Linking ecological function, biodiversity and habitat: a mini-review focusing on older ecological literature [Review]

摘要

Current editorial policies of scientific journals in combination with modern technology used for the search of scientific literature intensify the tendency that ecologists lose connections with the knowledge of the past. This is unfortunate because the older ecological literature provides elements for a comparative approach linking ecological function, biodiversity and habitat of large-scale, high-bio-diversity systems. Such a comparative approach, seeking common or diverging properties among larger systems, would be a useful complement to current small-scale experimentation, but would require testable hypotheses. Deriving observations, ideas and views from the older ecological literature, we propose such testable hypotheses, linking Ecological processes (EP), Biodiversity (BD), Habitat complexity (HQ, Habitat harshness (HH), Habitat extent (HE), Size of organisms (S) and Longevity of organisms (L) in ecosystems through EP alpha BDx1 alpha HCx2 alpha HH-x3 alpha HEx4 alpha S-x5 alpha L-x6.