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Marine biodiversity and ecosystem function in shallow marine ecosystems I am mainly interested in issues concerning biodiversity and how it is related to various ecosystem processes. Biodiversity is under large pressure and threat today, and is dissapearing at a rate larger or comparable to the large extinction events of earths history. Because human society largely depends on goods and services delivered by a great diversity of organisms, it is important to examine the effects of decreasing number of species. Many recent studies have shown that increased diversity of species or functional groups of species can provide higher levels of functioning. Examples of such functions are productivity and nutrient fluxes, and a decrease in diversity thus can have serious effects for a number of functions and services in most ecosystems. Other studies question the validity of the results supporting such statements. They question both the design of the experiments and the interpretation of the results. My aim is to study the effects of biodiversity loss in shallow marine ecosystems, such as rock pools and rocky shores, on productivity, grazing and stability. Experimental studies manipulate multiple trophic levels and the role of local versus regional diversity. The marine environment is characterized by weak barriers to dispersal, and it is thus likely that the diversity of the regional propagule pool will be important for local processes. I am also interested in the effects of changing within-species diversity. For this purpose I use the barnacle Balanus improvisus and the amphipod Gammarus duebenii, to examine how intraspecific diversity affects settling and survival. In an additional project I study the importance of biodiversity for multiple functions. It is quite plausible that even though single functions depend on individual species, a richness of species is important for multiple and parallel functions. Running projects:
Funded by: MARBIPP/SEPA, Formas, Adlerbertska Forskningsstiftelsen, Colliander, Stiftelsen Wilhelm Och Martina Lundgrens Vetenskapsfond, The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT). Publications:Lindegarth, M. and Gamfeldt, L. 2005. Comparing caregorical and continuous ecological analyses: effects of "wave exposure" on rocky shores. Ecology, 85, 1346-1357. pdf Gamfeldt, L., Hillebrand, H. and Jonsson, P.R. 2005. Species richness changes across two trophic levels simultaneously affect prey and consumer biomass. Ecology Letters, 8, 696-703. pdf* Gamfeldt, L., Wallén, J., Jonsson, P.R., Berntsson, K.M. and Havenhand, J.N. 2005. Increasing intraspecific diversity enhances settling success in a marine invertebrate. Ecology, 85, 3219-3224. pdf Matthiessen, B., Gamfeldt, L., Jonsson, P.R. and Hillebrand, H. 2006. Grazer richness and combination effects on algal biomass in an open and closed marine system. Ecology, accepted. Gamfeldt, L. and Källström, B. Increasing intraspecific diversity of a marine invertebrate decreases variance in survival following perturbation. Submitted. Hillebrand, H., Gamfeldt, L., Jonsson, P.R. and Matthiessen, B. Consumer diversity influences indirect consumer effects on prey nutrient content. Submitted. Gamfeldt, L., Lindgren, F. and Jonsson, P. Species richness changes across two trophic levels affected by openness and disturbance. Manuscript. *This is an electronic version of an article published in Ecology Letters: complete citation information for the final version of the paper, as published in the print edition of Ecology Letters, is available on the Blackwell Synergy online delivery service, accessible via the journal's website at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/ele or http://www.blackwell-synergy.com. |
