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Connectivity and climate influence diversity–stability relationships across spatial scales in European butterfly metacommunities

Alves, Wagner de F. ; de Souza, Leonardo C. ; Schweiger, Oliver ; di Cavalcanti, Victor R. ; Settele, Josef ; Wiemers, Martin ; Schmucki, Reto ; Kuussaari, Mikko ; Tzortzakaki, Olga and Pettersson, Lars B. LU orcid , et al. (2024) In Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(10).
Abstract

Aim: Anthropogenic-driven biodiversity loss can impact ecosystem stability. However, most studies have only evaluated the diversity–stability relationship at the local scale and we do not fully understand which factors stabilize animal populations and communities across scales. Here, we investigate the role of species dispersal ability, climate, spatial distance and different facets of biodiversity on the stability of butterfly populations and communities across multiple spatial scales. Location: Primarily Western Europe. Time Period: 2005–2016. Major Taxa Studied: Butterflies (Rhopalocera) of Europe. Methods: We assembled a continent-wide database of European butterflies' abundance and used Structural Equation Modelling to evaluate the... (More)

Aim: Anthropogenic-driven biodiversity loss can impact ecosystem stability. However, most studies have only evaluated the diversity–stability relationship at the local scale and we do not fully understand which factors stabilize animal populations and communities across scales. Here, we investigate the role of species dispersal ability, climate, spatial distance and different facets of biodiversity on the stability of butterfly populations and communities across multiple spatial scales. Location: Primarily Western Europe. Time Period: 2005–2016. Major Taxa Studied: Butterflies (Rhopalocera) of Europe. Methods: We assembled a continent-wide database of European butterflies' abundance and used Structural Equation Modelling to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of multiple stabilizing mechanisms. In parallel, we tested the effect of dispersal ability on the stability at multiple spatial scales, using a butterfly mobility index as an indicator of dispersal capacity. Results: Regional stability strongly reflected local stability, which in turn was driven by both taxonomic and functional α-diversity. Spatial asynchrony was also important for regional stability and it was driven by both functional β-diversity and metapopulation asynchrony, which in turn increased with spatial distance among communities. We observed a positive effect of temperature on functional α-diversity and on local stability, whereas precipitation negatively influenced local diversity. Finally, spatial asynchrony contributed more to the regional stability of less mobile species compared to highly mobile ones, indicating that both extrinsic and intrinsic determinants of connectivity impact regional stability indirectly. Main Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the importance of local and regional processes for regional stability. However, the relative contribution of spatial asynchrony and metapopulation asynchrony increases with connectivity loss, especially for less mobile species, indicating that landscape management should be tailored depending on the dispersal capacity of organisms. Both local biodiversity loss and regional biotic homogenization destabilize metacommunities, with potential implications for the reliable provision of ecosystem functions.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
connectivity, dispersal ability, diversity–stability relationships, regional stability, spatial asynchrony, spatial distance
in
Global Ecology and Biogeography
volume
33
issue
10
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85200025914
ISSN
1466-822X
DOI
10.1111/geb.13896
project
Svensk Dagfjärilsövervakning
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
id
e5f1b785-f5b2-4fe7-a21d-a4afb9d014c8
date added to LUP
2024-08-08 02:05:48
date last changed
2024-10-17 11:02:26
@article{e5f1b785-f5b2-4fe7-a21d-a4afb9d014c8,
  abstract     = {{<p>Aim: Anthropogenic-driven biodiversity loss can impact ecosystem stability. However, most studies have only evaluated the diversity–stability relationship at the local scale and we do not fully understand which factors stabilize animal populations and communities across scales. Here, we investigate the role of species dispersal ability, climate, spatial distance and different facets of biodiversity on the stability of butterfly populations and communities across multiple spatial scales. Location: Primarily Western Europe. Time Period: 2005–2016. Major Taxa Studied: Butterflies (Rhopalocera) of Europe. Methods: We assembled a continent-wide database of European butterflies' abundance and used Structural Equation Modelling to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of multiple stabilizing mechanisms. In parallel, we tested the effect of dispersal ability on the stability at multiple spatial scales, using a butterfly mobility index as an indicator of dispersal capacity. Results: Regional stability strongly reflected local stability, which in turn was driven by both taxonomic and functional α-diversity. Spatial asynchrony was also important for regional stability and it was driven by both functional β-diversity and metapopulation asynchrony, which in turn increased with spatial distance among communities. We observed a positive effect of temperature on functional α-diversity and on local stability, whereas precipitation negatively influenced local diversity. Finally, spatial asynchrony contributed more to the regional stability of less mobile species compared to highly mobile ones, indicating that both extrinsic and intrinsic determinants of connectivity impact regional stability indirectly. Main Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the importance of local and regional processes for regional stability. However, the relative contribution of spatial asynchrony and metapopulation asynchrony increases with connectivity loss, especially for less mobile species, indicating that landscape management should be tailored depending on the dispersal capacity of organisms. Both local biodiversity loss and regional biotic homogenization destabilize metacommunities, with potential implications for the reliable provision of ecosystem functions.</p>}},
  author       = {{Alves, Wagner de F. and de Souza, Leonardo C. and Schweiger, Oliver and di Cavalcanti, Victor R. and Settele, Josef and Wiemers, Martin and Schmucki, Reto and Kuussaari, Mikko and Tzortzakaki, Olga and Pettersson, Lars B. and Fontaine, Benoît and van Swaay, Chris and Stefanescu, Constantí and Maes, Dirk and WallisDeVries, Michiel F. and Gianuca, Andros T.}},
  issn         = {{1466-822X}},
  keywords     = {{connectivity; dispersal ability; diversity–stability relationships; regional stability; spatial asynchrony; spatial distance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Global Ecology and Biogeography}},
  title        = {{Connectivity and climate influence diversity–stability relationships across spatial scales in European butterfly metacommunities}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb.13896}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/geb.13896}},
  volume       = {{33}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}