Vital ecosystem functions, such as sequestering carbon dioxide and purifying water, depend on a larger number of species than previously thought. That means we may have underestimated the environmental impact of biodiversity losses.
Andy Hector and Robert Bagchi of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, analysed data on the ecosystem services provided by grass species. They then devised a method to identify how many species were need to provide increasing numbers of services.
As more ecosystem services were added, greater numbers of species were required to support an entire ecosystem (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature05947).
“We may have underestimated the effects of biodiversity,” Hector says. “Our analysis encourages…
