Michel Loreau is a theoretical ecologist with broad scientific interests. He is renowned internationally for his work on the relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and stability and the sustainability of coupled human-nature systems.
Andy Hector is an experimental ecologist with an interest in biodiversity, its loss and the consequences for ecosystem functioning and stability. He works primarily with plants, focusing on grassland and forest ecosystems, and is part of the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment in Malaysian Borneo.
Forest Isbell is an ecologist who studies grasslands, forests and agroecosystems. He investigates how changes in biodiversity are altering ecosystem functioning, stability and services, considering both the costs of biodiversity loss and the benefits of restoring biodiversity.

Introduction the Ecological and Societal Consequences of Biodiversity Loss xiiiMichel LOREAU, Andy HECTOR, and Forest ISBELL Part 1 Biodiversity and Ecosystems: An Overview 1 Chapter 1 Biodiversity Change: Past, Present, and Future 3Andy PURVIS and Forest ISBELL 1.1 Setting the stage: difficulties of documenting, understanding, and communicating biodiversity change 3 1.2 Biodiversity change in Earth history 6 1.3 Pre-industrial biodiversity change 8 1.4 Biodiversity change in the "Anthropocene" 9 1.5 Future of biodiversity change 12 1.6 Future of biodiversity change research 14 1.7 Acknowledgements 17 1.8 References 17 Chapter 2 Biodiversity: Concepts, Dimensions, and Measures 25Anne CHAO and Robert K COLWELL 2.1 Introduction 25 2.2 Progress in measuring taxonomic diversity 28 2.3 Taxonomic diversity and evenness measures 30 2.3.1 Taxonomic diversity: effective number of species 30 2.3.2 Evenness measures 32 2.4 A unified framework integrating diversities (TD, PD, and FD) 34 2.4.1 Phylogenetic diversity as a special case of attribute diversity 35 2.4.2 Functional diversity as a special case of attribute diversity 37 2.5 Diversity in space and time 39 2.6 Examples 40 2.6.1 Coral data 40 2.6.2 Saproxylic beetle data 41 2.7 Conclusion 43 2.8 Acknowledgements 43 2.9 References 44 Chapter 3 Ecosystems: An Overview 47Amelia A WOLF, Sarah K ORTIZ, and Chase J RAKOWSKI 3.1 An introduction to ecosystems 47 3.1.1 Ecosystem extent: abiotic factors in terrestrial systems 48 3.1.2 Ecosystem extent: biotic factors 51 3.1.3 Major ecosystem types 53 3.1.4 Meta-ecosystems 55 3.1.5 Ecosystem dynamics and change over time and space 56 3.2 Ecosystem functioning 57 3.3 Ecosystem stability 65 3.4 Ecosystem services 66 3.5 Human alterations to ecosystems 68 3.6 References 68 Part 2 How Biodiversity Affects Ecosystem Functioning 73 Chapter 4 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Theoretical Foundations 75Shaopeng WANG 4.1 Introduction 75 4.2 Biodiversity: from causes to consequences 77 4.3 Why does biodiversity promote ecosystem functioning? 81 4.4 Trophic diversity and ecosystem functioning 87 4.5 BEF over time and space 89 4.6 Conclusion 91 4.7 Acknowledgements 92 4.8 References 92 Chapter 5 Experimental Evidence for How Biodiversity Affects Ecosystem Functioning 97Mary I O'CONNOR, Joey R BERNHARDT, Keila STARK, Jacob USINOWICZ, and Matthew A WHALEN 5.1 The role of experiments 98 5.1.1 The experiment that launched a thousand experiments 98 5.1.2 How do we gain knowledge from experiments? 100 5.2 BEF experiments as tests of theory 103 5.2.1 Diversity as a driver of change in ecosystem function 103 5.2.2 Evidence for selection and complementarity 107 5.2.3 Experimental evidence for key assumptions of BEF theory 108 5.2.4 Testing for diversity effects under broader abiotic and biotic conditions 109 5.2.5 Diversity effects in space and time 111 5.3 Experiments that extend classic theory 112 5.3.1 Does extinction order matter? 112 5.3.2 Experiments that bridge BEF and modern coexistence theory (MCT) 112 5.3.3 Experimental evidence for effects of biodiversity on ecosystem services 113 5.4 Conclusion 114 5.5 References 114 Chapter 6 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning in Observational Analyses 119Laura E DEE, Kaitlin KIMMEL, and Meghan HAYDEN 6.1 Introduction 119 6.2 A historical perspective: returning to observational data 120 6.3 Benefits of observational data 121 6.4 The challenge of causal inference in observational studies 125 6.5 Observational studies: results and evidence to date 126 6.5.1 Across dimensions of biodiversity 127 6.5.2 Across ecosystem functions 128 6.5.3 Across ecosystem types 128 6.5.4 Summary of current evidence gaps 129 6.6 Reviewing study design to date: how are studies analysing observational data? 130 6.6.1 Moving forward: improving study designs for observational data and analyses 133 6.7 Future directions 135 6.8 Conclusion 136 6.9 References 137 Part 3 How Biodiversity Affects Ecosystem Stability 145 Chapter 7 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stability: New Theoretical Insights 147Michel LOREAU 7.1 Introduction 147 7.2 What is stability? 149 7.3 Why does local biodiversity promote ecosystem stability? 154 7.4 Scaling up diversity¿stability relationships 158 7.5 Conclusion 162 7.6 Acknowledgements 163 7.7 References 164 Chapter 8 What Do Biodiversity Experiments Tell Us About Biodiversity and Ecological Stability Relationships? 