The connection between ecosystem function and taxonomic diversity has been of interest and relevance to macroecologists for decades. After many years of lagging behind due to the difficulty of assigning both taxonomy and function to poorly distinguishable microscopic cells, microbial ecology now has access to a suite of powerful molecular tools which allow its practitioners to generate data relating to diversity and function of a microbial community on an unprecedented scale. Instead, the problem facing today's microbial ecologists is coupling the ease of generation of these datasets with the formulation and testing of workable hypotheses relating the diversity and function of environmental, host-associated, and engineered microbial communities.

Here, we review the current state of knowledge regarding the links between taxonomic alpha- and beta-diversity and ecosystem function, comparing our knowledge in this area to that obtained by macroecologists who use more traditional techniques. We consider the methodologies that can be applied to study these properties and how successful they are at linking function to diversity, using examples from the study of model microbial ecosystems, methanogenic bioreactors (anaerobic digesters), and host-associated microbiota. Finally, we assess ways in which our newly acquired understanding might be used to manipulate diversity in ecosystems of interest in order to improve function for the benefit of us or the environment in general through the provision of ecosystem services.

数十年来，生态系统功能与分类学多样性之间的联系已引起宏观生态学家的关注和关注。由于难以将分类学和功能同时分配给难以区分的微观细胞而导致的多年落后之后，微生物生态学现在可以使用一套功能强大的分子工具，从而使其从业人员可以生成与微生物群落的多样性和功能有关的数据以前所未有的规模。取而代之的是，当今的微生物生态学家面临的问题是，将这些数据集的易产生性与制定和测试与环境，宿主相关和工程微生物群落的多样性和功能有关的可行假设结合起来。

在这里，我们回顾了有关分类学α-和β-多样性与生态系统功能之间联系的知识的现状，将我们在这一领域的知识与使用更多传统技术的宏观生态学家所获得的知识进行了比较。我们以模型微生物生态系统，产甲烷生物反应器（厌氧消化器）和宿主相关微生物群的研究为例，考虑了可用于研究这些特性以及它们如何成功地将功能与多样性联系起来的方法。最后，我们评估了通过新近获得的理解来操纵感兴趣的生态系统中的多样性的方式，以便通过提供生态系统服务来改善对我们或整个环境有利的功能。