About this Research Topic

Background

The complex relationships among marine biodiversity, ecosystem processes, and the health of both the ocean and humans are of paramount importance. Recent advancements in marine science have emphasized the need for a comprehensive understanding of these relationships to support sustainable management and conservation strategies. For example, research has demonstrated that high biodiversity within marine ecosystems can often buffer the adverse effects of climate change or biological invasions on ecosystems, showcasing the resilience provided by diverse biological communities across ecological scales​​. This resilience is crucial for maintaining ecosystem functions and services, including carbon cycling, nutrient cycling, and habitat provision, which are vital for both marine life and human societies. On the other hand, the importance of biological mechanisms of resistance to cumulative human impacts and climate change are not well understood, and other studies have shown that high biodiversity does not necessarily guarantee resilience.

This Special Issue in Frontiers in Marine Science aims to address these critical challenges in marine ecosystem ecology, focusing on the dynamic interactions between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and ocean/human health. The scope of this issue encompasses the shift from purely descriptive studies to those offering functional assessments, enhancing our comprehension of marine ecosystems, and devising strategies for their sustainable use​​​.

The Special Issue will cover a wide array of topics, including but not limited to:

- Understanding Interactions Among Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions: Investigating the complex biophysical relationships among marine biodiversity, food-web structures, ecological processes, and ecosystem functioning to enhance our predictive capabilities regarding ecological consequences of biodiversity shifts​​.

- Assessment of Ocean Health and its Link to Human Health: Focusing on the interconnectedness of ocean and human health, addressing key risks such as microbial pollution, pharmaceuticals, and plastic pollution, and benefits, such as food provision, coastal protection, recreation and tourism, and other ecosystem services.
This also includes discussions on governance and the formulation of a scientific agenda to promote a healthier ocean for the benefit of human well-being​​.

- Ecosystem Processes Under the Marine ‘Holobiont’ Paradigm: Reevaluating marine ecosystem processes by considering marine organisms as multispecies entities, comprising the host and its associated microbes, to better understand their role in organismal function, interaction, and ecological context​​.

- Analyze Biological Mechanisms for Increased Resilience: Understanding the mechanisms through which biodiversity, at different scales and hierarchical levels, can influence the resilience of ecosystem functioning and services, under global change.

- Understanding Functional Redundancy and Response Diversity: Emphasizing the roles of functional redundancy and response diversity to explore how different species within the same functional group can respond differently to disturbances, thereby ensuring ecosystem stability and capacity for recovery.

- Understanding the importance of preserving a wide array of species with differing functional roles and responses to environmental stressors, highlighting the intricate balance between biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Marine Biodiversity, Ecological Interactions, Ecosystem Processes, Ocean Health, Marine Ecology

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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