nerc.ac.uk

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

Valencia, Enrique; de Bello, Francesco; Galland, Thomas; Adler, Peter B.; Lepš, Jan; E-Vojtkó, Anna; van Klink, Roel; Carmona, Carlos P.; Danihelka, Jiří; Dengler, Jürgen; Eldridge, David J.; Estiarte, Marc; García-González, Ricardo; Garnier, Eric; Gómez‐García, Daniel; Harrison, Susan P.; Herben, Tomáš; Ibáñez, Ricardo; Jentsch, Anke; Juergens, Norbert; Kertész, Miklós; Klumpp, Katja; Louault, Frédérique; Marrs, Rob H.; Ogaya, Romà; Ónodi, Gábor; Pakeman, Robin J.; Pardo, Iker; Pärtel, Meelis; Peco, Begoña; Peñuelas, Josep; Pywell, Richard F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6431-9959; Rueda, Marta; Schmidt, Wolfgang; Schmiedel, Ute; Schuetz, Martin; Skálová, Hana; Šmilauer, Petr; Šmilauerová, Marie; Smit, Christian; Song, MingHua; Stock, Martin; Val, James; Vandvik, Vigdis; Ward, David; Wesche, Karsten; Wiser, Susan K.; Woodcock, Ben A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0300-9951; Young, Truman P.; Yu, Fei-Hai; Zobel, Martin; Götzenberger, Lars. 2020 Synchrony matters more than species richness in plant community stability at a global scale. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117 (39). 24345-24351. 10.1073/pnas.1920405117

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.
[thumbnail of Valencia_2019 Synchrony Matters.pdf] Text
Valencia_2019 Synchrony Matters.pdf
Restricted to NORA staff only

Download (1MB)

Abstract/Summary

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.

Item Type: Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1073/pnas.1920405117
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas: Biodiversity (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN: 0027-8424
Additional Keywords: evenness, climate change drivers, species richness, stability, synchrony
NORA Subject Terms: Ecology and Environment
Date made live: 23 Dec 2020 10:30 +0 (UTC)
URI: https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/529259

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Document Downloads

Downloads for past 30 days

Downloads per month over past year

More statistics for this item...