The Future of Life by Wilson Edward O

Author:Wilson, Edward O. [Wilson, Edward O.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2002-04-08T21:00:00+00:00

When observation and theory collide, scientists turn to carefully designed experiments for resolution. Their motivation is especially high in the case of biological systems, which are typically far too complex to be grasped by observation and theory alone. The best procedure, as in the rest of science, is first to simplify the system, then to hold it more or less constant while varying the important parameters one or two at a time to see what happens. In the 1990s a team of British ecologists, in an attempt to approach these ideal conditions, devised the ecotron, a growth chamber in which artificially simple ecosystems can be assembled as desired, species by species. Using multiple ecotrons, they found that productivity, measured by the increase of plant bulk, rose with an increase in species numbers. Simultaneously, ecologists monitoring patches of Minnesota grassland—outdoor equivalents of ecotrons—during a period of drought found that patches higher in species diversity declined less in productivity and recovered more quickly than did patches with lower diversity.

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