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Border wall: bad for biodiversity
Author(s) -
Fowler Norma,
Keitt Tim,
Schmidt Olivia,
Terry Martin,
Trout Keeper
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1002/fee.1785
Subject(s) - library science , conservation biology , trout , biodiversity conservation , cactus , geography , ecology , biodiversity , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , computer science , fishery
species turnover. While this situation cannot be fully resolved, the compartmentalization into 96 subunits (Fig ure 1b) enables the study of spatial and metapopulation dynamics by using different spatial arrangements of and varying the connectivity between the four sub units within a given EcoUnit. More over, alterations of biotic interactions (Figure 1c) can be related to changes in invertebrate activity patterns and behavior that can be observed thro ugh the video camera system. Fully programmable multicolor (wavelength) LED lamps, irrigation systems, and temperature gradients along the soil profile enable the spatial and temporal control of environmental factors as well as the simulation of environmental gradients within and across EcoUnits. Analogous to the successive establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), biodiversity researchers – by building the first biodiversity chambers – are catching up with climate scientists. Such novel equipment will help to better integrate community ecology and ecosystem ecology to reconcile the complexity and functioning of biodiversity (Tho mp son et al. 2012; Hines et al. 2015) and to generate a more holistic and mechanistic understanding of BEF relationships. Although laboratorybased experiments represent an abstraction of natural complexity, the biodiversity chambers at the iDiv Ecotron can be used to test multitrophic mechanisms of BEF and develop novel hypotheses, which can then be explored at different ecological scales.