Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stability: New Theoretical Insights

Loreau, Michel

doi:10.1002/9781119902911.ch7

Cited by 9 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Our study provides evidence that a positive relationship between biodiversity and stability dominates at multiple spatial scales in natural forest communities. Specifically, we found that α diversity was significantly and positively associated with local stability, which is consistent with other theoretical and empirical studies (Hautier et al, 2015; Loreau, 2022; Tilman & Downing, 1994; Yachi & Loreau, 1999). Higher tree diversity may increase the asynchronous temporal response exhibited by different species to their shared local environment, or through overyielding, ultimately enhancing the stability of ecosystem functioning in local communities (Jucker et al, 2014; Schnabel et al, 2019; Yachi & Loreau, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Exploring what potential drivers are associated with the ability of ecological communities to maintain functioning over time has long been a central issue of ecology and conservation biology (Bai et al, 2004; Loreau, 2022; McCann, 2000; Tilman et al, 1996). Several theoretical and empirical studies have demonstrated that certain ecological drivers affect the functioning and stability of ecosystems (Hautier et al, 2014; Isbell et al, 2015; Tilman et al, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Latitudinal patterns of forest ecosystem stability across spatial scales as affected by biodiversity and environmental heterogeneity

Qiao

Lamy

Wang

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Our planet is facing a variety of serious threats from climate change that are unfolding unevenly across the globe. Uncovering the spatial patterns of ecosystem stability is important for predicting the responses of ecological processes and biodiversity patterns to climate change. However, the understanding of the latitudinal pattern of ecosystem stability across scales and of the underlying ecological drivers is still very limited. Accordingly, this study examines the latitudinal patterns of ecosystem stability at the local and regional spatial scale using a natural assembly of forest metacommunities that are distributed over a large temperate forest region, considering a range of potential environmental drivers. We found that the stability of regional communities (regional stability) and asynchronous dynamics among local communities (spatial asynchrony) both decreased with increasing latitude, whereas the stability of local communities (local stability) did not. We tested a series of hypotheses that potentially drive the spatial patterns of ecosystem stability, and found that although the ecological drivers of biodiversity, climatic history, resource conditions, climatic stability, and environmental heterogeneity varied with latitude, latitudinal patterns of ecosystem stability at multiple scales were affected by biodiversity and environmental heterogeneity. In particular, α diversity is positively associated with local stability, while β diversity is positively associated with spatial asynchrony, although both relationships are weak. Our study provides the first evidence that latitudinal patterns of the temporal stability of naturally assembled forest metacommunities across scales are driven by biodiversity and environmental heterogeneity. Our findings suggest that the preservation of plant biodiversity within and between forest communities and the maintenance of heterogeneous landscapes can be crucial to buffer forest ecosystems at higher latitudes from the faster and more intense negative impacts of climate change in the future.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudinal patterns of forest ecosystem stability across spatial scales as affected by biodiversity and environmental heterogeneity

Qiao

Lamy

Wang

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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“…This needs careful consideration especially in the face of increasing attention to nature-based solutions that may have misconceptions or under-appreciation about the role of biodiversity (Mori, 2020;Seddon et al, 2019Seddon et al, , 2020, for example, that species-rich forests generally provide more multifunctional benefits than the policy-driven, single-species plantations that are currently being expanded (Messier et al, 2021). As such, conserving biodiversity is crucial not only for nature but also for humankind (IPBES, 2019;Isbell et al, 2017Isbell et al, , 2022Loreau et al, 2022;Mori, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a global concern about biodiversity changes resulting from declining species richness and biotic homogenization (Johnson et al, 2017; Pimm et al, 2014), which can have a grave and irreversible impact on ecosystem functioning (Isbell et al, 2017; Loreau et al, 2022). Maintaining the vital functionality of ecosystems is essential for humanity (IPBES, 2019; MEA, 2005), and understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functionality is of practical importance (Balvanera et al, 2014; Loreau et al, 2022; Naeem et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the importance of species and their assemblages for the biodiversity‐ecosystem multifunctionality relationship

Mori

Isbell

Cadotte

2023

Ecology

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Biodiversity changes, such as decline in species richness and biotic homogenization, can have grave consequences for ecosystem functionality. Careful investigation of biodiversity–ecosystem multifunctionality linkages with due consideration of conceptual and technical challenges is required to make the knowledge practically useful in managing social–ecological systems. In this paper, we introduced different methods to assess perspectives regarding the issue of diversity‐multifunctionality, including a possible multifunctional redundancy/uniqueness, and the influences of the number and identity of functions on multifunctionality. In particular, we aimed to align methods with detecting the mechanisms underpinning diversity‐multifunctional relationships that are free from statistical biases. Based on a set of novel methods that excluded analytical biases resulting from differences in the number and identities of multiple functions considered, we found that a substantial portion of species disproportionately supported ecosystem functions and that the diversity effects on multifunctionality were more markedly observed when more functions were considered. These results jointly emphasize that individual species are, to some extent, both functionally unique as well as redundant, highlighting the complexity and necessity for managed assemblages to retain high levels of diversity. We also observed that the relative magnitude of uniqueness or redundancy can differ between species and functions and therefore should be defined in a multifunctional context. We further found that only a small subset of species was identified as significantly less important, especially at low levels of multifunctionality. Taken together, given the low level of multifunctional redundancy we identified, we stress that unraveling the hierarchical roles of biodiversity at different levels, such as individual species and their assemblages, should be a high research priority, in both theory and practice.

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“…These estimated impacts of the global threatening or extinction of species are larger than the observed impacts of local species loss, which have been thoroughly studied in hundreds of biodiversity experiments and dozens of observational and theoretical studies (Loreau et al . 2022; O’Connor et al . 2017; van der Plas 2019).…”

Section: Magnitudes Of Past and Future Global Biodiversity Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expert perspectives on global biodiversity loss and its drivers and impacts on people

Isbell

Balvanera

Mori

et al. 2022

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

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100

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Despite substantial progress in understanding global biodiversity loss, major taxonomic and geographic knowledge gaps remain. Decision makers often rely on expert judgement to fill knowledge gaps, but are rarely able to engage with sufficiently large and diverse groups of specialists. To improve understanding of the perspectives of thousands of biodiversity experts worldwide, we conducted a survey and asked experts to focus on the taxa and freshwater, terrestrial, or marine ecosystem with which they are most familiar. We found several points of overwhelming consensus (for instance, multiple drivers of biodiversity loss interact synergistically) and important demographic and geographic differences in specialists’ perspectives and estimates. Experts from groups that are underrepresented in biodiversity science, including women and those from the Global South, recommended different priorities for conservation solutions, with less emphasis on acquiring new protected areas, and provided higher estimates of biodiversity loss and its impacts. This may in part be because they disproportionately study the most highly threatened taxa and habitats. Front Ecol Environ 2022;

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Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stability: New Theoretical Insights

Cited by 9 publications

References 46 publications

Latitudinal patterns of forest ecosystem stability across spatial scales as affected by biodiversity and environmental heterogeneity

Latitudinal patterns of forest ecosystem stability across spatial scales as affected by biodiversity and environmental heterogeneity

Assessing the importance of species and their assemblages for the biodiversity‐ecosystem multifunctionality relationship

Expert perspectives on global biodiversity loss and its drivers and impacts on people

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