image: Picture of one of the studied areas. Bayreuth, Germany view more
Credit: Image credit: Anke Jentsch
A study suggests that the stability of plant communities is more dependent on how populations of species covary than on the diversity of the species themselves. The greater the stability of an ecological community, the more likely it is to maintain equilibrium under environmental fluctuation or perturbations from climate-driven events, such as drought, and biotic factors, such as grazing. Both species richness and synchrony, defined as the covariation in population size among species in the same community, affect ecological stability. Enrique Valencia and colleagues report that the stability of plant communities depends to a greater extent on how the populations of species within the communities covary rather than on the diversity of the species themselves. The authors analyzed 79 datasets representing nearly 8,000 plant communities worldwide. In 71% of the datasets, greater synchrony predicted less stability; the less fluctuations of individual populations compensate each other, the less stable the community. Higher species richness was associated with increased stability--but to a relatively small degree, evident in only 29% of the datasets. The authors also found that the positive effect of species richness is not necessarily due to a negative effect on synchrony. According to the authors, strategies to mitigate ecosystem damage should focus on selection of species with different strategies and adaptations to promote low synchrony rather than solely focusing on biodiversity.
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ARTICLE #19-20405: "Synchrony matters more than species richness in plant community stability at a global scale," by Enrique Valencia et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Enrique Valencia, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, SPAIN; e-mail: valencia.gomez.e@gmail.com
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences