{"id":4318,"date":"2026-05-09T12:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T00:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.seaswell.net\/publishing\/?p=4318"},"modified":"2026-05-09T12:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T00:17:19","slug":"biodiversity-functions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seaswell.net\/publishing\/biodiversity-functions\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodiversity – Functions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Biodiversity
Bees’ Function<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This Blog post #6<\/strong> is entitled: Biodiversity \u2013 Functions<\/strong>. It follows our last post #5: \u201cBiodiversity \u2013 Evolution<\/a>\u201d of this Biodiversity series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This present post is inspired by chapter 4, \u201cFunctions\u201d, of Antonelli\u2019s book, \u201cThe Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversity<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biodiversity – Functions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Chapter 4 of his book, Antonelli<\/a> recounts of his early experience gained assisting scientists in Lapland, 200 kilometres or so north of the Polar Circle. He uses this experience of studying the arctic ecosystems to introduce the reader to ecological function<\/a><\/strong>, the ways in which differing species affect their environment and interact with other species. The research produced insights into changes in functional diversity induced by the effects of climate change on the local environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes over extremely short periods of time <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The research showed that climate change<\/a> was causing visible and substantial changes in the functions of plant and animal communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth Axis of Biodiversity<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Antonelli explains that functional diversity variable is the fourth axis of biodiversity<\/a>, and that this is intrinsic to the living species on Earth. It is often the first variable to change as the environment changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narrowing of Functions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

He points out that unfortunately, as climate changes and certain plant species take over large areas in an ecosystem<\/a>, out competing others, this can bring about a narrower set of functions than the original species. He points out that: “Functional diversity<\/a> is critical to maintaining a natural world full of variety and difference”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difficult to Measure Functions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The picture is complex and it is very difficult to identify and measure every function that a species plays. Antonelli quotes the example of growing forests around the world to slow down climate change. He states that the potential for trees to help capture carbon is uncertain. The unknowns include lack of accurate assessments of carbon content in the wood of the world’s more than 70,000 known tree species and how much carbon trees can store under the ground in their root systems and carbon storage<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redundancy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Antonelli explains that an interesting aspect of functional diversity is redundancy<\/a>. This is where different species have overlapping functions with the result of a surplus of a function in a particular ecosystem. He asks whether this is a good or bad thing? He then gives an example from the Caribbean<\/a> involving research into three million year old mollusc fossils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The molluscs<\/a> suffered an unknown extinction event and as a consequence of the large degree of functional diversity amongst the species of molluscs, only 3% of functionality was lost from the whole ecosystem despite losing half of the number of different species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abundance of Functions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When there is an abundance of functions from various species and complex food webs<\/a> within an ecosystem, the ecosystem is more healthy and resilient to climate change. In effect, there is an extra layer of insurance so that even if some species go extinct functional diversity remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Antonelli concludes that functional diversity provides a bridge between the smallest components of biodiversity (species and their genes) and the largest of them (ecosystems).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next Blog post, #7 of this series, will be entitled: \u201cBiodiversity \u2013 Ecosystems\u201d and will be inspired by chapter 5, \u201cEcosystems\u201d, of Antonelli\u2019s book, \u201cThe Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversit<\/a>y\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Post Dated: 9\/05\/2026<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Blog post #6 is entitled: Biodiversity \u2013 Functions. It follows our last post #5: \u201cBiodiversity \u2013 Evolution\u201d of this Biodiversity series. This present post is inspired by chapter 4, \u201cFunctions\u201d, of Antonelli\u2019s book, \u201cThe Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversity\u201d. Biodiversity – Functions In Chapter 4 of his book, Antonelli recounts of his early experience…<\/p>\n

Read More “Biodiversity – Functions”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,25,35,9,11,17,22,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biodiversity","category-facebook","category-life","category-non-fiction","category-science-research","category-science-topics","category-seaswell-publishing","category-social-media"],"yoast_head":"\nBiodiversity - Functions - Seaswell Publishing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Seaswell Publishing, Blog, Barrie Cameron, Author, non-fiction, Biodiversity - Functions, Earth, biosphere, biodiversity loss, redundancy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.seaswell.net\/publishing\/biodiversity-functions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biodiversity - 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