I don't see a semantic problem here at all. First of all, diversity is = NOT static, even in short-term ecological time (e.g., richness of = seedlings in a forest understory can double in a few months, diversity = of herbivores can change by orders of magnitude in a few weeks, etc.). = Second, ecosystem function has a variety of meanings in the literature, = which is partly a consequence of the versatility of the word "function." = But sticking to the Latin root of function, diversity is certainly part = of the "performance" of an ecosystem, given that it is a dynamic = variable. Thus, increasing (or continually varying) levels of diversity = in a natural ecosystem could be seen as "a process that contributes to = the well being of people" (one of the many definitions of ecosystem = function). Lee Dyer =20
-- Casey terHorst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I've always had difficulty understanding how a static measure (such as biodiversity, or even something like biomass) can be called a function. = =3D This is partly just a semantic issue, but largely a real issue as well. Casey -- Casey terHorst Department of Biological Science CON 115 Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
