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Synchrony matters more than species richness in plant community stability at a global scale.


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.

SUBMITTER: Valencia E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7533703 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Synchrony matters more than species richness in plant community stability at a global scale.

Valencia Enrique E   de Bello Francesco F   Galland Thomas T   Adler Peter B PB   Lepš Jan J   E-Vojtkó Anna A   van Klink Roel R   Carmona Carlos P CP   Danihelka Jiří J   Dengler Jürgen J   Eldridge David J DJ   Estiarte Marc M   García-González Ricardo R   Garnier Eric E   Gómez-García Daniel D   Harrison Susan P SP   Herben Tomáš T   Ibáñez Ricardo R   Jentsch Anke A   Juergens Norbert N   Kertész Miklós M   Klumpp Katja K   Louault Frédérique F   Marrs Rob H RH   Ogaya Romà R   Ónodi Gábor G   Pakeman Robin J RJ   Pardo Iker I   Pärtel Meelis M   Peco Begoña B   Peñuelas Josep J   Pywell Richard F RF   Rueda Marta M   Schmidt Wolfgang W   Schmiedel Ute U   Schuetz Martin M   Skálová Hana H   Šmilauer Petr P   Šmilauerová Marie M   Smit Christian C   Song MingHua M   Stock Martin M   Val James J   Vandvik Vigdis V   Ward David D   Wesche Karsten K   Wiser Susan K SK   Woodcock Ben A BA   Young Truman P TP   Yu Fei-Hai FH   Zobel Martin M   Götzenberger Lars L  

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20200908 39


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 do  ...[more]

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