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Science 12 November 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5699, pp. 1177 - 1180
DOI: 10.1126/science.1103960
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Reports

Extinction and Ecosystem Function in the Marine Benthos

Martin Solan,1* Bradley J. Cardinale,2 Amy L. Downing,3 Katharina A. M. Engelhardt,4 Jennifer L. Ruesink,5 Diane S. Srivastava6{dagger}

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.

1 Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen, Main Street, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland AB41 6AA.
2 Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
3 Department of Zoology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH 43015, USA.
4 University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Appalachian Laboratory, 301 Braddock Road, Frostburg, MD 21532–2307, USA.
5 Department of Biology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
6 Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4.



{dagger} All authors contributed equally to this work.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.solan{at}abdn.ac.uk

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