Productivity, trophic structure, and energy flow in the steady-state ecosystems of Silver Springs, Florida W.M. Kemp a,∗, W.R. Boynton b a Horn Point Laboratory, Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland System, Box 775, Cambridge, MD 21613, USA b Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland System, 1 Williams Street, Solomons, MD 206...

Ecosystem health is an important index of the regional sustainable development. In view of the singularity of indicator selection caused by the limited application of remote sensing and GIS at present, this paper took the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model as reference, and revised the model in multi-analysis foundation. The pressure, vigor, organization structure, response and resilience were...

Ecosystem engineering—the physical modification of habitats by organisms—can create patches with altered species richness relative to adjacent, unmodified patches. The effect of ecosystem engineering on patch-scale species richness is likely to be difficult to predict from the identity of the engineer, the resources altered as a result of engineering, or the identities of the affected species. ...

importance to ecosystem function Nicholas J. Gotelli*, Werner Ulrich and Fernando T. Maestre Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA; Department of Animal Ecology, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Gagarina 9, 87-100 Toruń, Poland; and Departamento de Biologı́a y Geologı́a, Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y T...

Rapid changes in biodiversity are occurring globally, yet the ecological impacts of diversity loss are poorly understood. Here we use data from marine invertebrate communities to parameterize models that predict how extinctions will affect sediment bioturbation, a process vital to the persistence of aquatic communities. We show that species extinction is generally expected to reduce bioturbatio...

Stable isotopes and their potential for detecting various and complex ecosystem processes are attracting an increasing number of scientists. Progress is challenging, particularly under global change scenarios, but some established views have been challenged. The IX meeting of the Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology (AAET, Ubeda, 18-22 October 2009) hosted a symposium on the ecology of st...

Introduction Conclusions References

Deep seas cover more than half the planet and depend due to their lack of light on inflow of nutrients from above. Viruses play a critical role for the trophic supply of the deep-sea environments.

Municipal biosolids and agricultural limestone were incorporated into the surface of alluvial highly acidic, metal-contaminated mine tailings in Leadville, CO, in 1998. Amended sites were seeded and a plant cover was subsequently established. A range of chemical and biological parameters were measured over time to determine if treatment was sufficient to restore ecosystem function. An uncontami...

Prey traits linking consumer diversity to ecosystem function remain poorly understood. On tropical coral reefs, herbivores promote coral dominance by suppressing competing macroalgae, but the roles of herbivore identity and diversity, macroalgal defenses, and their interactions in affecting reef resilience and function are unclear. We studied adjacent pairs of no-take marine reserves and fished...