Biodiversity and the functioning of seagrass ecosystems

摘要: Biodiversity at multiple levels — genotypes within species, species functional groups, habitats a landscape enhances productivity, resource use, and stability of seagrass ecosystems. Several themes emerge from review the mostly indirect evidence few exper- iments that explicitly manipulated diversity in systems. First, because many com- munities are dominated by 1 or plant genetic phenotypic such foundation has important influences on ecosystem productivity stability. Second, sea- grass beds other aquatic systems, consumer control is strong, extinction biased toward large body size high trophic levels, thus human impacts often mediated interactions changing 'vertical diversity' (food chain length) with 'horizontal (heterogene- ity levels). Third, openness marine systems means structure processes depend among (landscape diversity). There clear advection resources active movement consumers adjacent influence nutrient fluxes, transfer, fishery production, diversity. Future investigations biodiversity effects ecosystems would benefit broadening concept to encompass hierarchy through diversity, focusing links between interactions, regional local processes. Maintaining biocomplexity coastal conservation management implications.