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Wang Y, Chen J, Zhang L, Feng L, Yan L, Li F, Zhao X, Yu L, Liu N. Relationship between diversity and stability of a karst plant community. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9254. [PMID: 36035266 PMCID: PMC9412136 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The relationships among species diversity, functional diversity, functional redundancy, and community stability are central to community and ecosystem ecology. In this paper, a "space substitution for time" approach is used to study the plant communities at different stages of the natural recovery process of degraded karst vegetation on the karst plateau of Guizhou. These restoration stages include the herbaceous stage, herbaceous and shrub transition stage, shrub stage, tree and shrub transition stage, and tree stage. We calculated the functional diversity and functional redundancy of the community based on functional characteristics and mediated the relationship between functional diversity, functional redundancy, and stability of the plant community through changes in functional diversity and functional redundancy. This study aims to reveal the mechanisms of changes in species diversity and community stability and thus further reveals the intrinsic reasons for maintaining the stability of karst plant communities. The most important results include the following: (1) Species diversity, functional redundancy, and stability gradually increased with restoration, and there were significant differences among the different stages; functional diversity increased at first and then decreased, and reached the highest level at the tree and shrub transition stage; (2) Plant height and specific leaf area were functional traits that influenced the diversity and stability of the plant community, with plant height being positively correlated with plant community diversity and stability, and specific leaf area being negatively correlated with plant community diversity and stability; (3) During the community's recovery, functional diversity and functional redundancy interacted to maintain stability. In the early and late stages of recovery, the effect of functional redundancy on stability was greater than that of functional diversity, but it was the opposite in the middle stages; (4) The tree and shrub transition stage is the likely point at which the functional diversity of plant communities in karst areas reaches saturation, and the growth rate of functional redundancy after functional diversity saturation is greater than that before saturation. Overall, community stability increased with species diversity; habitat heterogeneity increased functional diversity in the early stages of recovery; and habitat homogeneity increased functional redundancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Wang
- Key laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education)College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro‐Bioengineering, Guizhou UniversityGuiyangGuizhou ProvinceChina
| | - Jin Chen
- Key laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education)College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro‐Bioengineering, Guizhou UniversityGuiyangGuizhou ProvinceChina
| | - Limin Zhang
- Key laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education)College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro‐Bioengineering, Guizhou UniversityGuiyangGuizhou ProvinceChina
- Institute of Mountain Resources of Guizhou Academy of SciencesGuiyangChina
| | - Ling Feng
- Key laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education)College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro‐Bioengineering, Guizhou UniversityGuiyangGuizhou ProvinceChina
| | - Linbin Yan
- Key laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education)College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro‐Bioengineering, Guizhou UniversityGuiyangGuizhou ProvinceChina
| | - Fangbing Li
- Key laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education)College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro‐Bioengineering, Guizhou UniversityGuiyangGuizhou ProvinceChina
| | - Xiangwei Zhao
- Key laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education)College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro‐Bioengineering, Guizhou UniversityGuiyangGuizhou ProvinceChina
| | - Lifei Yu
- Key laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education)College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro‐Bioengineering, Guizhou UniversityGuiyangGuizhou ProvinceChina
| | - Na Liu
- Guizhou Academy of Forestry SciencesGuiyangChina
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Rezende F, Antiqueira PAP, Petchey OL, Velho LFM, Rodrigues LC, Romero GQ. Trophic downgrading decreases species asynchrony and community stability regardless of climate warming. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:2660-2673. [PMID: 34537987 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 08/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Theory and some evidence suggest that biodiversity promotes stability. However, evidence of how trophic interactions and environmental changes modulate this relationship in multitrophic communities is lacking. Given the current scenario of biodiversity loss and climate changes, where top predators are disproportionately more affected, filling these knowledge gaps is crucial. We simulated climate warming and top predator loss in natural microcosms to investigate their direct and indirect effects on temporal stability of microbial communities and the role of underlying stabilising mechanisms. Community stability was insensitive to warming, but indirectly decreased due to top predator loss via increased mesopredator abundance and consequent reduction of species asynchrony and species stability. The magnitude of destabilising effects differed among trophic levels, being disproportionally higher at lower trophic levels (e.g. producers). Our study unravels major patterns and causal mechanisms by which trophic downgrading destabilises large food webs, regardless of climate warming scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felipe Rezende
