Figure 6. A conceptual framework of factors shaping the biodiversity, density, and biomass of macrofauna in reducing ecosystems.

The top three panels highlight drivers that are unique to certain systems. The bottom two panels provide axes for features that are similar among systems (note that while values are given for these two axes the values are not consistent across the different ecosystems represented although the relative scale is). The middle panel illustrates how these factors translate into community attributes of each of the ecosystems. The bifurcation in the abundance and biomass factors indicate that, depending on the system, stress overrides high productivity in these habitats and both biomass and species richness fall bellow an intermediate level (e.g. hydrothermal sediments where the temperature stress overrides the importance of a high productivity system).