How does species richness contributes to community stability

To conclude, while the diversity-stability hypothesis is no longer untested, much remains to be understood. There are more studies that support this hypothesis than those that refute it, but there is also a recognition that we need to understand the exact mechanisms in operation and that much remains understood.

There is a good review article in Nature that may be of interest to those looking for more information. This article is somewhat dated given that a considerable amount of new research has since been published. How can species diversity affect ecosystem stability? Kate M. Feb 10, Explanation: Warning: the simple answer is greater species diversity leads to increased stability, but this is not the complete answer.

Related questions What is the Law of Tolerance? Can you explain how evolution and biodiversity are related? What are some examples of an ecological niche? What is an example of an animal and their niche for the grassland savannah biome? What are the niches of algae, duckweed, salvinia, and elodea?

What is a quick explanation of the difference between a fundamental and realized niche? How is natural selection related to the concept of niche?

What is an example of an ecological niche? The first experiments to measure the relationship between diversity and stability manipulated diversity in aquatic microcosms — miniature experimental ecosystems — containing four or more trophic levels, including primary producers, primary and secondary consumers, and decomposers McGrady-Steed et al. These experiments found that species diversity conferred spatial and temporal stability on several ecosystem functions.

Stability was conferred by species richness, both within and among functional groups Wardle et al. When there is more than one species with a similar ecological role in a system, they are sometimes considered "functionally redundant. More recently, scientists have examined the importance of plant diversity for ecosystem stability in terrestrial ecosystems, especially grasslands where the dominant vegetation lies low to the ground and is easy to manipulate experimentally.

In , David Tilman and colleagues established experimental plots in the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, each 9 x 9 m in size Figure 3A , and seeded them with 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 species drawn randomly from a pool of 18 possible perennial plant species Tilman et al. Plots were weeded to prevent new species invasion and ecosystem stability was measured as the stability of primary production over time.

Over the ten years that data were collected, there was significant interannual variation in climate, and the researchers found that more diverse plots had more stable production over time Figure 3B.

In contrast, population stability declined in more diverse plots Figure 3C. These experimental findings are consistent with the theory described in the prior section, predicting that increasing species diversity would be positively correlated with increasing stability at the ecosystem-level and negatively correlated with species-level stability due to declining population sizes of individual species.

Figure 3: A biodiversity experiment at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve a demonstrates the relationship between the number of planted species and ecosystem stability b or species stability c. All rights reserved.

Experiments manipulating diversity have been criticized because of their small spatial and short time scales, so what happens in naturally assembled communities at larger spatial scales over longer time scales? In a year study of naturally assembled Inner Mongolia grassland vegetation, Bai et al. They found that while the abundance of individual species fluctuated, species within particular functional groups tended to respond differently such that a decrease in the abundance of one species was compensated for by an increase in the abundance of another.

This compensation stabilized the biomass productivity of the whole community in a fluctuating environment see Figure 1. These findings demonstrate that local species richness — both within and among functional groups — confers stability on ecosystem processes in naturally assembled communities. Experiments in aquatic ecosystems have also shown that large-scale processes play a significant role in stabilizing ecosystems.

A whole-lake acidification experiment in Canada found that although species diversity declined as a result of acidification, species composition changed significantly and ecosystem function was maintained Schindler This suggests that given sufficient time and appropriate dispersal mechanisms, new species can colonize communities from the regional species pool and compensate for those species that are locally lost Fischer et al.

This observation emphasizes the importance of maintaining connectivity among natural habitats as they experience environmental changes. Evidence from multiple ecosystems at a variety of temporal and spatial scales, suggests that biological diversity acts to stabilize ecosystem functioning in the face of environmental fluctuation.

Variation among species in their response to such fluctuation is an essential requirement for ecosystem stability, as is the presence of species that can compensate for the function of species that are lost. While much of the evidence presented here has focused on the consequences of changes in species diversity on primary production in natural ecosystems, recent research has found similar relationships between species diversity and ecosystem productivity in human-managed ecosystems e.

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Ecological Monographs 75 , 3—35 Ives, A. Stability and diversity of ecosystems. Science , 58—62 Jactel, H. A test of the biodiversity-stability theory: Meta-analysis of tree species diversity effects on insect pest infestations, and re-examination of responsible factors. Forest Diversity and Function , — McGrady-Steed, J. Biodiversity regulates ecosystem predictability.

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Citation: Cleland, E. Nature Education Knowledge 3 10 Aa Aa Aa. Introduction: Biodiversity, Stability, and Ecosystem Functioning. Species Identity, Functional traits, and Resource-Use. Diversity-Stability Theory. Figure 1: Conceptual diagram showing how increasing diversity can stabilize ecosystem functioning. Each rectangle represents a plant community containing individuals of either blue or green species and the total number of individuals corresponds to the productivity of the ecosystem.