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil.,Laboratório de Interações Multitróficas e Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Pablo A P Antiqueira
- Laboratório de Interações Multitróficas e Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
| | - Owen L Petchey
- Institute for Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Luiz Felipe M Velho
- Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), DBI/PEA/NUPÉLIA, Av. Colombo, Maringá-PR, Brazil
| | - Luzia C Rodrigues
- Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), DBI/PEA/NUPÉLIA, Av. Colombo, Maringá-PR, Brazil
| | - Gustavo Q Romero
- Laboratório de Interações Multitróficas e Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas-SP, Brazil
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Zepeda V, Martorell C. Effects of Phylogenetic Relatedness on Fluctuation-Dependent and Fluctuation-Independent Coexistence Mechanisms in Multispecies Communities. Am Nat 2021; 198:E1-E11. [PMID: 34143720 DOI: 10.1086/714161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractEvolutionary relatedness may hinder stable coexistence due to similar niches and nonlinear responses to competition. The mechanisms driving stability may respond differently to phylogenetic distance. Related species may be synchronic (have similar demographic responses over time), affecting fluctuation-dependent mechanisms: the storage effect should destabilize coexistence, and relative nonlinearity should be stronger due to increased fluctuations in competition. We tested these hypotheses using invasion analysis based on a model parameterized for 19 plant species from a semiarid grassland. Although weakly, coexistence stability increased with phylogenetic distance. Stabilization through fluctuation-independent niche differentiation was stronger between distant relatives as a result of weaker competition. Synchronicity was higher between close relatives, having the expected negative effects on the storage effect's contribution to coexistence. Relative nonlinearity was strong at both ends of the phylogenetic relatedness gradient but not in the middle. This may be the result of different nonlinear responses between distant relatives and of stronger fluctuations in competition due to synchronicity between closer relatives. The effect of phylogenetic distance on coexistence was almost negligible when pairwise species were analyzed, in accordance with previous research. Phylogenetic distance became more important as more species interacted, however, suggesting that evolutionary relatedness may be influential in species-rich communities.
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Wang Y, Niu X, Zhao L, Liang C, Miao B, Zhang Q, Zhang J, Schmid B, Ma W. Biotic stability mechanisms in Inner Mongolian grassland. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20200675. [PMID: 32486982 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Biotic mechanisms associated with species diversity are expected to stabilize communities in theoretical and experimental studies but may be difficult to detect in natural communities exposed to large environmental variation. We investigated biotic stability mechanisms in a multi-site study across Inner Mongolian grassland characterized by large spatial variations in species richness and composition and temporal fluctuations in precipitation. We used a new additive-partitioning method to separate species synchrony and population dynamics within communities into different species-abundance groups. Community stability was independent of species richness but was regulated by species synchrony and population dynamics, especially of abundant species. Precipitation fluctuations synchronized population dynamics within communities, reducing their stability. Our results indicate generality of biotic stability mechanisms in natural ecosystems and suggest that for accurate predictions of community stability in changing environments uneven species composition should be considered by partitioning stabilizing mechanisms into different species-abundance groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yonghui Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaxia Niu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, People's Republic of China
| | - Liqing Zhao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, People's Republic of China
| | - Cunzhu Liang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, People's Republic of China
| | - Bailing Miao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, People's Republic of China
| | - Qing Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, People's Republic of China
| | - Jinghui Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, People's Republic of China
| | - Bernhard Schmid
- Department of Geography, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Wenhong Ma
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, People's Republic of China
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Houlahan JE, Currie DJ, Cottenie K, Cumming GS, Findlay CS, Fuhlendorf SD, Legendre P, Muldavin EH, Noble D, Russell R, Stevens RD, Willis TJ, Wondzell SM. Negative relationships between species richness and temporal variability are common but weak in natural systems. Ecology 2018; 99:2592-2604. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2017] [Revised: 08/29/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- J. E. Houlahan
- Biology Department University of New Brunswick at Saint John P.O. Box 5050 Saint John New Brunswick E2L 4L5 Canada
| | - D. J. Currie
- Ottawa Carleton Institute of Biology University Ottawa Ottawa Ontario K1N 6N5 Canada
| | - K. Cottenie
- Department of Integrative Biology University of Guelph Guelph Ontario N1G 2W1 Canada
| | - G. S. Cumming
- Department of Integrative Biology University of Guelph Guelph Ontario N1G 2W1 Canada
| | - C. S. Findlay
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies James Cook University Townsville Queensland 4811 Australia
| | - S. D. Fuhlendorf
- Department of Plant and Soil Science Oklahoma State University 368 AGH Stillwater Oklahoma 74078 USA
| | - P. Legendre
- Département de sciences biologiques Université de Montréal C.P. 6128, succursale Centre‐ville Montréal Quebec H3C 3J7 Canada
| | - E. H. Muldavin
