- Coral reefs,
- Biomass,
- Biodiversity,
- Ecosystem functioning,
- Population density,
- Species diversity,
- Species extinction,
- Theoretical ecology
Difficulties in scaling up theoretical and experimental results have raised controversy over the consequences of biodiversity loss for the functioning of natural ecosystems. Using a global survey of reef fish assemblages, we show that in contrast to previous theoretical and experimental studies, ecosystem functioning (as measured by standing biomass) scales in a non-saturating manner with biodiversity (as measured by species and functional richness) in this ecosystem. Our field study also shows a significant and negative interaction between human population density and biodiversity on ecosystem functioning (i.e., for the same human density there were larger reductions in standing biomass at more diverse reefs). Human effects were found to be related to fishing, coastal development, and land use stressors, and currently affect over 75% of the world's coral reefs. Our results indicate that the consequences of biodiversity loss in coral reefs have been considerably underestimated based on existing knowledge and that reef fish assemblages, particularly the most diverse, are greatly vulnerable to the expansion and intensity of anthropogenic stressors in coastal areas.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/andrew-bauman/39/
The main funding was provided by the Sloan Foundation through the Census of Marine Life's Future of Marine Animal Populations and Natural Geography in Shore Areas projects. Additional funding and support were provided by the Royal Society; the Leverhulme Trust; Nakheel PJSC; the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Galapagos National Park Service; Charles Darwin Foundation; Conservation International; Walton Family Foundation; the Australian Research Council; National Geographic; the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association; the German National Academic Foundation; the Coral Reef Conservation Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; The National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Habitat Conservation; the 21st Century Centers of Excellence Program of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; the French Institute for Biodiversity; the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the Wildlife Conservation Society; the United States National Science Foundation's Long-term Ecological Research Program; The Conservation Leadership Programme; Australian Institute of Marine Sciences; the Australian Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts; The Marisla Foundation Environment Program; the World Wildlife Fund; The Ocean Conservancy; and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.