Under globally accelerating rates of ecosystem degradation, maintaining ecosystem function
is a priority to avoid loss of valuable ecosystem services. Two factors are important: changes …

The global trend in losing biodiversity is affecting ecosystems due to changes in their
functions and services. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning has become increasingly …

Microorganisms, especially rare microbial species, are crucial in estuarine ecosystems for
driving biogeochemical processes and preserving biodiversity. However, the understanding …

Implementation of marine conservation strategies, such as increasing the numbers, extent,
and effectiveness of protected areas (PAs), can help achieve conservation and restoration of …

Our study presents a revision of the structural characteristics of the soft-bottom benthic
communities in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS) and provides, for the first time, an …

The ongoing loss of biodiversity and global environmental changes severely affect the
structure of coastal ecosystems. Consequences, in terms of ecosystem functioning, are …

Metacommunity ecology currently lacks a consistent functional trait perspective across
trophic levels. To foster new cross‐taxa experiments and field studies, we present …

Background Assessing functional diversity to identify its spatial patterns and drivers is an
important step towards understanding the adaptive capacity of ecosystems to environmental …

Bioturbation by benthic macrofauna communities plays a significant role in the setting and
maintenance of important ecosystem functions and the delivery of associated ecosystem …

The marine benthos has been largely studied through the use of response traits that
characterise species vulnerability to disturbance. More limited has been the specific use of …