- Biology Department University of New Mexico Albuquerque New Mexico 87131 USA
| | - D. Noble
- The National Centre for Ornithology The Nunnery British Trust for Ornithology Thetford Norfolk IP24 2PU United Kingdom
| | - R. Russell
- The Sandhill Institute for Complexity and Sustainability Grand Forks British Columbia V0H 1H0 Canada
| | - R. D. Stevens
- Department of Natural Resources Management Texas Tech University 007D Goddard Hall Lubbock Texas 79409 USA
| | - T. J. Willis
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy University of Southern Maine 309 Bailey Hall Portland Maine 04104 USA
| | - S. M. Wondzell
- Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest Research Station 3200 SW Jefferson Way Corvallis Oregon 97331 USA
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6
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Valone TJ, Balaban-Feld J. Impact of exotic invasion on the temporal stability of natural annual plant communities. OIKOS 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.04591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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7
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Genung MA, Fox J, Williams NM, Kremen C, Ascher J, Gibbs J, Winfree R. The relative importance of pollinator abundance and species richness for the temporal variance of pollination services. Ecology 2017; 98:1807-1816. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2016] [Revised: 02/28/2017] [Accepted: 03/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark A. Genung
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources; Rutgers University; New Brunswick New Jersey 08901 USA
| | - Jeremy Fox
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Calgary; Calgary Alberta T2N 1N4 Canada
| | - Neal M. Williams
- Department of Entomology and Nematology; University of California; Davis California 95616 USA
| | - Claire Kremen
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management; University of California; Berkeley California 94720 USA
| | - John Ascher
- Department of Biological Science; National University of Singapore; Singapore 117543 Singapore
| | - Jason Gibbs
- Department of Entomology; University of Manitoba; Winnipeg Manitoba R3T 2N2 Canada
| | - Rachael Winfree
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources; Rutgers University; New Brunswick New Jersey 08901 USA
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8
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Tredennick AT, Adler PB, Adler FR. The relationship between species richness and ecosystem variability is shaped by the mechanism of coexistence. Ecol Lett 2017; 20:958-968. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2017] [Accepted: 05/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew T. Tredennick
- Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center Utah State University Logan UT84322USA
| | - Peter B. Adler
- Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center Utah State University Logan UT84322USA
| | - Frederick R. Adler
- Departments of Biology and Mathematics University of Utah Salt Lake City UT84112 USA
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9
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Romanuk TN, Kolasa J. Population variability is lower in diverse rock pools when the obscuring effects of local processes are removed. ECOSCIENCE 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/11956860.2004.11682855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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10
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Downing AL, Brown BL, Leibold MA. Multiple diversity–stability mechanisms enhance population and community stability in aquatic food webs. Ecology 2014; 95:173-84. [DOI: 10.1890/12-1406.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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11
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Thibaut LM, Connolly SR. Understanding diversity-stability relationships: towards a unified model of portfolio effects. Ecol Lett 2012; 16:140-50. [PMID: 23095077 PMCID: PMC3588152 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 136] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2012] [Revised: 06/20/2012] [Accepted: 09/20/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
A major ecosystem effect of biodiversity is to stabilise assemblages that perform particular functions. However, diversity-stability relationships (DSRs) are analysed using a variety of different population and community properties, most of which are adopted from theory that makes several restrictive assumptions that are unlikely to be reflected in nature. Here, we construct a simple synthesis and generalisation of previous theory for the DSR. We show that community stability is a product of two quantities: the synchrony of population fluctuations, and an average species-level population stability that is weighted by relative abundance. Weighted average population stability can be decomposed to consider effects of the mean-variance scaling of abundance, changes in mean abundance with diversity and differences in species' mean abundance in monoculture. Our framework makes explicit how unevenness in the abundances of species in real communities influences the DSR, which occurs both through effects on community synchrony, and effects on weighted average population variability. This theory provides a more robust framework for analysing the results of empirical studies of the DSR, and facilitates the integration of findings from real and model communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loïc M Thibaut
- School of Marine and Tropical Biology, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
