Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS41 Diversity in the Plankton: Patterns & Mechanisms at Different Scales (Spatial and Temporal Connections)

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 2:00:00 PM

Location: Dona Ana

Hudson, J, J, Dorset Environmental Sciences Centre & Trent University, Dorset, Canada, hudsonje@ene.gov.on.ca

Taylor, W, D, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, wdtaylor@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca

Schindler, D, W, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, d.schindler@ualberta.ca

DOES BIODIVERSITY MATTER IN PELAGIC ENVIRONMENTS?

Pelagic ecosystem function, as influenced by declining biodiversity, is a major concern because these environments play a significant role in global elemental cycles. However, most biodiversity studies are terrestrial and have emphasized population or community processes and not food web or ecosystem processes. Limnologists and oceanographers have enjoyed some success at identifying ecosystem patterns and processes, but they have often done so without reference to individual species. For example, recent studies suggest that processes such as nutrient regeneration and turnover are similar across a variety of pelagic environments, and one is tempted to infer that such processes are insensitive to species diversity or to the presence of particular species. Obviously, studies that integrate population and ecosystem approaches are required to properly address biodiversity issues in pelagic environments. Although studies conducted so far support the idea that species redundancy is common in pelagic systems, system function must be affected at certain thresholds of biodiversity. Food webs containing exotic species, or food webs from extreme environments suggest that changes in species composition can have a strong effect on pelagic ecosystem function.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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