Biodiversidade e Funcionamento de Ecossistemas: síntese de um paradigma e sua expansão em ambientes marinhos

Abstract

BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING: SYNTHESIS OF A PARADIGM AND ITS
EXPANSION IN MARINE ENVIRONMENTS.   The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem
functioning (hereafter BEF) became a prominent topic in Ecology. It represents the arising of a new paradigm started with the perception of the functional role of biodiversity to the functioning of ecosystems. Studies
performed until now have shown significant effects of biodiversity on ecological processes and properties
related to three main mechanisms: complementarity effects, selection effects and sampling effects. However, the
magnitude and direction of biodiversity effects may vary according to the ecosystems and processes analysed
making their generalization difficult. Our aim is to do a review on the subject focused on: a) a brief historic
of the evolution and consolidation of the studies BEF; b) assess discrepancies between studies performed
in terrestrial and aquatic environments, emphasizing recent contributions from marine environments; c) the
actual knowledge and consensus about the BEF relationship and new perspectives of study. Despite the inicial
criticisms, BEF studies are now consolidated in ecological literature. New methodologies and hypothesis
have been developed and improved, increasing the range of ecosystems and processes investigated. Although
there is a strong publication bias in the number of studies investigating certain ecosystems and processes, it
is observed an increase number of studies performed in aquatic, mainly marine, ecosystems. Most studies
have pointed out to positive effects of diversity as a Non-Transgressive Overyielding which may indicate the
importance of the presence of species functionally superior in the community (sampling effects and selection
effects). However, it is called in question the possible occurrence of complementarity effects, considering
the scarcity of studies in larger temporal and spatial scales and investigating distinct ecological processes
simultaneously. The manipulation of realistic diversity levels and the investigation of higher trophic levels may
also add more realism to the analysis of biodiversity effects. BEF studies have provided valuable information
on the possible effects of the actual losses of diversity on the rates of occurrence of ecological processes that
regulate the ecosystem functioning.
Keywords:  Complementarity effects; selection effects; stability; trophic structure, multifunctionality and
temporal complementarity.