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REVIEW ARTICLE

Formation and effects of biodiversity: A brief history, underlying mechanisms, and future research directions

Fang Luo1,2,3 ,  Huan Hu4* ,  Liuqing Zhang5
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1 Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, China
3 College of Resources and Environment, Chongqing School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, China
4 Research Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chongqing, China
5 School of Safety Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing, China
AJWEP, 026080046 https://doi.org/10.36922/AJWEP026080046
Received: 18 February 2026 | Revised: 11 March 2026 | Accepted: 11 March 2026 | Published online: 21 May 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Losses and gains in species diversity profoundly affect ecosystem functioning and its stability. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the formation and effects of biodiversity has long been a central scientific question in ecological research. While extensive studies have shown that biodiversity is governed by various ecological processes and is closely associated with ecosystem functioning and its stability, the mechanisms underlying diversity formation, as well as the explanatory mechanisms for the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning and biodiversity–ecosystem functional stability relationships, remain fragmented and lack a systematic integration. In this review, we explore recent advances in theoretical studies on the formation and effects of biodiversity along three aspects. First, we briefly introduce the history of research on biodiversity formation and effects. Second, we synthesize observed patterns in the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, as well as between biodiversity and ecosystem functional stability. Third, we classify and discuss the mechanisms driving both biodiversity formation (community assembly and species coexistence) and its effects (biodiversity–ecosystem functioning and biodiversity–ecosystem functional stability). We then discuss future directions for research on the causes and consequences of biodiversity. Future research should integrate high-order interactions into species coexistence theory and quantitatively predict biodiversity responses to environmental changes. Meanwhile, it should consider a broader range of ecosystem functions beyond species biomass or abundance, and establish a multiscale theory of biodiversity effects based on long-term and large-scale spatial experiments. This review provides an integrated theoretical framework for the mechanisms driving diversity formation and its effects, which will deepen our understanding of the causes and consequences of biodiversity.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Biodiversity
Biodiversity–ecosystem functioning
Biodiversity–ecosystem functional stability
Formation
Effect
Funding
This work was funded by the 2026 Municipal Finance Science and Technology Innovation Project of Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences (KYLX20260200018).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing
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