The biodiversity hierarchy: a historical overview of
biodiversity research from genes to ecosystems. Agrawal,
Anurag*,1, Johnson, Marc2, 1 Cornell Univeristy, Ithaca, NY2
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario ABSTRACT- Research on
the ecological consequences of biodiversity has long been a
fundamental focus in ecology. Early research and debate centered
on the relationship between species diversity and community
stability. Although empirical data and observation suggested
that diversity promotes stability, mathematical theory predicted
that the reverse was true, at least for randomly assembled
communities. In the last decade, these theoretical predictions
have been subject to intense experimentation, which supports the
early hypothesis that diversity and stability are positively
related, and that biodiversity has important consequences for
multitrophic interactions and the functioning of ecosystems.
Traditionally, biodiversity research has focused on the
ecological consequences of diversity at the species a