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The tremendous diversity of life on Earth is facing an uncertain future. This Insight looks at the origins of this biodiversity, how it supports the ecosystem goods and services on which people depend, and how rapid increases in the human population are putting it to the test. Strategies to protect biodiversity are also explored.
A tree biodiversity and ecosystem function experiment shows that leaf bacterial diversity is positively related to plant community productivity, and explains a portion of the variation in productivity that would otherwise be attributed to plant diversity and functional traits.