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The relationship between species diversity and ecosystem functioning has been debated for decades, especially in relation to the "macroscopic" realm (higher plants and metazoans). Although there is emerging consensus that diversity enhances productivity and stability in communities of higher organisms; however, we still do not know whether these relationships apply also for communities of unicellular organisms, such as phytoplankton, which contribute {approx}50% to the global primary production. We show here that phytoplankton resource use, and thus carbon fixation, is directly linked to the diversity of phytoplankton communities. [Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]
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