title: Extinction and ecosystem function in the marine benthos.
abstract: Rapid changes in biodiversity are occurring globally, yet the ecological impacts of diversity loss are poorly understood. Here we use data from marine invertebrate communities to parameterize models that predict how extinctions will affect sediment bioturbation, a process vital to the persistence of aquatic communities. We show that species extinction is generally expected to reduce bioturbation, but the magnitude of reduction depends on how the functional traits of individual species covary with their risk of extinction. As a result, the particular cause of extinction and the order in which species are lost ultimately govern the ecosystem-level consequences of biodiversity loss.
authors.affiliation: Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen, Main Street, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland AB41 6AA. m.solan@abdn.ac.uk
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Solan
authors.forename: Bradley J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Cardinale
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Downing
authors.forename: Katharina A M
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ruesink
authors.forename: Diane S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Srivastava
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D018533:Biomass; D049628:Body Size; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004447:Echinodermata; D017753:Ecosystem; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D007494:Ireland; D008386:Marine Biology; D008954:Models, Biological; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011336:Probability; D012623:Seawater; D013223:Statistics as Topic