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Nature 406, 463-464 (3 August 2000) | doi:10.1038/35020160

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Biodiversity's ups and downs

Peter J. Morin

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Natural ecosystems are devilishly difficult to study. Hence the resort to laboratory simulations, involving short-lived organisms like bacteria, to tackle the question of why some ecosystems support more species than others.

Perhaps the greatest unsolved ecological riddle is why some natural habitats are home to more species than others. Why, for instance, does a hectare of tropical rainforest harbour an estimated 200–300 tree species, while the same area of temperate forest contains only 20–30 tree species (Fig. 1