For decades, ecologists have theorized that the extinction of one important species could set off a chain reaction of losses ...

Ecosystem function describes the array of biological, geochemical and physical processes that occur within an ecosystem—such as primary production, nutrient cycling, decomposition and climate ...

Ecosystems on Earth’s land surface support multiple functions and services that are critical for society, like biomass production, vegetation’s efficiency of using sunlight and water, water retention ...

Researchers found elephants help sustain a hidden network of insects, with their loss triggering biodiversity declines across ecosystems.

Many alpine ecosystems are undergoing vegetation degradation because of global change, which is affecting ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. The ecological consequences of alpine pioneer ...

A recent study quantifies the impact of biodiversity loss on ecological functions by tracking energy flows within them. It found that declines in birds and small mammals have led to a significant ...

What can fossil records teach scientists about ancient ecosystems and marine environments? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to address ...

Halting biodiversity loss is one of the great challenges of the 21st century, and if we want international conservation policies that work, we need to urgently re-evaluate how we think ecosystems work ...

Wildlife biologists used a novel technique to trace the movement of carbon through Arctic and boreal forest food webs and found that climate warming resulted in a shift from plant-based food webs to ...

As the dominant seagrass species on the U.S. West Coast, eelgrass supports a wide range of ecosystem services and functions, making its preservation and restoration a top priority for the region.

A large international research team has identified three key indicators that together summarize the integrative function of terrestrial ecosystems: 1. the capacity to maximize primary productivity, 2.