Scientists solve long-standing ecological riddle

The fundamental mechanisms underlying global productivity-diversity patterns have been debated by ecologists for decades. Methodological advances are now permitting a glimpse at the processes that lie behind surface patterns.

Researchers have found clear evidence that communities rich in species are substantially healthier and more productive than those depleted of species, once complicating factors are removed.

An international group of scientists, including University of Washington ecologist Jonathan Bakker in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences has solved this long-standing ecological riddle using new scientific techniques for analyzing complex data to answer the question: How do we know that conserving biodiversity is actually important in the real world?

“This study shows that you cannot have sustainable, productive ecosystems without maintaining biodiversity in the landscape,” said Jim Grace, a U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist and lead author of a new paper published online Jan. 13 in Nature.