Niche Relations within Ecosystems

Ecosystem functioning involves more than just species interactions. There is a huge array of biogeochemical processes and of landscape-level exchanges that are not easily addressed using a niche-based approach. This chapter shows how the processes of species sorting at the community level can profoundly influence patterns of ecosystem functioning. It discusses the short-term effects of biodiversity on ecosystem function and the longer-term effects of biodiversity on ecosystem stability in the face of perturbations, exploring how the process of species sorting might influence the results of ecosystem perturbations in the short and long terms.

Biodiversity · Biogeochemical cycle · Biology · Ecosystem · Ecosystem health · Ecosystem services · Environmental resource management · Geography · Niche · Sorting · Total human ecosystem · Computer Science · Ecology · Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies · Environmental Science · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation