Food Web Complexity Drives Biodiversity Effects on Ecosystems

Food web complexity underlies biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning, according to analyses across marine, lake, stream, and soil ecosystems. The study, published online on July 1, 2026, in the journal Nature, investigated the relationship between taxon richness and multi-trophic ecosystem functioning. Researchers found that the intricate connections within food webs, rather than just the number of species, are crucial for understanding how biodiversity influences the processes that occur within ecosystems.

This research synthesized data from diverse aquatic and terrestrial environments, highlighting a consistent pattern. The complexity of interactions, such as predator-prey relationships, competition, and mutualism, dictates how changes in species diversity translate into changes in ecosystem functions like nutrient cycling, primary production, and decomposition. For instance, a diverse food web with many interconnected links might be more resilient to species loss, maintaining its functional integrity more effectively than a simpler web.

The findings suggest that conservation and management strategies focusing solely on species richness may be insufficient. A deeper understanding of food web structure is necessary to predict and maintain ecosystem stability and productivity. The study emphasizes that the way species interact and are organized into trophic levels is a fundamental determinant of ecosystem responses to biodiversity changes. This multi-trophic perspective offers a more nuanced view of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.