Key Concepts in Ecology: Conservation of global biodiversity  

This blog post on ‘Conservation of global biodiversity’ is part of the BES ‘Key Concepts in Ecology’ series, designed to help ecologists in learning the key topics in ecology! Take a look at the full series for a list of key topics you might typically find in an ecology textbook, each providing a quick introduction to the topic, and a list of suggested papers for students to refer to.  

One of the central foci of ecological research is to understand interactions among species and their environment and the consequences of losing species because of habitat alteration, the spread of invasive species, or climate change. Such work clearly informs the conservation of biodiversity; by understanding the consequences of species loss, perhaps we can better inform management and restoration. For instance, losing particular bird species will influence multiple dimensions of diversity (Si et al. 2016), but the functions that those birds provide, like seed dispersal, might also be lost (Rumeu et al. 2017). Other functions, like processing of dung by dung beetles, might remain robust to disturbance (Chiew et al. 2022) The consequences on ecosystem functioning can be particularly complicated when food webs vary spatially or temporally (Kortsch et al. 2021), encompass both aquatic and terrestrial components (Nash et al. 2021) or when systems undergo regime shifts (Moi et al. 2022). The loss of ecosystem engineers will obviously disrupt the functioning of ecosystems (Byers In press); similarly, invasion by ecosystem engineers, like earthworms in many parts of the world can have dramatic impacts on ecosystem functioning (Ferlian et al. 2018). For many species, be the beetles (Hagge et al. 2021) or red-billed choughs (Reid et al. 2022), predicting the likelihood of extinction, let alone the consequences, will remain challenging unless there are detailed studies of the natural history, traits, and drivers of demography that continue to be carried out.  

Introduction written by Nate Sanders (Executive Editor, Journal of Animal Ecology). Reading list curated by the BES journal Editors. 

References and suggested reading 

Ecosystem services and functions 

• Moi D. A. et al. (2022). Regime shifts in a shallow lake over 12 years: Consequences for taxonomic and functional diversities, and ecosystem multifunctionality. Journal of Animal Ecology, 91: 551–565. 
  
• Kortsch S. et al. (2021) Disentangling temporal food web dynamics facilitates understanding of ecosystem functioning. Journal of Animal Ecology, 90: 1205–1216. 
  
• Chiew L. Y. et al. (2022) Tropical forest dung beetle–mammal dung interaction networks remain similar across an environmental disturbance gradient. Journal of Animal Ecology, 91: 604–617. 
  
• Rumeu B. et al (2017) Predicting the consequences of disperser extinction: richness matters the most when abundance is low. Functional Ecology, 31: 1910-1920. 
  
• Byers J. E. (2024). Using ecosystem engineers to enhance multiple ecosystem processes. Functional Ecology, 38: 22–36. 

Rates of extinction  

• Hagge J. et al. (2021) What does a threatened saproxylic beetle look like? Modelling extinction risk using a new morphological trait database. Journal of Animal Ecology, 90: 1934–1947. 
  
• Si X. et al. (2016) Selective extinction drives taxonomic and functional alpha and beta diversities in island bird assemblages. Journal of Animal Ecology, 85: 409-418. 

Drivers of extinction  

• Ferlian O. et al. (2018) Invasive earthworms erode soil biodiversity: A meta-analysis. Journal of Animal Ecology, 87: 162–172. 
  
• Nash L.N. (2021) Warming of aquatic ecosystems disrupts aquatic–terrestrial linkages in the tropics. Journal of Animal Ecology, 90: 1623–1634. 

Conservation efforts and successes  

• Reid J. M. et al. (2022) Integrating advances in population and evolutionary ecology with conservation strategy through long-term studies of red-billed choughs. Journal of Animal Ecology, 91: 20–34.