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Biodiversity increases and decreases ecosystem stability

Pennekamp, Frank ; Pontarp, Mikael LU ; Tabi, Andrea ; Altermatt, Florian ; Alther, Roman ; Choffat, Yves ; Fronhofer, Emanuel A. ; Ganesanandamoorthy, Pravin ; Garnier, Aurélie and Griffiths, Jason I. , et al. (2018) In Nature 563(7729). p.109-112
Abstract

Losses and gains in species diversity affect ecological stability1–7 and the sustainability of ecosystem functions and services8–13. Experiments and models have revealed positive, negative and no effects of diversity on individual components of stability, such as temporal variability, resistance and resilience2,3,6,11,12,14. How these stability components covary remains poorly understood15. Similarly, the effects of diversity on overall ecosystem stability16, which is conceptually akin to ecosystem multifunctionality17,18, remain unknown. Here we studied communities of aquatic ciliates to understand how temporal variability, resistance and overall ecosystem stability... (More)

Losses and gains in species diversity affect ecological stability1–7 and the sustainability of ecosystem functions and services8–13. Experiments and models have revealed positive, negative and no effects of diversity on individual components of stability, such as temporal variability, resistance and resilience2,3,6,11,12,14. How these stability components covary remains poorly understood15. Similarly, the effects of diversity on overall ecosystem stability16, which is conceptually akin to ecosystem multifunctionality17,18, remain unknown. Here we studied communities of aquatic ciliates to understand how temporal variability, resistance and overall ecosystem stability responded to diversity (that is, species richness) in a large experiment involving 690 micro-ecosystems sampled 19 times over 40 days, resulting in 12,939 samplings. Species richness increased temporal stability but decreased resistance to warming. Thus, two stability components covaried negatively along the diversity gradient. Previous biodiversity manipulation studies rarely reported such negative covariation despite general predictions of the negative effects of diversity on individual stability components3. Integrating our findings with the ecosystem multifunctionality concept revealed hump- and U-shaped effects of diversity on overall ecosystem stability. That is, biodiversity can increase overall ecosystem stability when biodiversity is low, and decrease it when biodiversity is high, or the opposite with a U-shaped relationship. The effects of diversity on ecosystem multifunctionality would also be hump- or U-shaped if diversity had positive effects on some functions and negative effects on others. Linking the ecosystem multifunctionality concept and ecosystem stability can transform the perceived effects of diversity on ecological stability and may help to translate this science into policy-relevant information.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
in
Nature
volume
563
issue
7729
pages
4 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85055827321
  • pmid:30333623
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/s41586-018-0627-8
project
Theoretical Macroevolutionary Ecology
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
c23e55e6-e75c-4519-a116-5b04dceaeb2c
date added to LUP
2019-04-10 10:20:46
date last changed
2024-03-03 00:30:21
@article{c23e55e6-e75c-4519-a116-5b04dceaeb2c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Losses and gains in species diversity affect ecological stability<sup>1–7</sup> and the sustainability of ecosystem functions and services<sup>8–13</sup>. Experiments and models have revealed positive, negative and no effects of diversity on individual components of stability, such as temporal variability, resistance and resilience<sup>2,3,6,11,12,14</sup>. How these stability components covary remains poorly understood<sup>15</sup>. Similarly, the effects of diversity on overall ecosystem stability<sup>16</sup>, which is conceptually akin to ecosystem multifunctionality<sup>17,18</sup>, remain unknown. Here we studied communities of aquatic ciliates to understand how temporal variability, resistance and overall ecosystem stability responded to diversity (that is, species richness) in a large experiment involving 690 micro-ecosystems sampled 19 times over 40 days, resulting in 12,939 samplings. Species richness increased temporal stability but decreased resistance to warming. Thus, two stability components covaried negatively along the diversity gradient. Previous biodiversity manipulation studies rarely reported such negative covariation despite general predictions of the negative effects of diversity on individual stability components<sup>3</sup>. Integrating our findings with the ecosystem multifunctionality concept revealed hump- and U-shaped effects of diversity on overall ecosystem stability. That is, biodiversity can increase overall ecosystem stability when biodiversity is low, and decrease it when biodiversity is high, or the opposite with a U-shaped relationship. The effects of diversity on ecosystem multifunctionality would also be hump- or U-shaped if diversity had positive effects on some functions and negative effects on others. Linking the ecosystem multifunctionality concept and ecosystem stability can transform the perceived effects of diversity on ecological stability and may help to translate this science into policy-relevant information.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pennekamp, Frank and Pontarp, Mikael and Tabi, Andrea and Altermatt, Florian and Alther, Roman and Choffat, Yves and Fronhofer, Emanuel A. and Ganesanandamoorthy, Pravin and Garnier, Aurélie and Griffiths, Jason I. and Greene, Suzanne and Horgan, Katherine and Massie, Thomas M. and Mächler, Elvira and Palamara, Gian Marco and Seymour, Mathew and Petchey, Owen L.}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{7729}},
  pages        = {{109--112}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{Biodiversity increases and decreases ecosystem stability}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0627-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41586-018-0627-8}},
  volume       = {{563}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}