Ecologists have long understood that biodiversity is paramount to ecosystem stability. Until now, however, most ecological research has focused on a single layer of ecological life at a time—for example, plant or animal communities. In reality, ecological systems have multiple layers that interact continuously. Plants are eaten by herbivores, herbivores are eaten by predators, and fluctuations at one trophic level, or an organism’s specific position in the food chain, can ripple through the entire ecosystem.

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