Workshop: Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Function: Islands as Model Systems; The Bahamas; October 1993

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9310767 Vitousek The loss of biological diversity if the most permanent of the many global consequences of an expanding human population and level of activity. To what extent does this loss of diversity lead to changes in the functioning of ecosystems? Twenty and more years ago, the ecological community thought we knew the answer to this question-diversity leads to ecosystem stability, and its loss therefore should de stabilize ecosystems. However, at that time our understanding of both diversity and ecosystem function were inadequate even to frame the question in a meaningful way. %%% The advances in ecology since (both in population biology and ecosystem studies) and the urgent need to understand the consequences of ongoing global changes in biological diversity have led the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) to establish a 3-year project to evaluate a)what is known about connections between biological diversity and ecosystem function; and b) what research should be initiated now so that we will be able to understand and manage these connections in the future. This proposal requests funding to support a workshop within the SCOPE program to evaluate biological diversity and ecosystems; the workshop will be held in mid-October, 1993, in the Bahamas. ibute to our understanding of the development of C4 ecosystems. Based on the excellent reviews, the Program agrees with this assessment, and recommend that this proposal be funded. Panelist Beatty rated this proposal as "Fair." She believed that the research was very important and that the PI was highly qualified, but that the study w as much more "geol ! ! ! F ( Times New Roman Symbol & Arial " h z E z E 5 jethro moorefield jethro moorefield