Modern causal inference approaches to investigate biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.

Detecting and quantifying the causal relations of ecosystem functioning is a challenging endeavor. A global study on grasslands illustrates how reasoning about underlying assumptions, from confounding and nonlinearity to fundamental questions of determinism, is key to unlocking the potential of modern causal inference approaches in ecology. Detecting and quantifying the causal relations of ecosystem functioning is a challenging endeavor. This Comment discusses a global study on grasslands and illustrates how reasoning about underlying assumptions is key to modern causal inference approaches in ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]