Synchrony matters more than species richness in plant community stability at a global scale.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 117(39): 24345-24351, 2020 09 29.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32900958
ABSTRACT
The stability of ecological communities is critical for the stable provisioning of ecosystem services, such as food and forage production, carbon sequestration, and soil fertility. Greater biodiversity is expected to enhance stability across years by decreasing synchrony among species, but the drivers of stability in nature remain poorly resolved. Our analysis of time series from 79 datasets across the world showed that stability was associated more strongly with the degree of synchrony among dominant species than with species richness. The relatively weak influence of species richness is consistent with theory predicting that the effect of richness on stability weakens when synchrony is higher than expected under random fluctuations, which was the case in most communities. Land management, nutrient addition, and climate change treatments had relatively weak and varying effects on stability, modifying how species richness, synchrony, and stability interact. Our results demonstrate the prevalence of biotic drivers on ecosystem stability, with the potential for environmental drivers to alter the intricate relationship among richness, synchrony, and stability.
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Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Plantas
Tipo de estudio:
Risk_factors_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article