The multiscale feedback theory of biodiversity.

Martin Zobel, Mari Moora, Meelis Pärtel, Marina Semchenko, Leho Tedersoo, Maarja Öpik, John Davison

Trends in ecology & evolution 2023 Feb

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Plants and their environments engage in feedback loops that not only affect individuals, but also scale up to the ecosystem level. Community-level negative feedback facilitates local diversity, while the ability of plants to engineer ecosystem-wide conditions for their own benefit enhances local dominance. Here, we suggest that local and regional processes influencing diversity are inherently correlated: community-level negative feedback predominates among large species pools formed under historically common conditions; ecosystem-level positive feedback is most apparent in historically restricted habitats. Given enough time and space, evolutionary processes should lead to transitions between systems dominated by positive and negative feedbacks: species-poor systems should become richer due to diversification of dominants and adaptation of subordinates; however, new monodominants may emerge due to migration or new adaptations. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Martin Zobel, Mari Moora, Meelis Pärtel, Marina Semchenko, Leho Tedersoo, Maarja Öpik, John Davison. The multiscale feedback theory of biodiversity. Trends in ecology & evolution. 2023 Feb;38(2):171-182