title: Biodiversity as a multidimensional construct: a review, framework and case study of herbivory's impact on plant biodiversity.
abstract: Biodiversity is inherently multidimensional, encompassing taxonomic, functional, phylogenetic, genetic, landscape and many other elements of variability of life on the Earth. However, this fundamental principle of multidimensionality is rarely applied in research aimed at understanding biodiversity's value to ecosystem functions and the services they provide. This oversight means that our current understanding of the ecological and environmental consequences of biodiversity loss is limited primarily to what unidimensional studies have revealed. To address this issue, we review the literature, develop a conceptual framework for multidimensional biodiversity research based on this review and provide a case study to explore the framework. Our case study specifically examines how herbivory by whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) alters the multidimensional influence of biodiversity on understory plant cover at Black Rock Forest, New York. Using three biodiversity dimensions (taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity) to explore our framework, we found that herbivory alters biodiversity's multidimensional influence on plant cover; an effect not observable through a unidimensional approach. Although our review, framework and case study illustrate the advantages of multidimensional over unidimensional approaches, they also illustrate the statistical and empirical challenges such work entails. Meeting these challenges, however, where data and resources permit, will be important if we are to better understand and manage the consequences we face as biodiversity continues to decline in the foreseeable future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue MC5557, New York, NY 10027, USA sn2121@columbia.edu.|Earth Institute Center for Environmental Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naeem
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue MC5557, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Case
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prager
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue MC5557, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weeks
authors.affiliation: Earth Institute Center for Environmental Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varga
authors.affiliation: The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Dan F B
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue MC5557, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue MC5557, New York, NY 10027, USA.|Department of Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Muscarella
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue MC5557, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue MC5557, New York, NY 10027, USA.|Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Black Rock Forest Consortium, Cornwall, NY 12518, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schuster
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003670:Deer; D065928:Forests; D060434:Herbivory; D009518:New York; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification*
keywords: biodiversity; conceptual framework; ecosystem function; ecosystem services; multiple dimensions of biodiversity