BIODIVERSITY ORGANIZATION: LINKING ENTITIES AND FUNCTIONS IN ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Biodiversity focuses on the study of the numbers, differences and organization of entities in ecological systems (Shachak et al 2005a, b). Entities include genes, organisms and landscape patches. Biodiversity science aims at understanding the relationship among the numbers, differences and organization of entities and ecosystem function. In my talk I will argue that the prevailing approaches of searching for direct relationships between numbers and differences of entities and ecosystem function simplify biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships. I will present a conceptual model that links biodiversity to ecosystem function via a stage of entities organization. The model focuses on three feedback processes: 1.Entities assemblage formation: how assemblages of organisms and landscape units (patches) are formed. 2. Entities organization: how interactions among the entities in the assemblage form patterns 3. Fluxes formation: how the organization of entities controls th