167Lin JIANG and Qianna XU 8.1 Introduction 167 8.2 Insight from models 169 8.3 A brief account of earlier diversity-stability experiments 170 8.4 The relationships between biodiversity and temporal stability 170 8.4.1 Grassland biodiversity experiments 170 8.4.2 Forest biodiversity experiments 172 8.4.3 Aquatic biodiversity experiments 173 8.4.4 Microbial biodiversity experiments 176 8.4.5 How general are the effects of species diversity on temporal stability? 177 8.4.6 Other dimensions of biodiversity 179 8.5 The relationships between biodiversity and resistance/resilience 180 8.6 The relevance of biodiversity experiments to real-world ecosystems 181 8.7 Conclusion 182 8.8 Acknowledgements 183 8.9 References 183 Chapter 9 Biodiversity and Temporal Stability of Naturally Assembled Ecosystems Across Spatial Scales in a Changing World 189Yann HAUTIER and Fons VAN DER PLAS 9.1 Introduction 189 9.2 Biodiversity-stability relationships along natural gradients 193 9.3 Global change drivers and biodiversity-stability relationships 196 9.4 Contribution of dominant and rare species to stability 200 9.5 Future directions 202 9.6 References 204 Part 4 How Biodiversity Affects Human Societies 211 Chapter 10 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Managed Ecosystems 213Bernhard SCHMID and Christian SCHÖB 10.1 A brief history of the role of biodiversity in managed ecosystems 213 10.2 Biodiversity as the basis for a new green revolution 214 10.3 Biodiversity in agriculture 217 10.3.1 Crop genetic diversity 217 10.3.2 Species diversity in grasslands and intercropping 218 10.3.3 Farm-scale diversity 220 10.4 Biodiversity in forestry 221 10.4.1 Evidence for positive biodiversity effects on forest ecosystem services 221 10.4.2 Ecosystem services provided by agroforestry 223 10.5 Outlook 224 10.5.1 Potential of biodiversity to support the next green revolution 224 10.5.2 Obstacles 224 10.5.3 Solutions 225 10.6 Acknowledgements 225 10.7 References 225 Chapter 11 Biodiversity and Human Health: On the Necessity of Combining Ecology and Public Health 233Jean-François GUÉGAN, Benjamin ROCHE, and Serge MORAND 11.1 Introduction 233 11.2 Microbial biodiversity is a key component of ecosystems 235 11.3 The linkages between biodiversity and human infectious diseases 238 11.4 The evolution of human society is punctuated by epidemiological phases 241 11.5 The new ecology and evolution of zoonotic and sapronotic establishment in the Anthropocene 243 11.6 The process of globalization of human infectious diseases 246 11.7 A livestock-dominated planet 248 11.8 Conclusion 249 11.9 Acknowledgements 253 11.10 References 253 Chapter 12 Economic Valuation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 261Seth BINDER 12.1 Introduction 261 12.2 What valuation is and is not 261 12.3 Non-market economic valuation methods 263 12.3.1 Production function methods 263 12.3.2 Revealed preference methods 269 12.3.3 Stated preference methods 272 12.3.4 Benefit transfer methods 273 12.4 Conclusion 274 12.5 References 276 Part 5 Zooming Out: Biodiversity in a Changing Planet 281 Chapter 13 Feedbacks Between Biodiversity and Climate Change 283Akira S MORI, Takehiro SASAKI, Maiko KAGAMI, Takeshi MIKI, and Moriaki YASUHARA 13.1 Introduction 283 13.2 Vulnerability and responses of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning to the changing climate in different biomes 288 13.3 Societal and political challenges to these twin crises and their interlinkages 294 13.4 The potential of biodiversity to cope with the changing climate 297 13.5 Conclusion 299 13.6 Acknowledgements 299 13.7 References 299 Chapter 14 Feedbacks Between Biodiversity and Society 305Kirsten HENDERSON 14.1 Introduction 305 14.2 Society's impact on biodiversity 307 14.2.1 Agriculture 307 14.2.2 Income 308 14.3 How societies view biodiversity 311 14.3.1 Biodiversity and culture 311 14.3.2 Biodiversity and well-being 313 14.3.3 Value of biodiversity 313 14.4 Biodiversity policy and society 314 14.4.1 Awareness and perception 314 14.4.2 Management strategies 316 14.4.3 Conflicts in biodiversity management 317 14.4.4 Successful initiatives 318 14.5 Conclusion 319 14.6 Acknowledgements 321 14.7 References 321 Chapter 15 Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 325Forest ISBELL 15.1 Introduction 325 15.2 Protecting biodiversity and ecosystems 326 15.2.1 What are protected areas and what are they intended to protect? 326 15.2.2 What global targets have been established for protected areas? 328 15.2.3 Where are protected areas and how effective are they? 329 15.2.4 Does protecting biodiversity also protect ecosystem services? 331 15.2.5 What are the limitations of protected areas? 332 15.3 Restoring biodiversity and ecosystems by reversing degradation 333 15.3.1 What is restoration and why is it needed? 333 15.3.2 What global targets have been established for restoration? 336 15.3.3 How extensive and effective is restoration? 337 15.3.4 Increasing the diversity of restorations can increase their efficacy 338 15.3.5 What are the limitations of restoration? 339 15.4 Looking ahead 340 15.5 Conclusion 343 15.6 Acknowledgements 343 15.7 References 343 List of Authors 347 Index 351