Mougi Akihiko, Kondoh Michio
Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, 1060 Nishikawatsu-cho, Matsue 690-8504, Japan.
Department of Environmental Solution Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Ryukoku University, 1-5 Yokoya, Seta Oe-cho, Otsu 520-2194, Japan.
J Theor Biol. 2014 Nov 7;360:54-58. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2014.06.030. Epub 2014 Jul 5.
Theory predicts that ecological communities of many interacting species are unstable, despite the fact that complex ecosystems persist in nature. A recent theoretical study hypothesised that coexistence of antagonism and mutualism can stabilise a community and even give rise to a positive complexity-stability relationship. Here, using a theoretical model, we extended the earlier hypothesis to include competition as a third major interaction type, and showed that interaction-type diversity generally enhances stability of complex communities. Furthermore, we report a new finding that the hierarchically structured antagonistic interaction network is important for the stabilizing effect of interaction type diversity to emerge in complex communities. The present study indicated that the complexities characterised by species number, connectance, species variation, and interaction type diversity synergistically contributed to maintaining communities, and posed an interesting question of how present complex communities emerged, and developed from simpler ecosystems.
理论预测，尽管复杂的生态系统在自然界中持续存在，但由许多相互作用的物种组成的生态群落是不稳定的。最近的一项理论研究假设，拮抗作用和互利共生的共存可以使群落稳定，甚至产生正的复杂性-稳定性关系。在这里，我们使用一个理论模型，将早期的假设扩展到包括竞争作为第三种主要的相互作用类型，并表明相互作用类型的多样性通常会增强复杂群落的稳定性。此外，我们报告了一项新发现，即层次结构的拮抗相互作用网络对于复杂群落中出现的相互作用类型多样性的稳定作用很重要。本研究表明，以物种数量、连通性、物种变异和相互作用类型多样性为特征的复杂性协同作用有助于维持群落，并提出了一个有趣的问题，即当前的复杂群落是如何从更简单的生态系统中出现和发展而来的。
