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Uncovering the complete biodiversity structure in spatial networks: the example of riverine systems

Uncovering biodiversity as an inherent feature of ecosystems and understanding its effects on ecosystem processes is one of the most central goals of ecology. Studying organisms’ occurrence and biodiversity patterns in natural ecosystems has spurred the discovery of foundational ecological rules, such as the species–area relationship, and is of general scientific interest. Recent global changes add relevance and urgency to understanding the occurrence and diversity of organisms, and their respective roles in ecosystem processes. While information on ecosystem properties and abiotic environmental conditions are now available at unprecedented, highly‐resolved spatial and temporal scales, the most fundamental variable – biodiversity itself – is still often studied in a local perspective, and generally not available at a wide taxonomic breadth, high temporal scale and spatial coverage. This is limiting the capacity and impact of ecology as a field of science. In this forum article, we propose that complete biodiversity assessments should be inclusive across taxonomic and functional groups, across space, and across time to better understand emergent properties, such as ecosystem functioning. We use riverine ecosystems as a case example because they are among the most biodiverse ecosystems worldwide, but are also highly threatened, such that an in‐depth understanding of these systems is critically needed. Furthermore, their inherent spatial structure requires a multiscale perspective and consideration of spatial autocorrelation structures commonly ignored in biodiversity–ecosystem functioning studies. We show how recent methodological advances in environmental DNA (eDNA) provide novel opportunities to uncover broad biodiversity and link it to ecosystem processes, with the potential to revolutionize ecology and biodiversity sciences. We then outline a roadmap for using this technique to assess biodiversity in a complete and inclusive manner. Our proposed approach will help to get an understanding of biodiversity and associated ecosystem processes at spatial scales relevant for landscape ecology and environmental managers.