Biodiversity and ecosystem service: What is the evidence for a link?

Background/Question/Methods The past three decades of ecological research has produced myriad experiments and theory describing the link between biodiversity and ecosystem function. Despite emerging consensus that genetic, species and functional diversity impacts ecosystem function, equivalent evidence of a biodiversity-ecosystem service (BES) link remains uncertain. In this paper we reviewed over 600 indexed biodiversity and ecosystem service articles published on ISI Web of Science through 2014 and asked whether there is evidence for a BES link. Using a vote-counting methodology we examined the response of four services to biodiversity across spatial scales. We distinguished three types of potential links that build on previous reviews but introduce a novel analytic framework: (1) BES respond in similar ways to management; (2) BES have spatial coincidence; and (3) BES are mechanistically linked so that changes in one drive changes in the other.

Results/Conclusions We found that the BES relationship depends on both the type of BES link investigated and specific ecosystem service in focus.  For example, studies of carbon sequestration typically quantified spatial coincidence between biodiversity and ecosystem service provision, and report both positive and neutral responses to increasing biodiversity. Alternatively, pollination studies generally focused on management efforts to increase ecosystem service production, and report positive responses to increasing biodiversity. This review shows that evidence is mixed, and this is partially explained by studies drawing conclusions from different types of links and spatial scales. Understanding the dynamic BES link has critical implications for conservation actions seeking to simultaneously address biodiversity and human well-being as parallel goals.