Under global change, how biological diversity and ecosystem services are maintained in
time is a fundamental question. Ecologists have long argued about multiple mechanisms by …

Early studies suggested that simple ecosystems were less stable than complex ones, but
later studies came to the opposite conclusion. Confusion arose because of the many …

Summary Competitor, stress‐tolerator, ruderal (CSR) theory is a prominent plant functional
strategy scheme previously applied to local floras. Globally, the wide geographic and …

Humans are altering the composition of biological communities through a variety of activities
that increase rates of species invasions and species extinctions, at all scales, from local to …

Managing ecosystems to ensure the provision of multiple ecosystem services is a key
challenge for applied ecology. Functional traits are receiving increasing attention as the …

The links between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning remain highly controversial.
There is a growing consensus, however, that functional diversity, or the value and range of …

A leaf-height-seed (LHS) plant ecology strategy scheme is proposed. The axes would be
specific leaf area SLA (light-capturing area deployed per dry mass allocated), height of the …

Species diversity is a major determinant of ecosystem productivity, stability, invasibility, and
nutrient dynamics. Hundreds of studies spanning terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems …

THE EVOLUTIONARY STRATEGIES THAT SHAPE ECOSYSTEMS In 1837 a young Charles
Darwin took his notebook, wrote “I think”, and then sketched a rudimentary, stick-like tree …

Global environmental change affects the sustained provision of a wide set of ecosystem
services. Although the delivery of ecosystem services is strongly affected by abiotic drivers …