Biodiversity & Ecosystem Functioning

How does biodiversity sustain ecosystems?

Biodiversity is declining worldwide at an unprecedented rate. At the same time, human societies depend on healthy ecosystems for food production, climate regulation, nutrient cycling, water purification, and many other essential services.

A central question in ecology is therefore: How does biodiversity influence ecosystem functioning?

Our research seeks to understand how changes in biodiversity affect ecosystem productivity, stability, resilience, and multifunctionality. By combining experiments, observations, and global syntheses, we investigate the mechanisms linking biodiversity to ecosystem processes and explore how these relationships change under environmental stress.

Why does biodiversity matter?

Biodiversity influences ecosystems through multiple pathways. Species differ in their traits, resource-use strategies, and responses to environmental conditions. As a result, more diverse communities can often use resources more efficiently, maintain functioning under changing conditions, and better withstand disturbances.

Understanding these mechanisms is essential for predicting how ecosystems will respond to biodiversity loss and global environmental change.

Key research questions

  • How does biodiversity affect ecosystem productivity?
  • Why does biodiversity increase ecosystem stability?
  • How does biodiversity influence multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously?
  • How do global change drivers alter biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships?
  • Can biodiversity enhance ecosystem resilience to climate extremes?

Our approach

We address these questions through:

  • Long-term biodiversity experiments
  • Global experimental networks
  • Large-scale ecological syntheses
  • Trait-based ecology
  • Statistical and theoretical approaches

Our work spans grasslands, forests, agricultural systems, and multifunctional landscapes.

Representative projects

Biodiversity and ecosystem stability

Understanding how biodiversity promotes ecosystem stability across spatial and temporal scales.

Biodiversity and multifunctionality

Exploring how biodiversity contributes simultaneously to multiple ecosystem functions and ecosystem services.

Biodiversity under global change

Investigating how nutrient enrichment, drought, warming, and other global change drivers modify biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning.

Biodiversity across scales

Understanding how biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships change from local communities to landscapes and regions.

Research platforms and networks

People