Takayuki Ohgushi is a Professor at the Center for Ecological Research at Kyoto University. His research focus is on population biology of insect herbivores, plant-herbivore interactions, multi-trophic interactions and the linkage from gene to ecosystem. In particular, he is interested in how trait-mediated indirect effects create ecological communities and biodiversity. Oswald Schmitz is the Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology, in the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He studies the linkage between two important components of natural systems: biodiversity and ecosystem services, using field experimentation guided by formal mathematical theory of trait-based species interactions. Robert D. Holt is Arthur R. Marshall, Jr Chair in Ecology and Eminent Scholar, in the Department of Biology at the University of Florida. He is an evolutionary and community ecologist whose contributions are principally theoretical, but always tied to concrete processes in the natural world. He has received the International Ecology Institute Prize in Terrestrial Ecology and the Sewall Wright Award from the American Society of Naturalists.