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Lanta V, Doležal J, Zemková L, Lepš J. Communities of different plant diversity respond similarly to drought stress: experimental evidence from field non-weeded and greenhouse conditions. Naturwissenschaften 2012; 99:473-82. [PMID: 22580797 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-012-0922-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2012] [Revised: 05/02/2012] [Accepted: 05/04/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Accelerating rate of species loss has prompted researchers to study the role of species diversity in processes that control ecosystem functioning. Although negative impact of species loss has been documented, the evidence concerning its impact on ecosystem stability is still limited. Here, we studied the effects of declining species and functional diversity on plant community responses to drought in the field (open to weed colonization) and greenhouse conditions. Both species and functional diversity positively affected the average yields of field communities. However, this pattern was similar in both drought-stressed and control plots. No effect of diversity on community resistance, biomass recovery after drought and resilience was found because drought reduced biomass production similarly at each level of diversity by approximately 30%. The use of dissimilarity (characterized by Euclidean distance) revealed higher variation under changing environments (drought-stressed vs. control) in more diverse communities compared to less species-rich assemblages. In the greenhouse experiment, the effect of species diversity affected community resistance, indicating that more diverse communities suffered more from drought than species-poor ones. We conclude that our study did not support the insurance hypothesis (stability properties of a community should increase with species richness) because species diversity had an equivocal effect on ecosystem resistance and resilience in an environment held under non-weeded practice, regardless of the positive relationship between sown species diversity and community biomass production. More species-rich communities were less resistant against drought-stressed conditions than species-poor ones grown in greenhouse conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vojtěch Lanta
- Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.
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13
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Sasaki T, Lauenroth WK. Dominant species, rather than diversity, regulates temporal stability of plant communities. Oecologia 2011; 166:761-8. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-011-1916-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 154] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2010] [Accepted: 01/11/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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14
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Campbell V, Murphy G, Romanuk TN. Experimental design and the outcome and interpretation of diversity-stability relations. OIKOS 2010. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18768.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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15
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Hector A, Hautier Y, Saner P, Wacker L, Bagchi R, Joshi J, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Spehn EM, Bazeley-White E, Weilenmann M, Caldeira MC, Dimitrakopoulos PG, Finn JA, Huss-Danell K, Jumpponen A, Mulder CPH, Palmborg C, Pereira JS, Siamantziouras ASD, Terry AC, Troumbis AY, Schmid B, Loreau M. General stabilizing effects of plant diversity on grassland productivity through population asynchrony and overyielding. Ecology 2010; 91:2213-20. [PMID: 20836442 DOI: 10.1890/09-1162.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 227] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Insurance effects of biodiversity can stabilize the functioning of multispecies ecosystems against environmental variability when differential species' responses lead to asynchronous population dynamics. When responses are not perfectly positively correlated, declines in some populations are compensated by increases in others, smoothing variability in ecosystem productivity. This variance reduction effect of biodiversity is analogous to the risk-spreading benefits of diverse investment portfolios in financial markets. We use data from the BIODEPTH network of grassland biodiversity experiments to perform a general test for stabilizing effects of plant diversity on the temporal variability of individual species, functional groups, and aggregate communities. We tested three potential mechanisms: reduction of temporal variability through population asynchrony; enhancement of long-term average performance through positive selection effects; and increases in the temporal mean due to overyielding. Our results support a stabilizing effect of diversity on the temporal variability of grassland aboveground annual net primary production through two mechanisms. Two-species communities with greater population asynchrony were more stable in their average production over time due to compensatory fluctuations. Overyielding also stabilized productivity by increasing levels of average biomass production relative to temporal variability. However, there was no evidence for a performance-enhancing effect on the temporal mean through positive selection effects. In combination with previous work, our results suggest that stabilizing effects of diversity on community productivity through population asynchrony and overyielding appear to be general in grassland ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Hector
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
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16
