Department of Environmental Solution Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Ryukoku University, 1-5 Yokoya, Seta Oe-cho, Otsu 520-2194, Japan.
Science. 2012 Jul 20;337(6092):349-51. doi: 10.1126/science.1220529.
Ecological theory predicts that a complex community formed by a number of species is inherently unstable, guiding ecologists to identify what maintains species diversity in nature. Earlier studies often assumed a community with only one interaction type, either an antagonistic, competitive, or mutualistic interaction, leaving open the question of what the diversity of interaction types contributes to the community maintenance. We show theoretically that the multiple interaction types might hold the key to understanding community dynamics. A moderate mixture of antagonistic and mutualistic interactions can stabilize population dynamics. Furthermore, increasing complexity leads to increased stability in a "hybrid" community. We hypothesize that the diversity of species and interaction types may be the essential element of biodiversity that maintains ecological communities.
生态理论预测，由多个物种组成的复杂群落本质上是不稳定的，这指导生态学家去识别是什么在自然界中维持物种多样性。早期的研究通常假设群落中只有一种相互作用类型，要么是拮抗、竞争或互利的相互作用，而没有说明多种相互作用类型对群落维持的贡献是什么。我们从理论上表明，多种相互作用类型可能是理解群落动态的关键。中等程度的拮抗和互利相互作用的混合可以稳定种群动态。此外，增加复杂性会导致“混合”群落的稳定性增加。我们假设，物种和相互作用类型的多样性可能是维持生态群落的生物多样性的关键要素。
