouquet N. (2006). Species richness peaks for intermediate levels of community biomass in a fractal succession process with quasi-neutral interactions. Oikos, 115, 349-357, doi:10.1111/j.2006.0030-1299.14894.x
Mouquet N., Moore, J.L. and Loreau, M. (2002) Plant species richness and community productivity: Why the mechanism that promotes coexistence matters. Ecology Letters, 5, 56-66, doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2002.00281.x
Moore, J.L., Mouquet, N, Lawton J.H. and Loreau, M. (2001). Coexistence, saturation and invasion resistance in simulated plant assemblages. Oikos, 94, 303-314, doi:10.1034/j.1600-0706.2001.940211.x

Evolving the BEF
Aubree F, David P, Jarne P, Loreau M, Mouquet N and Calcagno V(2020) How community adaptation affects biodiversity ecosystem functioning relationships. Ecology Letters, 23, 1263-1275 doi:10.1111/ele.13530
Jousset, A., Eisenhauer, N., Merker, M.,Mouquet, N., Scheu, S.(2016). High functional diversity stimulates diversification in experimental microbial communities. Science Advances, 2, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2015.1073
Gravel D., Thomas Bell T., Claire Barbera C., Combe. M, Pommier T., and Mouquet N. (2012). Phylogenetic constraints on ecosystem functioning. Nature Communication, 3, 1117, doi:10.1038/ncomms2123 (* These authors contributed equally to this work)
Gravel D., Bell T., Barbera C., Bouvier T., Pommier T., Venail P. and Mouquet N. (2011). Experimental niche evolution alters the strength of the diversity-productivity relationship. Nature, 469,89-92, doi:10.1038/nature09592
Venail P.A., MacLean R.C., Meynard C.N., and Mouquet N. (2010). Dispersal scales up the biodiversity productivity relationship in an experimental source-sink metacommunity. Proc. R. Soc. B, 277, 2339-2345.
Venail P.A., MacLean R.C., Bouvier T., Brockhurst M.A., Hochberg M.E. and Mouquet N.* (2008) Functional Diversity and Productivity Peak at Intermediate Levels of Dispersal in Evolving Metacommunities. Nature, 452, 210-215, doi:10.1038/nature06554 (* These authors contributed equally to this study).

Scaling up the BEF
P Brun, C Violle, D Mouillot, N, Mouquet, B J Enquist, F Munoz, T Munkemuller, A Ostling, N E Zimmermann, W Thuiller (2022) Plant community impact on productivity: Trait diversity or key (stone) species effects? Ecology Letters doi:10.1111/ele.13968
L Delalandre, P Gauzere, W Thuiller, M Cadotte, N, Mouquet, D Mouillot, F Munoz, P Denelle, N Loiseau, X Morin, C Violle (2022) Functionally distinct tree species support long-term productivity in extreme environments Proceedings of the Royal Society B doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.1694
Venail P.A., MacLean R.C., Meynard C.N., and Mouquet N. (2010). Dispersal scales up the biodiversity productivity relationship in an experimental source-sink metacommunity. Proc. R. Soc. B, 277, 2339-2345.
Loreau M., Mouquet N. and Gonzalez A. (2003). Biodiversity as spatial insurance in heterogeneous landscapes. PNAS, 100, 12765-12770, doi:10.1073/pnas.2235465100