During the last two decades, functional biodiversity research has provided strong support for the hypothesis that more biodiverse ecosystems have the potential to deliver more and better services. However, most empirical support for this hypothesis comes from simple structured communities that are relatively easy to manipulate. The impact of forest biodiversity on forest ecosystem functioning has been far less studied.
Verheyen, Kris ; Ceunen, Kris ; Ampoorter, Evy ; Banten, Lander ; Bosman, Bernard ; et. al. Assessment of the functional role of tree diversity: the multi-site FORBIO experiment. In: Plant Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 146, no.1, p. 26-35 (2013)