Freshwater Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Novel Ideas and Approaches

About this Research Topic

Background

Freshwater ecosystems, including streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, etc., support disproportionately abundant biodiversity. However, the population of freshwater species has declined more than 80% since the 1970s due to intensive human disturbance, which invokes study interest in freshwater biodiversity. Two scientific issues are generally concerned: (1) understanding spatiotemporal patterns and assembling mechanisms of freshwater biodiversity, and (2) measuring changes in freshwater ecosystem functioning and services due to biodiversity loss, i.e., biodiversity-ecosystem functioning-services relationships.

Numerous studies have addressed these two issues. Latitudinal, altitudinal, and temporal diversity patterns were found across diverse freshwater assemblages. Environmental filtering, biotic interactions, dispersal limitations, or evolution processes were reported important in shaping freshwater metacommunities. An Increase in species diversity was found to promote nutrient uptakes, ecosystem productions and leaf litter breakdown ratios in freshwater ecosystems. However, there are still gaps in our knowledge. For example, it is unclear whether latitude and altitude shape freshwater biodiversity patterns with the same mechanisms, and whether they affect freshwater patterns independently or synergistically as well. Proportional contributions of different processes to community assembly are to be evaluated with more accurate and mechanism-based methods. More exploration of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships are also needed. We wonder whether considering functional and phylogenetic diversity, besides species diversity, would achieve more consistent findings on diversity patterns across freshwater assemblages and a deeper understanding of BEF relationships. Moreover, we will get different results when multifunctionality is considered in BEF relationship studies, compared with single function studies.

In this Research Topic, we aim to bring together new research, encourage a serious discussion concerning existing knowledge on the abovementioned questions and foster novel ideas and approaches toward a more thorough understanding of freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

We welcome Original Research Articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspective papers. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

1) spatiotemporal drivers of freshwater biodiversity;
2) mechanisms for community assembly;
3) Intersection between biogeography and community ecology;
4) freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relationships;
5) freshwater biological traits and functional diversity;
6) human effects on freshwater biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem services
7) novel ideas and approaches for freshwater biodiversity, BEF relationship studies

Keywords: freshwater biodiversity, metacommunity, ecosystem functioning, traits, human disturbance

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