Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across spatial scales

Through hundreds of studies we have learned that changes in biodiversity can affect ecosystem functioning.

However, our knowledge is still poor about how biodiversity’s effect on functioning depends on our spatial scale of inference. This 4-year project will take a holistic approach to fill this gap.

We will integrate models, experiments, field observations and a meta-analysis to reach a mechanistic understanding of how the role of biodiversity changes with spatial scale.The project has the following specific aims. 1) Develop models to explore how dispersal between local communities affects the diversity-functioning relationship at small and large scales. 2) Test model predictions with outdoor experiments using aquatic rock pools.

Experiments will be designed to test how dispersal between pools affects the biodiversity-function relationship at local community and metacommunity scales. 3) Compare results from models and experiments with observational data.

We will (i) monitor a rock pool system on multiple islands on the Swedish west coast, and (ii) analyse a large-scale monitoring data set on reef fish along the whole coast of Australia.4) Perform a meta-analysis on experiments that manipulated biodiversity under multiple environmental conditions.By taking the field of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning beyond the local scale, our project has the potential to bridge biodiversity-function research with landscape and ecosystem ecology.