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Verón SR, Paruelo JM, Oesterheld M. Grazing-induced losses of biodiversity affect the transpiration of an arid ecosystem. Oecologia 2010; 165:501-10. [PMID: 20865282 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-010-1780-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2009] [Accepted: 09/02/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Degradation processes often lead to species loss. Such losses would impact on ecosystem functioning depending on the extinction order and the functional and structural aspects of species. For the Patagonian arid steppe, we used a simulation model to study the effects of species loss on the rate and variability (i.e. stability) of transpiration as a key attribute of ecosystem functioning. We addressed (1) the differences between the overgrazing extinction order and other potential orders, and (2) the role of biomass abundance, biomass distribution, and functional diversity on the effect of species loss due to overgrazing. We considered a community composed of ten species which were assigned an order of extinction due to overgrazing based on their preference by livestock. We performed four model simulations to test for overgrazing effects through different combinations of species loss, and reductions of biomass and functional diversity. In general, transpiration rate and variability were positively associated to species richness and remained fairly constant until half the species were lost by overgrazing. The extinction order by overgrazing was the most conservative of all possible orders. The amount of biomass was more important than functional diversity in accounting for the impacts of species richness on transpiration. Our results suggest that, to prevent Patagonian steppes from shifting to stable, low-production systems (by overgrazing), maintaining community biomass is more important than preserving species richness or species functional diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago R Verón
- Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información, IFEVA, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires and CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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17
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Grman E, Lau JA, Schoolmaster DR, Gross KL. Mechanisms contributing to stability in ecosystem function depend on the environmental context. Ecol Lett 2010; 13:1400-10. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01533.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 194] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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18
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Leary DJ, Petchey OL. Testing a biological mechanism of the insurance hypothesis in experimental aquatic communities. J Anim Ecol 2009; 78:1143-51. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2009.01586.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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19
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20
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Jiang L, Joshi H, Patel S. Predation Alters Relationships between Biodiversity and Temporal Stability. Am Nat 2009; 173:389-99. [DOI: 10.1086/596540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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21
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Valone TJ, Barber NA. An empirical evaluation of the insurance hypothesis in diversity-stability models. Ecology 2008; 89:522-31. [PMID: 18409441 DOI: 10.1890/07-0153.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
An important stabilizing mechanism in most diversity stability models is the insurance hypothesis, which involves correlation/covariance relationships among species. These models require that species do not fluctuate synchronously over time: that is, the correlation between pairs of species does not equal 1.0. However, the strength of this stabilizing mechanism increases as correlations decline away from 1.0, especially as they become more negative and also as the summed covariance across all species pairs becomes more negative. We evaluated the importance of the insurance hypothesis as a stabilizing mechanism by examining a variety of terrestrial assemblages using long-term data from the Global Population Dynamics Database, the Breeding Bird Survey, and a long-term site in southeastern Arizona, USA. We identified co-occurring assemblages of species and calculated the Spearman rank correlations of all pairs of species and the summed covariance of the entire assemblage. We found that, in most assemblages, positive correlations were two to three times more common than negative and that the magnitude of the positive correlations tended to be stronger than the negative correlations. For all but three assemblages, the summed covariance was positive. Data from larger spatial scales tended to exhibit more positive correlations, but even at the smallest spatial scales, positive correlations outnumbered negative. We suggest that species often covary positively because coexisting species respond similarly to fluctuations in their resource base driven by climatic fluctuations. As such, our review suggests that the insurance hypothesis may not be a strong mechanism stabilizing fluctuations in natural terrestrial communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J Valone
- Department of Biology, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, USA.
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Abstract
We tested the hypothesis that species loss at one trophic level will reduce the temporal stability of populations at other trophic levels. We examined the temporal stability of annual plant populations on plots that experimentally manipulated the functional diversity of seed-eating rodent consumers. Experimental reduction of rodent functional diversity destabilized populations of small-seeded plants but had less consistent effects on larger-seeded species. Small-seeded species also exhibited a greater number of years of zero abundance. Thus, experimental reduction of rodent functional diversity resulted in lower plant diversity. The decline in the temporal stability of small-seeded plants likely resulted from increased interspecific competition by large-seeded plants. These results demonstrate that the loss of species at one trophic level can lead to reduced richness at lower trophic levels via competition and reduced temporal stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J Valone
- Department of Biology, Saint Louis University, 3507 Laclede Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, USA.
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Steiner CF, Long ZT, Krumins JA, Morin PJ. Temporal stability of aquatic food webs: partitioning the effects of species diversity, species composition and enrichment. Ecol Lett 2005. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2005.00785.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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