Understanding Biodiversity-Function in a Changing World

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With a projected population of 9.5 billion by 2050, the human fingerprint on the globe is undoubtedly increasing. Climate change, harvesting, agriculture (e.g., nutrient run-off) and land modification are four major vectors influencing the maintenance of biodiversity and the critical relationship between biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystem services (e.g., food provisioning, food security, carbon storage, nutrient cycling, stability). Despite these growing changes, the understanding of how ecological systems respond collectively to these vectors remains limited, especially as they often co-occur such that ecosystems are impacted by a suite of stressors simultaneously. Here, I propose to continue to develop food web theory coupled to empirical work that is both fundamental and applied. Fundamental in that it considers how ecosystem functions respond to natural and human-induced perturbations and applied in that these results will suggest new methods for both mediating human impacts and for developing early warning signals of looming and costly changes to our ecosystems. Importantly, this research is integrated with several larger research group initiatives (e.g., the $77 million Canadian Research Excellence Fund Food from Thought, and the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission theme on Food webs and Energetics in the Great Lakes). These networks of collaborative researchers are collectively working on common problems (e.g., climate change, agricultural intensification impacts, harvesting impacts on biodiversity-function) ensuring that this theoretically-driven research is driven by data. Additionally, these collaborative networks mean that young researchers are trained within a multi-disciplinarian context ensuring the production of highly qualified personnel. Keywords: biodiversity-function, ecosystem services, global change, variation, theory, empirical, Early warning signals, integrated research