Research Topic

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

Human modification of ecosystems across the world has probably triggered the sixth major biodiversity extinction crisis. Beyond the ethical issues associated with human impacts on the living world, ecologists have long emphasized the consequences for ecosystem functioning. Species diversity has functional consequences because the nature of the species present in assemblages determines ecosystem functions and services.

My research on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has aimed to integrate coexistence theory, evolutionary dynamics, and spatial scaling. I have focused on how the mechanisms of species coexistence, evolutionary dynamics, and regional processes affect the shape of biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships, using models, empirical datasets, and experimental approaches with microorganisms and plants.

How Coexistence Mechanisms Shape the BEF

  1. Poisot T., Mouquet N., Gravel D. (2013). Trophic complementarity drives the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationship in food webs. Ecology Letters, doi.org/10.1111/ele.12118

  2. Matias M.G., Combe M., Barbera C., Mouquet N. (2013). Ecological strategies shape the insurance potential of biodiversity. Frontiers in Microbiology, doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2012.00432

  3. Bouvier T., Venail P., Pommier T., Bouvier C., Barbera C., Mouquet N. (2012). Contrasted Effects of Diversity and Immigration on Ecological Insurance in Marine Bacterioplankton Communities. PLoS ONE, doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037620

  4. Mouillot D., Mouquet N. (2006). Species richness peaks for intermediate levels of biomass in a fractal succession with quasi-neutral interactions. Oikos, doi.org/10.1111/j.2006.0030-1299.14894.x

  5. Mouquet N., Leadley P., M'eriguet J., Loreau M. (2004). Immigration and local competition in herbaceous plant communities: a three-year seed-sowing experiment. Oikos, doi.org/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.12644.x

  6. Mouquet N., Moore J.L., Loreau M. (2002). Plant species richness and community productivity: why the mechanism that promotes coexistence matters. Ecology Letters, doi.org/10.1046/j.1461-0248.2002.00281.x

  7. Moore J.L., Mouquet N., Lawton J.H., Loreau M. (2001). Coexistence, saturation and invasion resistance in simulated plant assemblages. Oikos, doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0706.2001.940211.x

Evolving the BEF

  1. Aubree F., David P., Jarne P., Loreau M., Mouquet N., Calcagno V. (2020). How community adaptation affects biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. Ecology Letters, doi.org/10.1111/ele.13530

  2. Calcagno V., Jarne P., Loreau M., Mouquet N., David P. (2017). Diversity spurs diversification in ecological communities. Nature Communications, doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15810

  3. Jousset A., Eisenhauer N., Merker M., Mouquet N., Scheu S. (2016). High functional diversity stimulates diversification in experimental microbial communities. Science Advances, doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600124

  4. Gravel D.*, Bell T., Barbera C., Combe M., Pommier T., Mouquet N.* (2012). Phylogenetic constraints on ecosystem functioning. Nature Communications, doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2123 (* These authors contributed equally to this study)

  5. Gravel D., Bell T., Barbera C., Bouvier T., Pommier T., Venail P., Mouquet N. (2010). Experimental niche evolution alters the strength of the diversity-productivity relationship. Nature, doi.org/10.1038/nature09592

  6. Venail P., MacLean R.C., Meynard C.N., Mouquet N. (2010). Dispersal scales up the biodiversity-productivity relationship in an experimental source-sink metacommunity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.2104

  7. Venail P., MacLean R.C., Bouvier T., Brockhurst M.A., Hochberg M., Mouquet N. (2008). Diversity and productivity peak at intermediate dispersal rate in evolving metacommunities. Nature, doi.org/10.1038/nature06554

Scaling Up the BEF

  1. Mouquet N., Mahaut L., Thuiller W., Auber A., Casajus C., Enquist B.J., Gauzere P., Loiseau N., Mouillot D., Munoz F., Villeger S. and Violle C. (2025). Spatial Insurance of Distinct Ecological Functions. Ecology Letters, 2025; 28:e70266, doi.org/10.1111/ele.70266

  2. Brun P., Violle C., Mouillot D., Mouquet N., Enquist B.J., Munoz F., Munkemuller T., Ostling A., Zimmermann N.E., Thuiller W. (2022). Plant community impact on productivity: Trait diversity or key(stone) species effects?. Ecology Letters, doi.org/10.1111/ele.13968

  3. Delalandre L., Gauzere P., Thuiller W., Cadotte M.W., Mouquet N., Mouillot D., Munoz F., Denelle P., Loiseau N., Morin X., Violle C. (2022). Functionally distinct tree species support long-term productivity in extreme environments. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1694

  4. Venail P.A., MacLean R.C., Meynard C.N. and Mouquet N. (2010). Dispersal scales up the biodiversity productivity relationship in an experimental source-sink metacommunity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 277, 2339-2345, doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.2104

  5. Loreau M., Mouquet N., Gonzalez A. (2003). Biodiversity as spatial insurance in heterogeneous landscapes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2235465100

Other topic pages

Aesthetics iconBiodiversity Aesthetics Biogeography iconBiogeography, Macroecology & Ecophylogenetics Experimental evolution iconExperimental Evolution Functional biogeography iconFunctional Biogeography Functional rarity iconFunctional Rarity Metacommunities iconMetacommunities Metaecosystems iconMetaecosystems Nature for Future iconNature for Future Reviews and synthesis iconReviews and Synthesis Trophic biogeography and metaweb iconTrophic Biogeography & Metaweb Biodiful iconBiodiful OutreachOutreach CollaboratorsCollaborators