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Science 25 July 1997:
Vol. 277. no. 5325, pp. 500 - 504
DOI: 10.1126/science.277.5325.500
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Articles

Biotic Control over the Functioning of Ecosystems

F. Stuart Chapin III, * Brian H. Walker, Richard J. Hobbs, David U. Hooper, John H. Lawton, Osvaldo E. Sala, David Tilman

Changes in the abundance of species--especially those that influence water and nutrient dynamics, trophic interactions, or disturbance regime--affect the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Diversity is also functionally important, both because it increases the probability of including species that have strong ecosystem effects and because it can increase the efficiency of resource use. Differences in environmental sensitivity among functionally similar species give stability to ecosystem processes, whereas differences in sensitivity among functionally different species make ecosystems more vulnerable to change. Current global environmental changes that affect species composition and diversity are therefore profoundly altering the functioning of the biosphere.

F. S. Chapin III and D. U. Hooper are in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USA. B. H. Walker is in the Division of Wildlife and Ecology, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Post Office Box 84, Lyneham, ACT 2602, Canberra, Australia. R. J. Hobbs is in the Division of Wildlife and Ecology, CSIRO, LMB 4 Post Office Midland, Western Australia 6056, Australia. J. H. Lawton is at the National Environmental Research Council Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK. O. E. Sala is on the Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires, Avenida San Martin 4453, Buenos Aires 1417, Argentina. D. Tilman is in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail fschapin{at}socrates.berkeley.edu

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