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Asynchrony among local communities stabilises ecosystem function of metacommunities.

ABSTRACT: Temporal stability of ecosystem functioning increases the predictability and reliability of ecosystem services, and understanding the drivers of stability across spatial scales is important for land management and policy decisions. We used species-level abundance data from 62 plant communities across five continents to assess mechanisms of temporal stability across spatial scales. We assessed how asynchrony (i.e. different units responding dissimilarly through time) of species and local communities stabilised metacommunity ecosystem function. Asynchrony of species increased stability of local communities, and asynchrony among local communities enhanced metacommunity stability by a wide range of magnitudes (1-315%); this range was positively correlated with the size of the metacommunity. Additionally, asynchronous responses among local communities were linked with species' populations fluctuating asynchronously across space, perhaps stemming from physical and/or competitive differences among local communities. Accordingly, we suggest spatial heterogeneity should be a major focus for maintaining the stability of ecosystem services at larger spatial scales.

SUBMITTER: Wilcox KR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6849522 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Asynchrony among local communities stabilises ecosystem function of metacommunities.

Wilcox Kevin R KR Tredennick Andrew T AT Koerner Sally E SE Grman Emily E Hallett Lauren M LM Avolio Meghan L ML La Pierre Kimberly J KJ Houseman Gregory R GR Isbell Forest F Johnson David Samuel DS Alatalo Juha M JM Baldwin Andrew H AH Bork Edward W EW Boughton Elizabeth H EH Bowman William D WD Britton Andrea J AJ Cahill James F JF Collins Scott L SL Du Guozhen G Eskelinen Anu A Gough Laura L Jentsch Anke A Kern Christel C Klanderud Kari K Knapp Alan K AK Kreyling Juergen J Luo Yiqi Y McLaren Jennie R JR Megonigal Patrick P Onipchenko Vladimir V Prevéy Janet J Price Jodi N JN Robinson Clare H CH Sala Osvaldo E OE Smith Melinda D MD Soudzilovskaia Nadejda A NA Souza Lara L Tilman David D White Shannon R SR Xu Zhuwen Z Yahdjian Laura L Yu Qiang Q Yu Qiang Q Zhang Pengfei P Zhang Yunhai Y

Ecology letters 20171024 12

Temporal stability of ecosystem functioning increases the predictability and reliability of ecosystem services, and understanding the drivers of stability across spatial scales is important for land management and policy decisions. We used species-level abundance data from 62 plant communities across five continents to assess mechanisms of temporal stability across spatial scales. We assessed how asynchrony (i.e. different units responding dissimilarly through time) of species and local communit ...[more]

PMID: 29067791

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Project description:Asynchronous fluctuations of populations are essential for maintaining stable levels of bio-mass and ecosystem function in landscapes. Yet, understanding the stabilization of metacommunities by asynchrony is complicated by the existence of multiple forms of asynchrony that are typically studied independently: Community ecologists, for instance, focus on asynchrony within and among local communities, while population ecologists emphasize asynchrony of populations in metapopulations. Still, other forms of asynchrony, such as that which underlies the spatial insurance effect, are not captured by any existing analytical frameworks. We therefore developed a framework that would in one analysis unmask the stabilizing roles of local communities and metapopulations and so unify these perspectives. Our framework shows that metacommunity stabilization arises from one local and two regional forms of asynchrony: (1) asynchrony among species of a local community, (2) asynchrony among populations of a metapopulation, and (3) cross-community asynchrony, which is between different species in different local communities and underlies spatial insurance. For each type of stabilization, we derived links to diversity indices and associated diversity-stability relationships. We deployed this framework in a set of rock pool invertebrate metacommunities in Discovery Bay, Jamaica, to partition sources of stabilization and test their dependence on diversity. Cross-community asynchrony was the dominant form of stabilization, accounting for >60% of total metacommunity stabilization despite being undetectable with existing frameworks. Environmental variation influenced types of stabilization through different mechanisms. pH and dissolved oxygen, for example, increased asynchrony by decorrelating local species, while salinity did so by changing the abundance structure of metapopulations. Lastly, all types of asynchrony depended strongly on different types of diversity (alpha, metapopulation, and beta diversity drove local, metapopulation, and cross-community asynchrony, respectively) to produce multiple diversity-stability relationships within metacommunities. Our new partition of metacommunity dynamics highlights how different elements-from local communities to metapopulations-combine to stabilize metacommunities and depend critically on contrasting environmental regimes and diversities. Understanding and balancing these sources of stability in dynamic landscapes is a looming challenge for the future. We suggest that synthetic frameworks which merge ecological perspectives will be essential for grasping and safeguarding the stability of natural systems.

Dataset Information

Asynchrony among local communities stabilises ecosystem function of metacommunities.

Publications

Asynchrony among local communities stabilises ecosystem function of metacommunities.

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